"As I Went Out One Morning" is a song written and performed 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 as the second song on his 1967 album ''

John Wesley Harding ''John Wesley Harding'' is the eighth studio album by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released on December 27, 1967, by Columbia Records. Produced by Bob Johnston, the album marked Dylan's return to semi-acoustic instrumentation and folk ...

''.

Lyrical interpretation and reception

"As I Went Out One Morning" is a narrative song about a man who offers a hand to a woman in chains, but realizes that she wants more than he is offering, and that "she meant to do imharm." A character identified as

Tom Paine Thomas Paine (born Thomas Pain; – In the contemporary record as noted by Conway, Paine's birth date is given as January 29, 1736–37. Common practice was to use a dash or a slash to separate the old-style year from the new-style year. In th ...

then appears, "command her to yield," and apologizes to the narrator for the woman's actions. ''Tom Paine'' as a figure may represent common sense or civil liberties, which the historical Tom Paine championed. However, it is also likely that this song references the prestigious Tom Paine Award that Dylan received in 1963 from the

National Emergency Civil Liberties Committee The National Emergency Civil Liberties Committee (NECLC), until 1968 known as the Emergency Civil Liberties Committee, was an organization formed in the United States in October 1951 by 150 educators and clergymen to advocate for the civil liberties ...

. Dylan delivered an acceptance speech and was booed and rushed from the stage when he claimed to have empathy for some of

Lee Harvey Oswald Lee Harvey Oswald (October 18, 1939 – November 24, 1963) was a U.S. Marine veteran who assassinated John F. Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States, on November 22, 1963. Oswald was placed in juvenile detention at the age of 12 fo ...

's feelings. This was followed by a letter from the ECLC and then a poem/letter from Dylan explaining his speech. In their book ''Bob Dylan All the Songs: The Story Behind Every Track'', authors Philippe Margotin and Jean-Michel Guesdon praise Dylan's vocal performance for "expressing a new maturity" not found in his earlier recordings and note that it is also "one of the first times he sings with vibrato". The song bears a resemblance to, and is perhaps influenced by, the

W. H. Auden Wystan Hugh Auden (; 21 February 1907 – 29 September 1973) was a British-American poet. Auden's poetry was noted for its stylistic and technical achievement, its engagement with politics, morals, love, and religion, and its variety in ...

poem ''As I Walked Out One Evening'', including sharing the same iambic meter and

quatrain A quatrain is a type of stanza, or a complete poem, consisting of four lines. Existing in a variety of forms, the quatrain appears in poems from the poetic traditions of various ancient civilizations including Persia, Ancient India, Ancient Greec ...

form. The first line also bears resemblance to the folk song ''Lolly Tudum'', which begins "as I went out one morning to breathe the pleasant air", popularized in the New York folk scene by the Seeger Family.

Live performance

Dylan has only performed the song live once, in 1974.

References

External links

As I Went Out One Morning lyric at BobDylan.com
{{authority control 1967 songs Bob Dylan songs Songs written by Bob Dylan Song recordings produced by Bob Johnston