The Story Behind the Album Cover: Dylan’s “Highway 61 Revisited”

Dylan Album Cover

In advance of the release of Bob Dylan’s The Best Of The Cutting Edge 1965 – 1966: The Bootleg Series Vol. 12, rock scholar Bob Egan of PopSpots has been telling the stories behind the covers of the Bob Dylan albums of that mid-1960s era. In the latest mini-documentary, Egan explains how the cover of Highway 61 Revisited (1965) came to be.

In the video, Egan walks the path taken by Dylan and photographer Daniel Kramer before they ended up outside an apartment owned by Dylan’s manager, Albert Grossman. Egan also explains how Dylan’s friend Bob Neuwirth ended up standing behind Dylan in the photo. For the most part, it seems, there was little planning that went into the iconic album cover photo.

[Update: Unfortunately, the video is no longer available, but you may read an interview about the photo session for the cover here.]

The Best Of The Cutting Edge 1965 – 1966: The Bootleg Series Vol. 12 will be released on November 6, 2015 in three different versions. The new album focuses on the period when Dylan first went electric, featuring outtakes from the albums Bringing It All Back Home (1965), Highway 61 Revisited (1965), and Blonde on Blonde (1966).

What is your favorite Bob Dylan album cover? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    Wanda Jackson, The Queen of Rockabilly and Rock

    Queen of Rock

    On October 20, 1937, Wanda Jackson was born in Maud, Oklahoma. In the 1950s and 1960s, she was a pioneering female rockabilly singer, earning herself the nicknames “The Queen of Rockabilly” and “The Queen of Rock.”

    Jackson is still around and touring. Most recently, Jackson released her thirty-first studio album Unfinished Business in 2012.

    So for something recent, here is the video for “Tore Down,” which is from 2012’s Unfinished Business.

    Finally, here is Wanda Jackson on The Late Show with David Letterman in 2011 singing “Shakin’ All Over.” She is backed by Jack White on guitar.

    [Update Oct. 2017]  Finally, Jackson is releasing a new memoir about her amazing career entitled, Every Night Is Saturday Night: A Country Girl’s Journey To The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

    Happy birthday Ms. Jackson.

    Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    “New” Springsteen Track: “Meet Me In the City”

    The River Box Set

    The long-awaited special edition of Bruce Springsteen’s 1980 classic double-album The River will hit stores on December 4. The Ties That Bind: The River Collection will include the original album, outtakes, a documentary, a never-before seen concert, and more. The project sets out to document an important era in Springsteen’s career with 52 tracks on four CDs and four hours of never-before-seen video on three DVDs.

    In advance of the box set, Springsteen has released one of the songs, “Meet Me In The City.” Check it out.

    One of the CDs in the set will be The River: Single Album, which is is the ten-track album that Springsteen recorded in 1979 but never released. At the time, Springsteen believed that the album lacked “unity and conceptual intensity,” so he took the band back into the recording studio. Seven of the tracks did end up on the official release of The River, some in alternate versions. But it will be cool to hear the album first conceptualized as the follow-up to Darkness on the Edge of Town (1978).

    Will you purchase the new box set? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    Song of the Day: John Moreland’s “Hang Me In the Tulsa County Stars”

    Moreland Tulsa Earlier this year, John Moreland released High on Tulsa Heat. The album is Moreland’s third full-length solo record, but if you have never heard Moreland, you are bound to be drawn into the opening track on the album, “Hang Me in the Tulsa County Stars.” The guy is the real deal.

    Moreland was born in Texas and lived in Kentucky for awhile, but he has been living in Tulsa, Oklahoma since he was ten-years-old, the same age he started writing songs. And while his earlier music included work in punk, rock, and hardcore bands, his most recent work features acoustic guitars and a gravely country voice that places him among the outstanding performers in the Texas singer-songwriter tradition.

    Perhaps you will recognize Moreland’s voice because several of his songs have appeared on the Sons of Anarchy TV series. Either way, though, you are in for a treat when you hear this performance of “Hang Me in the Tulsa County Stars” at the TuneIn House at SXSW 2015.

    You may hear other songs from High on Tulsa Heat on Moreland’s website.

    Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    The First #1 Hit By The Everly Brothers

    Wake Up Little Susie

    On October 14, 1957, the Everly Brothers scored their first number one song with “Wake Up Little Susie.” The song had been released on September 2 as a follow-up to their hit “Bye Bye Love,” which had only gone to number two on the charts during that summer.

    Controversy About the Lyrics

    Some critics of “Wake Up Little Susie” raised concerns it was about teenage sex, and Don Everly later reported that the song was actually banned on some Boston radio stations at one point. Others, however, thought the song was a more innocent tale about two teenagers who had fallen asleep at the movies.

    No matter how you read the song, you cannot deny it is quite catchy, which, along with the great harmonies by Don Everly and Phil Everly, are the reasons it went to the top of the charts. Check out this Everly Brothers performance from 1957 overdubbed with the hit single.

    Simon & Garfunkel Version

    Another duo with amazing harmonies, Simon & Garfunkel, later paid tribute to the Everly Brothers by performing “Wake Up Little Susie” at their famous Concert in Central Park on September 19, 1981.

    Simon & Garfunkel also had some chart success with “Wake Up Little Susie.” The release of their Concert in Central Park version became Simon & Garfunkel’s last top 40 hit, with the song going to number 27 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1982.

    A Beginning for the Everly Brothers

    Although “Wake Up Little Susie” was the Everly Brother’s first number-one song, it was not their last. The Everly Brothers topped the charts again the following year in 1958 with “All I Have To Do Is Dream,” and they did it again in 1960 with “Cathy’s Clown.”

    What is your favorite Everly Brothers song? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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