"Starlight
In The East"
Directory
of Bob Dylans Unreleased Songs
"Starlight in the East and
you're finally released."
Bob Dylan, "No Time To Think", ©1978
by Special Rider Music
Compiled by Alan Fraser |
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Derek Barker reviewed "Keys To The Rain: The Definitive Bob Dylan Encyclopaedia" (compiled by Oliver Trager, Billboard Books, USA, 2004) in "Isis" issue 118, and surprisingly found in the Foreword what appears to me to be a startling admission for a book that claims to be "definitive": "Entries for songs Dylan performed before he came to New York City are not included. Neither are songs from informal recording sessions, songs written but never recorded, unreleased out-takes, nor any of the unreleased material from 'The Basement Tapes' and their ilk..." Here I hope to include all those exclusions, and much more!
If you have any additions or corrections to the material given here, please let me know. All contributors to the accuracy and completeness of this list will be gratefully credited. Cover scans of singles or albums that contain covers of unreleased Dylan songs are also very welcome.
"...there's a density and a gravity to a Dylan song that you can't find anywhere else." Nick Hornby ("31 Songs")
The Directory is in alphabetical order by song title, please click on the appropriate page below (or start with "A" and work your way through...).
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(Indefinite and definite articles at the beginning of song titles are ignored, so A WOMAN LIKE YOU is on the "W" page, and THE KING IS ON THE THRONE is on the "K" page.)
I very much welcome information about unlisted songs or more details about the ones listed here. |
Revised: 03 November, 2024
Latest Site Updates
20 Dec 2023: Thanks to André Wilbers for news about "The 50th Anniversary Collection 1973", which includes the sessions from "Pat Garrett & Billy The Kid" including ROCK ME MAMA (also known as WAGON WHEEL) and SWEET AMARILLO, both previously unreleased. The "R", "S" and "W" pages have been updated | |
15 Dec 2023: Thanks to Harold Lepidus for information that "1985", a new 6CD boxed set from The Waterboys covering the sessions for their album "This Is The Sea" will include their cover of MERIDIAN WEST, an instrumental by Bob they originally recorded with Bob at Dave Stewart's recording studio in London in 1985. This has been added to the "M" page. The version with Bob remains unreleased. | |
29 Sep 2023: Thanks to James Dring for information that a song misattributed to Bob, VD SEAMANS LAST LETTER, was actually written by Woody Guthrie and is included on "American Radical Patriot", a 6CD/DVD boxed set released in the USA by Rounder Records in 2013. Also thanks to James for information that another song misattributed to Bob, DOPE FIEND ROBBER, was also written by Woody Guthrie and a version appears on CD2 of the limited 2CD edition of "New Multitudes", a 2012 Rounder Records US album by Jay Farrar, Will Johnson, Anders Parker and Yim Yames of songs written but not recorded by Woody. The "D" and "V" pages have been updated. Also thanks to David Freeman for information about ALLOW ME and DRINKIN' OUT OF TWO CUPS, two unreleased songs recorded by Bob at Rundown Studios, Santa Monica, CA, in Jan 1980, now added to the "A" and "D" pages. | |
30 Jun 2023: Thanks to Jack from Canada for news that DON'T MAKE HER CRY, co-written in 2017 by Bob and Regina McCrary, will be released in the USA by Buddy and Julie Miller on 22 Sep 2023 on their New West album "In The Throes". This 2023 version has added lyrics and new music by Julie Miller and has been added to the "D" page. | |
16 Jun 2023: Thanks to Jack from Canada for information that a song called TOM TURKEY was released in 2022 on Charley Crockett's album "The Man From Waco" (Son Of Davy/Thirty Tigers, USA). This song includes both Dylan lyrics from BILLY from "Pat Garrett & Billy The Kid Original Soundtrack" and new lyrics written by Crockett and has been added to the "T" page. |
Sources
This directory has been compiled mainly from the following resources:
For lyrics and chords of unreleased Dylan songs, see Eyolf Østrem's site "My Back Pages - Bob Dylan Chords and Lyrics"
Song Titles
All song titles (or guesses at song titles) listed here are either known, or assumed to be, by Bob Dylan. Bobs co-authors are credited for songs known to be joint compositions. Ive omitted unidentified instrumentals, most of which are just jams.
Titles of released songs on regular Dylan albums are in black and BOLD face, titles of songs that are officially available as covers by other artists are shown in RED (see the extracted list "Covered & Unreleased"). Titles of songs known to be hoaxes or wrongly associated with Bob are shown in PURPLE. Titles of songs that remain unreleased on albums/singles and have not been covered by other artists are in BLUE. Song titles that were identified in the sources as being by Bob but now known to be covers are included here with their titles in black and ITALICS - in this case the date given is when it was first performed by Bob, not the composition date. It's very possible that some of the titles still assumed here to be unreleased songs by Bob Dylan are in fact covers that were unrecognised by the source author. Titles that end in "?" are where the song titles are questions (!), guessed titles are shown as "(?)".
Some songs have no known "official" title and are listed several times under the various titles that have appeared for them (which people guess at or make up because they don't know the title Bob has given the song). A good example is the unreleased and uncopyrighted song with lyrics about Van Gogh worked on by Bob in a Denver hotel room in March 1966. This has been given several titles, namely DEFINITELY VAN GOGH, THE PAINTING BY VAN GOGH, POSITIVELY VAN GOGH, MOST DEFINITELY NOT VAN GOGH and SPURIOUSLY SEVENTEEN WINDOWS (THE PAINTING BY VAN GOGH)! Bob's choice of title as POSITIVELY VAN GOGH was finally made known with the release of the Columbia/Legacy 18CD set "The Bootleg Series Vol. 12 - Bob Dylan 1965-1966 The Cutting Edge Collector's Edition", Nov 2015. SPURIOUSLY SEVENTEEN WIDOWS, of which the last title may be a mis-hearing, is a joke title made up by Paul Cable for the unreleased TELL ME, MOMMA. (He obviously didn't know then that Bob had just called it TELL ME, MOMMA after all!)
If the authorship of a title is not identified in any of the sources it is indicated as "Bob Dylan?".
Some titles identified in the sources as unreleased Dylan songs are in fact session sheet or working titles of released songs or unreleased songs now known better by other names. LOVE COPY is a good example - this was named by Larry Sloman in his Rolling Thunder Logbook as being an unreleased song from the "Desire" sessions (which it then was). Michael Krogsgaard's examination of the 1976 Columbia studio records revealed LOVE COPY not to be a new song, but a working title for ABANDONED LOVE, released in 1985 on "Biograph". Such titles are listed in the directory for completeness. A partial list of such titles appears in the various books by Clinton Heylin cited, others appear in Michael Krogsgaard's series of articles on Bob's recording sessions in the "Telegraph" and now "The Bridge".
Circulation Codes
C Soundcheck | D Demo | H Home recording | L Live | M Media recording - radio, TV or film |
N? No recording circulating? | O Officially released | R Rehearsal | S Studio recording | Y For uncirculating songs - lyrics known |
No circulation code means the song hasn't actually been written or performed by Bob, and the entry is a correction of a report that appears elsewhere.
Thanks
Thanks to Sigurjon Thor
Fridthjofsson (Sion) for providing the list that started this
work off.
Thanks to "Frisco Drifter" for the first feedback.
Special thanks go to:
Dr Hanns Peter Bushoff of BMG Germany for his sterling work in re-releasing obscure and rarely-heard cover versions of Dylan songs, especially the unreleased songs, and for providing complimentary copies of his CDs and other material
Tim Dunn for his helpful contributions and for providing me with copies of his "Copyright Files" books
Peter Gilmer for his vigilant monitoring of the Internet for news of unreleased Dylan songs and covers
The sadly departed David Plentus whose "Dylan Cover Albums" site provided me with much information about cover versions of Bob's unreleased songs and who provided me with many cover scans, and to
Gil Walker who kindly checked this directory against Paul Cable's book shown above and also against the article surveying unreleased Dylan by Greil Marcus in "Rolling Stone", 26 Nov 1969
Thanks also go to Phil Aldridge, Derek Barker, Harvey Bojarsky, Dag Braathen, Scott Brodie, Bob Burton, Mark Charles, Ron "Crazy" Chester, Arie Euwijk, Roger Ford, Nick Garrett, Andra Greenberg, John Halley, Avery Holland John Howells, Craig Jamieson, Artur Jarosinski, Rob Lake, Gil Lamont, A.J. LaRue, John Lettiere, Tobias Levander, Jim Linwood, Daniel Luth, Hans Marijnissen, Joy Munsey, Éamonn Ó Catháin, Jim O'Neil, Tom Ostoyich, Raymond Padgett, Dieter Petzold, David Plentus, Michael Poole, Moise Potie, David Reid, Dennis Renfors, John Singer, Michael Smith, Bob Stacy, Raoul Verolleman, Don Wedge and T.J. Young.
Previously Unreleased Now Released - Songs Removed from the "Starlight In The East" List
There are many more now officially-released Dylan songs that were covered by other artists before being released by Bob, such as those on "Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits Vol. 2" (1971), "The Basement Tapes" (1975 release), "Biograph" (1985) and "The Bootleg Series Vols. 1-3" - too many to list here. This "Released" list is therefore restricted to songs released after the setting up of this web-site in 1998, starting with TELL ME, MOMMA.
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