The Bootleg Series Vol. 18: Through The Open Window, 1956-1963 [8 CD]

The Bootleg Series Vol. 18: Through The Open Window, 1956-1963 [8 CD]

by Bob Dylan
The Bootleg Series Vol. 18: Through The Open Window, 1956-1963 [8 CD]

The Bootleg Series Vol. 18: Through The Open Window, 1956-1963 [8 CD]

by Bob Dylan

Overview

For many artists, popular music is a game of re-invention, as they periodically fashion new voices and public identities for themselves in the interest of challenging their audiences. Bob Dylan was doing this long before it was commonplace, and it's no secret that "Bob Dylan" was the product of a grand act of willful shape-shifting, as young Robert Zimmerman left Hibbing, Minnesota, for New York City, where he gave himself a more literary moniker and invented a backstory as a colorful drifter and former carney who resembled the second coming of Woody Guthrie. Dylan was able to get away with this bit of public theater because he was very good at it, and had the talent and ambition to make his fictions seem plausible. It didn't take long for him to blossom after he arrived in New York City, and over the course of two and a half years, he went from a scruffy oddball to the most celebrated songwriter from the suddenly exploding Greenwich Village folk scene. It would take a book to tell the full story Dylan's evolution and emergence in the early '60s (and several books have tried), but Through the Open Window: The Bootleg Series Vol. 18, 1956-1963 is a stunningly thorough eight-disc collection of recordings that allow listeners to hear his maturation as it happened. Beginning with an acetate of teenage Bobby Zimmerman playing "Let the Good Times Roll" with friends in a St. Paul music shop in 1956 and closing with Dylan's triumphant Carnegie Hall concert in October 1963, Through the Open Window brings together artifacts from most of the major events of his life in music. There are primal home recordings of Dylan playing for his friends, early New York gigs at the Gaslight Cafe and Gerde's Folk City, his first major concert at the Carnegie Chapter Hall in November 1961, outtakes from his first three albums, his session work as a harmonica player (including one track with Harry Belafonte), radio appearances, an intimate 1962 show at a Montreal coffeehouse, his participation in several political events (including the 1963 March on Washington), and highlights from fabled sets at the Newport Folk Festival and New York's Town Hall. It's a tremendous amount to wade through, but practically all of it tells us something about who Dylan was and what he would become, and his metamorphosis from a nervy kid who worshiped Woody Guthrie to a purposefully earthy but accomplished troubadour whose songwriting is growing by leaps and bounds and who can hold a packed Carnegie Hall audience in his hand is inarguably fascinating. Through the Open Window: The Bootleg Series Vol. 18, 1956-1963 is an epic-scale document on how Bob Dylan became Bob Dylan, both as a persona and an artist, and the abundant audience recordings of his early gigs that appear here are a vital reminder that bringing a recording device to a concert is never a bad idea. ~ Mark Deming

Product Details

Release Date: 10/31/2025
Label: Sony Legacy
UPC: 0198029129823

Tracks

Disc 1

  1. Let the Good Times Roll [Terlinde Music Shop, St. Paul, MN, 1956]
  2. I Got a New Girl [Informal Recording, Hibbing, MN, 1959]
  3. San Francisco Bay Blues [Informal Recording, Minneapolis, MN, 1960]
  4. Jesus Christ [Informal Recording, Minneapolis, MN, 1960]
  5. East Virginia Blues [Informal Recording, Madison, WI, 1960]
  6. K.C. Moan [Informal Recording, Madison, WI, 1960]
  7. Hard Travelin' [Informal Recording, Madison, WI, 1960]
  8. Pastures of Plenty [Informal Recording, East Orange, NJ, 1961]
  9. Remember Me [Informal Recording, East Orange, NJ, 1961]
  10. Song to Woody [The Gaslight Cafe, NYC, 1961]
  11. Talkin' Bear Mountain Picnic Massacre Blues [The Gaslight Cafe, NYC, 1961]
  12. Ain't No Grave [Informal Recording, NYC, 1961]
  13. I Ain't Got No Home [University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, 1961]
  14. Death Don't Have No Mercy [Party, Minneapolis, MN, 1961]
  15. Devilish Mary [Party, Minneapolis, MN, 1961]
  16. Introduction: Riverside Church [Riverside Church, NYC, 196]
  17. Handsome Molly [Riverside Church, NYC, 1961]
  18. Introduction: See That My Grave Is Kept Clean [Gerdes Folk City, NYC, 1961]
  19. See That My Grave Is Kept Clean [Gerdes Folk City, NYC, 1961]
  20. The Girl I Left Behind [Gerdes Folk City, NYC, 1961]
  21. Introduction: Pretty Boy Floyd [Gerdes Folk City, NYC, 1961]
  22. Pretty Boy Floyd [Gerdes Folk City, NYC, 1961]
  23. Railroading on the Great Divide [Gerdes Folk City, NYC, 1961]
  24. Introduction: Fixin' to Die [Folklore Center, NYC, 1961]
  25. Fixin' to Die [Folklore Center, NYC, 1961]
  26. I'll Fly Away [Carolyn Hester Alternate Take, NYC, 1961]

Disc 2

  1. Introduction: In the Pines [Carnegie Chapter Hall, NYC, 1961]
  2. In the Pines [Carnegie Chapter Hall, NYC, 1961]
  3. Gospel Plow [Carnegie Chapter Hall, NYC, 1961]
  4. Introduction: Young But Daily Growing [Carnegie Chapter Hall, NYC, 1961]
  5. Young But Daily Growing [Carnegie Chapter Hall, NYC, 1961]
  6. Man on the Street [Carnegie Chapter Hall, NYC, 1961]
  7. This Land Is Your Land [Carnegie Chapter Hall, NYC, 1961]
  8. Pretty Polly [Carnegie Chapter Hall, NYC, 1961]
  9. Man of Constant Sorrow [Bob Dylan Rehearsal, NYC, 1961]
  10. House Carpenter [Bob Dylan Outtake, NYC, 1961]
  11. You're No Good [Bob Dylan Alternate Take, NYC, 1961]
  12. He Was a Friend of Mine [Bob Dylan Outtake, NYC, 1961]
  13. Ramblin' Round [Bob Dylan Outtake, NYC, 1961]
  14. Story: East Orange, New Jersey [Party, Minneapolis, MN, 1961]
  15. Stealin' [Party, Minneapolis, MN, 1961]
  16. Po' Lazarus [Party, Minneapolis, MN, 1961]
  17. Dink's Song [Party, Minneapolis, MN, 1961]
  18. I Was Young When I Left Home [Party, Minneapolis, MN, 1961]
  19. In the Evening [Party, Minneapolis, MN, 1961]
  20. Baby, Let Me Follow You Down [Party, Minneapolis, MN, 1961]
  21. Cocaine [Party, Minneapolis, MN, 1961]

Disc 3

  1. The Death of Emmett Till [WBAI-FM, NYC, 1962]
  2. Conversation: Folksinger's Choice, 1 [WBAI-FM, NYC, 1962]
  3. Roll On, John [WBAI-FM, NYC, 1962]
  4. Conversation: Folksinger's Choice, 2 [WBAI-FM, NYC, 1962]
  5. Hard Times in New York Town [WBAI-FM, NYC, 1962]
  6. Talkin' John Birch Paranoid Blues [Informal Recording, NYC, 1962]
  7. Ballad of Donald White [Informal Recording, NYC, 1962]
  8. Midnight Special [The Midnight Special Rehearsals, NYC, 1962]
  9. Midnight Special [The Midnight Special Alternate Take, NYC, 1962]
  10. Wichita [Three Kings and the Queen Album Version, NYC, 1962]
  11. It's Dangerous [Kings and the Queen, Volume Two Album Version, NYC, 1962]
  12. Honey, Just Allow Me One More Chance [Gerdes Folk City, NYC, 1962]
  13. Talkin' New York [Gerdes Folk City, NYC, 1962]
  14. Corrina, Corrina [Gerdes Folk City, NYC, 1962]
  15. Deep Ellum Blues [Gerdes Folk City, NYC, 1962]
  16. Introduction: Blowin' in the Wind [Gerdes Folk City, NYC, 1962]
  17. Blowin' in the Wind [Gerdes Folk City, NYC, 1962]
  18. Rambling, Gambling Willie [Freewheelin' Outtake, NYC, 1962]
  19. (I Heard That) Lonesome Whistle [Freewheelin' Outtake, NYC, 1962]
  20. Rocks and Gravel [Freewheelin' Outtake, NYC, 1962]
  21. Paths of Victory [Broadside Office, NYC, 1962]
  22. Train A-Travelin' [Broadside Reunion Album Version, NYC, 1962]
  23. Hiram Hubbard [The Finjan, Montreal, 1962]
  24. Quit Your Low Down Ways [The Finjan, Montreal, 1962]
  25. Let Me Die in My Footsteps [The Finjan, Montreal, 1962]
  26. Ramblin' on My Mind [The Finjan, Montreal, 1962]
  27. Blue Yodel No. 8 (Mule Skinner Blues) [The Finjan, Montreal, 1962]

Disc 4

  1. Baby, Please Don't Go [Freewheelin' Outtake, NYC, 1962]
  2. Worried Blues [Freewheelin' Outtake, NYC, 1962]
  3. Baby, I'm in the Mood for You [Freewheelin' Outtake, NYC, 1962]
  4. Bob Dylan's Blues [Freewheelin' Alternate Take, NYC, 1962]
  5. Introduction: Tomorrow Is a Long Time [Party, Minneapolis, MN, 1962]
  6. Tomorrow Is a Long Time [Party, Minneapolis, MN, 1962]
  7. This Land Is Your Land ¿ The Last Verses [Party, Minneapolis, MN, 1962]
  8. Long Time Gone [Party, Minneapolis, MN, 1962]
  9. A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall [The Gaslight Cafe, NYC, 1962]
  10. Don't Think Twice, It's All Right [The Gaslight Cafe, NYC, 1962]
  11. Barbara Allen [The Gaslight Cafe, NYC, 1962]
  12. The Cuckoo [The Gaslight Cafe, NYC, 1962]
  13. That's All Right [Freewheelin' Outtake, NYC, 1962]
  14. Mixed-Up Confusion [Single Alternate Take, NYC, 1962]
  15. Ballad of Hollis Brown [Freewheelin' Outtake, NYC, 1962]
  16. Kingsport Town [Freewheelin' Outtake, NYC, 1962]
  17. Whatcha Gonna Do? [Freewheelin' Outtake, NYC, 1962]
  18. Hero Blues [Freewheelin' Outtake, NYC, 1962]
  19. I Shall Be Free [Freewheelin' Alternate Take, NYC, 1962]

Disc 5

  1. The Ballad of the Gliding Swan [BBC-TV, London, 1963]
  2. Only a Hobo [Broadside Ballads Album Version, NYC, 1963]
  3. John Brown [Broadside Ballads Album Version, NYC, 1963]
  4. All Over You [Informal Recording, NYC, 1963]
  5. Oxford Town [Witmark Demo, NYC, 1963]
  6. Bob Dylan's Dream [Town Hall, NYC, 1963]
  7. Introduction: Walls of Red Wing [Town Hall, NYC, 1963]
  8. Walls of Red Wing [Town Hall, NYC, 1963]
  9. Introduction: Tomorrow Is a Long Time [Town Hall, NYC, 1963]
  10. Tomorrow Is a Long Time [Town Hall, NYC, 1963]
  11. Dusty Old Fairgrounds [Town Hall, NYC, 1963]
  12. Introduction: Pretty Peggy-O [Town Hall, NYC, 1963]
  13. Pretty Peggy-O [Town Hall, NYC, 1963]
  14. Who Killed Davey Moore? [Town Hall, NYC, 1963]
  15. Last Thoughts on Woody Guthrie [Town Hall, NYC, 1963]
  16. James Alley Blues [Informal Recording, NYC, 1963]
  17. I Rode Out One Morning [Informal Recording, NYC, 1963]
  18. House of the Rising Sun [Informal Recording, NYC, 1963]
  19. Talkin' World War III Blues [Club 47, Cambridge, MA, 1963]
  20. Masters of War [Freewheelin' Alternate Take, NYC, 1963]
  21. Girl from the North Country [Freewheelin' Alternate Take, NYC, 1963]

Disc 6

  1. Introduction by Cordell Reagon [SNCC Rally, Greenwood, MS, 1963]
  2. Only a Pawn in Their Game [SNCC Rally, Greenwood, MS, 1963]
  3. Blowin' in the Wind [SNCC Rally, Greenwood, MS, 1963]
  4. Eternal Circle [Party, Minneapolis, MN, 1963]
  5. Liverpool Gal [Party, Minneapolis, MN, 1963]
  6. West Memphis [Party, Minneapolis, MN, 1963]
  7. North Country Blues [Newport Folk Festival, RI, 1963]
  8. With God on Our Side [Newport Folk Festival, RI, 1963]
  9. Playboys and Playgirls [Newport Folk Festival, RI, 1963]
  10. Blowin' in the Wind [Newport Folk Festival, RI, 1963]
  11. Slate: Boots of Spanish Leather [The Times They Are A-Changin' Sessions, NYC, 1963]
  12. Boots of Spanish Leather [The Times They Are A-Changin' Alternate Take, NYC, 1963]
  13. Seven Curses [The Times They Are A-Changin' Outtake, NYC, 1963]
  14. Farewell [The Times They Are A-Changin' Outtake, NYC, 1963]
  15. Bob Dylan's New Orleans Rag [The Times They Are A-Changin' Outtake, NYC, 1963]
  16. Moonshiner [The Times They Are A-Changin' Outtake, NYC, 1963]
  17. Introduction by Joan Baez [Forest Hills Tennis Stadium, NYC, 1963]
  18. Troubled and I Don't Know Why [Forest Hills Tennis Stadium, NYC, 1963]
  19. Introduction by Ossie Davis [March on Washington, Washington, D. C. , 1963]
  20. When the Ship Comes In [March on Washington, Washington, D. C. , 1963]
  21. The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll [Party, Los Angeles, 1963]
  22. The Times They Are A-Changin' [Informal Recording, Los Angeles, 1963]
  23. One Too Many Mornings [The Times They Are A-Changin' Alternate Take, NYC, 1963]
  24. Key to the Highway [The Times They Are A-Changin' Outtake, NYC, 1963]
  25. Key to the Highway [The Times They Are A-Changin' Outtake, NYC, 1963]

Disc 7

  1. The Times They Are A-Changin' [Carnegie Hall, NYC, 1963]
  2. Ballad of Hollis Brown [Carnegie Hall, NYC, 1963]
  3. Introduction: Who Killed Davey Moore? [Carnegie Hall, NYC, 1963]
  4. Who Killed Davey Moore? [Carnegie Hall, NYC, 1963]
  5. Boots of Spanish Leather [Carnegie Hall, NYC, 1963]
  6. Talkin' John Birch Paranoid Blues [Carnegie Hall, NYC, 1963]
  7. Lay Down Your Weary Tune [Carnegie Hall, NYC, 1963]
  8. Introduction: Blowin' in the Wind [Carnegie Hall, NYC, 1963]
  9. Blowin' in the Wind [Carnegie Hall, NYC, 1963]
  10. Introduction: Percy's Song [Carnegie Hall, NYC, 1963]
  11. Percy's Song [Carnegie Hall, NYC, 1963]
  12. Seven Curses [Carnegie Hall, NYC, 1963]
  13. Walls of Red Wing [Carnegie Hall, NYC, 1963]
  14. Introduction: North Country Blues [Carnegie Hall, NYC, 1963]
  15. North Country Blues [Carnegie Hall, NYC, 1963]
  16. A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall [Carnegie Hall, NYC, 1963]

Disc 8

  1. Talkin' World War III Blues [Carnegie Hall, NYC, 1963]
  2. Don't Think Twice, It's All Right [Carnegie Hall, NYC, 1963]
  3. Story: Hootenanny Hoot [Carnegie Hall, NYC, 1963]
  4. With God on Our Side [Carnegie Hall, NYC, 1963]
  5. Only a Pawn in Their Game [Carnegie Hall, NYC, 1963]
  6. Introduction: Masters of War [Carnegie Hall, NYC, 1963]
  7. Masters of War [Carnegie Hall, NYC, 1963]
  8. Introduction: The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll [Carnegie Hall, NYC, 1963]
  9. The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll [Carnegie Hall, NYC, 1963]
  10. Introduction: When the Ship Comes In [Carnegie Hall, NYC, 1963]
  11. When the Ship Comes In [Carnegie Hall, NYC, 1963]

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Bob Dylan   Primary Artist,Piano,Guitar,Vocals,Harmonica
Blind Boy Grunt   Primary Artist
Harry Belafonte   Primary Artist,Vocals
Ossie Davis   Primary Artist
Gil Turner   Primary Artist
Happy Traum   Primary Artist
Big Joe Williams   Primary Artist,Guitar,Vocals
Tony Glover   Primary Artist,Harmonica
Cordell Reagon   Primary Artist
Dave Van Ronk   Primary Artist,Guitar,Vocals
Jim Kweskin   Primary Artist,Vocals
Peter, Paul and Mary   Primary Artist
Pete Seeger   Primary Artist,Guitar,Vocals
Victoria Spivey   Primary Artist,Piano,Vocals
Carolyn Hester   Primary Artist,Guitar,Vocals
Danny Kalb   Primary Artist,Guitar,Vocals
The Freedom Singers   Primary Artist,Vocals
Joan Baez   Primary Artist,Guitar,Vocals
Cordell Hull Reagon   Vocals
Herb Lovelle   Drums
George Barnes   Guitar
Don Lamond   Drums
Leonard Gaskin   Bass
Peter Yarrow   Vocals
Percy Brice   Drums
Mary Travers   Vocals
Theodore Bikel   Vocals
Norman Keenan   Bass
Larry Keegan   Vocals
Howard Rutman   Vocals
Noel Paul Stookey   Vocals
Bernice Johnson Reagon   Vocals
Bill Lee   Bass
Bruce Langhorne   Guitar
Gene Ramey   Bass
Dick Wellstood   Piano
Ernie Calabria   Guitar
Art Davis   Bass
Rutha Harris   Vocals
Howard Collins   Guitar
Millard Thomas   Guitar
Charles Neblett   Vocals
Danny Barrajanos   Drums

Technical Credits

Sean Wilentz   Producer,Liner Notes
John Cohen   Photography
Parker Fishel   Archivist,Archives Coordinator
Jim Marshall   Photography
Vernon Smith   Photography
Don Hunstein   Back Cover
Mike Piacentini   Mastering,Restoration
Steve Addabbo   Mastering,Restoration
David Beal   Production Coordination
Joe Alper   Photography
Sandy Speiser   Photography
Geoff Gans   Design,Art Direction
David Gahr   Photography
Steve Berkowitz   Producer,Liner Notes
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