WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.799 You know, when we look at the origin stories 00:00:02.799 --> 00:00:06.139 of cultural icons, we generally expect to find 00:00:06.139 --> 00:00:10.199 this like. clean, carefully drawn architectural 00:00:10.199 --> 00:00:12.980 blueprint. Right, like we want this clear starting 00:00:12.980 --> 00:00:15.980 line where genius just, you know, manifests exactly 00:00:15.980 --> 00:00:18.120 as planned. Exactly. We want them to be completely 00:00:18.120 --> 00:00:20.579 fully formed from day one. It's that mythological 00:00:20.579 --> 00:00:22.620 narrative we always crave. We want to see the 00:00:22.620 --> 00:00:25.920 master plan unfolding flawlessly from the very 00:00:25.920 --> 00:00:28.120 first sketch. Just to prove that the icon was 00:00:28.120 --> 00:00:31.160 always destined for grayness, right? But then, 00:00:31.199 --> 00:00:33.600 uh... You actually look at the real first steps 00:00:33.600 --> 00:00:35.939 of these legends, and suddenly that pristine 00:00:35.939 --> 00:00:38.619 blueprint is, I mean, it's covered in coffee 00:00:38.619 --> 00:00:40.700 stains. Oh, absolutely. Somebody lost the tape 00:00:40.700 --> 00:00:43.479 measure, and the foundation is actively being 00:00:43.479 --> 00:00:45.960 poured during a thunderstorm. That is a highly 00:00:45.960 --> 00:00:48.320 accurate description of most creative breakthroughs. 00:00:48.500 --> 00:00:50.619 Because the reality of a breakthrough is usually 00:00:50.619 --> 00:00:55.060 just completely chaotic. And today, We are welcoming 00:00:55.060 --> 00:00:58.280 you to a new deep dive. We're zooming in on one 00:00:58.280 --> 00:01:00.579 specific focused source. Right. We're looking 00:01:00.579 --> 00:01:02.979 at a Wikipedia article on the song, You're No 00:01:02.979 --> 00:01:05.840 Good, by Jesse Fuller. Yeah. And we're extracting 00:01:05.840 --> 00:01:09.439 the hidden historical gems inside it. because 00:01:09.439 --> 00:01:11.540 our mission today isn't just looking at a piece 00:01:11.540 --> 00:01:14.219 of music. No, not at all. We are examining this 00:01:14.219 --> 00:01:17.900 bizarre timeline anomaly and a spectacularly 00:01:17.900 --> 00:01:20.560 messy recording session that inadvertently launched 00:01:20.560 --> 00:01:22.780 the career of one of the most famous musicians 00:01:22.780 --> 00:01:25.099 in modern history. Bob Dylan. Yeah, Bob Dylan. 00:01:25.420 --> 00:01:28.569 And it is... It's the absolute definition of 00:01:28.569 --> 00:01:31.609 historical whiplash. It really is. Because the 00:01:31.609 --> 00:01:34.269 very first track Dylan ever recorded for his 00:01:34.269 --> 00:01:37.650 debut album, the literal starting line of a career 00:01:37.650 --> 00:01:40.709 that changed global culture, wasn't even his 00:01:40.709 --> 00:01:43.730 own song. Which is wild, and the irony goes so 00:01:43.730 --> 00:01:46.180 much deeper. than it just being a cover song 00:01:46.180 --> 00:01:48.420 because the original creator of that track didn't 00:01:48.420 --> 00:01:50.959 even get to release his own version until over 00:01:50.959 --> 00:01:52.859 a year after Dylan's album came out. Which is 00:01:52.859 --> 00:01:55.079 just a fascinating sequence of events. Right, 00:01:55.200 --> 00:01:58.159 so to understand the premise of Bob Dylan's massive 00:01:58.159 --> 00:02:00.739 world -shifting career, we have to connect it 00:02:00.739 --> 00:02:03.019 back to this literal starting point. And that 00:02:03.019 --> 00:02:04.900 means we really have to start with the man who 00:02:04.900 --> 00:02:07.099 actually wrote the song, Jesse Fuller. Right, 00:02:07.200 --> 00:02:09.680 the original creator. Who is Jesse Fuller? Well... 00:02:09.629 --> 00:02:12.370 Jesse Fuller is a monumental figure in his own 00:02:12.370 --> 00:02:14.789 right, but he was operating in a totally different 00:02:14.789 --> 00:02:16.830 universe than the one Dylan would eventually 00:02:16.830 --> 00:02:20.909 inhabit. How so? So Fuller lived from 1896 to 00:02:20.909 --> 00:02:25.289 1976. He was this older established blues and 00:02:25.289 --> 00:02:28.909 folk musician who operated as a literal one man 00:02:28.909 --> 00:02:31.229 band. Like actually playing everything himself. 00:02:31.449 --> 00:02:33.990 Exactly. And he didn't just strap a harmonica 00:02:33.990 --> 00:02:36.590 around his neck and call it a day. He actually 00:02:36.590 --> 00:02:39.939 invented a unique instrument. to solve a very 00:02:39.939 --> 00:02:43.139 specific musical problem he had. Oh, wait, the 00:02:43.139 --> 00:02:46.379 Fuddela. Yes. He called it the Fuddela. OK, let's 00:02:46.379 --> 00:02:48.620 unpack this Fuddela, because it sounds like something 00:02:48.620 --> 00:02:51.080 out of a steampunk novel. It kind of is. I mean, 00:02:51.120 --> 00:02:53.300 how exactly does someone build a foot -operated 00:02:53.300 --> 00:02:55.360 bass instrument from scratch in the mid -20th 00:02:55.360 --> 00:02:58.340 century? So he essentially built this large, 00:02:58.699 --> 00:03:02.819 upright wooden box that housed six bass strings. 00:03:03.039 --> 00:03:05.060 Like a piano crossed with an upright bass. Sort 00:03:05.060 --> 00:03:07.479 of, yeah. And then he attached a pedal mechanism 00:03:07.479 --> 00:03:09.729 to it. When he pressed the pedal with his foot, 00:03:09.990 --> 00:03:12.590 it would trigger a padded piano hammer. Yeah, 00:03:12.830 --> 00:03:15.090 and that hammer struck the corresponding bass 00:03:15.090 --> 00:03:17.449 string, so this allowed him to physically play 00:03:17.449 --> 00:03:20.370 a walking bass line with his foot. While playing 00:03:20.370 --> 00:03:23.310 other stuff. Exactly. It left his hands completely 00:03:23.310 --> 00:03:25.509 free to play the guitar, and his mouth was free 00:03:25.509 --> 00:03:29.349 to sing, play the harmonica, or, you know, use 00:03:29.349 --> 00:03:32.469 a kazoo. That requires immense physical coordination. 00:03:32.620 --> 00:03:35.659 I mean, if you look at his 1963 album, San Francisco 00:03:35.659 --> 00:03:38.699 Bay Blues, which the Wikipedia article notes 00:03:38.699 --> 00:03:41.020 was supervised by Paul A. Rothschild Fuller, 00:03:41.460 --> 00:03:43.580 is credited with doing so much at once. He was 00:03:43.580 --> 00:03:46.699 a machine. He's credited with singing and simultaneously 00:03:46.699 --> 00:03:49.319 playing the guitar, the harmonica, the kazoo, 00:03:49.539 --> 00:03:53.039 the washboard, and this Fodella. all at the same 00:03:53.039 --> 00:03:55.539 time. It was like the ultimate uncompromising 00:03:55.539 --> 00:03:59.000 modern -day indie DIY artist, you know, just 00:03:59.000 --> 00:04:00.500 building his own instruments and doing the work 00:04:00.500 --> 00:04:02.960 of five people. It really makes total sense economically, 00:04:03.259 --> 00:04:05.659 too. Oh, for sure. Why split the gig money five 00:04:05.659 --> 00:04:07.419 ways when you could build a contraption to do 00:04:07.419 --> 00:04:10.300 work of an entire rhythm section yourself? Precisely. 00:04:10.509 --> 00:04:13.590 It was an economic necessity born of a touring 00:04:13.590 --> 00:04:17.009 musician's lifestyle. And his most famous song, 00:04:17.230 --> 00:04:19.970 San Francisco Day Blues, had already been recorded 00:04:19.970 --> 00:04:22.110 by artists like Ramblin', Jack Elliott, and Donovan. 00:04:22.490 --> 00:04:25.050 Right. But the song we are focusing on, You're 00:04:25.050 --> 00:04:28.810 No Good, is structurally very close to that hit, 00:04:28.910 --> 00:04:31.569 isn't it? Yeah. According to author Spencer Lee, 00:04:31.649 --> 00:04:34.189 the structure is very similar. But the narrative 00:04:34.189 --> 00:04:37.569 inside You're No Good is much darker. Oh, definitely. 00:04:37.689 --> 00:04:39.449 Like the narrator is complaining about a woman 00:04:39.449 --> 00:04:42.629 who, as the lyrics say, has got the ways of a 00:04:42.629 --> 00:04:45.410 devil sleeping in a lion's den. That's such a 00:04:45.410 --> 00:04:47.649 great line. So visceral. He talks about supporting 00:04:47.649 --> 00:04:49.810 her when she was poor, and now she takes the 00:04:49.810 --> 00:04:51.910 money he gave her and spends it on another man. 00:04:52.170 --> 00:04:54.149 Right, complete betrayal. Yeah, it gets to the 00:04:54.149 --> 00:04:55.730 point where the narrator says he just wants to 00:04:55.730 --> 00:04:58.930 lay down and die. It's this gritty, heavy blue 00:04:58.930 --> 00:05:01.949 story about carousing and heartbreak. What's 00:05:01.949 --> 00:05:04.230 fascinating here is the thematic contradiction. 00:05:04.490 --> 00:05:06.610 Contradiction how? Well, if you read the liner 00:05:06.610 --> 00:05:09.310 notes written by Joe Boyd for that San Francisco 00:05:09.310 --> 00:05:12.069 Bay Blues album, he points out that Fuller had 00:05:12.069 --> 00:05:14.209 indeed experienced some troubled relationships 00:05:14.209 --> 00:05:16.009 before meeting his wife. Okay, so there's some 00:05:16.009 --> 00:05:18.810 real -life inspiration. True, but his actual 00:05:18.810 --> 00:05:21.829 personality was completely at odds with the dangerous, 00:05:21.990 --> 00:05:24.149 hard -drinking characters in his songs. Really? 00:05:24.370 --> 00:05:27.649 So he's not this wild bluesman? Not at all. Boyd 00:05:27.649 --> 00:05:30.209 explicitly notes that despite living a vagabond 00:05:30.209 --> 00:05:33.430 lifestyle as a traveling musician, Jesse Fuller 00:05:33.430 --> 00:05:36.810 was actually quite frugal. Frugal? Yeah, frugal 00:05:36.810 --> 00:05:39.329 and relatively conservative. Women who drank 00:05:39.329 --> 00:05:41.889 and caroused until the early hours never got 00:05:41.889 --> 00:05:44.290 along well with Jesse at all. Oh, wow. So he's 00:05:44.290 --> 00:05:46.949 basically cosplaying this hardened, reckless 00:05:46.949 --> 00:05:50.689 bluesman while actually being like a highly responsible 00:05:50.689 --> 00:05:52.769 accountant type behind the scenes. Essentially, 00:05:52.930 --> 00:05:55.009 yes. He was a professional playing a role. He 00:05:55.009 --> 00:05:57.360 was delivering a narrative that fit the expectations 00:05:57.360 --> 00:05:59.819 of the blues tradition, but he wasn't living 00:05:59.819 --> 00:06:02.180 that chaotic life himself. Okay, so if Fuller 00:06:02.180 --> 00:06:05.199 was this frugal, responsible guy who actively 00:06:05.199 --> 00:06:08.740 avoided the party scene, how did his deeply cynical 00:06:08.740 --> 00:06:11.060 blues track end up in the hands of someone like 00:06:11.060 --> 00:06:13.519 Dylan? Well, that's where the paths cross. Right, 00:06:13.620 --> 00:06:15.959 this chaotic lightning -in -a -bottle teenager. 00:06:16.500 --> 00:06:19.079 Wait, how is it possible that a cover version 00:06:19.079 --> 00:06:22.120 beats the original songwriter's version to the 00:06:22.120 --> 00:06:24.990 record store by over a year? It sounds impossible 00:06:24.990 --> 00:06:27.730 by today's standards. Right. I mean, Dylan recorded 00:06:27.730 --> 00:06:31.069 it in November 1961 and released it in March 00:06:31.069 --> 00:06:34.230 1962. And Fuller's version didn't come out until 00:06:34.230 --> 00:06:37.790 May 13th, 1963. On the prestige folklore label, 00:06:38.230 --> 00:06:40.230 that timeline is just completely upside down. 00:06:40.430 --> 00:06:42.970 It is. But to make sense of that anomaly, you 00:06:42.970 --> 00:06:45.509 have to understand how information and specifically 00:06:45.509 --> 00:06:49.029 music actually moved in the mid -century folk 00:06:49.029 --> 00:06:51.149 scene. It wasn't exactly digital distribution. 00:06:51.209 --> 00:06:53.579 Far from it. You might be picturing modern music 00:06:53.579 --> 00:06:55.740 distribution where an artist finishes a song, 00:06:55.939 --> 00:06:58.600 uploads it to a streaming service, and it's copyrighted 00:06:58.600 --> 00:07:00.899 and distributed globally in an instant. Yeah, 00:07:01.000 --> 00:07:03.060 but the folk scene of the late 50s and early 00:07:03.060 --> 00:07:06.040 60s operated entirely outside of that corporate 00:07:06.040 --> 00:07:08.079 infrastructure. Completely outside. It was an 00:07:08.079 --> 00:07:11.180 oral tradition. Like an open source code network 00:07:11.180 --> 00:07:13.100 but happening in smoky basements instead of on 00:07:13.100 --> 00:07:15.290 the internet. That's a great way to look at it. 00:07:15.490 --> 00:07:18.350 Songs spread through live coffeehouse performances. 00:07:19.269 --> 00:07:21.449 Musicians would just watch each other play. They'd 00:07:21.449 --> 00:07:23.670 memorize the chord progressions? Yeah, the chords, 00:07:23.870 --> 00:07:25.610 the lyrics, and then they'd take those songs 00:07:25.610 --> 00:07:28.449 to the next town. The sources indicate Dylan 00:07:28.449 --> 00:07:30.870 actually learned You're No Good, personally, 00:07:31.029 --> 00:07:33.709 from Jesse Fuller. After seeing him perform at 00:07:33.709 --> 00:07:37.470 the Exodus Coffee Club in Denver in 1959. Exactly. 00:07:38.069 --> 00:07:40.930 Though, um... The notes do mention a slight debate 00:07:40.930 --> 00:07:43.529 that Dylan might have heard Ramblin' Jack Elliott 00:07:43.529 --> 00:07:45.149 perform it instead, right? There's a footnote 00:07:45.149 --> 00:07:48.370 about that, yes. Yeah. But the consensus heavily 00:07:48.370 --> 00:07:50.970 leans toward Dylan absorbing it directly from 00:07:50.970 --> 00:07:54.250 Fuller in Denver. Gotcha. So why the massive 00:07:54.250 --> 00:07:57.110 delay in Fuller's release? It really comes down 00:07:57.110 --> 00:07:59.769 to the stark difference in their career phases. 00:07:59.970 --> 00:08:01.990 Because Fuller was already established. Right. 00:08:02.069 --> 00:08:04.589 He was an older touring musician. His primary 00:08:04.589 --> 00:08:07.069 income was playing live gigs. Releasing records 00:08:07.069 --> 00:08:09.230 was just an occasional byproduct of his touring, 00:08:09.389 --> 00:08:12.029 not the main engine. Oh, so prestige folklore 00:08:12.029 --> 00:08:13.769 probably just recorded him when he rolled through 00:08:13.769 --> 00:08:16.230 town. Exactly. And then they simply held onto 00:08:16.230 --> 00:08:18.670 the tapes until it made financial sense for the 00:08:18.670 --> 00:08:21.110 label to press them into vinyl. Whereas Bob Dylan 00:08:21.110 --> 00:08:24.430 was this hungry, fast -moving sponge. He's just 00:08:24.430 --> 00:08:26.329 soaking up everything he hears in these coffee 00:08:26.329 --> 00:08:28.610 houses. And immediately sprinting into the studio 00:08:28.610 --> 00:08:30.949 to put it on tape to establish his own name. 00:08:31.250 --> 00:08:34.950 Sprinting is definitely the word. Which brings 00:08:34.950 --> 00:08:39.990 us to the chaos of November 20th, 1961. Ah, yes. 00:08:40.330 --> 00:08:44.110 Columbia Studio A. located at 799 7th Avenue 00:08:44.110 --> 00:08:46.830 in New York City. This is the very first track 00:08:46.830 --> 00:08:48.850 Dylan recorded at his initial session. First 00:08:48.850 --> 00:08:51.590 debut album, yes. And we really have to contextualize 00:08:51.590 --> 00:08:53.669 what Studio A actually was at that time. Because 00:08:53.669 --> 00:08:55.539 it wasn't what people might think. Right, you 00:08:55.539 --> 00:08:57.860 might be picturing a grungy, relaxed rehearsal 00:08:57.860 --> 00:09:01.059 space with tapestries on the walls. But Columbia 00:09:01.059 --> 00:09:05.240 Studio A was a pristine, union -regulated, white 00:09:05.240 --> 00:09:07.580 lab coat environment in the heart of Midtown 00:09:07.580 --> 00:09:10.259 Manhattan. It was incredibly formal. So imagine 00:09:10.259 --> 00:09:12.940 dropping a scruffy, unpredictable 19 -year -old 00:09:12.940 --> 00:09:16.039 folk singer into a sterilized corporate laboratory. 00:09:16.700 --> 00:09:18.120 Here's where it gets really interesting, because 00:09:18.120 --> 00:09:19.820 it's like a corporate manager trying to put a 00:09:19.820 --> 00:09:21.970 spreadsheet together during a tornado. The Clash 00:09:21.970 --> 00:09:24.909 of Cultures was immediate. The session was produced 00:09:24.909 --> 00:09:27.710 by John H. Hammond, who was a legend. Absolute 00:09:27.710 --> 00:09:30.629 legend at Columbia Records. He had discovered 00:09:30.629 --> 00:09:33.389 artists like Billie Holiday, but he was used 00:09:33.389 --> 00:09:36.049 to a certain standard of studio decorum and strict 00:09:36.049 --> 00:09:38.269 technical methodologies. And according to Dylan 00:09:38.269 --> 00:09:40.929 biographer Clinton Halen, who actually had access 00:09:40.929 --> 00:09:43.389 to the unreleased session tapes, Hammond struggled 00:09:43.389 --> 00:09:46.470 terribly with the young Dylan. Terribly. Halen 00:09:46.470 --> 00:09:48.950 claims that from the very first take, Hammond 00:09:48.950 --> 00:09:52.240 was, quote, All at sea. It took them eight takes 00:09:52.240 --> 00:09:55.259 just to get this one short song down. Yeah, four 00:09:55.259 --> 00:09:57.480 complete takes and four false starts, eventually 00:09:57.480 --> 00:10:00.509 using take five. And the core issue. was Hammond 00:10:00.509 --> 00:10:02.789 trying to apply traditional recording techniques 00:10:02.789 --> 00:10:05.990 to an entirely untraditional artist. Right, because 00:10:05.990 --> 00:10:08.750 in 1961, if a take wasn't perfect, a producer 00:10:08.750 --> 00:10:10.970 couldn't just digitally fix a mistake in Pro 00:10:10.970 --> 00:10:13.509 Tools. No, they had to use physical tape splicing. 00:10:13.830 --> 00:10:16.269 Exactly. An engineer would take a razor blade, 00:10:16.649 --> 00:10:19.009 physically cut the magnetic audio tape from take 00:10:19.009 --> 00:10:21.789 one, cut the tape from take two, and literally 00:10:21.789 --> 00:10:24.570 stitch the best halves together to create a flawless 00:10:24.570 --> 00:10:27.809 master track. But Halen notes that physical splicing 00:10:27.809 --> 00:10:30.429 was practically impossible with Dylan because 00:10:30.429 --> 00:10:33.549 his sound varied so wildly from take to take. 00:10:33.789 --> 00:10:36.929 He didn't play to a click track? No. His tempo 00:10:36.929 --> 00:10:40.549 shifted, his vocal delivery changed, his guitar 00:10:40.549 --> 00:10:43.809 strumming was erratic. It's like trying to tailor 00:10:43.809 --> 00:10:46.750 a bespoke suit for someone who won't stop sprinting 00:10:46.750 --> 00:10:49.519 around the room. That's exactly it. Hammond's 00:10:49.519 --> 00:10:51.679 tools, like the careful microphone placement, 00:10:51.940 --> 00:10:55.179 the tape splicing, they rely on a stationary, 00:10:55.179 --> 00:10:58.500 predictable subject. And Dylan was a moving target. 00:10:58.620 --> 00:11:01.460 He really was. You have these professional engineers, 00:11:01.720 --> 00:11:04.100 George Neuer and Pete Doria, frantically trying 00:11:04.100 --> 00:11:06.700 to fix the audio balance on the fly while Dylan 00:11:06.700 --> 00:11:09.000 is just blasting away. Didn't Hammond have to 00:11:09.000 --> 00:11:11.100 stop in mid -song at one point? Yeah. He had 00:11:11.100 --> 00:11:13.019 to stop Dylan after a take and ask him to play 00:11:13.019 --> 00:11:14.700 it again specifically because they were still 00:11:14.700 --> 00:11:17.059 trying to fix the balance. And Dylan wasn't making 00:11:17.059 --> 00:11:19.500 it any easier on the technical side either. Hammond 00:11:19.500 --> 00:11:21.440 kept complaining over the intercom because Dylan 00:11:21.440 --> 00:11:23.259 was popping his pee sounds on the microphone. 00:11:23.279 --> 00:11:25.440 Oh, the pee sounds. Yeah, there's a line where 00:11:25.440 --> 00:11:28.179 he sings the word planes and Dylan is just leaning 00:11:28.179 --> 00:11:31.500 way too hard into the mic. I can just picture 00:11:31.500 --> 00:11:34.379 Hammond, this distinguished industry veteran, 00:11:34.919 --> 00:11:37.200 rubbing his temples in the control room while 00:11:37.200 --> 00:11:39.620 the audio leaders peek into the red. It was a 00:11:39.620 --> 00:11:41.740 frustrating environment for Dylan, too, though. 00:11:41.840 --> 00:11:43.600 Oh, and sure. He actually originally wanted to 00:11:43.600 --> 00:11:46.399 use a spoken word introduction to the song. About 00:11:46.399 --> 00:11:49.720 what? About a cowboy in Connecticut. Wait, a 00:11:49.720 --> 00:11:51.860 cowboy in Connecticut? That has absolutely nothing 00:11:51.860 --> 00:11:54.240 to do with a devilish woman stealing your money 00:11:54.240 --> 00:11:56.519 in a blues song. It really didn't make thematic 00:11:56.519 --> 00:11:59.259 sense. At all. But it was part of that rambling 00:11:59.259 --> 00:12:02.590 persona he was developing. However... He had 00:12:02.590 --> 00:12:05.970 to abandon that entire cowboy monologue simply 00:12:05.970 --> 00:12:08.289 because of all the interruptions from the control 00:12:08.289 --> 00:12:11.309 room during the early takes. Wow. So the studio 00:12:11.309 --> 00:12:14.049 tensions literally changed the structure of the 00:12:14.049 --> 00:12:16.090 track. Now, I should mention, not everyone agrees 00:12:16.090 --> 00:12:18.769 it was a total disaster. Right. The scholar Todd 00:12:18.769 --> 00:12:21.590 Harvey pushes back on Halen's narrative of complete 00:12:21.590 --> 00:12:24.789 studio chaos, doesn't he? He does. Harvey argues 00:12:24.789 --> 00:12:27.649 that the session tapes actually corroborate Hammond's 00:12:27.649 --> 00:12:30.730 own view. Which was? Hammond suggested that Dylan 00:12:30.730 --> 00:12:33.399 just needed a minutes to adjust to the formal 00:12:33.399 --> 00:12:36.740 recording process. So Harvey's perspective is 00:12:36.740 --> 00:12:39.620 that it wasn't a catastrophic failure of communication, 00:12:40.120 --> 00:12:43.039 it was just a raw live performer taking a few 00:12:43.039 --> 00:12:45.659 takes to calibrate to the sterile environment 00:12:45.659 --> 00:12:48.289 of Studio A. But wait, I really have to push 00:12:48.289 --> 00:12:50.490 back on Harvey's theory there. I mean, if it 00:12:50.490 --> 00:12:53.389 was just a simple adjustment period, Dylan wouldn't 00:12:53.389 --> 00:12:55.750 have kept popping his PS, Hammond wouldn't have 00:12:55.750 --> 00:12:57.590 been complaining over the intercom constantly, 00:12:57.690 --> 00:12:59.409 and they still would have been able to splice 00:12:59.409 --> 00:13:01.450 the tape eventually. That's a fair point. The 00:13:01.450 --> 00:13:04.129 fact that the tape was fundamentally unspliceable 00:13:04.129 --> 00:13:06.029 tells me this wasn't just a quick calibration. 00:13:06.490 --> 00:13:09.269 This was a fundamental clash of recording philosophies. 00:13:09.840 --> 00:13:12.500 Dylan's entire approach was about capturing a 00:13:12.500 --> 00:13:15.139 raw moment, and Hammond's approach was about 00:13:15.139 --> 00:13:18.519 constructing a polished product. That is a crucial 00:13:18.519 --> 00:13:20.740 distinction, and whatever friction occurred in 00:13:20.740 --> 00:13:24.220 that room, the result, which was take five, survived. 00:13:24.490 --> 00:13:27.690 It did. But it is structurally and tonally very 00:13:27.690 --> 00:13:30.590 different from Jesse Fuller's version. It's completely 00:13:30.590 --> 00:13:32.929 transformed. I mean, Dylan speeds the whole thing 00:13:32.929 --> 00:13:36.309 up. His version clocks in at a brisk one minute 00:13:36.309 --> 00:13:38.850 and 40 seconds. It goes by in a flash. He takes 00:13:38.850 --> 00:13:42.610 this steady rhythmic folk blues song and injects 00:13:42.610 --> 00:13:46.470 it with like punk rock pacing. And he also alters 00:13:46.470 --> 00:13:49.450 the lyrics. For instance, he drops a great line 00:13:49.450 --> 00:13:52.580 from Fuller's original version. Which one? Fuller 00:13:52.580 --> 00:13:54.679 sings that the woman could make a preacher lay 00:13:54.679 --> 00:13:57.360 his Bible down. Oh, that's such a fantastic blues 00:13:57.360 --> 00:14:00.519 lyric. It's a shame to lose it. It is, but Dylan 00:14:00.519 --> 00:14:02.919 was filtering the song through his own frantic 00:14:02.919 --> 00:14:05.860 energy. And despite eventually getting the track 00:14:05.860 --> 00:14:08.919 on tape, the record label still managed to bungle 00:14:08.919 --> 00:14:11.139 the commercial release. Oh, of course they did. 00:14:11.220 --> 00:14:13.720 How? On some of the American pressings and the 00:14:13.720 --> 00:14:16.399 British LP, the track was mistakenly labeled 00:14:16.399 --> 00:14:19.779 as She's No Good instead of You're No Good. a 00:14:19.779 --> 00:14:22.500 classic record label maneuver. Just print the 00:14:22.500 --> 00:14:25.039 sleeves, we'll fix the typo on the second pressing. 00:14:25.320 --> 00:14:27.639 Exactly. Although they did manage to get the 00:14:27.639 --> 00:14:29.779 historical credit right on the back of the album. 00:14:30.340 --> 00:14:32.500 The liner notes were written by the critic Robert 00:14:32.500 --> 00:14:34.879 Shelton. Who was using a pseudonym, right? Yeah, 00:14:34.960 --> 00:14:37.919 he used the pseudonym Stacey Williams. And Shelton 00:14:37.919 --> 00:14:40.700 explicitly credited Dylan's learning of the song 00:14:40.700 --> 00:14:43.840 from, quote, Jesse Fuller, the West Coast blues 00:14:43.840 --> 00:14:46.539 singer. And Shelton's involvement highlights 00:14:46.539 --> 00:14:49.679 just how polarized the critical reaction to this 00:14:49.679 --> 00:14:52.179 1 minute and 40 second piece of tape would be. 00:14:52.360 --> 00:14:54.720 Oh, the critical divide was massive. Because 00:14:54.720 --> 00:14:57.740 when the album dropped, the music establishment 00:14:57.740 --> 00:14:59.759 really didn't know what to do with it. Let's 00:14:59.759 --> 00:15:01.879 look at the Old Guard first. You have William 00:15:01.879 --> 00:15:04.840 Allen reviewing the album in the Pittsburgh Press 00:15:04.840 --> 00:15:09.980 in June 1962. Right. And he is actively hostile 00:15:09.980 --> 00:15:12.659 to what Dylan is doing. He actually puts the 00:15:12.659 --> 00:15:15.139 word singing in quotation marks when talking 00:15:15.139 --> 00:15:17.299 about Dylan. Just completely sneering at it. 00:15:17.379 --> 00:15:19.100 Yeah. Because to William Allen and the established 00:15:19.100 --> 00:15:21.519 critics of the time, singing meant Frank Sinatra. 00:15:21.659 --> 00:15:24.120 It meant Bing Crosby. The crooners. Yeah. It 00:15:24.120 --> 00:15:26.860 meant hitting notes with perfect practiced intonation. 00:15:27.100 --> 00:15:30.980 Right. Allen specifically singles out You're 00:15:30.980 --> 00:15:33.580 No Good as a song that didn't have a publisher 00:15:33.580 --> 00:15:36.259 and, in his words, wasn't likely to have one. 00:15:36.559 --> 00:15:39.019 That comment about the publisher is incredibly 00:15:39.019 --> 00:15:41.379 revealing. Why is that? It shows a fundamental 00:15:41.379 --> 00:15:43.779 misunderstanding of the tectonic shift happening 00:15:43.779 --> 00:15:47.840 in music at that exact moment. Alan is evaluating 00:15:47.840 --> 00:15:50.879 the song through the lens of Tin Pan Alley. For 00:15:50.879 --> 00:15:52.720 those who might not know, what exactly does that 00:15:52.720 --> 00:15:56.090 mean? So Tin Pan Alley was the traditional corporate 00:15:56.090 --> 00:15:58.370 music publishing industry centered in New York. 00:15:58.830 --> 00:16:01.830 Their business model relied on professional songwriters 00:16:01.830 --> 00:16:04.809 creating sheet music. And publishers could sell 00:16:04.809 --> 00:16:07.509 that sheet music to other artists to record cleanly 00:16:07.509 --> 00:16:10.370 and politely. I see. Alan is listening to Dylan's 00:16:10.370 --> 00:16:13.070 track and thinking, no one can print this erratic 00:16:13.070 --> 00:16:15.669 performance onto sheet music and sell it. He's 00:16:15.669 --> 00:16:18.730 evaluating it as a reproducible product, completely 00:16:18.730 --> 00:16:21.350 missing that Dylan is selling raw, unvarnished 00:16:21.350 --> 00:16:23.809 emotion and energy. He was completely missing 00:16:23.809 --> 00:16:26.759 the forest for the trees. But on the flip side 00:16:26.759 --> 00:16:29.200 you have Robert Shelton, the same guy who wrote 00:16:29.200 --> 00:16:31.720 the liner notes under a fake name, praising the 00:16:31.720 --> 00:16:34.139 track to the moon in his later biography of Dylan. 00:16:34.320 --> 00:16:36.580 What did he say about it? Shelton calls it a 00:16:36.580 --> 00:16:39.379 rollicking tumble of witty nonsense, and I love 00:16:39.379 --> 00:16:42.169 how he describes the instrumental break. He points 00:16:42.169 --> 00:16:44.590 out that Dylan basically built his own one -man 00:16:44.590 --> 00:16:46.990 band in the studio. Which is a great spiritual 00:16:46.990 --> 00:16:50.029 nod to Jesse Fuller's Fetilla. Exactly. Shelton 00:16:50.029 --> 00:16:52.570 highlights the galloping mouth harp that talks 00:16:52.570 --> 00:16:55.029 back and forth with the guitar. The critics who 00:16:55.029 --> 00:16:58.389 got it really got it. Another author, John Nogoski, 00:16:58.429 --> 00:17:01.230 was a bit more analytical. How did he rate it? 00:17:01.509 --> 00:17:04.809 He rated the energetic performance a solid C+. 00:17:04.809 --> 00:17:07.309 Fair enough. But Paul Williams, who was a prominent 00:17:07.309 --> 00:17:10.289 rock critic, saw something much deeper beneath 00:17:10.289 --> 00:17:13.430 the surface. He felt that You're No Good was 00:17:13.430 --> 00:17:15.750 one of the only tracks on that debut album that 00:17:15.750 --> 00:17:18.569 gave early hints of Dylan's underlying rock and 00:17:18.569 --> 00:17:20.670 roll sensibilities. Williams makes such a great 00:17:20.670 --> 00:17:22.940 observation here. He points out that for all 00:17:22.940 --> 00:17:25.519 of Dylan's later reputation, this debut album 00:17:25.519 --> 00:17:27.859 doesn't really portray him as a dangerous rock 00:17:27.859 --> 00:17:30.740 star or a philanderer. No, it's mostly traditional 00:17:30.740 --> 00:17:33.680 folk songs. Right. Williams argues that the only 00:17:33.680 --> 00:17:37.000 truly sexy, dangerous line on the entire album 00:17:37.000 --> 00:17:39.680 is right here in You're No Good. Which line is 00:17:39.680 --> 00:17:41.579 that? It's when Dylan speeds up and sings, when 00:17:41.579 --> 00:17:44.140 you get a crazy notion jumping all over me. which 00:17:44.140 --> 00:17:46.759 perfectly leans into that rock and roll energy. 00:17:47.259 --> 00:17:49.779 It pushes the boundaries of the polite folk revival 00:17:49.779 --> 00:17:52.920 just a little bit, hinting at the electric controversies 00:17:52.920 --> 00:17:55.299 Dylan would spark a few years later. So what 00:17:55.299 --> 00:17:58.119 does this all mean? We have a 1 minute and 40 00:17:58.119 --> 00:18:01.640 second song that some critics dismissed as unpublishable 00:18:01.640 --> 00:18:04.339 garbage, while others saw it as the vanguard 00:18:04.339 --> 00:18:07.519 of a new era. It's a true dividing line. And 00:18:07.519 --> 00:18:10.859 honestly, the irony of William Allen dismissing 00:18:10.859 --> 00:18:13.859 the song's viability aged terribly. Terribly. 00:18:14.240 --> 00:18:15.880 Especially when you consider that as recently 00:18:15.880 --> 00:18:18.920 as 2022, Jeff Hanna of the Nitty Gritty Dirt 00:18:18.920 --> 00:18:21.579 Band, who's been a massive fan since that first 00:18:21.579 --> 00:18:24.339 album dropped, specifically singled out this 00:18:24.339 --> 00:18:26.559 track in an interview. Oh, really? Yeah, saying 00:18:26.559 --> 00:18:28.599 Dylan quote, sings the heck out of that one. 00:18:28.720 --> 00:18:31.759 It proves that raw energy outlasts polite precision. 00:18:32.000 --> 00:18:34.039 If we connect this to the bigger picture, Todd 00:18:34.039 --> 00:18:36.539 Harvey has a very grounded theory about why the 00:18:36.539 --> 00:18:39.559 song was placed where it was. Why open your monumental 00:18:39.559 --> 00:18:42.240 debut album with someone else's song? Right. 00:18:42.779 --> 00:18:44.839 Harvey believed it wasn't necessarily because 00:18:44.839 --> 00:18:48.079 it was a profound lyrical masterpiece. It was 00:18:48.079 --> 00:18:51.569 chosen simply because it was upbeat, funny, and 00:18:51.569 --> 00:18:54.289 possessed incredible forward momentum. It was 00:18:54.289 --> 00:18:56.490 just a great opener to grab the listener by the 00:18:56.490 --> 00:18:58.269 collar. It doesn't always have to be deep. Sometimes 00:18:58.269 --> 00:18:59.990 you just want to kick the door down and start 00:18:59.990 --> 00:19:03.089 the record with some heat. Exactly. But historically, 00:19:03.410 --> 00:19:05.690 it serves as this beautiful accidental bridge. 00:19:06.349 --> 00:19:10.250 On one side you have the old acoustic oral tradition 00:19:10.250 --> 00:19:13.329 of the blues represented by the frugal, ingenious 00:19:13.329 --> 00:19:15.289 one -man band Jesse Fuller. Yeah, and on the 00:19:15.289 --> 00:19:17.829 other side you have the electric sped -up rock 00:19:17.829 --> 00:19:19.930 and roll revolution that Bob Dylan was about 00:19:19.930 --> 00:19:23.549 to ignite. This frantic track is the exact intersection 00:19:23.549 --> 00:19:26.109 where those two eras collide. It really is the 00:19:26.109 --> 00:19:28.589 perfect pivot point in music history. Which brings 00:19:28.589 --> 00:19:30.980 us back to you listening to this right now. You 00:19:30.980 --> 00:19:33.680 might be wondering why a deep dive into an obscure 00:19:33.680 --> 00:19:37.019 cover song from 1962 matters for your life today. 00:19:37.359 --> 00:19:39.619 It's a fair question. I think it's a powerful, 00:19:40.000 --> 00:19:43.980 tangible reminder that monumental, culture -shifting 00:19:43.980 --> 00:19:46.460 careers, the kind that change the trajectory 00:19:46.460 --> 00:19:50.319 of the world, rarely start with a flawless, completely 00:19:50.319 --> 00:19:52.319 original masterpiece. They usually start with 00:19:52.319 --> 00:19:55.150 a mess. If you are out there trying to build 00:19:55.150 --> 00:19:56.950 something, trying to lay down the blueprint for 00:19:56.950 --> 00:19:59.470 your own career or project, remember what Dylan's 00:19:59.470 --> 00:20:02.490 Day One looked like. It started with a fast, 00:20:02.890 --> 00:20:05.769 slightly altered cover of a frugal guy's unreleased 00:20:05.769 --> 00:20:08.910 song. It started with a studio session full of 00:20:08.910 --> 00:20:11.750 false starts, popping P .S. on a microphone and 00:20:11.750 --> 00:20:13.869 a distinguished producer rubbing his temples 00:20:13.869 --> 00:20:16.190 in frustration because he couldn't slice your 00:20:16.190 --> 00:20:18.920 tape with a razor blade. It started with an abandoned 00:20:18.920 --> 00:20:21.579 rambling monologue about a cowboy in Connecticut. 00:20:21.660 --> 00:20:24.460 Yes. Your first attempt does not have to be perfect, 00:20:24.839 --> 00:20:27.900 pristine, or even entirely original to be historically 00:20:27.900 --> 00:20:30.140 significant. You just have to get your energy 00:20:30.140 --> 00:20:32.900 on tape. The messy reality of the creative process 00:20:32.900 --> 00:20:36.109 is often what gives it life. But as we wrap up 00:20:36.109 --> 00:20:38.369 this exploration, I want to leave you with one 00:20:38.369 --> 00:20:41.329 final lingering mystery to mull over on your 00:20:41.329 --> 00:20:43.809 own. What's that? We've established that You're 00:20:43.809 --> 00:20:46.289 No Good was the very first song recorded for 00:20:46.289 --> 00:20:49.069 Bob Dylan's debut album. It was an energetic 00:20:49.069 --> 00:20:51.750 track that literally launched his recording career, 00:20:52.269 --> 00:20:54.349 serving as that crucial stepping stone between 00:20:54.349 --> 00:20:57.750 the old acoustic world and the new era of rock. 00:20:57.950 --> 00:21:01.250 The ultimate day one foundation. Precisely. And 00:21:01.250 --> 00:21:03.930 yet, despite its undeniable historical importance, 00:21:03.759 --> 00:21:07.380 as the spark that started his catalog, as of 00:21:07.380 --> 00:21:10.920 2022, Bob Dylan has never played the song live 00:21:10.920 --> 00:21:13.880 in a public concert. Wait, really? Not a single 00:21:13.880 --> 00:21:16.519 time. Not a single time. Wait, in over 60 years 00:21:16.519 --> 00:21:18.799 of touring, he has never played the very first 00:21:18.799 --> 00:21:22.160 song he recorded. Never. Which leaves us to ponder. 00:21:22.400 --> 00:21:25.720 Why? Yeah, why? Why would an artist completely 00:21:25.720 --> 00:21:28.279 abandon the very first stone they laid in the 00:21:28.279 --> 00:21:30.599 foundation of their legendary career? Is it a 00:21:30.599 --> 00:21:33.220 conscious rejection of the past? Maybe. Was the 00:21:33.220 --> 00:21:34.980 song just a stepping stone he didn't feel the 00:21:34.980 --> 00:21:37.099 need to revisit once the skyscraper was built? 00:21:37.299 --> 00:21:39.319 Or does it just remind him too much of popping 00:21:39.319 --> 00:21:42.420 peas in Columbia Studio A? That is absolutely 00:21:42.420 --> 00:21:44.059 something to think about the next time you look 00:21:44.059 --> 00:21:46.819 back at the messy starting line of your own journey. 00:21:47.539 --> 00:21:49.339 Thank you for joining us on this deep dive. We'll 00:21:49.339 --> 00:21:50.059 catch you next time.