Mr. Tambourine Man
Encyclopedia
"Mr. Tambourine Man" is a song written and performed by Bob Dylan
, which was released on his 1965 album Bringing It All Back Home
. The Byrds
also recorded a version of the song that was released as their first single
on Columbia Records
, reaching number 1 on both the Billboard Hot 100
chart and the UK Singles Chart
, as well as being the title track of their first album, Mr. Tambourine Man
. The Byrds' recording of the song was influential in initiating the musical subgenre of folk rock
, leading many contemporary bands to mimic its fusion of jangly guitars and intellectual lyrics in the wake of the single's success.
This song has been covered by many artists, including Judy Collins
, Odetta
, Melanie
, and William Shatner
. The song's popularity led to Dylan recording it live many times, and it has been included in multiple Dylan and Byrds compilation album
s. It has been translated into other languages, and has been used or referenced in television shows, films and books.
The song has a bright, expansive melody and has become famous in particular for its surrealistic imagery, influenced by artists as diverse as French poet Arthur Rimbaud
and Italian filmmaker Federico Fellini
. The lyrics call on the title character to play a song and the narrator will follow. Interpretations of the lyrics have included a paean
to drugs such as LSD, a call to the singer's muse
, a reflection of the audience's demands on the singer, and religious interpretations. Dylan sings the song in four verses, only one of which was used for The Byrds' recording. Dylan's and The Byrds' versions have appeared on various lists ranking the greatest songs of all time, including an appearance by both on Rolling Stone
s list of the 500 best songs ever. Both versions also received Grammy Hall of Fame Award
s.
", which Dylan recorded later that spring for his album Another Side of Bob Dylan
. Dylan began writing "Mr. Tambourine Man" in February 1964, after attending Mardi Gras
in New Orleans during a cross-country road trip with several friends, and completed it sometime between mid-March and late April after returning to New York. Nigel Williamson has suggested in The Rough Guide to Bob Dylan that the influence of Mardi Gras can be heard in the swirling and fanciful imagery of the song's lyrics. Journalist Al Aronowitz
has claimed that Dylan completed the song at his home, but folk singer
Judy Collins
(who later covered the song) has stated that Dylan completed the song at her home. Dylan premiered the song the following month at a May 17 concert at London's Royal Festival Hall
.
Dylan first recorded "Mr. Tambourine Man" a few weeks later, on June 9, with Tom Wilson producing
, during the Another Side of Bob Dylan session. The take, recorded with Ramblin' Jack Elliott
, was cut from the album because Dylan felt the song was special and their performance did not do it justice. Sometime that month he also recorded a publisher demo of the song at Witmark Music. More than six months passed before Dylan re-recorded the song, again with Wilson in the producer's chair, during the final Bringing It All Back Home session on January 15, 1965, the same day that "Gates of Eden
", "It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)
", and "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue
" were recorded. It was long thought that the four songs were each recorded in one long take. However, in the biography Bob Dylan: Behind the Shades, Clinton Heylin relates that the song required six attempts, possibly because of difficulties in working out the playoffs between Dylan's acoustic guitar
and Bruce Langhorne
's electric lead. The final take was selected for the album, which was released on March 22, 1965.
In his book Keys to the Rain: The Definitive Bob Dylan Encyclopedia, Oliver Trager describes "Mr. Tambourine Man" as having a bright, expansive melody, with Langhorne's electric guitar accompaniment, which provides a countermelody to the vocals, being the only instrumentation besides Dylan's acoustic guitar and harmonica
. Author Wilfred Mellers has noted that although the song is in the key
of D major
, it is harmonized
as if it were in a Lydian
G major
, giving the song a tonal ambiguity that enhances the dreamy quality of the melody. Unusually, rather than beginning with the first verse, the song begins with an iteration of the chorus:
William Ruhlmann, writing for the Allmusic website, has suggested the following interpretation of the song's lyrics: "The time seems to be early morning following a night when the narrator has not slept. Still unable to sleep, though amazed by his weariness, he is available and open to Mr. Tambourine Man's song, and says he will follow him. In the course of four verses studded with internal rhymes, he expounds on this situation, his meaning often heavily embroidered with imagery, though the desire to be freed by the tambourine man's song remains clear."
There has been speculation that the song is about drugs such as LSD or marijuana
, particularly with lines such as "take me on a trip upon your magic swirling ship" and "the smoke rings of my mind." However, Dylan has always denied the song is about drugs, and though he was using marijuana at the time the song was written, he was not introduced to LSD until a few months later. Other commentators have interpreted the song as a call to the singer's spirit or muse
, or the singer's search for transcendence. In particular, biographer John Hinchey has suggested in his book Like a Complete Unknown that the singer is praying to his muse for inspiration; Hinchey notes that ironically the song itself is evidence the muse has already provided the sought-after inspiration. Mr. Tambourine Man has also been interpreted as a symbol for Jesus Christ and for the Pied Piper of Hamelin. The song may also reference gospel music
, with Mr. Tambourine Man being the bringer of religious salvation.
Dylan has cited the influence of Federico Fellini
's movie La strada
on the song, while other commentators have found echoes of the poetry of Arthur Rimbaud
. However, author Howard Sounes has identified the lyrics "in the jingle jangle morning I'll come following you" as having been taken from a Lord Buckley
recording. Bruce Langhorne, who performs guitar on the track, has been cited by Dylan as the inspiration for the tambourine man image in the song. Langhorne used to play a giant, four-inch-deep "tambourine" (actually a Turkish frame drum), and had brought the instrument to a previous Dylan recording session.
The Bringing it All Back Home version of "Mr. Tambourine Man" was included on Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits
in 1967 and several later Dylan compilation albums, including Biograph
, Masterpieces
, and The Essential Bob Dylan
. The two June 1964 recordings, one with Ramblin' Jack Elliott and the other at Witmark Music, have been released on The Bootleg Series Vol. 7: No Direction Home and The Bootleg Series Vol. 9: The Witmark Demos 1962–1964, respectively.
The song has been in Dylan's live concert repertoire ever since it was written, and live performances have appeared on various concert albums and DVDs. A live performance at New York's Philharmonic Hall
dating from October 31, 1964, appeared on The Bootleg Series Vol. 6: Bob Dylan Live 1964, Concert at Philharmonic Hall
. At Dylan's appearance at the Newport Folk Festival
on July 25, 1965, after he was heckled by acoustic folk music
fans during his electric set, Dylan returned to play acoustic versions of "Mr. Tambourine Man" and "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue
"; this performance of "Mr. Tambourine Man" is included in Murray Lerner
's film The Other Side of the Mirror
, and in Martin Scorsese
's documentary No Direction Home
.
A live version from Dylan's famous May 17, 1966, concert in Manchester, England (popularly but mistakenly known as the Royal Albert Hall Concert) is included on The Bootleg Series Vol. 4: Bob Dylan Live 1966, The "Royal Albert Hall" Concert. Dylan also played the song as part of his evening set at the August 1, 1971, Concert for Bangladesh, a benefit concert
organized by George Harrison
and Ravi Shankar
. That performance is included on The Concert for Bangladesh album, although it was excluded from the film of the concert. Another live version from the Rolling Thunder Revue
tour of 1975 is on The Bootleg Series Vol. 5: Bob Dylan Live 1975, The Rolling Thunder Revue
, and yet another live version from 1978 is on Bob Dylan at Budokan
.
, which was released on June 21, 1965. The single, along with the album of the same name, was influential in originating the musical style known as folk rock
, with the single becoming the first folk rock smash hit. Indeed, the term "folk rock" was first coined by the U.S music press
to describe the band's sound at around the same time as "Mr. Tambourine Man" peaked at number 1 on the Billboard chart.
The single initiated the folk rock boom of 1965 and 1966, with many acts imitating the band's hybrid of a rock beat, jangly guitar playing and poetic or socially conscious lyrics. This hybrid had its antecedents in the American folk revival
of the early 1960s, The Animals
' rock-oriented recording of the folk song
"The House of the Rising Sun
", the folk-influences present in the songwriting of The Beatles
, and the twelve-string guitar jangle of The Searchers
and The Beatles' George Harrison
. However, it was The Byrds who first melded these disparate elements into a unified whole, creating a template for folk rock that would prove successful for many acts during the mid-1960s.
, Gene Clark
, and David Crosby
had all worked as folk singers during the early 1960s. They had also spent time, independently of each other, in various folk groups, including The New Christy Minstrels, The Limeliters
, The Chad Mitchell Trio
, and Les Baxter's Balladeers
. In early 1964, McGuinn, Clark and Crosby formed The Jet Set and started developing a fusion of folk-based lyrics and melodies, with arrangement
s in the style of The Beatles. In August 1964, the band's manager Jim Dickson acquired an acetate disc
of "Mr. Tambourine Man" from Dylan's publisher, featuring a performance by Dylan and Ramblin' Jack Elliott. Although the band were initially unimpressed with the song, they eventually agreed to begin rehearsing and demoing
it. In an attempt to make it sound more like The Beatles, the band and Dickson elected to give the song a full, electric rock
band treatment, effectively creating the musical subgenre of folk rock. To further bolster the group's confidence in the song, Dickson invited Dylan to hear the band's rendition. Dylan was impressed, enthusiastically commenting "Wow, you can dance to that!" and his endorsement erased any lingering doubts the band had about the song. During this period, drummer Michael Clarke
and bass player Chris Hillman
joined, and the band changed their name to The Byrds over Thanksgiving
1964. The two surviving demos
of "Mr. Tambourine Man" dating from this period feature an incongruous marching band
drum part from Clarke but overall the arrangement, which utilized a 4/4 time signature
instead of Dylan's 2/4 configuration, is very close to the later single version.
guitar) was immediately influential and has remained so to the present day. The group's complex harmony
work, as featured on "Mr. Tambourine Man", became another major characteristic of their sound. Due to producer Terry Melcher
's initial lack of confidence in The Byrds' musicianship, McGuinn was the only Byrd to play on "Mr. Tambourine Man" and its B-side
, "I Knew I'd Want You". Rather than using band members, Melcher hired The Wrecking Crew
, a collection of top L.A. session musician
s, who (with McGuinn on guitar) provided the backing track over which McGuinn, Crosby, and Clark sang. By the time the sessions for their debut album began in March 1965, however, Melcher was satisfied that the band was competent enough to record its own musical backing.
The Byrds' recording of the song opens with a distinctive, Bach
-inspired guitar introduction
played by McGuinn and then, like Dylan's version, goes into the song's chorus
. Although Dylan's version contains four verses, The Byrds only perform the song's second verse and two repeats of the chorus, followed by a variation on the song's introduction, which then fades out
. The Byrds' arrangement of the song had been shortened during the band's rehearsals at World Pacific Studios
in 1964, at the suggestion of Jim Dickson, in order to accommodate commercial radio
stations, which were reluctant to play songs that were over two-and-a-half minutes long. Thus, while Dylan's version is five-and-a-half minutes long, The Byrds' runs just short of two-and-a-half minutes. The lead vocal on The Byrds' version of "Mr. Tambourine Man" was sung by McGuinn, who attempted to modify his singing style to fill what he perceived as a gap in the popular music scene of the day, somewhere between the vocal sound of John Lennon
and Bob Dylan. The song also took on a spiritual aspect for McGuinn during the recording sessions, as he told The Byrds' biographer Johnny Rogan
in 1997: "I was singing to God and I was saying that God was the Tambourine Man and I was saying to him, 'Hey, God, take me for a trip and I'll follow you.' It was a prayer of submission."
chart. Critic William Ruhlmann has argued that in the wake of "Mr. Tambourine Man", the influence of The Byrds could be heard in recordings by a number of other Los Angeles-based acts, including The Turtles
, The Leaves
, Barry McGuire
, and Sonny & Cher
. In addition, author and music historian Richie Unterberger
sees the influence of The Byrds in recordings by The Lovin' Spoonful
, The Mamas & the Papas
, Simon & Garfunkel, and Love
, while author John Einarson has noted that both The Grass Roots
and We Five
enjoyed commercial success by emulating The Byrds' folk rock sound. In addition, a number of commentators, including Richie Unterberger, Scott Plangenhoef, and Ian MacDonald
have noted that by late 1965, The Beatles themselves were assimilating the sound of folk rock, and in particular The Byrds, into the material found on their Rubber Soul
album, most notably on the songs "Nowhere Man" and "If I Needed Someone
". As the 1960s came to a close, folk rock changed and evolved away from the jangly template pioneered by The Byrds, but, Unterberger argues, the band's influence could still be heard in the music of Fairport Convention
. Since the 1960s, The Byrds' jangly, folk rock sound has continued to influence popular music up to the present day, with authors Chris Smith, Johnny Rogan and Mark Deming all noting the band's influence on such acts as Big Star
, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
, R.E.M.
, The Long Ryders
, The Smiths
, The Bangles
, The Stone Roses
, and Teenage Fanclub
.
In addition to appearing on The Byrds' debut album, "Mr. Tambourine Man" is included on several Byrds' compilation and live albums, including The Byrds Greatest Hits, Live at Royal Albert Hall 1971
, The Very Best of The Byrds
, The Essential Byrds
, The Byrds Play Dylan
, and the live disc of The Byrds' (Untitled) album. The Byrds' version of the song also appears on compilation albums that include hit songs by multiple artists. Two earlier demo recordings of "Mr. Tambourine Man", dating from the World Pacific rehearsal sessions, can be heard on The Byrds' archival albums Preflyte
, In the Beginning
, and The Preflyte Sessions
.
, Odetta
, Judy Collins
, The Four Seasons, The Barbarians, and Chad and Jeremy
. Other artists who have covered the song include Alvin and the Chipmunks
(1965), The Beau Brummels
(1966), The Lettermen
(1966), Kenny Rankin
(1967), Melanie
(1969), Gene Clark
(1984), Les Fradkin
(2007), and Bob Sinclar
(2009). William Shatner
also covered the song in a spoken-word recitation on his 1968 album, The Transformed Man
. A reunited line-up of The Byrds, featuring Roger McGuinn
, Chris Hillman, and David Crosby, performed "Mr. Tambourine Man" with Dylan at a Roy Orbison
tribute concert on February 24, 1990. This live performance of the song was included on the 1990 box set, The Byrds. At the October 1992 Bob Dylan 30th anniversary tribute concert at Madison Square Garden
, McGuinn performed the song, backed by Tom Petty
, Mike Campbell, and Benmont Tench
, among others.
The song has been translated and recorded in a number of languages. Müslüm Gürses
has covered the song with different lyrics written in Turkish
. The Turkish version of the song was called Hayat Berbat. It was translated into Romanian
by Florian Pittiş
, and sung by Pasărea Colibri
on their 1995 album În căutarea cuibului pierdut. There are also at least two Brazilian Portuguese
versions of the song, covered by Zé Ramalho
and Zé Geraldo on their Zé Ramalho canta Bob Dylan and Catadô de Bromélias albums respectively.
"Mr. Tambourine Man" has also been referenced in books and film, including Tom Wolfe
's nonfiction novel The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test
, Stephen King
's book Carrie
, the film Dangerous Minds
, and the documentary film
Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson
. The subject of the latter film, journalist Hunter S. Thompson
, had "Mr. Tambourine Man" played at his funeral and dedicated his novel Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas to Dylan because of the song. The song was also performed by Pete Townshend
at the funeral of Neil Aspinall
, The Beatles
' road manager and personal assistant.
"Mr. Tambourine Man" is one of seven Dylan songs whose lyrics were reset for soprano
and piano (or orchestra) by John Corigliano
for his song cycle
Mr. Tambourine Man: Seven Poems of Bob Dylan.
s list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, and Dylan's version was ranked number 106. It is one of three songs to place twice, along with "Walk This Way
" by both Aerosmith
and Run-DMC with Perry
and Tyler
, and "Blue Suede Shoes
" by both Carl Perkins
and Elvis Presley
. The Byrds version was honored with a Grammy Hall of Fame Award
in 1998, and Dylan's version was honored with the same award in 2002.
In 1989 Rolling Stone ranked The Byrds' version of "Mr. Tambourine Man" as the number 86 single of the prior 25 years. That same year, music critic Dave Marsh
listed it as number 207 in his list of the top 1001 singles ever made. In 1999, National Public Radio in the United States listed this version as one of the 300 most important American records of the 20th century. In the UK, music critic Colin Larkin
listed The Byrds' version as the number 1 single of all time. Other UK publishers that have listed this song as one of the top songs or singles include Mojo
, New Musical Express, and Sounds. Australian music critic Toby Creswell
included the song in his book 1001 Songs: The Great Songs of All Time and the Artists, Stories and Secrets Behind Them.
In a 2005 reader's poll reported in Mojo
, Dylan's version of "Mr. Tambourine Man" was listed as the number 4 all-time greatest Bob Dylan song, and a similar poll of artists ranked the song number 14. In 2002, Uncut
listed it as the number 15 all-time Dylan song.
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
, which was released on his 1965 album Bringing It All Back Home
Bringing It All Back Home
Bringing It All Back Home is singer-songwriter Bob Dylan's fifth studio album, released in March 1965 by Columbia Records. The album is divided into an electric and an acoustic side. On side one of the original LP, Dylan is backed by an electric rock and roll band - a move that further alienated...
. The Byrds
The Byrds
The Byrds were an American rock band, formed in Los Angeles, California in 1964. The band underwent multiple line-up changes throughout its existence, with frontman Roger McGuinn remaining the sole consistent member until the group disbanded in 1973...
also recorded a version of the song that was released as their first single
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
on Columbia Records
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
, reaching number 1 on both the Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
chart and the UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
, as well as being the title track of their first album, Mr. Tambourine Man
Mr. Tambourine Man (album)
Mr. Tambourine Man is the debut album by the American folk rock band The Byrds and was released in June 1965 on Columbia Records . The album, along with the single of the same name, established the band as an internationally successful rock act and was also influential in originating the musical...
. The Byrds' recording of the song was influential in initiating the musical subgenre of folk rock
Folk rock
Folk rock is a musical genre combining elements of folk music and rock music. In its earliest and narrowest sense, the term referred to a genre that arose in the United States and the UK around the mid-1960s...
, leading many contemporary bands to mimic its fusion of jangly guitars and intellectual lyrics in the wake of the single's success.
This song has been covered by many artists, including Judy Collins
Judy Collins
Judith Marjorie "Judy" Collins is an American singer and songwriter, known for her eclectic tastes in the material she records ; and for her social activism. She is an alumna of the University of Colorado.-Musical career:Collins was born and raised in Seattle, Washington...
, Odetta
Odetta
Odetta Holmes, known as Odetta, was an American singer, actress, guitarist, songwriter, and a human rights activist, often referred to as "The Voice of the Civil Rights Movement". Her musical repertoire consisted largely of American folk music, blues, jazz, and spirituals...
, Melanie
Melanie Safka
Melanie Anne Safka-Schekeryk is an American singer-songwriter. Known professionally as simply Melanie, she is best known for her hits "Brand New Key", "Ruby Tuesday" and "Lay Down ".-Early career:...
, and William Shatner
William Shatner
William Alan Shatner is a Canadian actor, musician, recording artist, and author. He gained worldwide fame and became a cultural icon for his portrayal of James T...
. The song's popularity led to Dylan recording it live many times, and it has been included in multiple Dylan and Byrds compilation album
Compilation album
A compilation album is an album featuring tracks from one or more performers, often culled from a variety of sources The tracks are usually collected according to a common characteristic, such as popularity, genre, source or subject matter...
s. It has been translated into other languages, and has been used or referenced in television shows, films and books.
The song has a bright, expansive melody and has become famous in particular for its surrealistic imagery, influenced by artists as diverse as French poet Arthur Rimbaud
Arthur Rimbaud
Jean Nicolas Arthur Rimbaud was a French poet. Born in Charleville, Ardennes, he produced his best known works while still in his late teens—Victor Hugo described him at the time as "an infant Shakespeare"—and he gave up creative writing altogether before the age of 21. As part of the decadent...
and Italian filmmaker Federico Fellini
Federico Fellini
Federico Fellini, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI , was an Italian film director and scriptwriter. Known for a distinct style that blends fantasy and baroque images, he is considered one of the most influential and widely revered filmmakers of the 20th century...
. The lyrics call on the title character to play a song and the narrator will follow. Interpretations of the lyrics have included a paean
Paean
A paean is a song or lyric poem expressing triumph or thanksgiving. In classical antiquity, it is usually performed by a chorus, but some examples seem intended for an individual voice...
to drugs such as LSD, a call to the singer's muse
Muse
The Muses in Greek mythology, poetry, and literature, are the goddesses who inspire the creation of literature and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge, related orally for centuries in the ancient culture, that was contained in poetic lyrics and myths...
, a reflection of the audience's demands on the singer, and religious interpretations. Dylan sings the song in four verses, only one of which was used for The Byrds' recording. Dylan's and The Byrds' versions have appeared on various lists ranking the greatest songs of all time, including an appearance by both on Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
s list of the 500 best songs ever. Both versions also received Grammy Hall of Fame Award
Grammy Hall of Fame Award
The Grammy Hall of Fame Award is a special Grammy award established in 1973 to honor recordings that are at least twenty-five years old and that have "qualitative or historical significance"...
s.
Composition and recording
"Mr. Tambourine Man" was written in early 1964, about the same time as "Chimes of FreedomChimes of Freedom
"Chimes of Freedom" is a song written and performed by Bob Dylan and featured on his 1964 album Another Side of Bob Dylan , produced by Tom Wilson. It was written in early 1964 and was influenced by the symbolist poetry of Arthur Rimbaud. The song depicts the feelings and thoughts of the singer...
", which Dylan recorded later that spring for his album Another Side of Bob Dylan
Another Side of Bob Dylan
Another Side of Bob Dylan is the fourth studio album by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan. It was released August 8, 1964 by Columbia Records....
. Dylan began writing "Mr. Tambourine Man" in February 1964, after attending Mardi Gras
Mardi Gras
The terms "Mardi Gras" , "Mardi Gras season", and "Carnival season", in English, refer to events of the Carnival celebrations, beginning on or after Epiphany and culminating on the day before Ash Wednesday...
in New Orleans during a cross-country road trip with several friends, and completed it sometime between mid-March and late April after returning to New York. Nigel Williamson has suggested in The Rough Guide to Bob Dylan that the influence of Mardi Gras can be heard in the swirling and fanciful imagery of the song's lyrics. Journalist Al Aronowitz
Al Aronowitz
Alfred Gilbert Aronowitz was an American rock journalist best known for introducing Bob Dylan and The Beatles in 1964.Aronowitz was born in Bordentown, New Jersey...
has claimed that Dylan completed the song at his home, but folk singer
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
Judy Collins
Judy Collins
Judith Marjorie "Judy" Collins is an American singer and songwriter, known for her eclectic tastes in the material she records ; and for her social activism. She is an alumna of the University of Colorado.-Musical career:Collins was born and raised in Seattle, Washington...
(who later covered the song) has stated that Dylan completed the song at her home. Dylan premiered the song the following month at a May 17 concert at London's Royal Festival Hall
Royal Festival Hall
The Royal Festival Hall is a 2,900-seat concert, dance and talks venue within Southbank Centre in London. It is situated on the South Bank of the River Thames, not far from Hungerford Bridge. It is a Grade I listed building - the first post-war building to become so protected...
.
Dylan first recorded "Mr. Tambourine Man" a few weeks later, on June 9, with Tom Wilson producing
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
, during the Another Side of Bob Dylan session. The take, recorded with Ramblin' Jack Elliott
Ramblin' Jack Elliott
Ramblin' Jack Elliott is an American folk singer and performer.-Life and career:Elliot Charles Adnopoz was born in Brooklyn, New York to Jewish parents in 1931. Elliott grew up inspired by the rodeos at Madison Square Garden, and wanted to be a cowboy...
, was cut from the album because Dylan felt the song was special and their performance did not do it justice. Sometime that month he also recorded a publisher demo of the song at Witmark Music. More than six months passed before Dylan re-recorded the song, again with Wilson in the producer's chair, during the final Bringing It All Back Home session on January 15, 1965, the same day that "Gates of Eden
Gates of Eden
Gates of Eden is a collection of short stories written by Ethan Coen, first published in November 1998. The title comes from one of the stories in the book with reference to the biblical Garden of Eden...
", "It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)
It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)
"It's Alright, Ma " is a song written and performed by Bob Dylan and first released on his 1965 album, Bringing It All Back Home. It was written in the summer of 1964, first performed live on October 10, 1964, and recorded on January 15, 1965...
", and "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue
It's All Over Now, Baby Blue
"It's All Over Now, Baby Blue" is a song written and performed by Bob Dylan and featured on his Bringing It All Back Home album, released on March 22, 1965 by Columbia Records . The song was originally recorded on January 15, 1965 with Dylan's acoustic guitar and harmonica and William E. Lee's bass...
" were recorded. It was long thought that the four songs were each recorded in one long take. However, in the biography Bob Dylan: Behind the Shades, Clinton Heylin relates that the song required six attempts, possibly because of difficulties in working out the playoffs between Dylan's acoustic guitar
Steel-string acoustic guitar
A steel-string acoustic guitar is a modern form of guitar descended from the classical guitar, but strung with steel strings for a brighter, louder sound...
and Bruce Langhorne
Bruce Langhorne
Bruce Langhorne is an American folk musician. He was active in the Greenwich Village folk scene in the 1960s, primarily as a session guitarist for folk albums and performances...
's electric lead. The final take was selected for the album, which was released on March 22, 1965.
In his book Keys to the Rain: The Definitive Bob Dylan Encyclopedia, Oliver Trager describes "Mr. Tambourine Man" as having a bright, expansive melody, with Langhorne's electric guitar accompaniment, which provides a countermelody to the vocals, being the only instrumentation besides Dylan's acoustic guitar and harmonica
Harmonica
The harmonica, also called harp, French harp, blues harp, and mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used primarily in blues and American folk music, jazz, country, and rock and roll. It is played by blowing air into it or drawing air out by placing lips over individual holes or multiple holes...
. Author Wilfred Mellers has noted that although the song is in the key
Key (music)
In music theory, the term key is used in many different and sometimes contradictory ways. A common use is to speak of music as being "in" a specific key, such as in the key of C major or in the key of F-sharp. Sometimes the terms "major" or "minor" are appended, as in the key of A minor or in the...
of D major
D major
D major is a major scale based on D, consisting of the pitches D, E, F, G, A, B, and C. Its key signature consists of two sharps. Its relative minor is B minor and its parallel minor is D minor....
, it is harmonized
Harmony
In music, harmony is the use of simultaneous pitches , or chords. The study of harmony involves chords and their construction and chord progressions and the principles of connection that govern them. Harmony is often said to refer to the "vertical" aspect of music, as distinguished from melodic...
as if it were in a Lydian
Lydian mode
The Lydian musical scale is a rising pattern of pitches comprising three whole tones, a semitone, two more whole tones, and a final semitone. This sequence of pitches roughly describes the fifth of the eight Gregorian modes, known as Mode V or the authentic mode on F, theoretically using B but in...
G major
G major
G major is a major scale based on G, with the pitches G, A, B, C, D, E, and F. Its key signature has one sharp, F; in treble-clef key signatures, the sharp-symbol for F is usually placed on the first line from the top, though in some Baroque music it is placed on the first space from the bottom...
, giving the song a tonal ambiguity that enhances the dreamy quality of the melody. Unusually, rather than beginning with the first verse, the song begins with an iteration of the chorus:
- Hey! Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me,
- I'm not sleepy and there is no place I'm going to.
- Hey! Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me,
- In the jingle-jangle morning I'll come following you.
William Ruhlmann, writing for the Allmusic website, has suggested the following interpretation of the song's lyrics: "The time seems to be early morning following a night when the narrator has not slept. Still unable to sleep, though amazed by his weariness, he is available and open to Mr. Tambourine Man's song, and says he will follow him. In the course of four verses studded with internal rhymes, he expounds on this situation, his meaning often heavily embroidered with imagery, though the desire to be freed by the tambourine man's song remains clear."
There has been speculation that the song is about drugs such as LSD or marijuana
Cannabis (drug)
Cannabis, also known as marijuana among many other names, refers to any number of preparations of the Cannabis plant intended for use as a psychoactive drug or for medicinal purposes. The English term marijuana comes from the Mexican Spanish word marihuana...
, particularly with lines such as "take me on a trip upon your magic swirling ship" and "the smoke rings of my mind." However, Dylan has always denied the song is about drugs, and though he was using marijuana at the time the song was written, he was not introduced to LSD until a few months later. Other commentators have interpreted the song as a call to the singer's spirit or muse
Muse
The Muses in Greek mythology, poetry, and literature, are the goddesses who inspire the creation of literature and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge, related orally for centuries in the ancient culture, that was contained in poetic lyrics and myths...
, or the singer's search for transcendence. In particular, biographer John Hinchey has suggested in his book Like a Complete Unknown that the singer is praying to his muse for inspiration; Hinchey notes that ironically the song itself is evidence the muse has already provided the sought-after inspiration. Mr. Tambourine Man has also been interpreted as a symbol for Jesus Christ and for the Pied Piper of Hamelin. The song may also reference gospel music
Gospel music
Gospel music is music that is written to express either personal, spiritual or a communal belief regarding Christian life, as well as to give a Christian alternative to mainstream secular music....
, with Mr. Tambourine Man being the bringer of religious salvation.
Dylan has cited the influence of Federico Fellini
Federico Fellini
Federico Fellini, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI , was an Italian film director and scriptwriter. Known for a distinct style that blends fantasy and baroque images, he is considered one of the most influential and widely revered filmmakers of the 20th century...
's movie La strada
La Strada
La Strada is a 1954 Italian neorealist drama directed by Federico Fellini in which a naïve young woman is sold to a brutish man and goes on the road as a part of his itinerant show....
on the song, while other commentators have found echoes of the poetry of Arthur Rimbaud
Arthur Rimbaud
Jean Nicolas Arthur Rimbaud was a French poet. Born in Charleville, Ardennes, he produced his best known works while still in his late teens—Victor Hugo described him at the time as "an infant Shakespeare"—and he gave up creative writing altogether before the age of 21. As part of the decadent...
. However, author Howard Sounes has identified the lyrics "in the jingle jangle morning I'll come following you" as having been taken from a Lord Buckley
Lord Buckley
Lord Richard Buckley was an American stage performer, recording artist, monologist, and hip poet/comic...
recording. Bruce Langhorne, who performs guitar on the track, has been cited by Dylan as the inspiration for the tambourine man image in the song. Langhorne used to play a giant, four-inch-deep "tambourine" (actually a Turkish frame drum), and had brought the instrument to a previous Dylan recording session.
Other releases
Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits
Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits is the eighth album released by Bob Dylan on Columbia Records, original catalogue number KCS 9643. It contains every Top 40 single Dylan enjoyed through 1967. It peaked at #10 on the pop album chart in the United States, and went to #3 on the album chart in the United...
in 1967 and several later Dylan compilation albums, including Biograph
Biograph (album)
Biograph is a 53-track compilation spanning the career of Bob Dylan, from his 1962 debut album to the 1981 LP Shot of Love. Released in 1985 by Columbia Records, on both a 5-LP and a 3-CD Box set, it was one of the earliest and most successful examples of the CD Box set...
, Masterpieces
Masterpieces
Masterpieces is a compilation album by Bob Dylan. The 3-LP set was released in Japan and Australia in anticipation of his 1978 tour. Primarily a greatest hits collection spanning Dylan's career up that point, the album features three previously unreleased tracks, including "Rita May", "George...
, and The Essential Bob Dylan
The Essential Bob Dylan
The Essential Bob Dylan is a compilation by Bob Dylan, released as a double-CD set in 2000, part of Columbia Records' "The Essential" series....
. The two June 1964 recordings, one with Ramblin' Jack Elliott and the other at Witmark Music, have been released on The Bootleg Series Vol. 7: No Direction Home and The Bootleg Series Vol. 9: The Witmark Demos 1962–1964, respectively.
The song has been in Dylan's live concert repertoire ever since it was written, and live performances have appeared on various concert albums and DVDs. A live performance at New York's Philharmonic Hall
Avery Fisher Hall
Avery Fisher Hall is a concert hall, in New York City and is part of the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts complex. It is the home of the New York Philharmonic, with a capacity of 2,738 seats.-History:...
dating from October 31, 1964, appeared on The Bootleg Series Vol. 6: Bob Dylan Live 1964, Concert at Philharmonic Hall
The Bootleg Series Vol. 6: Bob Dylan Live 1964, Concert at Philharmonic Hall
The Bootleg Series Vol. 6: Bob Dylan Live 1964, Concert at Philharmonic Hall is a complete recording of Bob Dylan's October 31, 1964 "Halloween" show at New York's Philharmonic Hall. It was released in 2004....
. At Dylan's appearance at the Newport Folk Festival
Newport Folk Festival
The Newport Folk Festival is an American annual folk-oriented music festival in Newport, Rhode Island, which began in 1959 as a counterpart to the previously established Newport Jazz Festival...
on July 25, 1965, after he was heckled by acoustic folk music
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
fans during his electric set, Dylan returned to play acoustic versions of "Mr. Tambourine Man" and "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue
It's All Over Now, Baby Blue
"It's All Over Now, Baby Blue" is a song written and performed by Bob Dylan and featured on his Bringing It All Back Home album, released on March 22, 1965 by Columbia Records . The song was originally recorded on January 15, 1965 with Dylan's acoustic guitar and harmonica and William E. Lee's bass...
"; this performance of "Mr. Tambourine Man" is included in Murray Lerner
Murray Lerner
Murray Lerner is an Academy Award-winning American documentary and experimental film director and producer.1967 saw the release of the film Festival...
's film The Other Side of the Mirror
The Other Side of the Mirror (film)
The Other Side of the Mirror: Bob Dylan at the Newport Folk Festival is a 2007 documentary film about Bob Dylan's appearances at the Newport Folk Festival in three successive years: 1963, 1964, and 1965, directed by Murray Lerner....
, and in Martin Scorsese
Martin Scorsese
Martin Charles Scorsese is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, actor, and film historian. In 1990 he founded The Film Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to film preservation, and in 2007 he founded the World Cinema Foundation...
's documentary No Direction Home
No Direction Home
No Direction Home is a documentary film by Martin Scorsese that traces the life of Bob Dylan, and his impact on 20th century American popular music and culture. The film does not cover Dylan's entire career; it concentrates on the period between Dylan's arrival in New York in January 1961 and his...
.
A live version from Dylan's famous May 17, 1966, concert in Manchester, England (popularly but mistakenly known as the Royal Albert Hall Concert) is included on The Bootleg Series Vol. 4: Bob Dylan Live 1966, The "Royal Albert Hall" Concert. Dylan also played the song as part of his evening set at the August 1, 1971, Concert for Bangladesh, a benefit concert
Benefit concert
A benefit concert or charity concert is a concert, show or gala featuring musicians, comedians, or other performers that is held for a charitable purpose, often directed at a specific and immediate humanitarian crisis. Such events raise both funds and public awareness to address the cause at...
organized by George Harrison
George Harrison
George Harrison, MBE was an English musician, guitarist, singer-songwriter, actor and film producer who achieved international fame as lead guitarist of The Beatles. Often referred to as "the quiet Beatle", Harrison became over time an admirer of Indian mysticism, and introduced it to the other...
and Ravi Shankar
Ravi Shankar
Ravi Shankar , often referred to by the title Pandit, is an Indian musician and composer who plays the plucked string instrument sitar. He has been described as the best known contemporary Indian musician by Hans Neuhoff in Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart.Shankar was born in Varanasi and spent...
. That performance is included on The Concert for Bangladesh album, although it was excluded from the film of the concert. Another live version from the Rolling Thunder Revue
Rolling Thunder Revue
The Rolling Thunder Revue was a famed U.S. concert tour consisting of a traveling caravan of musicians, headed by Bob Dylan, that took place in late 1975 and early 1976; the prevailing theory was that the tour was named after the Native American shaman Rolling Thunder. Others maintained that tour...
tour of 1975 is on The Bootleg Series Vol. 5: Bob Dylan Live 1975, The Rolling Thunder Revue
The Bootleg Series Vol. 5: Bob Dylan Live 1975, The Rolling Thunder Revue
The Bootleg Series Vol. 5: Bob Dylan Live 1975, The Rolling Thunder Revue is a live album by Bob Dylan released by Columbia Records in 2002. It documents the Rolling Thunder Revue, led by Bob Dylan prior to the release of the album Desire...
, and yet another live version from 1978 is on Bob Dylan at Budokan
Bob Dylan at Budokan
Bob Dylan at Budokan is a live album by Bob Dylan, released in 1979 by Columbia Records. It was recorded during his 1978 world tour and is composed mostly of the artist's "greatest hits"...
.
Release and the birth of folk rock
"Mr. Tambourine Man" was the debut single by the American band The Byrds and was released on April 12, 1965 by Columbia Records. The song was also the title track of the band's debut album, Mr. Tambourine ManMr. Tambourine Man (album)
Mr. Tambourine Man is the debut album by the American folk rock band The Byrds and was released in June 1965 on Columbia Records . The album, along with the single of the same name, established the band as an internationally successful rock act and was also influential in originating the musical...
, which was released on June 21, 1965. The single, along with the album of the same name, was influential in originating the musical style known as folk rock
Folk rock
Folk rock is a musical genre combining elements of folk music and rock music. In its earliest and narrowest sense, the term referred to a genre that arose in the United States and the UK around the mid-1960s...
, with the single becoming the first folk rock smash hit. Indeed, the term "folk rock" was first coined by the U.S music press
Music journalism
Music journalism is criticism and reportage about music. It began in the eighteenth century as comment on what is now thought of as 'classical music'. This aspect of music journalism, today often referred to as music criticism , comprises the study, discussion, evaluation, and interpretation of...
to describe the band's sound at around the same time as "Mr. Tambourine Man" peaked at number 1 on the Billboard chart.
The single initiated the folk rock boom of 1965 and 1966, with many acts imitating the band's hybrid of a rock beat, jangly guitar playing and poetic or socially conscious lyrics. This hybrid had its antecedents in the American folk revival
American folk music revival
The American folk music revival was a phenomenon in the United States that began during the 1940s and peaked in popularity in the mid-1960s. Its roots went earlier, and performers like Josh White, Burl Ives, Woody Guthrie, Lead Belly, Richard Dyer-Bennett, Oscar Brand, Jean Ritchie, John Jacob...
of the early 1960s, The Animals
The Animals
The Animals were an English music group of the 1960s formed in Newcastle upon Tyne during the early part of the decade, and later relocated to London...
' rock-oriented recording of the folk song
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
"The House of the Rising Sun
The House of the Rising Sun
"The House of the Rising Sun" is a folk song from the United States. Also called "House of the Rising Sun" or occasionally "Rising Sun Blues", it tells of a life gone wrong in New Orleans...
", the folk-influences present in the songwriting of The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
, and the twelve-string guitar jangle of The Searchers
The Searchers (band)
The Searchers are an English beat group, who emerged as part of the 1960s Merseybeat scene along with The Beatles, The Fourmost, The Merseybeats, The Swinging Blue Jeans, and Gerry & The Pacemakers....
and The Beatles' George Harrison
George Harrison
George Harrison, MBE was an English musician, guitarist, singer-songwriter, actor and film producer who achieved international fame as lead guitarist of The Beatles. Often referred to as "the quiet Beatle", Harrison became over time an admirer of Indian mysticism, and introduced it to the other...
. However, it was The Byrds who first melded these disparate elements into a unified whole, creating a template for folk rock that would prove successful for many acts during the mid-1960s.
Conception
Most of the members of The Byrds had a background in folk music, since Jim McGuinnRoger McGuinn
James Roger McGuinn is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. He is best known for being the lead singer and lead guitarist on many of The Byrds' records...
, Gene Clark
Gene Clark
Gene Clark, born Harold Eugene Clark was an American singer-songwriter, and one of the founding members of the folk-rock group The Byrds....
, and David Crosby
David Crosby
David Van Cortlandt Crosby is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. In addition to his solo career, he was a founding member of three bands: The Byrds, Crosby, Stills & Nash , and CPR...
had all worked as folk singers during the early 1960s. They had also spent time, independently of each other, in various folk groups, including The New Christy Minstrels, The Limeliters
The Limeliters
The Limeliters are an American folk music group, formed in July 1959 by Lou Gottlieb , Alex Hassilev , and Glenn Yarbrough . The group was active from 1959 until 1965, when they disbanded. After a hiatus of sixteen years Yarbrough, Hassilev, and Gottlieb reunited and began performing as...
, The Chad Mitchell Trio
Chad Mitchell Trio
The Chad Mitchell Trio were a North American vocal group who became known during the 1960s. They performed folk songs, some of which were traditionally passed down and some of their own compositions. Unlike many fellow folk music groups, none of the trio played instruments...
, and Les Baxter's Balladeers
Les Baxter
Les Baxter was an American musician and composer.Baxter studied piano at the Detroit Conservatory before moving to Los Angeles for further studies at Pepperdine College. Abandoning a concert career as a pianist, he turned to popular music as a singer...
. In early 1964, McGuinn, Clark and Crosby formed The Jet Set and started developing a fusion of folk-based lyrics and melodies, with arrangement
Arrangement
The American Federation of Musicians defines arranging as "the art of preparing and adapting an already written composition for presentation in other than its original form. An arrangement may include reharmonization, paraphrasing, and/or development of a composition, so that it fully represents...
s in the style of The Beatles. In August 1964, the band's manager Jim Dickson acquired an acetate disc
Acetate disc
An acetate disc, also known as a test acetate, dubplate , lacquer , transcription disc or instantaneous disc...
of "Mr. Tambourine Man" from Dylan's publisher, featuring a performance by Dylan and Ramblin' Jack Elliott. Although the band were initially unimpressed with the song, they eventually agreed to begin rehearsing and demoing
Demo (music)
A demo version or demo of a song is one recorded for reference rather than for release. A demo is a way for a musician to approximate their ideas on tape or disc, and provide an example of those ideas to record labels, producers or other artists...
it. In an attempt to make it sound more like The Beatles, the band and Dickson elected to give the song a full, electric rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
band treatment, effectively creating the musical subgenre of folk rock. To further bolster the group's confidence in the song, Dickson invited Dylan to hear the band's rendition. Dylan was impressed, enthusiastically commenting "Wow, you can dance to that!" and his endorsement erased any lingering doubts the band had about the song. During this period, drummer Michael Clarke
Michael Clarke (musician)
Michael Clarke , was an American musician, best known as the drummer for the 1960s rock group The Byrds from 1964 to 1967. He died in 1993, at age 47, from liver failure, a direct result of more than three decades of heavy alcohol consumption.-Biography:Clarke was born Michael James Dick in...
and bass player Chris Hillman
Chris Hillman
Christopher Hillman was one of the original members of The Byrds which in 1965 included Roger McGuinn, Gene Clark, David Crosby, and Michael Clarke....
joined, and the band changed their name to The Byrds over Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving (United States)
Thanksgiving, or Thanksgiving Day, is a holiday celebrated in the United States on the fourth Thursday in November. It has officially been an annual tradition since 1863, when, during the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a national day of thanksgiving to be celebrated on Thursday,...
1964. The two surviving demos
Demo (music)
A demo version or demo of a song is one recorded for reference rather than for release. A demo is a way for a musician to approximate their ideas on tape or disc, and provide an example of those ideas to record labels, producers or other artists...
of "Mr. Tambourine Man" dating from this period feature an incongruous marching band
Marching band
Marching band is a physical activity in which a group of instrumental musicians generally perform outdoors and incorporate some type of marching with their musical performance. Instrumentation typically includes brass, woodwinds, and percussion instruments...
drum part from Clarke but overall the arrangement, which utilized a 4/4 time signature
Time signature
The time signature is a notational convention used in Western musical notation to specify how many beats are in each measure and which note value constitutes one beat....
instead of Dylan's 2/4 configuration, is very close to the later single version.
Production
The master take of "Mr. Tambourine Man" was recorded on January 20, 1965, at Columbia Studios in Hollywood, prior to the release of Dylan's own version. The song's jangling, melodic guitar playing (performed by McGuinn on a 12-string RickenbackerRickenbacker
Rickenbacker International Corporation, also known as Rickenbacker, is an electric and bass guitar manufacturer based in Santa Ana, California...
guitar) was immediately influential and has remained so to the present day. The group's complex harmony
Vocal harmony
Vocal harmony is a style of vocal music in which a consonant note or notes are sung at the same time as a main melody in a predominantly homophonic texture. Vocal harmonies are used in many subgenres of European art music, including Classical choral music and opera and in the popular styles from...
work, as featured on "Mr. Tambourine Man", became another major characteristic of their sound. Due to producer Terry Melcher
Terry Melcher
Terrence P. Melcher was an American musician and record producer, who was instrumental in shaping the sound of American West Coast rock music. His greatest contribution to the culture of the time was producing The Byrds' innovative hits "Mr Tambourine Man" and "Turn! Turn! Turn!" and his...
's initial lack of confidence in The Byrds' musicianship, McGuinn was the only Byrd to play on "Mr. Tambourine Man" and its B-side
A-side and B-side
A-side and B-side originally referred to the two sides of gramophone records on which singles were released beginning in the 1950s. The terms have come to refer to the types of song conventionally placed on each side of the record, with the A-side being the featured song , while the B-side, or...
, "I Knew I'd Want You". Rather than using band members, Melcher hired The Wrecking Crew
The Wrecking Crew (music)
The Wrecking Crew was a nickname coined by the drummer Hal Blaine after the fact for a group of session musicians in Los Angeles, California, who earned wide acclaim in the 1960s. They backed dozens of popular singers, and were one of the most successful "groups" of studio musicians in music history...
, a collection of top L.A. session musician
Session musician
Session musicians are instrumental and vocal performers, musicians, who are available to work with others at live performances or recording sessions. Usually such musicians are not permanent members of a musical ensemble and often do not achieve fame in their own right as soloists or bandleaders...
s, who (with McGuinn on guitar) provided the backing track over which McGuinn, Crosby, and Clark sang. By the time the sessions for their debut album began in March 1965, however, Melcher was satisfied that the band was competent enough to record its own musical backing.
The Byrds' recording of the song opens with a distinctive, Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer, organist, harpsichordist, violist, and violinist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity...
-inspired guitar introduction
Introduction (music)
In music, the introduction is a passage or section which opens a movement or a separate piece. In popular music this is often abbreviated as intro...
played by McGuinn and then, like Dylan's version, goes into the song's chorus
Refrain
A refrain is the line or lines that are repeated in music or in verse; the "chorus" of a song...
. Although Dylan's version contains four verses, The Byrds only perform the song's second verse and two repeats of the chorus, followed by a variation on the song's introduction, which then fades out
Fade (audio engineering)
In audio engineering, a fade is a gradual increase or decrease in the level of an audio signal. The term can also be used for film cinematography or theater lighting, in much the same way ....
. The Byrds' arrangement of the song had been shortened during the band's rehearsals at World Pacific Studios
Pacific Jazz Records
Pacific Jazz Records was a Los Angeles-based record label best known for releasing cool jazz or West coast jazz. It was founded by Richard Bock and drummer Roy Harte in 1952....
in 1964, at the suggestion of Jim Dickson, in order to accommodate commercial radio
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
stations, which were reluctant to play songs that were over two-and-a-half minutes long. Thus, while Dylan's version is five-and-a-half minutes long, The Byrds' runs just short of two-and-a-half minutes. The lead vocal on The Byrds' version of "Mr. Tambourine Man" was sung by McGuinn, who attempted to modify his singing style to fill what he perceived as a gap in the popular music scene of the day, somewhere between the vocal sound of John Lennon
John Lennon
John Winston Lennon, MBE was an English musician and singer-songwriter who rose to worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles, one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music...
and Bob Dylan. The song also took on a spiritual aspect for McGuinn during the recording sessions, as he told The Byrds' biographer Johnny Rogan
Johnny Rogan
Johnny Rogan is an author of Irish descent best known for his books about music and popular culture. He has written influential biographies of The Byrds, The Smiths and Van Morrison. His writing is characterised by "an almost neurotic attention to detail", epic length and a sometimes hostile...
in 1997: "I was singing to God and I was saying that God was the Tambourine Man and I was saying to him, 'Hey, God, take me for a trip and I'll follow you.' It was a prayer of submission."
Reception
The single reached number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, and number 1 on the UK Singles Chart, making it the first recording of a Dylan song to reach number 1 on any pop musicPop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
chart. Critic William Ruhlmann has argued that in the wake of "Mr. Tambourine Man", the influence of The Byrds could be heard in recordings by a number of other Los Angeles-based acts, including The Turtles
The Turtles
The Turtles are an American rock group led by vocalists Howard Kaylan and Mark Volman. The band became notable for several Top 40 hits beginning with its cover version of Bob Dylan's "It Ain't Me Babe" in 1965...
, The Leaves
The Leaves
The Leaves were an American garage band formed in California in 1963. They are best known for their version of the song "Hey Joe", which was a hit in 1966. Theirs is the earliest release of this song, which became a rock standard.-History:...
, Barry McGuire
Barry McGuire
Barry McGuire is an American singer-songwriter best known for the hit song "Eve of Destruction", and later as a pioneering singer and songwriter of Contemporary Christian Music.-Early life:...
, and Sonny & Cher
Sonny & Cher
Sonny & Cher were an American pop music duo, actors, singers and entertainers made up of husband-and-wife team Sonny and Cher Bono in the 1960s and 1970s. The couple started their career in the mid-1960s as R&B backing singers for record producer Phil Spector....
. In addition, author and music historian Richie Unterberger
Richie Unterberger
Richie Unterberger is a US author and journalist whose focus is popular music and travel writing.-Life and writing:Having worked as a DJ at WXPN in Philadelphia, he started reviewing records for Op magazine in 1983...
sees the influence of The Byrds in recordings by The Lovin' Spoonful
The Lovin' Spoonful
The Lovin' Spoonful is an American pop rock band of the 1960s, named to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000. When asked about his band, leader John Sebastian said it sounded like a combination of "Mississippi John Hurt and Chuck Berry," prompting his friend, Fritz Richmond, to suggest the name...
, The Mamas & the Papas
The Mamas & the Papas
The Mamas & the Papas were a Canadian/American vocal group of the 1960s . The group recorded and performed from 1965 to 1968 with a short reunion in 1971, releasing five albums and 11 Top 40 hit singles...
, Simon & Garfunkel, and Love
Love (band)
Love was an American rock group of the late 1960s and early 1970s. They were led by singer/songwriter Arthur Lee and lead guitarist Johnny Echols...
, while author John Einarson has noted that both The Grass Roots
The Grass Roots
The Grass Roots is an American rock band that charted between 1966 and 1975 as the brainchild of songwriting duo P. F. Sloan and Steve Barri.In their career, The Grass Roots achieved two gold albums, one gold single and charted singles a total of 21 times. Among their charting singles, they...
and We Five
We Five
We Five was a 1960s folk rock musical group based in San Francisco, California. Their best-known hit was their 1965 remake of Ian and Sylvia's "You Were on My Mind", which reached #1 on the Cashbox chart, #3 on the Billboard Hot 100, and #1 on the Adult Contemporary chart...
enjoyed commercial success by emulating The Byrds' folk rock sound. In addition, a number of commentators, including Richie Unterberger, Scott Plangenhoef, and Ian MacDonald
Ian MacDonald
Ian MacCormick was a British music critic and author, best known for Revolution in the Head, his forensic history of The Beatles which borrowed techniques from art historians, and The New Shostakovich, a controversial study of the Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich...
have noted that by late 1965, The Beatles themselves were assimilating the sound of folk rock, and in particular The Byrds, into the material found on their Rubber Soul
Rubber Soul
Rubber Soul is the sixth studio album by the English rock group The Beatles, released in December 1965. Produced by George Martin, Rubber Soul had been recorded in just over four weeks to make the Christmas market...
album, most notably on the songs "Nowhere Man" and "If I Needed Someone
If I Needed Someone
"If I Needed Someone" is a song written by George Harrison. Versions by The Beatles and by The Hollies appeared simultaneously, both being released in the United Kingdom on 3 December 1965. The Hollies version appeared on a single. Most of the Hollies previous singles had been big top ten hits...
". As the 1960s came to a close, folk rock changed and evolved away from the jangly template pioneered by The Byrds, but, Unterberger argues, the band's influence could still be heard in the music of Fairport Convention
Fairport Convention
Fairport Convention are an English folk rock and later electric folk band, formed in 1967 who are still recording and touring today. They are widely regarded as the most important single group in the English folk rock movement...
. Since the 1960s, The Byrds' jangly, folk rock sound has continued to influence popular music up to the present day, with authors Chris Smith, Johnny Rogan and Mark Deming all noting the band's influence on such acts as Big Star
Big Star
Big Star was an American rock band formed in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1971 by Alex Chilton, Chris Bell, Jody Stephens and Andy Hummel. The group broke up in 1974, but reorganized with a new line-up nearly 20 years later...
, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers are an American rock band from Gainesville, Florida. They were formed in 1976 by Tom Petty , Mike Campbell , Benmont Tench , , Ron Blair and Stan Lynch...
, R.E.M.
R.E.M.
R.E.M. was an American rock band formed in Athens, Georgia, in 1980 by singer Michael Stipe, guitarist Peter Buck, bassist Mike Mills and drummer Bill Berry. One of the first popular alternative rock bands, R.E.M. gained early attention due to Buck's ringing, arpeggiated guitar style and Stipe's...
, The Long Ryders
The Long Ryders
The Long Ryders are an American alternative country and Paisley Underground band, principally active between 1983 and 1987, and which reformed in 2004 to do a reunion tour...
, The Smiths
The Smiths
The Smiths were an English alternative rock band, formed in Manchester in 1982. Based on the song writing partnership of Morrissey and Johnny Marr , the band also included Andy Rourke and Mike Joyce...
, The Bangles
The Bangles
The Bangles are an American all-female band that originated in the early 1980s, scoring several hit singles during the decade.-Formation and early years :...
, The Stone Roses
The Stone Roses
The Stone Roses are an English alternative rock band formed in Manchester in 1983. They were one of the pioneering groups of the Madchester movement that was active during the late 1980s and early 1990s...
, and Teenage Fanclub
Teenage Fanclub
Teenage Fanclub are an alternative rock band from Bellshill, Scotland. The band is composed of Norman Blake , Raymond McGinley , Gerard Love and Francis MacDonald , with songwriting duties shared equally among Blake, McGinley and Love...
.
In addition to appearing on The Byrds' debut album, "Mr. Tambourine Man" is included on several Byrds' compilation and live albums, including The Byrds Greatest Hits, Live at Royal Albert Hall 1971
Live at Royal Albert Hall 1971
Live at Royal Albert Hall is a live album by the American rock band The Byrds, released in 2008 on Sundazed Records. The album consists of recordings from the band's appearance at the Royal Albert Hall in London, England on May 13, 1971...
, The Very Best of The Byrds
The Very Best of The Byrds
The Very Best of The Byrds is a compilation album by the American rock band The Byrds, released by Columbia Records in 1997. Initially the compilation was only released in Europe but as of 2006, the album has seen some release in the U.S...
, The Essential Byrds
The Essential Byrds
-Disc one:#"Mr. Tambourine Man" – 2:31#"I'll Feel a Whole Lot Better" – 2:32#"All I Really Want to Do" – 2:04#"Chimes of Freedom" – 3:51...
, The Byrds Play Dylan
The Byrds Play Dylan
The Byrds Play Dylan is the name of two compilation albums by the American rock band The Byrds, one released in 1979 and the other issued in 2002. As their titles suggest, each compilation consists of interpretations of Bob Dylan penned songs, which The Byrds recorded at different stages of their...
, and the live disc of The Byrds' (Untitled) album. The Byrds' version of the song also appears on compilation albums that include hit songs by multiple artists. Two earlier demo recordings of "Mr. Tambourine Man", dating from the World Pacific rehearsal sessions, can be heard on The Byrds' archival albums Preflyte
Preflyte
Preflyte is a compilation album by the American folk rock band The Byrds and was released in July 1969 on Together Records . The album is a collection of demos recorded by The Byrds at World Pacific Studios in Los Angeles during 1964, before the band had signed to Columbia Records...
, In the Beginning
In the Beginning (The Byrds album)
In the Beginning is a compilation album by the American folk rock band The Byrds and was released in August 1988 by Rhino Records. The album consists of demos, some of which were previously unreleased, recorded during 1964 at World Pacific Studios in Los Angeles, before the band had secured a...
, and The Preflyte Sessions
Preflyte
Preflyte is a compilation album by the American folk rock band The Byrds and was released in July 1969 on Together Records . The album is a collection of demos recorded by The Byrds at World Pacific Studios in Los Angeles during 1964, before the band had signed to Columbia Records...
.
Other covers and references
"Mr. Tambourine Man" has been covered by many artists over the years, including at least 13 versions recorded in 1965 alone. In addition to The Byrds' rendition, notable recordings of the song have been made by Gary Puckett & The Union GapGary Puckett & The Union Gap
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap was an American pop rock group operating in the late 1960s...
, Odetta
Odetta
Odetta Holmes, known as Odetta, was an American singer, actress, guitarist, songwriter, and a human rights activist, often referred to as "The Voice of the Civil Rights Movement". Her musical repertoire consisted largely of American folk music, blues, jazz, and spirituals...
, Judy Collins
Judy Collins
Judith Marjorie "Judy" Collins is an American singer and songwriter, known for her eclectic tastes in the material she records ; and for her social activism. She is an alumna of the University of Colorado.-Musical career:Collins was born and raised in Seattle, Washington...
, The Four Seasons, The Barbarians, and Chad and Jeremy
Chad and Jeremy
Chad & Jeremy are an English singing folk rock duo originating in the 1960s, comprising eyeglasses-wearing Chad Stuart , and Jeremy Clyde...
. Other artists who have covered the song include Alvin and the Chipmunks
Alvin and the Chipmunks
Alvin and the Chipmunks is an American animated music group created by Ross Bagdasarian, Sr. in 1958. The group consists of three singing animated anthropomorphic chipmunks: Alvin, the mischievous troublemaker, who quickly became the star of the group; Simon, the tall, bespectacled intellectual;...
(1965), The Beau Brummels
The Beau Brummels
The Beau Brummels were an American rock band. Formed in San Francisco in 1964, the band's original lineup included Sal Valentino , Ron Elliott , Ron Meagher , Declan Mulligan , and John Petersen...
(1966), The Lettermen
The Lettermen
The Lettermen are an American male pop music vocal trio. The Lettermen's trademark is close-harmony pop songs with light arrangements. The group started in 1959...
(1966), Kenny Rankin
Kenny Rankin
Kenny Rankin was an American pop and jazz singer and songwriter, originally from the Washington Heights neighborhood of New York City, New York.-Biography:...
(1967), Melanie
Melanie Safka
Melanie Anne Safka-Schekeryk is an American singer-songwriter. Known professionally as simply Melanie, she is best known for her hits "Brand New Key", "Ruby Tuesday" and "Lay Down ".-Early career:...
(1969), Gene Clark
Gene Clark
Gene Clark, born Harold Eugene Clark was an American singer-songwriter, and one of the founding members of the folk-rock group The Byrds....
(1984), Les Fradkin
Les Fradkin
Les Fradkin is a guitarist, keyboardist, songwriter, composer and record producer. He is best known for being a member of the original cast of the hit Broadway show Beatlemania...
(2007), and Bob Sinclar
Bob Sinclar
Bob Sinclar, originally spelled "Sinclair" - , is a French record producer, House music DJ, remixer and owner of the label Yellow Productions.- Career history :...
(2009). William Shatner
William Shatner
William Alan Shatner is a Canadian actor, musician, recording artist, and author. He gained worldwide fame and became a cultural icon for his portrayal of James T...
also covered the song in a spoken-word recitation on his 1968 album, The Transformed Man
The Transformed Man
The Transformed Man is actor William Shatner's debut album. It was released in 1968, while Shatner was still starring in the original Star Trek series, and began his musical career. The concept of the album was to juxtapose famous pieces of poetry with their modern counterparts, pop lyrics...
. A reunited line-up of The Byrds, featuring Roger McGuinn
Roger McGuinn
James Roger McGuinn is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. He is best known for being the lead singer and lead guitarist on many of The Byrds' records...
, Chris Hillman, and David Crosby, performed "Mr. Tambourine Man" with Dylan at a Roy Orbison
Roy Orbison
Roy Kelton Orbison was an American singer-songwriter, well known for his distinctive, powerful voice, complex compositions, and dark emotional ballads. Orbison grew up in Texas and began singing in a rockabilly/country & western band in high school until he was signed by Sun Records in Memphis...
tribute concert on February 24, 1990. This live performance of the song was included on the 1990 box set, The Byrds. At the October 1992 Bob Dylan 30th anniversary tribute concert at Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden, often abbreviated as MSG and known colloquially as The Garden, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in the New York City borough of Manhattan and located at 8th Avenue, between 31st and 33rd Streets, situated on top of Pennsylvania Station.Opened on February 11, 1968, it is the...
, McGuinn performed the song, backed by Tom Petty
Tom Petty
Thomas Earl "Tom" Petty is an American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He is the frontman of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and was a founding member of the late 1980s supergroup Traveling Wilburys and Mudcrutch. He has also performed under the pseudonyms of Charlie T...
, Mike Campbell, and Benmont Tench
Benmont Tench
Benjamin Montmorency Tench, III is an American keyboardist best known as a founding member of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.-Early years:...
, among others.
The song has been translated and recorded in a number of languages. Müslüm Gürses
Müslüm Gürses
Müslüm Akbaş , better known as Müslüm Gürses is a Turkish folk singer.He was born in 1953 in Şanlıurfa, Turkey. He married Muhterem Nur in 1983....
has covered the song with different lyrics written in Turkish
Turkish language
Turkish is a language spoken as a native language by over 83 million people worldwide, making it the most commonly spoken of the Turkic languages. Its speakers are located predominantly in Turkey and Northern Cyprus with smaller groups in Iraq, Greece, Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo,...
. The Turkish version of the song was called Hayat Berbat. It was translated into Romanian
Romanian language
Romanian Romanian Romanian (or Daco-Romanian; obsolete spellings Rumanian, Roumanian; self-designation: română, limba română ("the Romanian language") or românește (lit. "in Romanian") is a Romance language spoken by around 24 to 28 million people, primarily in Romania and Moldova...
by Florian Pittiş
Florian Pittis
Florian Pittiş was a Romanian stage and television actor, theatre director, folk music singer, and radio producer.He attended the Gheorghe Lazăr High School in Bucharest and in 1968 he graduated from the Institute of Theatre...
, and sung by Pasărea Colibri
Pasarea Colibri
Pasărea Colibri is a Romanian folk supergroup. Aside from typical Romanian folk instruments and acoustic and electric guitars, the band also made use of digital and analogue synthesisers and fretless bass guitar, a somewhat revolutionary approach among Romanian bands in the 90s.The band formed in...
on their 1995 album În căutarea cuibului pierdut. There are also at least two Brazilian Portuguese
Brazilian Portuguese
Brazilian Portuguese is a group of Portuguese dialects written and spoken by most of the 190 million inhabitants of Brazil and by a few million Brazilian emigrants, mainly in the United States, United Kingdom, Portugal, Canada, Japan and Paraguay....
versions of the song, covered by Zé Ramalho
Zé Ramalho
Zé Ramalho is a Brazilian composer and performer. Zé Ramalho has collaborated with various major Brazilian musicians, including Vanusa, Geraldo Azevedo and Alceu Valença to name a few...
and Zé Geraldo on their Zé Ramalho canta Bob Dylan and Catadô de Bromélias albums respectively.
"Mr. Tambourine Man" has also been referenced in books and film, including Tom Wolfe
Tom Wolfe
Thomas Kennerly "Tom" Wolfe, Jr. is a best-selling American author and journalist. He is one of the founders of the New Journalism movement of the 1960s and 1970s.-Early life and education:...
's nonfiction novel The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test
The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test
The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test is a work of literary journalism by Tom Wolfe, published in 1968. Using techniques from the genre of hysterical realism and pioneering new journalism, the "nonfiction novel" tells the story of Ken Kesey and his band of Merry Pranksters...
, Stephen King
Stephen King
Stephen Edwin King is an American author of contemporary horror, suspense, science fiction and fantasy fiction. His books have sold more than 350 million copies and have been adapted into a number of feature films, television movies and comic books...
's book Carrie
Carrie (novel)
Carrie is American author Stephen King's first published novel, released in 1974. It revolves around the eponymous Carrie, a shy high-school girl, who uses her newly discovered telekinetic powers to exact revenge on those who tease her...
, the film Dangerous Minds
Dangerous Minds
Dangerous Minds is an American drama film based on the autobiography My Posse Don't Do Homework by former U.S. Marine LouAnne Johnson, who took up a teaching position at Carlmont High School in Belmont, California, where most of her students were African-American and Hispanic teenagers from East...
, and the documentary film
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson
Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson
Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson is a 2008 documentary film directed by Alex Gibney. It details Hunter S. Thompson's landmark writings on music and politics...
. The subject of the latter film, journalist Hunter S. Thompson
Hunter S. Thompson
Hunter Stockton Thompson was an American journalist and author who wrote The Rum Diary , Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72 .He is credited as the creator of Gonzo journalism, a style of reporting where reporters involve themselves in the action to...
, had "Mr. Tambourine Man" played at his funeral and dedicated his novel Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas to Dylan because of the song. The song was also performed by Pete Townshend
Pete Townshend
Peter Dennis Blandford "Pete" Townshend is an English rock guitarist, vocalist, songwriter and author, known principally as the guitarist and songwriter for the rock group The Who, as well as for his own solo career...
at the funeral of Neil Aspinall
Neil Aspinall
Neil Stanley Aspinall was a British music industry executive. A school friend of Paul McCartney and George Harrison, he went on to head The Beatles' company Apple Corps....
, The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
' road manager and personal assistant.
"Mr. Tambourine Man" is one of seven Dylan songs whose lyrics were reset for soprano
Soprano
A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...
and piano (or orchestra) by John Corigliano
John Corigliano
John Corigliano is an American composer of classical music and a teacher of music. He is a distinguished professor of music at Lehman College in the City University of New York.-Biography:...
for his song cycle
Song cycle
A song cycle is a group of songs designed to be performed in a sequence as a single entity. As a rule, all of the songs are by the same composer and often use words from the same poet or lyricist. Unification can be achieved by a narrative or a persona common to the songs, or even, as in Schumann's...
Mr. Tambourine Man: Seven Poems of Bob Dylan.
Legacy
The Byrds' version of "Mr. Tambourine Man" was listed as the number 79 song on Rolling StoneRolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
s list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, and Dylan's version was ranked number 106. It is one of three songs to place twice, along with "Walk This Way
Walk This Way
"Walk This Way" is a song by American hard rock group Aerosmith. Written by Steven Tyler and Joe Perry, the song was originally released as the second single from the 1975 album Toys in the Attic. It peaked at Number 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 in early 1977, part of a string of successful hit...
" by both Aerosmith
Aerosmith
Aerosmith is an American rock band, sometimes referred to as "The Bad Boys from Boston" and "America's Greatest Rock and Roll Band". Their style, which is rooted in blues-based hard rock, has come to also incorporate elements of pop, heavy metal, and rhythm and blues, and has inspired many...
and Run-DMC with Perry
Joe Perry (musician)
Anthony Joseph "Joe" Perry is the lead guitarist, backing and occasional lead vocalist, and contributing songwriter for the rock band Aerosmith. He is influenced by many rock artists especially The Rolling Stones and The Beatles...
and Tyler
Steven Tyler
Steven Tyler is an American singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist, best known as the frontman and lead singer of the Boston-based rock band Aerosmith, in which he also plays the harmonica, and occasional piano and percussion. He is known as the "Demon of Screamin'", due to his high screams...
, and "Blue Suede Shoes
Blue Suede Shoes
"Blue Suede Shoes" is a rock and roll standard written and first recorded by Carl Perkins in 1955 and is considered one of the first rockabilly records and incorporated elements of blues, country and pop music of the time...
" by both Carl Perkins
Carl Perkins
Carl Lee Perkins was an American rockabilly musician who recorded most notably at Sun Records Studio in Memphis, Tennessee, beginning during 1954...
and Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
. The Byrds version was honored with a Grammy Hall of Fame Award
Grammy Hall of Fame Award
The Grammy Hall of Fame Award is a special Grammy award established in 1973 to honor recordings that are at least twenty-five years old and that have "qualitative or historical significance"...
in 1998, and Dylan's version was honored with the same award in 2002.
In 1989 Rolling Stone ranked The Byrds' version of "Mr. Tambourine Man" as the number 86 single of the prior 25 years. That same year, music critic Dave Marsh
Dave Marsh
Dave Marsh is an American music critic, author, editor and radio talk show host. He was a formative editor of Creem magazine, has written for various publications such as Newsday, The Village Voice, and Rolling Stone, and has published numerous books about music and musicians, mostly focused on...
listed it as number 207 in his list of the top 1001 singles ever made. In 1999, National Public Radio in the United States listed this version as one of the 300 most important American records of the 20th century. In the UK, music critic Colin Larkin
Colin Larkin (writer)
Colin Larkin was the editor and founder of the Encyclopedia of Popular Music, described by Jools Holland as 'without question the most useful reference work on popular music' and by The Times as 'the standard against which all others must be judged’....
listed The Byrds' version as the number 1 single of all time. Other UK publishers that have listed this song as one of the top songs or singles include Mojo
Mojo (magazine)
MOJO is a popular music magazine published initially by Emap, and since January 2008 by Bauer, monthly in the United Kingdom. Following the success of the magazine Q, publishers Emap were looking for a title which would cater for the burgeoning interest in classic rock music...
, New Musical Express, and Sounds. Australian music critic Toby Creswell
Toby Creswell
Toby Creswell is an Australian music journalist and pop-culture writer. He was editor of Rolling Stone and a founding editor of Juice. In 1986 he co-wrote, with Martin Fabinyi, his first book Too Much Ain't Enough a biography of pub rocker and former Cold Chisel vocalist Jimmy Barnes...
included the song in his book 1001 Songs: The Great Songs of All Time and the Artists, Stories and Secrets Behind Them.
In a 2005 reader's poll reported in Mojo
Mojo (magazine)
MOJO is a popular music magazine published initially by Emap, and since January 2008 by Bauer, monthly in the United Kingdom. Following the success of the magazine Q, publishers Emap were looking for a title which would cater for the burgeoning interest in classic rock music...
, Dylan's version of "Mr. Tambourine Man" was listed as the number 4 all-time greatest Bob Dylan song, and a similar poll of artists ranked the song number 14. In 2002, Uncut
UNCUT (magazine)
Uncut magazine, trademarked as UNCUT, is a monthly publication based in London. It is available across the English-speaking world, and focuses on music, but also includes film and books sections...
listed it as the number 15 all-time Dylan song.