Bob Dylan's Dream

Various accounts have been proposed regarding the song's inspiration, none of them being conclusive. In one,

"Bob Dylan's Dream" recalls the times Dylan had spent in Greenwich Village with comedian Hugh Romney and their friends during the early 1960s. Romney, later to become Wavy Gravy of Woodstock and Merry Pranksters fame, lived above The Gaslight Cafe on MacDougal Street, where he worked as entertainment director.Sounes, Down the Highway, pp. 92–93 The two first met at the Gaslight in the spring of 1961. Dylan approached Romney about the possibility of performing and began appearing regularly at the Gaslight's hootenannies. Within a few months, he debuted at the Gaslight as a featured act.Sounes, Down the Highway, pp. 93

Dylan frequently hung out upstairs in Romney's apartment and wrote one of his most significant songs there, "A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall", in August 1962 .Sounes, Down the Highway, pp. 121–122 The next winter, in late January or early February 1963, he wrote "Bob Dylan's Dream" possibly as a nostalgic remembrance of his early days in the Village when his life was less complex.Bjorner, The Yearly Chronicles, 1963

A differing account, by biographer and critic Robert Shelton, posits that the song concerns the lost innocence of Dylan's adolescence in Hibbing, Minnesota.Shelton, No Direction Home, p. 156 John Bucklen, one of Dylan's closest friends in Hibbing in the mid-1950s, told Shelton he and Dylan used to venture out to his sister's house, where they would play guitar and sing verses.Shelton, No Direction Home, pp. 45–46 "When I heard the song 'Bob Dylan's Dream'," he said, "I couldn't help but think that some of the sessions we had at my sister's house were part of that 'Dream.'"{{cite book| title =Bob Dylan's Hibbing| publisher =EDLIS Café Press| year =2019| location =Hibbing, Minnesota| isbn =9781091782891}}Heylin, Revolution in the Air, p. 124

According to Shelton, Dylan credited the melody of "Bob Dylan's Dream" to the traditional broadside ballad "Lord Franklin" (also known as "Lady Franklin's Lament" and "The Sailor's Dream"), which he learned from British folksinger Martin Carthy, while visiting London in late December 1962.

However, Dylan may have learned the song even earlier from his Village friend Paul Clayton, who had recorded it in 1957 for his album Whaling and Sailing Songs: From the Days of Moby Dick for Folkways (later remastered on Tradition). In either case, after returning from London two weeks later, Dylan began playing "Bob Dylan's Dream" for Gil Turner during after-hours sessions at Gerde's Folk City, where Turner was emcee.Heylin, Revolution in the Air, p. 125Gray, Bob Dylan Encyclopedia, pp. 672–673

Besides the melody, Dylan's song also shares lyrical similarities with "Lady Franklin's Lament", as in the song's closing lines:

{{quote|text=Ten thousand dollars at the drop of a hat

I'd give it all gladly if our lives could be like that.|sign=Bob Dylan|source=closing verses of "Bob Dylan's Dream"Bob Dylan, Bob Dylan: Lyrics, 1962–2001, p. 62}}

"Lady Franklin's Lament" concludes on a similar note:

{{quote|text=Ten thousand pounds would I freely give

To know on earth, that my Franklin do live.|sign=Traditional|source=closing verses of "Lady Franklin's Lament"}}

Within a short time, Dylan made the song a regular part of his repertoire, performing it for his first major New York concert at Town Hall on April 12, 1963. Less than two weeks later, on April 24, he recorded two takes of the song at Columbia's Studio A, one of which was selected for the album Freewheelin' Bob Dylan.Heylin, Bob Dylan: The Recording Sessions,, p. 14

• Peter, Paul, and Mary on Album 1700, 1967{{cite web|url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/album-1700-r108117|title=Peter, Paul & Mary: Album 1700|accessdate=February 25, 2011|last=Unterberger|first=Richie|publisher=AllMusic}}
• Judy Collins on Judy Sings Dylan...Just Like a Woman, 1993{{cite web|url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/judy-collins-sings-dylanjust-like-a-woman-r189711|title=Judy Collins: Judy Sings Dylan...Just Like a Woman|accessdate=February 25, 2011|last=Roach|first=Pemberton|publisher=AllMusic}}
• Phil Carmen on Bob Dylan's Dream, 1996{{cite web|url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/bob-dylans-dream-r353132|title=Phil Carmen: Bob Dylan's Dream|accessdate=February 25, 2011|publisher=AllMusic}}
• Kinky Friedman on Classic Snatches from Europe, 2003
• Bryan Ferry on Chimes of Freedom: The Songs of Bob Dylan Honoring 50 Years of Amnesty International, 2012

• List of Bob Dylan songs based on earlier tunes

{{reflist}}

{{Refbegin}}

• {{Cite web|first=Olof|last=Bjorner|title=The Yearly Chronicles, 1961–64|url=http://www.bjorner.com/chronologies.htm}}
• {{Cite web|first=Olof|last=Bjorner|title=Still on the Road: Recording sessions & concerts, 1961–64|url=http://www.bjorner.com/still.htm#y61}}
• {{Cite book|first=Bob|last=Dylan|author-link=Bob Dylan|title=Bob Dylan: Lyrics, 1962–2001|publisher=Simon & Schuster|year=2004|isbn=0-7432-2827-8}}
• {{Cite book|first=Colin|last=Escott|author-link=Colin Escott|title=The Leeds & Witmark Demos|publisher=Columbia Records|year=2010}}
• {{Cite book|first=Michael|last=Gray|author-link=Michael Gray (author)|title=The Bob Dylan Encyclopedia|publisher=Continuum International Publishing|year=2006|isbn=0-8264-6933-7|url=https://archive.org/details/bobdylanencyclop00gray}}
• {{Cite book|first=Clinton|last=Heylin|author-link=Clinton Heylin|title=Bob Dylan: Behind the Shades Revisited|publisher=Harper Entertainment|year=2003|isbn=0-06-052569-X}}
• {{Cite book|last=Clinton|first=Heylin|authorlink1=Clinton Heylin| title=Bob Dylan: The Recording Sessions, 1960-1994|publisher=Macmillan|year=1997|isbn=0-312-15067-9}}
• {{Cite book|last=Clinton|first=Heylin|authorlink1=Clinton Heylin| title=Revolution in the Air: The Songs of Bob Dylan, 1957-1973|publisher=Chicago Review Press|year=2009|isbn=978-1-55652-843-9}}
• {{Cite book|first=Robert|last=Shelton|author-link=Robert Shelton (critic)|title=No Direction Home|publisher=Da Capo Press|date=2003 |orig-year=1986 |edition=Reprinted |isbn=0-306-81287-8}}
• {{Cite book|first=Howard|last=Sounes|author-link=Howard Sounes|title=Down The Highway: The Life Of Bob Dylan|publisher=Grove Press|year=2001|isbn=0-8021-1686-8|url=https://archive.org/details/downhighwaylifeo0000soun}}

{{Refend}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20060715182829/http://www.bobdylan.com/songs/dream.html Lyrics]
• Judy Collins, {{YouTube|nP3spauYdxs|"Bob Dylan's Dream"}} on Pete Seeger's TV show Rainbow Quest

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Category:1963 songs

Category:Songs written by Bob Dylan

Category:Bob Dylan songs

Category:Peter, Paul and Mary songs

Category:Songs about dreams