Expecting Rain

Released January 13, 1964
Recorded August 6, 1963–October 31, 1963 at Columbia Studios, New York City
Genre Folk
Length 45:30
Label Columbia Records
Producer(s) Tom Wilson


The Times They Are a-Changin' is Bob Dylan's 3rd album, released in 1964 by Columbia Records

Produced by Tom Wilson, it is the singer-songwriter's first collection to feature only original compositions. The album consists mostly of stark, sparsely-arranged story songs concerning issues such as racism, poverty, and social change. The title track is one of Dylan's most famous; many felt that it captured the spirit of social and political upheaveal that characterized the 1960s.

Some critics and fans were not quite as taken with the album as a whole, relative to his previous work, for its lack of humor or musical diversity. Still, The Times They Are a-Changin' entered the United States chart at twenty, eventually going gold, and belatedly reaching four in the United Kingdom in 1965.



Dylan began work on his third album on August 6, 1963 at Columbia's Studio A in New York City. Once again, Tom Wilson was the producer, this time for the entire album.

Eight songs were recorded during that first session, but only one recording of "North Country Blues" was ultimately deemed usable and set aside as the master take. A master take of "Seven Curses" was also recorded, but it was left out of the final album sequence.

Another session at Studio A was held the following day, this time yielding master takes for four songs: "Ballad of Hollis Brown", "With God on Our Side", "Only a Pawn in Their Game", and "Boots of Spanish Leather", all of which were later included on the final album sequence.

A third session was held in Studio A on August 12, but nothing from this session was deemed usable. However, three recordings taken from the third session eventually saw official release: "master" takes of "Paths of Victory", "Moonshine Blues", and "Only a Hobo" were all included on The Bootleg Series Volumes 1-3 (Rare & Unreleased) 1961-1991 released in 1991.

Sessions did not resume for more than two months. During the interim, Dylan toured briefly with Joan Baez, performing a number of key concerts that raised his profile in the media. When Dylan returned to Studio A on October 23, he had six more original compositions ready for recording. Master takes for "The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll" and "When the Ship Comes In" were both culled from the October 23 session. A master take for "Percy's Song" was also recorded, but it was ultimately set aside and was not officially released until Biograph in 1985.

Another session was held the following day on the 24 October. Master takes of "The Times They Are a-Changin'" and "One Too Many Mornings" were recorded and later included in the final album sequence. A master take for "Lay Down Your Weary Tune" was also recorded, but ultimately left out of the final album; it was eventually released on Biograph. Two more outtakes, "Eternal Circle" and "Suze (The Cough Song)", were later issued on The Bootleg Series Volumes 1-3 (Rare & Unreleased) 1961-1991.

The sixth and final session for The Times They Are a-Changin' was held on October 31, 1963. The entire session focused on one song, "Restless Farewell", whose melody is again, taken from an Irish-Scots folk song, "The Parting Glass", and it produced a master take that ultimately closed the album.

The Times They Are a-Changin' opens with its title track, one of Dylan's most famous songs and certainly one of his best-known song titles. Dylan's friend, Tony Glover, recalls visiting Dylan's apartment in September 1963, where he saw a number of song manuscripts and poems lying on a table. "The Times They Are-a Changin'" had yet to be recorded, but Glover saw its early manuscript. After reading the words "come senators, congressmen, please heed the call", Glover reportedly asked Dylan: "What is this shit, man?", to which Dylan responded, "Well, you know, it seems to be what the people like to hear".

A self-conscious protest song, it is often viewed as a reflection of the generation gap and of the political divide marking American culture in the 1960s. Dylan, however, disputed this interpretation in 1964, saying "Those were the only words I could find to separate aliveness from deadness. It had nothing to do with age." A year later, Dylan would say: "I can't really say that adults don't understand young people any more than you can say big fishes don't understand little fishes. I didn't mean ['The Times They Are a-Changin'] as a statement... It's a feeling."

Thirty years after it was first released, "The Times They Are a-Changin'" created some controversy for Dylan when he allowed a Canadian merchant bank to feature it in its advertising campaign.

"Ballad of Hollis Brown" was originally recorded for Dylan's previous album, The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan. That version was rejected and the song was eventually re-recorded for The Times They Are a-Changin'. Described by Clinton Heylin as a "'tragic tale of independence and free will' culled from the folk idiom", it is a grim, rural Gothic story of a father killing his starving family ("There's seven people dead in a South Dakota farm").

"With God on Our Side" was first performed at New York's Town Hall on April 12, 1963 (which also happened to be Dylan's debut appearance at that venue). Although Dylan claims it is an original composition, the melody to "With God on Our Side" bears a striking resemblance to "The Patriot Game", the lyrics of which were written by Dominic Behan and the melody borrowed from the traditional Irish folk song, "The Merry Month Of May". Behan called Dylan a plagiarist and a thief, in an attempt to goad Dylan into a lawsuit; Dylan made no response. "The Patriot Game" was originally introduced to Dylan by Scottish folksinger Nigel Denver. English folksinger Jim McLean recalls Dylan asking him in late 1962: "'What does it mean, 'Patriot Game'?'... I explained – probably lectured him – about Dr Johnson, who's one of Dominic's favourite writers, and that's where Dominic picked up [the] saying: 'Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel.'" NPR's Tim Riley writes: "'With God on Our Side' manages to voice political savvy mixed with generational naivete" as it "draws the line for those born long enough after World War I to find its issues blurry ('the reasons for fightin'/I never did get') and who view the forgiveness of the World War II Germans as a farce."

Dylan follows "With God on Our Side" with a soft, understated ballad: "One Too Many Mornings". "It's the sound of someone too smitten by love to harbor regrets, grown too independent to consider a reunion," writes Riley. One of the more celebrated songs on The Times They Are a-Changin', Dylan would dramatically rearrange it on his legendary 1966 concert tour for a full electric band.

"North Country Blues" tells a story involving the devastating effect of a mining company's decision to outsource its labor to other countries. (Dylan would return to this theme in "Union Sundown" on his 1983 album, Infidels.) It also marks the first time Dylan wrote a song exclusively from the point-of-view of a woman, in this case, the wife of an unemployed blue-collar worker.

Dylan first performed "Only a Pawn in Their Game" at a voter registration rally in Greenwood, Mississippi. The song refers to the murder of Medgar Evers, who was the Mississippi leader of the NAACP. Civil rights activist Bernice Johnson would later tell critic Robert Shelton that "'Pawn' was the very first song that showed the poor white was as victimized by discrimination as the poor black. The Greenwood people didn't know that Pete [Seeger], Theo[dore Bikel] and Bobby [Dylan] were well known. (Seeger and Bikel were also present at the registration rally.) They were just happy to be getting support. But they really like Dylan down there in the cotton country."

The melody for "Boots of Spanish Leather" was inspired by Martin Carthy's arrangement of the English folk song "Scarborough Fair" (which was also the melodic source of an earlier Dylan composition, "Girl from the North Country"). Dylan learned Carthy's arrangement during his first trip to England in late 1962. After finishing his obligations in England (including a brief appearance in a BBC drama, Madhouse on Castle Street), Dylan traveled to Italy looking for his girlfriend, Suze Rotolo, apparently unaware that she had already returned to America (reportedly the same time Dylan left for England). While in Italy, Dylan created an early draft of "Boots of Spanish Leather".

The song tells the story of a woman who is going abroad, and she asks her lover if there's anything she can send back to him. Her lover refuses to answer, even when she insists on sending back something as he is too distraught over her imminent departure; he only wants her to be with him. After she leaves, she eventually writes him a letter where it's implied that she may never return. Her lover believes that her love for him is either fading or already gone, and in the last line of the song, he asks her to send him "Spanish boots of Spanish leather." Salon.com critic Bill Wyman called the song "an abstract classic and one of the purest, most confounding folk songs of the time."

According to Heylin, "When The Ship Comes In" was written in August 1963 "in a fit of pique, in a hotel room, after his unkempt appearance had led an impertinent hotel clerk to refuse him admission until his companion, Joan Baez, had vouched for his good character." Heylin speculates that "Jenny's Song" from Brecht and Weill's Threepenny Opera was also an inspiration: "As Pirate Jenny dreams of the destruction of all her enemies by a mysterious ship, so Dylan envisages the neophobes being swept aside in 'the hour when the ship comes in'." Dylan's former girlfriend Suze Rotolo recalls that her "interest in Brecht was certainly an influence on him. I was working for the Circle in the Square Theater and he came to listen all the time. He was very affected by the song that Lotte Lenya's known for, 'Pirate Jenny'."

"Possibly the most focused and precise and persuasive of [Dylan's] protest songs", according to Wyman, "'The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll' tells the story of a rich tobacco-farm owner (William Zantzinger, who is called "William Zanzinger" in the song) who kills his African-American servant (Hattie Carroll). Based on actual events, the song portrays Zantzinger as a privileged individual who kills Carroll by striking her with his cane at a society gathering, escaping with a nominal sentence because of his political connections.

The actual incident occurred at a society ball at the Emerson Hotel in Baltimore, Maryland on February 9, 1963. Twenty-four-year-old Zantzinger was intoxicated and began striking people with a wooden carnival cane. One of the people he struck was Carroll, then a fifty-one-year-old barmaid with an enlarged heart and severe hypertension. When she questioned his need for another drink, Zantzinger became verbally abusive. He succeeded in upsetting Carroll, and on returning to the kitchen she complained about Zantzinger to a co-worker. Carroll then collapsed, and she was taken to a hospital where she died the following morning. Though there were no severe marks reported on Carroll's body, no autopsy was performed to determine the exact cause of death.

Zantzinger was charged with involuntary manslaughter since his actions, according to the courts, contributed to "a tremendous emotional upsurge" that ultimately killed her; on August 28, 1963, Zantzinger was sentenced to six months in prison, which he began serving on September 15, and paid $25,000 in damages to Carroll's family.

"The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll" suggests that Zantzinger had political connections that came to his advantage during sentencing. His father, Richard C. Zantzinger, had served a term in the Maryland legislature and on the state planning commission.

A few critics like Clinton Heylin would take issue with the facts portrayed in the song, but even Heylin himself conceded that the song is "a brilliant evocation of the kind of miscarriage of justice the color of a woman's skin could bring...[it is] Dylan's 'Vanity of Human Wishes'...a masterpiece of drama and wordplay..."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Times_ ... Changin%27


Outtakes:

East Laredo Blues
http://files.eocfu.com/uploads/10-EastLaredoBlues.mp3

Eternal Circle 1
http://files.eocfu.com/uploads/-Eternal ... mplete.mp3

Eternal Circle 2
http://files.eocfu.com/uploads/04-Etern ... ersion.mp3

Percy's Song(Not released version)
http://files.eocfu.com/uploads/14-PercysSongVersion.mp3

Hero Blues
http://files.eocfu.com/uploads/02-HeroBlues.mp3

New Orleans Rag
http://files.eocfu.com/uploads/NewOrlea ... mplete.mp3

Farewell
http://files.eocfu.com/uploads/09-Farew ... mplete.mp3

That's Alright Mama
http://files.eocfu.com/uploads/tMama-Sa ... ndEasy.mp3


Favorite Song: Lonesome Death of Hattie Carrol/ Boots of Spanish Leather

Least Favorite: North Country Blues

Overall Album Rating: 7.5/10

Favorite Line(s):

Oh a false clock tries to tick out my time
To disgrace, distract, and bother me.
And the dirt of gossip blows into my face,
And the dust of rumors covers me.
But if the arrow is straight
And the point is slick,
It can pierce through dust no matter how thick.
So I'll make my stand
And remain as I am
And bid farewell and not give a damn.

I love the cough song!
Thanks for the MP3's

Is this from the liner notes?

The cough song is the best.

It's from bobdylan.com




Have to say, that Moonshiner and Lay Down Your Weary Tune are absolutely fantastic. If they were included, the album would have been much better I'd say.

EDit

Restless Farewell.

one of his very,very best,he was only 22 making this album,a sobering thought.....

favourite song:"boots of spanish leather"
least favourite?.......hmmm...."restless farewell"...though its not a bad song
favourite lyric:".....the words fill my head/and fall to the floor/if gods on our side hell stop the next war"
9/10

My favorite of his all-accoustic albums (not to mention the one I can play the most songs from haha). I dont particularly like the order of the songs, but there isnt a bad one in the bunch. The linear notes are an interesting read as well

fav: north country blues
least fav: hollis brown

7/10

can't say i really ever listen to this album any more, or indeed, to many of the protest songs, but their power is undeniable. i think christopher ricks' favourite dylan song is the lonesome death of hattie carroll.

EDIT before anyone jumps on me for heresy, my email address is testament to an appreciation of protest dylan.

EDIT 2 i need to stop checking ER at 3am when i cannae sleep.

Let's see [glances at CD] ...

Boots of Spanish Leather is a lovely song.

The Times They Are A-Changin is good. That was when it sunk in
to me the Dylan was an excellent artist. There is a lot of power in
it and it was sort of an anthem during that time. A number of lines
in it were memorable.

When the Ship Comes In is interesting and highly metaphorical, at
first one is not sure what to make of it. I had a totally unorthodox
interpretation of that song.

Those would be my favorites.

Hattie Carroll is one I was big on at one time. Now I'm kind of down
on it due to it's distortions of the facts that came to light, after
William Z had already been slandered. Oops too late now! That
would now be my least favorite.

Good album, not my favorite by a long shot.

Two lines that first come to mind:

Don't stand in the doorway
Don't block up the hall

This album is probably more significant as a historical document than as a musical one. As Freewheelin’ announced a revolution in popular music to musicians and savvy listeners, so Times Changin’ defined Dylan to the larger world: protest singer, voice of a generation, 1960s. He’s been running from it every since.

It’s one of his most comprehensible and plain spoken albums and introduces some life-long concerns. The Wikipedia article points out the relation of Union Sundown to North Country Blues. Last year’s Working Man Blues #2, addresses the same subject. The remarks he made about American farmers that so upset folks on the Live Aid broadcast seem perfectly natural from the author of Hollis Brown.

There are some great songs on the album. Dylan obviously considers Hattie Carroll a classic; he still sings it frequently. Pawn in the Game was my Dylan epiphany song. Boots of Spanish Leather is beautiful and delicate. One Too Many Mornings is another favorite. With God on My Side I quite dislike. Every time I hear it I get annoyed that he got the Mexican American War confused with the Spanish American War—got to keep those wars of imperialism straight—and there’s a weird change in tone towards the end that deflates the final verse for me. As a whole, the album is quite grim which discourages frequent listening.

For a Dylan album: 7/10; for anyone else: 11.

Which remind me, have I said this before? With God on Our Side was
all fine and good back then, I guess (I'm not sure). I'm not sure if it
really had a true point, maybe there was a sliver of a point to it, then.
Now, today in 2007, there is most certainly a point to be made with a
song such as that, there is no doubt about it, but the point to be
made is made from totally different direction. What this world needs
now is an updated version of this song!

Let me put it this way. What With God on our Side said in 1964 was
pretty chicken shit stuff, especially when you compare it with what
the same song could say in 2007 about Muslim extremists, which
would make perfectly good sense.

My least favorite of the early albums, I'd say.

Favorite track: One Too Many mornings

Least favorite: Boots of Spanish Leather (sounds too much like Girl from North Country)

Favorite lines: In a many dark hour I've been thinkin' about this
That Jesus Christ was betrayed by a kiss
But I can't think for you, you'll have to decide
Whether Judas Iscariot had God on his side.

Rating: 7/10

"You don't count the dead when God's on your side" is the line Bush and Blair need to think about the most. I think the song works even better now. I prefer the Unplugged version; and the 1995 Frank Sinatra birthday version of Restless Farewell is, I think, one of Dylan's greatest live recordings. His delivery and the band behind him are absolutely spot on.

Generally, the first four albums don't do a great deal for me - there's a preachiness which I don't respond well to. However, I'd say this is the best of the four. The songs are very good indeed; I always forget about Hollis Brown, which is so wonderfully sung.

Fav: North Country Blues / The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll

Least Fav: Ballad of Hollis Brown

Rating: 9/10

I love this album. To me, it is his most smooth album. The songs don't sound forced, rushed or desperate. It sounds like he knew exactly what he wanted to put on this album. Well, I guess "Hollis Brown" seems a little out of place, but other than that one song the album is nearly flawless.

Adding the outtakes only make it better.

I think you and I must be polar opposites. You think this is one of Dylan's best albums, you think Blonde On Blonde is overrated, Self Portrait's not bad, Planet Waves sounds cheesy, and you don't like Hollis Brown or Visions Of Johanna. We'd better just agree to disagree.

This is a cold, ragged album. My favorite tracks:

'The Ballad Of Hollis Brown' - The lyrics are chilling, and each verse builds to the excellent conclusion. And the guitar playing is top-notch dirty acoustic blues. As I've said elsewhere, this is Dylan's Townes Van Zandt song.

'The Lonesome Death Of Hattie Carroll' - This begins so well, the voice so immediate and the melody so aching. The song structure and certainly the lyrics seem rather bold, though I'm not familiar with its etymology -- maybe another lifted tune?

'Restless Farewell' - Although topped by the Sinatra tribute rendition, this performance still wins high marks. The adopted melody is ramshackle, woozy, and moving.

I listened to this again today, with all the released outtakes. It's a fine album, let down for me by a couple of inferior performances.

The title track is difficult to listen to objectively: like Blowin' In The Wind, it's just so familiar. Almost better is the version from the Love & Theft bonus disc - it's easier to listen to with an open mind. It's still staggering to think that this was written and recorded before JFK's assassination, so firmly is its finger on the pulse. For me, it's a far better song than Blowin' In The Wind.

The Ballad Of Hollis Brown is just perfect: impeccably delivered, and sung in a voice that haunts the best songs on the album. One of his most compelling recordings.

With God Our Side is potentially one of Dylan's greatest songs, but not this version. It's a mess. It seems to be one of the most structureless recordings I've ever heard; so much so, that it threatens to break down altogether more than once. It is also plagued by something that the best songs on this album are significantly without: really tedious, in your face, dull and earnest harmonica playing. This is not true of every song from these sessions that features a harmonica - his playing on Moonshiner is beautifully emotive and subtle, and it's just fine on Paths Of Victory - but the sound of it here and on Walls Of Red Wing just makes me switch off. Also, there's lyrical clunkers like "we forgave the Germans and then we were friends"; which is obviously meant to carry with it a certain irony, but nevertheless sounds like it was written by an eight year old. Much better is the aged, jaded version found on MTV Unplugged.

One Too Many Mornings is very good, if not quite achieving the heights that it was to hit on stage in 1966. But it's still a fine song and well represented here.

North Country Blues, like Hollis Brown, is quite compelling in that "cold, ragged" way that someone mentioned. It reminds me of Bruce Springsteen's album The Ghost Of Tom Joad; which is obviously somewhat a Dylanesque excursion, but this song really captures a similar mood.

Only A Pawn In The Game and The Lonesome Death Of Hattie Carroll both have the potential to sound a little preachy, but Dylan pulls both of them off by virtue of being a master storyteller, when the mood takes him.

Boots Of Spanish Leather is one of my favourites of Dylan's early output. Like the later To Ramona, it has a solid emotional core that is in no danger of ever dating. Fabulous.

When The Ship Comes In, again, escapes portentousness whilst retaining the sense of warning that the song obviously needs.

Restless Farewell is a perfect end to the album, if not quite the fit that it was live in 1995. It's an older man's song but it works just fine here.

Throw in Seven Curses and Lay Down Your Weary Tune - not to mention the other outtakes - and you've got Dylan on seriously good form. An early peak.

Along with Freewheelin' this was the first Bob album i bought, and it grew on me slowly.

i consider it a classic now, what a man.

9/10

I like that version more.

I had just been listening to this album. I like to make a play list on my computer including the actual album and and all the released outtakes that have the same vibe as the rest of the album and let it play at random. I also included "who killed davey moore" (live from '64) even though some of the vocal delivery has some of the another side of bob dylan flavor, I think it would have fit snuggly on the album...another finger pointing song of the same era! This is an already good to very good album and the outtakes make it extraordinary. Lay Down Your Weary Tune, Percy's Song, Eternal Circle, Seven Curses, Moonshiner Blues, Only A Hobo, Paths of Victory, Walls of Redwing


I can never get enough of paths of victory...

My hands-down least favorite of his early records.

There's something unintentionally hilarious to me about the faux-Dorthea Lang cover shot. He reminds me of Gillian Welch, another rich suburban kid who romanticizes about how cool it would have been to be a starving migrant worker in the 30s. There's a halloween dress-up quality to it that's no different whatsoever than if he'd done a record in 67 and been on the front dressed up like the Maharishi. Like DeNiro gaining all that weight for Raging Bull, it looks like Dylan had gone on a crash diet and sucked in his cheeks for that photo.

I think the problem is, for me, that I can forgive almost anything in people with the exception of a lack of humor. From everything we can tell the universe is pretty much a beyond-huge puddle of absurdity and we can follow the lead of either Samuel Beckett, or Eugene Ionesco. I prefer Ionesco's "Yes! It IS quite absurd. I'll have more ice cream please." response.

So... I have improved the record enormously by taking colored markers and putting some clown make-up on our dour Bobby's visage. Add some laughter and calliopie music to the wretched "Lonesome Death" and now we have an album!

You make interesting points about the cover, but what about the music?

Not one of my favorite albums either but it does have some very good songs on it.

Long John you are a scholar and a gentleman!

The picure does seem to capture the unhumorous spirit of the
album, the brown-grey tones add to that feeling, and it is one
picture where his unique jaw-line is made clear, I do like the shirt,
I'm guessing it's 100% cotton, almost a denim, that's one time Bob
wore clothes I like!