''The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan'' is the second studio album 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 ...
, released on May 27, 1963 by
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...
. Whereas his self-titled debut album ''
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 ...
'' had contained only two original songs, this album represented the beginning of Dylan's writing contemporary words to traditional melodies. Eleven of the thirteen songs on the album are Dylan's original compositions. It opens with "
Blowin' in the Wind
"Blowin' in the Wind" is a song written by Bob Dylan in 1962.
It was released as a single and included on his album ''The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan'' in 1963. It has been described as a protest song and poses a series of rhetorical questions about ...
", which became an anthem of the 1960s, and an international hit for folk trio
Peter, Paul and Mary
Peter, Paul and Mary was an American folk group formed in New York City in 1961 during the American folk music revival phenomenon. The trio consisted of tenor Peter Yarrow, baritone Paul Stookey, and contralto Mary Travers. The group's repertoir ...
soon after the release of the album. The album featured several other songs which came to be regarded as among Dylan's best compositions and classics of the 1960s folk scene: "
Girl from the North Country
"Girl from the North Country" (occasionally known as "Girl ''of'' the North Country") is a song written by Bob Dylan. It was recorded at Columbia Recording Studios in New York City in April 1963, and released the following month as the second tra ...
", "
Masters of War
"Masters of War" is a song by Bob Dylan, written over the winter of 1962–63 and released on the album ''The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan'' in the spring of 1963. The song's melody was adapted from the traditional songs, traditional "Nottamun Town." ...
", "
A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall
"A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall" is a song written by American musician and Nobel Laureate Bob Dylan in the summer of 1962 and recorded later that year for his second album, ''The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan'' (1963). Its lyrical structure is modeled after ...
" and "
Don't Think Twice, It's All Right
"Don't Think Twice, It's All Right" is a song written by Bob Dylan in 1962, recorded on November 14 that year, and released on the 1963 album ''The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan'' and as the b-side of the ''Blowin' in the Wind'' single. The song was cov ...
".
Dylan's lyrics embraced news stories drawn from headlines about the
Civil Rights Movement
The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional Racial segregation in the United States, racial segregation, Racial discrimination ...
and he articulated anxieties about the fear of
nuclear warfare
Nuclear warfare, also known as atomic warfare, is a theoretical military conflict or prepared political strategy that deploys nuclear weaponry. Nuclear weapons are weapons of mass destruction; in contrast to conventional warfare, nuclear ...
. Balancing this political material were love songs, sometimes bitter and accusatory, and material that features
surreal humor
Surreal humour (also called surreal comedy, absurdist humour, or absurdist comedy) is a form of humour predicated on deliberate violations of causality, causal reasoning, thus producing events and behaviours that are obviously illogical. Portrayal ...
. ''Freewheelin'' showcased Dylan's songwriting talent for the first time, propelling him to national and international fame. The success of the album and Dylan's subsequent recognition led to his being named as "Spokesman of a Generation", a label Dylan repudiated.
''The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan'' reached number 22 in the US (eventually going platinum), and became a number-one album in the UK in 1965. In 2003, the album was ranked number 97 on ''
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...
'' list of the
500 greatest albums of all time. In 2002, ''Freewheelin'' was one of the first 50 recordings chosen by the
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...
to be added to the
National Recording Registry
The National Recording Registry is a list of sound recordings that "are culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant, and/or inform or reflect life in the United States." The registry was established by the National Recording Preservati ...
.
Recording sessions
Neither critics nor the public took much notice of Dylan's self-titled debut album, ''
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 ...
'', which sold only 5,000 copies in its first year, just enough to break even. In a pointed rebuke to
John Hammond, who had signed Dylan to
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...
, some within the company referred to the singer as "Hammond's Folly" and suggested dropping his contract. Hammond defended Dylan vigorously and was determined that Dylan's second album should be a success. The recording of ''Freewheelin'' took place from April 1962 to April 1963, and the album was assembled from eight recording sessions at
Columbia Records Studio A, located at 799 Seventh Avenue in New York City.
Political and personal background
Many critics have noted the extraordinary development of Dylan's songwriting immediately after completing his first album. One of Dylan's biographers,
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, ...
, connects the sudden increase in lyrics written along topical and political lines to the fact that Dylan had moved into an apartment on West 4th Street 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. ...
(1943–2011) in January 1962. Rotolo's family had strong left-wing political commitments; both of her parents were members of the
American Communist Party
The Communist Party USA, officially the Communist Party of the United States of America (CPUSA), is a communist party in the United States which was established in 1919 after a split in the Socialist Party of America following the Russian Revo ...
. Dylan acknowledged her influence when he told an interviewer: "Suze was into this equality-freedom thing long before I was. I checked out the songs with her".
Dylan's relationship with Rotolo also provided an important emotional dynamic in the composition of the ''Freewheelin'' album. After six months of living with Dylan, Rotolo agreed to her mother's proposal that she travel to Italy to study art.
[Rotolo writes that "my mother did not approve of Bob at all. He paid her no homage and she paid him none". Rotolo suspected that her mother presented her with the trip to Italy "as a ''fait accompli''" to lure her away from her relationship with Dylan. See ] Dylan missed her and wrote long letters to her conveying his hope that she would return soon to New York. She postponed her return several times, finally coming back in January 1963. Critics have connected the intense love songs expressing longing and loss on ''Freewheelin'' to Dylan's fraught relationship with Rotolo. In her autobiography, Rotolo explains that musicians' girlfriends were routinely described as "chicks", and she resented being regarded as "a possession of Bob, who was the center of attention".
The speed and facility with which Dylan wrote topical songs attracted the attention of other musicians in the New York folk scene. In a radio interview on
WBAI
WBAI (99.5 FM) is a non-commercial, listener-supported radio station licensed to New York, New York. Its programming is a mixture of political news, talk and opinion from a left-leaning, liberal or progressive viewpoint, and eclectic music. ...
in June 1962,
Pete Seeger
Peter Seeger (May 3, 1919 – January 27, 2014) was an American folk singer and social activist. A fixture on nationwide radio in the 1940s, Seeger also had a string of hit records during the early 1950s as a member of the Weavers, notably ...
described Dylan as "the most prolific songwriter on the scene" and then asked Dylan how many songs he had written recently. Dylan replied, "I might go for two weeks without writing these songs. I write a lot of stuff. In fact, I wrote five songs last night but I gave all the papers away in some place called
the Bitter End
The Bitter End is a 230-person capacity nightclub, coffeehouse and folk music venue in New York City's Greenwich Village. It opened in 1961 at 147 Bleecker Street under the auspices of owner Fred Weintraub. The club changed its name to ''The Ot ...
."
Dylan also expressed the impersonal idea that the songs were not his own creation. In an interview with ''
Sing Out!
''Sing Out!'' was a quarterly journal of folk music and folk songs that was published from May 1950 through spring 2014. It was originally based in New York City, with a national circulation of approximately 10,000 by 1960.
Background
''Sing Out ...
'' magazine, Dylan said, "The songs are there. They exist all by themselves just waiting for someone to write them down. I just put them down on paper. If I didn't do it, somebody else would".
Recording in New York
Dylan began work on his second album at Columbia's Studio A in New York on April 24, 1962. The album was provisionally entitled ''Bob Dylan's Blues'', and as late as July 1962, this would remain the working title. At this session, Dylan recorded four of his own compositions: "Sally Gal", "
The Death of Emmett Till
"The Death of Emmett Till", also known as "The Ballad of Emmett Till", is a song by American musician and Nobel Laureate Bob Dylan about the murder of Emmett Till. Till, a 14-year-old African American, was killed on August 28, 1955, by two white m ...
", "Rambling, Gambling Willie", and "
Talkin' John Birch Paranoid Blues
"Talkin' John Birch Paranoid Blues", also known as "Talkin' John Birch Society Blues" and "Talkin' John Birch Blues", is a protest song and talking blues song written by singer-songwriter Bob Dylan in 1962. It is a satirical song, in which a p ...
". He also recorded two traditional folk songs, "Going To New Orleans" and "Corrina, Corrina", and
Hank Williams
Hank Williams (born Hiram Williams; September 17, 1923 – January 1, 1953) was an American singer, songwriter, and musician. Regarded as one of the most significant and influential American singers and songwriters of the 20th century, he reco ...
' "(I Heard That) Lonesome Whistle".
Returning to Studio A the following day, Dylan recorded his new song about
fallout shelter
A fallout shelter is an enclosed space specially designated to protect occupants from radioactive debris or fallout resulting from a nuclear explosion. Many such shelters were constructed as civil defense measures during the Cold War.
During ...
s, "
Let Me Die in My Footsteps
"Let Me Die in My Footsteps" is a song written by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan in February 1962. The song was selected for the original sequence of Dylan's 1963 album ''The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan'', but was replaced by "A Hard Rain's a-Gonn ...
". Other original compositions followed: "Rocks and Gravel", "Talking Hava Negiliah Blues", "
Talkin' Bear Mountain Picnic Massacre Blues
"Talkin' Bear Mountain Picnic Massacre Blues" is a song by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan. It was written by Dylan in June 1961, and recorded on April 25, 1962, at Studio A, Columbia Recording Studios, New York, produced by John Hammond. ...
", and two more takes of "Sally Gal". Dylan recorded cover versions of "Wichita",
Big Joe Williams
Joseph Lee "Big Joe" Williams (October 16, 1903 – December 17, 1982) was an American Delta blues guitarist, singer and songwriter, notable for the distinctive sound of his nine-string guitar. Performing over five decades, he recorded the s ...
' "
Baby, Please Don't Go
"Baby, Please Don't Go" is a traditional blues song that was popularized by Delta blues musician Big Joe Williams in 1935. Many cover versions followed, leading to its description as "one of the most played, arranged, and rearranged pieces in ...
", and
Robert Johnson
Robert Leroy Johnson (May 8, 1911August 16, 1938) was an American blues musician and songwriter. His landmark recordings in 1936 and 1937 display a combination of singing, guitar skills, and songwriting talent that has influenced later generati ...
's "Milk Cow's Calf's Blues".
Because Dylan's songwriting talent was developing so rapidly, nothing from the April sessions appeared on ''Freewheelin''.
The recording sessions at Studio A resumed on July 9, when Dylan recorded "
Blowin' in the Wind
"Blowin' in the Wind" is a song written by Bob Dylan in 1962.
It was released as a single and included on his album ''The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan'' in 1963. It has been described as a protest song and poses a series of rhetorical questions about ...
", a song that he had first performed live at
Gerde's Folk City
Gerdes Folk City, sometimes spelled Gerde's Folk City, was a music venue in the West Village, part of Greenwich Village, Manhattan, in New York City. Initially opened by owner Mike Porco as a restaurant called Gerdes, it eventually began to presen ...
on April 16. Dylan also recorded "Bob Dylan's Blues", "Down the Highway", and "Honey, Just Allow Me One More Chance", all of which ended up on ''Freewheelin'', plus one other original composition, "Baby, I'm in the Mood for You", which did not.
At this point, music manager
Albert Grossman
Albert Bernard Grossman (May 21, 1926 – January 25, 1986) was an American entrepreneur and manager in the American folk music and rock and roll scene. He was famous as the manager of many of the most popular and successful performers of folk and ...
began to take an interest in Dylan's business affairs. Grossman persuaded Dylan to transfer the publishing rights of his songs from Duchess Music, whom he had signed a contract with in January 1962, to Witmark Music, a division of Warner's music publishing operation. Dylan signed a contract with Witmark on July 13, 1962. Unknown to Dylan, Grossman had also negotiated a deal with Witmark. This gave Grossman fifty percent of Witmark's share of the publishing income generated by any songwriter Grossman had brought to the company. This "secret deal" resulted in a bitter legal battle between Dylan and Grossman in the 1980s.
Albert Grossman became Dylan's manager on August 20, 1962. Since Dylan was under twenty-one when he had signed his contract with CBS, Grossman argued that the contract was invalid and had to be re-negotiated. Instead, Hammond responded by inviting Dylan to his office and persuading him to sign a "reaffirment"—agreeing to abide by the original contract. This effectively neutralized Grossman's strategy, and led to some animosity between Grossman and Hammond.
Grossman enjoyed a reputation in the folk scene of being commercially aggressive, generating more income and defending his clients' interests more fiercely than "the nicer, more amateurish managers in the Village". Dylan critic Andy Gill has suggested that Grossman encouraged Dylan to become more reclusive and aloof, even paranoid.
On September 22, Dylan appeared for the first time at
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street (Manhattan), 56th and 57th Street (Manhatta ...
, part of an all-star hootenanny. On this occasion, he premiered his new composition "
A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall
"A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall" is a song written by American musician and Nobel Laureate Bob Dylan in the summer of 1962 and recorded later that year for his second album, ''The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan'' (1963). Its lyrical structure is modeled after ...
", a complex and powerful song built upon the question and answer refrain pattern of the traditional British ballad "
Lord Randall
"Lord Randall", or "Lord Randal", () is an Anglo- Scottish border ballad consisting of dialogue between a young Lord and his mother. Similar ballads can be found across Europe in many languages, including Danish, German, Magyar, Irish, Swe ...
". "Hard Rain" would gain added resonance one month later, when
President Kennedy
John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination i ...
appeared on national television on October 22, and announced the discovery of Soviet missiles on the island of Cuba, initiating the
Cuban Missile Crisis
The Cuban Missile Crisis, also known as the October Crisis (of 1962) ( es, Crisis de Octubre) in Cuba, the Caribbean Crisis () in Russia, or the Missile Scare, was a 35-day (16 October – 20 November 1962) confrontation between the United S ...
. In the sleeve notes on the ''Freewheelin'' album,
Nat Hentoff
Nathan Irving Hentoff (June 10, 1925 – January 7, 2017) was an American historian, novelist, jazz and country music critic, and syndicated columnist for United Media. Hentoff was a columnist for ''The Village Voice'' from 1958 to 2009. Fol ...
quotes Dylan as saying that he wrote "Hard Rain" in response to the Cuban Missile Crisis: "Every line in it is actually the start of a whole new song. But when I wrote it, I thought I wouldn't have enough time alive to write all those songs so I put all I could into this one".
In fact, Dylan had written the song more than a month before the crisis broke.
Dylan resumed work on ''Freewheelin'' at Columbia's Studio A on October 26, when a major innovation took place—Dylan made his first studio recordings with a backing band. Accompanied by
Dick Wellstood
Richard MacQueen Wellstood (November 25, 1927 – July 24, 1987) was an American jazz pianist.
Career
He was born in Greenwich, Connecticut, United States. Wellstood's mother was a graduate of the Juilliard School who played church organ. Wellst ...
on piano, Howie Collins and
Bruce Langhorne
Bruce Langhorne (May 11, 1938 – April 14, 2017) was an American folk musician. He was active in the Greenwich Village folk scene in the 1960s, primarily as a session guitarist for folk albums and performances.
Biography
Early life
Langhorn ...
on guitar,
Leonard Gaskin
Leonard Gaskin (August 25, 1920 – January 24, 2009) was an American jazz bassist born in New York City.
Gaskin played on the early bebop scene at Minton's and Monroe's in New York in the early 1940s. In 1944 he took over Oscar Pettiford's ...
on bass, and
Herb Lovelle
Herbie Lovelle (1 June 1924 - April 8, 2009) was an American drummer, who played jazz, R&B, rock, and folk. He was also a studio musician and an actor.
Lovelle's uncle was the drummer Arthur Herbert. Lovelle began his career with the trumpete ...
on drums, Dylan recorded three songs. Several takes of Dylan's "
Mixed-Up Confusion
"Mixed-Up Confusion" is a song written and recorded by Bob Dylan and released as his first single.
The song was recorded with an electric band on November 14, 1962, during the sessions for ''The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan'' but was not used on that a ...
" and
Arthur Crudup
Arthur William "Big Boy" Crudup (August 24, 1905 – March 28, 1974) was an American Delta blues singer, songwriter and guitarist. He is best known, outside blues circles, for his songs "That's All Right" (1946), "My Baby Left Me" and "So Gla ...
's "
That's All Right Mama
"That's All Right" is a song written and originally performed by blues singer Arthur Crudup and recorded in 1946. The song was rereleased in early March 1949 under the title "That's All Right, Mama", which was issued as RCA's first rhythm and bl ...
" were deemed unusable, but a master take of "Corrina, Corrina" was selected for the final album. An 'alternate take' of "Corrina, Corrina" from the same session would also be selected for the b-side of "Mixed Up Confusion", Dylan's first electric single issued later in the year. At the next recording session on November 1, the band included
Art Davis
Arthur David Davis (December 6, 1934 – July 29, 2007) was a double-bassist, known for his work with Thelonious Monk, John Coltrane, Dizzy Gillespie, McCoy Tyner and Max Roach.
Biography
Davis was born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, United State ...
on bass, while jazz guitarist
George Barnes replaced Howie Collins. "Mixed-Up Confusion" and "That's All Right Mama" were re-recorded, and again the results were deemed unsatisfactory. A take of the third song, "Rocks and Gravel", was selected for the album, but the track was subsequently dropped.
On November 14, Dylan resumed work with his backup band, this time with Gene Ramey on bass, devoting most of the session to recording "Mixed-Up Confusion". Although this track did not appear on ''Freewheelin'', it was released as a single on December 14, 1962, and then swiftly withdrawn. Unlike the other material which Dylan recorded between 1961 and 1964, "Mixed-Up Confusion" attempted a
rockabilly
Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music. It dates back to the early 1950s in the United States, especially the Southern United States, South. As a genre it blends the sound of Western music (North America), Western music ...
sound.
Cameron Crowe
Cameron Bruce Crowe (born July 13, 1957) is an American journalist, author, writer, producer, director, actor, lyricist, and playwright. Before moving into the film industry, Crowe was a contributing editor at ''Rolling Stone'' magazine, for wh ...
described it as "a fascinating look at a folk artist with his mind wandering towards
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one ...
and
Sun Records
Sun Records is an American independent record label founded by producer Sam Phillips in Memphis, Tennessee in February 1952. Sun was the first label to record Elvis Presley, Charlie Rich, Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, and Johnny C ...
".
Also recorded on November 14 was the new composition "
Don't Think Twice, It's All Right
"Don't Think Twice, It's All Right" is a song written by Bob Dylan in 1962, recorded on November 14 that year, and released on the 1963 album ''The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan'' and as the b-side of the ''Blowin' in the Wind'' single. The song was cov ...
" (Clinton Heylin writes that, although the sleeve notes of ''Freewheelin'' describe this song as being accompanied by a backing band, no band is audible on the released version).
Langhorne then accompanied Dylan on three more original compositions: "
Ballad of Hollis Brown
"Ballad of Hollis Brown" is a American folk music revival, folk song written by Bob Dylan, released in 1964 on his third album ''The Times They Are a-Changin' (album), The Times They Are A-Changin. The song tells the story of a South Dakota fa ...
", "Kingsport Town", and "Whatcha Gonna Do", but these performances were not included on ''Freewheelin''.
[
Dylan held another session at Studio A on December 6. Five songs, all original compositions, were recorded, three of which were eventually included on ''The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan'': "A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall", "Oxford Town", and "]I Shall Be Free
"I Shall Be Free" is a song by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan. It was recorded on 6 December 1962 at Studio A, Columbia Recording Studios, New York, produced by John Hammond. The song was released as the closing track on ''The Freewheelin ...
". Dylan also made another attempt at "Whatcha Gonna Do" and recorded a new song, "Hero Blues", but both songs were ultimately rejected and left unreleased.[
]
Traveling to England
Twelve days later, Dylan made his first trip abroad. British TV director Philip Saville
Philip Saville (28 October 1927 – 22 December 2016) was a British director, screenwriter and former actor whose career lasted half a century. The British Film Institute's Screenonline website described Saville as "one of Britain's most prolifi ...
had heard Dylan perform in Greenwich Village, and invited him to take part in a BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
''. Dylan arrived in London on December 17. In the play, Dylan performed "Blowin' in the Wind" and two other songs. Dylan also immersed himself in the London folk scene, making contact with
. "I ran into some people in England who really knew those
songs", Dylan recalled in 1984. "Martin Carthy, another guy named
Davenport. Martin Carthy's incredible. I learned a lot of stuff from Martin."
Carthy taught Dylan two English songs that would prove important for the ''Freewheelin'' album. Carthy's arrangement of "
". A 19th-century ballad commemorating the death of
". Both songs displayed Dylan's fast-growing ability to take traditional melodies and use them as a basis for highly personal songwriting.
From England, Dylan traveled to Italy, and joined Albert Grossman, who was touring with his client
. Dylan was also hoping to make contact with his girlfriend, Suze Rotolo, unaware that she had already left Italy and was on her way back to New York. Dylan worked on his new material, and when he returned to London, Martin Carthy received a surprise: "When he came back from Italy, he'd written 'Girl From the North Country'; he came down to the Troubadour and said, 'Hey, here's "Scarborough Fair"' and he started playing this thing".
Dylan flew back to New York on January 16, 1963. In January and February, he recorded some of his new compositions in sessions for the folk magazine ''
'', including a new anti-war song, "Masters of War", which he had composed in London. Dylan was happy to be reunited with Suze Rotolo, and he persuaded her to move back into the apartment they had shared on West 4th Street.
Dylan's keenness to record his new material for ''Freewheelin'' paralleled a dramatic power struggle in the studio: Albert Grossman's determination to have
replaced as Dylan's producer at CBS. According to Dylan biographer
, "The two men could not have been more different. Hammond was a
''. Grossman was a Jewish businessman with a shady past, hustling to become a millionaire".
Because of Grossman's hostility to Hammond, Columbia paired Dylan with a young, African-American jazz producer,
. Wilson recalled: "I didn't even particularly like folk music. I'd been recording
... I thought folk music was for the dumb guys.
played like the dumb guys, but then these words came out. I was flabbergasted." At a recording session on April 24, produced by Wilson, Dylan recorded five new compositions: "Girl from the North Country", "Masters of War", "Talkin' World War III Blues", "Bob Dylan's Dream", and "Walls of Red Wing". "Walls of Red Wing" was ultimately rejected, but the other four were included in a revised album sequence.
The final drama of recording ''Freewheelin'' occurred when Dylan was scheduled to appear on ''
'' on May 12, 1963. Dylan had told Sullivan he would perform "Talkin' John Birch Paranoid Blues", but the "head of program practices" at
, and asked him to perform another number. Rather than comply with TV censorship, Dylan refused to appear on the show. There is disagreement between Dylan's biographers about the consequences of this censorship row.
writes that after ''The Ed Sullivan Show'' debacle, CBS lawyers were alarmed to discover that the controversial song was to be included on Dylan's new album, only a few weeks from its release date. They insisted that the song be dropped, and four songs ("John Birch", "Let Me Die in My Footsteps", "Rambling Gambling Willie", "Rocks and Gravel") on the album were replaced with Dylan's newer compositions recorded in April ("Girl from the North Country", "Masters of War", "Talkin' World War III Blues", "Bob Dylan's Dream"). Scaduto writes that Dylan felt "crushed" by being compelled to submit to censorship, but he was in no position to argue.
According to Heylin, "There remains a common belief that
was forced by Columbia to pull 'Talkin' John Birch Paranoid Blues' from the album ''after'' he walked out on ''The Ed Sullivan Show''." However, the "revised" version of ''The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan'' was released on May 27, 1963; this would have given Columbia Records only two weeks to recut the album, reprint the record sleeves, and press and package enough copies of the new version to fill orders. Heylin suggests that CBS had probably forced Dylan to withdraw "John Birch" from the album some weeks earlier and that Dylan had responded by recording his new material on April 24. Whether the songs were substituted before or after ''The Ed Sullivan Show'', critics agree that the new material gave the album a more personal feel, distanced from the traditional folk-blues material which had dominated his first album, ''Bob Dylan''.
A few copies of the original pressing of the LP with the four deleted tracks have turned up over the years, despite Columbia's supposed destruction of all copies during the pre-release phase (all copies found were in the standard album sleeve with the revised track selection). Other permutations of the ''Freewheelin'' album include versions with a different running order of the tracks on the album, and a Canadian version of the album that listed the tracks in the wrong order.
The original pressing of ''The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan'' is considered the most valuable and rarest record in America,