Little more than a year had passed between this radio recording and 11 March 1962, when Dylan, fresh from recording his debut LP, stepped into Cynthia Gooding’s studio to record an appearance on Folksinger’s Choice – a guest spot released last year by Leftfield in what now, hopefully, will become something of a regular series.
Blowing in to the Windy City for an appearance on Stud Terkel’s Wax Museum on 26 April 1963, Dylan’s second album was barely 24 hours in the can. A long gestation period had seen The Freewheelin’ run through various tracklistings and benefit from an infusion of the British folk tradition following a visit to England. In contrast to Gooding, Terkel caught Dylan now completely reliant on his own recordings, previewing songs so new and written at such speed that some of them, such as Boots Of Spanish Leather, wouldn’t even make it out until the next-but-one album. There’s something more brittle about Dylan’s studio chat this time around, as he takes on the protest mantle while finding himself the unwilling target of spokesman-worthy questions… All while asserting that he can write songs about “anything worth thinking about”.
It’s tempting to say: so what? Young Bob flashes his wits in the home of Chess. Well, yes… and this recording’s also been long available to those who’d look for it (in similar audio quality, too). Still, as a counter- Bootleg Series, these radio shows are more than welcome.
