"Mama, You Been on My Mind" is a song by American singer-songwriter
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...
. Written in 1964 during a trip to Europe, the song dealt with his recent breakup with his girlfriend,
Suze Rotolo
Susan Elizabeth Rotolo (November 20, 1943 – February 25, 2011),''The Bob Dylan Encyclopedia'', 2006, pp. 592–594, Michael Gray, Continuum known as Suze Rotolo ( ), was an American artist, and the girlfriend of Bob Dylan from 1961 to 1964. ...
. Dylan first recorded the song in June of that year during a session for his album ''
Another Side of Bob Dylan
''Another Side of Bob Dylan'' is the fourth studio album by American singer and songwriter Bob Dylan, released on August 8, 1964, by Columbia Records.
The album deviates from the more socially conscious style which Dylan had developed with his pr ...
''. However, the song was not included on the album, and Dylan's version remained unreleased until 1991. In total, in the 1990s and 2000s four versions were put out on Dylan's ''Bootleg Series'' of releases, including two live performances with
Joan Baez
Joan Chandos Baez (; born January 9, 1941) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and activist. Her contemporary folk music often includes songs of protest and social justice. Baez has performed publicly for over 60 years, releasing more ...
from 1964 and 1975.
Many artists have covered the song, including Baez,
Jeff Buckley
Jeffrey Scott Buckley (November 17, 1966 – May 29, 1997), raised as Scott Moorhead, was an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. After a decade as a session guitarist in Los Angeles, Buckley amassed a following in the early 1990s by ...
,
Judy Collins
Judith Marjorie Collins (born May 1, 1939) is an American singer-songwriter and musician with a career spanning seven decades. An Academy Award-nominated documentary director and a Grammy Award-winning recording artist, she is known for her ec ...
,
Ricky Nelson
Eric Hilliard Nelson (May 8, 1940 – December 31, 1985) was an American musician, songwriter and actor. From age eight he starred alongside his family in the radio and television series ''The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet''. In 1957, he bega ...
,
Johnny Cash
John R. Cash (born J. R. Cash; February 26, 1932 – September 12, 2003) was an American country singer-songwriter. Much of Cash's music contained themes of sorrow, moral tribulation, and redemption, especially in the later stages of his ca ...
,
George Harrison
George Harrison (25 February 1943 – 29 November 2001) was an English musician and singer-songwriter who achieved international fame as the lead guitarist of the Beatles. Sometimes called "the quiet Beatle", Harrison embraced Indian c ...
,
Bettye LaVette
Bettye LaVette (born Betty Jo Haskins, January 29, 1946) is an American soul singer-songwriter who made her first record at sixteen, but achieved only intermittent fame until 2005, when her album ''I've Got My Own Hell to Raise'' was released to ...
,
Dion and the Belmonts
Dion and the Belmonts were an American vocal trio prominent throughout the 1950s. All of its members were from the Bronx, New York City. In 1957, Dion DiMucci joined the vocal group the Belmonts. The established trio of Angelo D'Aleo, Carlo M ...
,
Linda Ronstadt
Linda Maria Ronstadt (born July 15, 1946) is a retired American singer who performed and recorded in diverse genres including rock, country, light opera, the Great American Songbook, and Latin. She has earned 11 Grammy Awards, three American ...
, and
Rod Stewart
Sir Roderick David Stewart (born 10 January 1945) is a British rock and pop singer and songwriter. Born and raised in London, he is of Scottish and English ancestry. With his distinctive raspy singing voice, Stewart is among the best-selling ...
on his 1972 album ''
Never a Dull Moment''. Dylan himself has performed the song more than 200 times.
Writing and initial recording
Dylan completed a concert tour of England in mid-May and afterwards vacationed in France, Germany and Greece. During his visit to Greece he wrote several songs for his upcoming album, ''Another Side of Bob Dylan'', including "Mama, You Been on My Mind".
After returning to the US, Dylan went into Columbia's Studio A on June 9, 1964, and in a single night recorded 14 new songs, including one take of "Mama, You Been on My Mind". However, when the album was released two months later, the song was not included. Circulated as a
bootleg
Bootleg or bootlegging most often refers to:
* Bootleg recording, an audio or video recording released unofficially
* Rum-running, the illegal business of transporting and trading in alcoholic beverages, hence:
** Moonshine, or illicitly made ...
for many years, the outtake of "Mama, You Been on My Mind" was officially released in 1991 on ''
The Bootleg Series Volumes 1–3 (Rare & Unreleased) 1961–1991
''The Bootleg Series Volumes 1–3'' is a box set by Bob Dylan issued on Columbia Records. It is the first installment in Dylan's Bootleg Series, comprising material spanning the first three decades of his career, from 1961 to 1989. It has been c ...
''.
Lyrics and meaning
Two drafts of "Mama, You Been on My Mind" were written by Dylan on notepaper from the
May Fair Hotel
The May Fair Hotel is a luxury hotel on Stratton Street in Mayfair, London, near the site of Devonshire House in Piccadilly. It opened in 1927 with King George V
George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936 ...
where he had stayed in London during his concert tour. According to biographer
Clinton Heylin
Clinton Heylin (born 8 April 1960) is an English author who has written extensively about popular music and the work of Bob Dylan.
Education
Heylin attended Manchester Grammar School. He read history at Bedford College, University of London, ...
, the song was one of three he wrote while visiting Europe that addressed the breakup with his girlfriend Suze Rotolo in mid-March 1964.
[
As critic Oliver Trager describes it, the song is a "straightforward love song of separation and yearning" with a "gorgeous melody and cascading, almost incantatory lyrics".] Each of the song's stanzas, except the last, ends with the title refrain, or variations of it. For example:
Howard Sounes
Howard Sounes (born 1965) is a British author, journalist and biographer.
Biography
Born in Welling, South East London, Sounes began his journalistic career as a staff reporter for the ''Sunday Mirror''. He broke major stories, including one ...
, another Dylan biographer, considers the song "one of the finest love songs he ever wrote". Sounes says that while Dylan held responsibility for making a "mess" of his relationship with Rotolo, in the song "he could express himself with delicacy and maturity".
Subsequent recordings and performances
Within a couple of weeks following the Columbia session, Dylan recorded "Mama, You Been on My Mind" as a demo for his publishers, Witmark Music. The demo version, which also became available as a bootleg, was finally released on '' The Bootleg Series Vol. 9 – The Witmark Demos: 1962–1964'' in 2010.
Dylan also rehearsed a more country version of the song along with "Song to Woody
"Song to Woody" was written by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan and released on his debut album, ''Bob Dylan,'' in 1962. The song conveys Dylan's appreciation of American folk legend Woody Guthrie. The song is one of two original compositions ...
" during sessions for ''Self Portrait
A self-portrait is a representation of an artist that is drawn, painted, photographed, or sculpted by that artist. Although self-portraits have been made since the earliest times, it is not until the Early Renaissance in the mid-15th century tha ...
'' on May 1, 1970, as heard on the 2021 compilation ''1970''.
Dylan's first public performance of the song was in a guest appearance with Joan Baez
Joan Chandos Baez (; born January 9, 1941) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and activist. Her contemporary folk music often includes songs of protest and social justice. Baez has performed publicly for over 60 years, releasing more ...
at her concert at Forest Hills tennis stadium in Queens, New York on August 8, 1964. He performed the song in another duet with Baez a couple of months later, on October 31, in his solo debut at New York City's Philharmonic Hall, this time with her as his guest. A recording of the concert was released in 2004 on '' The Bootleg Series Vol. 6: Bob Dylan Live 1964, Concert at Philharmonic Hall''.
"Mama, You Been on My Mind" was reprised as a duet by Dylan and Baez during the Rolling Thunder Revue
The Rolling Thunder Revue was a 1975–1976 concert tour by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan with numerous musicians and collaborators. The purpose of the tour was to allow Dylan, who had now become a major recording artist and concert perfor ...
tour in 1975 and 1976. A live recording from the 1975 Rolling Thunder Revue tour was released in 2002 on '' The Bootleg Series Vol. 5: Bob Dylan Live 1975, The Rolling Thunder Revue''. In 2019, that recording and four other live performances of the song from the 1975 tour were released on the box set '' The Rolling Thunder Revue: The 1975 Live Recordings''.
Beginning in the early 1990s, Dylan added the song to his Never Ending Tour
The Never Ending Tour is the popular name for Bob Dylan's ongoing touring schedule which began on June 7, 1988. During the course of the tour, musicians have come and gone as the band has continued to evolve. The tour amassed a huge fan base with ...
set list
A set list, or setlist, is typically a handwritten or printed document created as an ordered list of songs, jokes, stories and other elements an artist intends to present during a specific performance.
A setlist can be made of nearly any materi ...
, performing it often as part of his nightly acoustic segment. Since 1964, Dylan has played the composition over 200 times.
Covers
"Mama, You Been on My Mind" has been recorded by numerous artists since the mid-1960s, including Jeff Buckley
Jeffrey Scott Buckley (November 17, 1966 – May 29, 1997), raised as Scott Moorhead, was an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. After a decade as a session guitarist in Los Angeles, Buckley amassed a following in the early 1990s by ...
, Johnny Cash
John R. Cash (born J. R. Cash; February 26, 1932 – September 12, 2003) was an American country singer-songwriter. Much of Cash's music contained themes of sorrow, moral tribulation, and redemption, especially in the later stages of his ca ...
, Dion & the Belmonts
Dion and the Belmonts were an American vocal trio prominent throughout the 1950s. All of its members were from the Bronx, New York City. In 1957, Dion DiMucci joined the vocal group the Belmonts. The established trio of Angelo D'Aleo, Carlo M ...
, The Dylan Project, Flatt & Scruggs
Flatt and Scruggs were an American bluegrass duo. Singer and guitarist Lester Flatt and banjo player Earl Scruggs, both of whom had been members of Bill Monroe's band, the Bluegrass Boys, from 1945 to 1948, formed the duo in 1948. Flatt and Sc ...
, George Harrison
George Harrison (25 February 1943 – 29 November 2001) was an English musician and singer-songwriter who achieved international fame as the lead guitarist of the Beatles. Sometimes called "the quiet Beatle", Harrison embraced Indian c ...
, Steve Howe
Stephen James Howe (born 8 April 1947) is an English musician, best known as the guitarist in the progressive rock band Yes across three stints since 1970. Born in Holloway, North London, Howe developed an interest in the guitar and began to le ...
, The Kingston Trio
The Kingston Trio is an American folk and pop music group that helped launch the folk revival of the late 1950s to the late 1960s. The group started as a San Francisco Bay Area nightclub act with an original lineup of Dave Guard, Bob Shane, ...
, Mylon LeFevre
Mylon R. LeFevre (born October 6, 1944) is an American Christian rock singer best known for his work with his band Mylon and Broken Heart. He is a member of the Gospel Music Hall of Fame. He travels around the United States, ministering, teachi ...
, Peter Mulvey
Peter Mulvey (born September 6, 1969) is an American folk singer-songwriter based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Since the early 1990s, he has developed a strong national following in the indie folk/rock scene through his relentless touring and critic ...
, Ricky Nelson
Eric Hilliard Nelson (May 8, 1940 – December 31, 1985) was an American musician, songwriter and actor. From age eight he starred alongside his family in the radio and television series ''The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet''. In 1957, he bega ...
, Rod Stewart
Sir Roderick David Stewart (born 10 January 1945) is a British rock and pop singer and songwriter. Born and raised in London, he is of Scottish and English ancestry. With his distinctive raspy singing voice, Stewart is among the best-selling ...
and We Are Augustines
Augustines (formerly We Are Augustines) were an American indie rock band based in Brooklyn, New York (state), New York consisting of guitarist William McCarthy, multi-instrumentalist Eric Sanderson and drummer Rob Allen. Augustines were known for ...
.[ The song appeared on the ]soundtrack
A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack o ...
to the movie ''I'm Not There
''I'm Not There'' is a 2007 musical drama film directed by Todd Haynes, and co-written by Haynes and Oren Moverman. It is an unconventional biographical film inspired by the life and music of American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan. Six actors de ...
'', performed by Jack Johnson. The song was further covered by Laura Veirs
Laura Pauline Veirs (born October 24, 1973) is an American singer-songwriter based out of Portland, Oregon. She is known for her folk/alternative country records and live performances as well as her collaboration with Neko Case and k.d. lang on ...
, and featured on the Dylan tribute album ''Subterranean Homesick Blues''.
An alternate title, "Mama, You've Been on My Mind", has been used almost as often as the original. In addition, some female vocalists have used "Daddy" in place of "Mama", including Joan Baez
Joan Chandos Baez (; born January 9, 1941) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and activist. Her contemporary folk music often includes songs of protest and social justice. Baez has performed publicly for over 60 years, releasing more ...
, who introduced the substitution jokingly in her guest appearance at Dylan's 1964 Philharmonic Hall concert. In 1965, Baez recorded "Daddy, You Been on My Mind" for the album ''Farewell, Angelina
''Farewell, Angelina'' is the sixth studio album by American folk singer Joan Baez, released in late 1965. It peaked at #10 on the Billboard Pop Albums chart.
History
The album represented a further shift from the strictly traditional folk mu ...
'', the song's first commercial release (Discogs and Second Hand Songs say the Johnny Cash version was released several months earlier, on his ''Orange Blossom Special'' LP), while that same year Judy Collins
Judith Marjorie Collins (born May 1, 1939) is an American singer-songwriter and musician with a career spanning seven decades. An Academy Award-nominated documentary director and a Grammy Award-winning recording artist, she is known for her ec ...
recorded "Daddy, You've Been on My Mind" for her ''Fifth Album
''Fifth Album'' is the fourth studio album (her 5th overall release) by American singer and songwriter Judy Collins, released by Elektra Records in 1965. It peaked at No. 69 on the ''Billboard'' Pop Albums chart''.
The album featured a collecti ...
''. Adding yet another twist, The Kingston Trio
The Kingston Trio is an American folk and pop music group that helped launch the folk revival of the late 1950s to the late 1960s. The group started as a San Francisco Bay Area nightclub act with an original lineup of Dave Guard, Bob Shane, ...
covered the song in their live performances in Las Vegas in 1966 (released in 1969) ''Once Upon a Time
"Once upon a time" is a stock phrase used to introduce a narrative of past events, typically in fairy tales and folk tales. It has been used in some form since at least 1380 (according to the ''Oxford English Dictionary'') in storytelling in the ...
'' and Linda Ronstadt
Linda Maria Ronstadt (born July 15, 1946) is a retired American singer who performed and recorded in diverse genres including rock, country, light opera, the Great American Songbook, and Latin. She has earned 11 Grammy Awards, three American ...
covered the song for her 1969 solo debut '' Hand Sown...Home Grown'' both under the title "Baby, You've Been on My Mind".[
On 9 January 1969, ]the Beatles
The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...
, led by George Harrison
George Harrison (25 February 1943 – 29 November 2001) was an English musician and singer-songwriter who achieved international fame as the lead guitarist of the Beatles. Sometimes called "the quiet Beatle", Harrison embraced Indian c ...
, jammed the song during a recording session for their album ''Let It Be
Let It Be most commonly refers to:
* ''Let It Be'' (Beatles album), the Beatles' final studio album, released in 1970
* "Let It Be" (Beatles song), the title song from the album
It may also refer to:
Film and television
* ''Let It Be'' (1970 ...
'', as can be seen in the 2021 documentary series '' The Beatles: Get Back''.
A Hebrew
Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...
Version called "Motek, At Etsli Ba'rosh" (Hebrew: מותק את אצלי בראש, translated: Baby, You're in my head) was covered by the Israeli singer and pianist Shlomi Shaban Shlomi or Shelomi can refer to:
*Shlomi, Israel, a town in Israel
* Shlomi (Hebrew name), the Hebrew first name, "שלומי" or "שלמי"
** Shlomi Arbeitman, Israeli professional footballer
**Shlomi Dolev, Israeli computer science professor
** S ...
in his second album, ''City'', in 2004.
Footnotes
References
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Mama, You Been on My Mind
1964 songs
Bob Dylan songs
Song recordings produced by Tom Wilson (record producer)
Songs written by Bob Dylan