Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again
"Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again" is a song written by Bob Dylan that appears on his 1966 album Blonde on Blonde.[2] The album version also appears on 1971's Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits Vol. II. An early studio take, done in a faster cut-time, was released on The Bootleg Series Vol. 7: No Direction Home: The Soundtrack in 2005. As the recording indicates, Dylan had difficulty fitting the words to the tempo, and evidently this led to its rearrangement, as heard on Blonde on Blonde, in a more "rock"-oriented 4/4 time.
| "Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again" | |
|---|---|
| Song by Bob Dylan | |
| from the album Blonde on Blonde | |
| Released | June 20, 1966 |
| Recorded | February 17, 1966 |
| Studio | Columbia Studio B, Nashville, Tennessee |
| Genre | Folk rock |
| Length | 7:05 |
| Label | Columbia |
| Songwriter(s) | Bob Dylan |
| Producer(s) | Bob Johnston |
| "Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again" | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Single by Bob Dylan | |
| from the album Hard Rain | |
| B-side | "Rita May" |
| Released | November 30, 1976[1] |
| Recorded | May 16, 1976 |
| Venue | Tarrant County Convention Center Arena, Fort Worth, Texas |
| Genre | Folk rock |
| Length | 3:35 (single edit) 6:01 (album version) |
| Label | Columbia |
| Songwriter(s) | Bob Dylan |
| Producer(s) |
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A live version of this song appears on the 1976 album Hard Rain, and was also released as a single with "Rita May" as the B-side.
Recording
All twenty takes of "Stuck Inside of Mobile" were recorded in the early hours of February 17, 1966, in Columbia's Music Row Studios in Nashville. Dylan continuously reworked the song in the studio, revising lyrics and changing the song's structure as he recorded different takes. Eventually, after recording for three hours, a master take, the twentieth and final take, was chosen.[3] Take five would eventually be released on The Bootleg Series Vol. 7.
The entire recording session was released on the 18-disc Collector's Edition of The Bootleg Series Vol. 12: The Cutting Edge 1965–1966 in 2015, with highlights from the outtakes appearing on the six-disc and two-disc versions of that album.[4]
Notes
- Philippe Margotin; Jean-Michel Guesdon (October 27, 2015). Bob Dylan All the Songs: The Story Behind Every Track. Black Dog & Leventhal. p. 407. ISBN 9781579129859.
- Gilliland, John (1969). "Show 40 - Ballad in Plain D: Bob Dylan. [1966] : UNT Digital Library" (audio). Pop Chronicles. Digital.library.unt.edu. Retrieved 2011-04-29.
- Bjorner, Olof (3 June 2011). Columbia Music Row Studios, Nashville Tennessee, 17 February 1966. Bjorner's Still on the Road. Retrieved 2011-09-10.
- "Bob – The Cutting Edge 1965–1966: The Bootleg Series Vol. 12". Archived from the original on 2016-02-07. Retrieved 2015-11-29.
