The song Bob Dylan refused to record a second take of

One thing that has made Bob Dylan such an essential and fascinating musician is that he has always trodden his own path, no matter the odds. Right from the outset of his career, he stood apart from the other prominent folk musicians to whom he was tied, with the profoundly political nature of his words and music striking a different course from what was expected of a singer-songwriter.

While he might have followed in the spiritual footsteps of his hero Woody Guthrie regarding the political edge, no one of his era was as forthcoming with their words as Dylan. Furthermore, this aspect made him stand out from the folk crowd at the beginning of the 1960s and saw him fully rekindle the genre, which had been simmering in the beatnik underground in the latter half of the previous decade.

Yet, in true nature as an uncompromising artist, it wouldn’t be long before the young Dylan would seek to move out of the distinctly folk area he carved out for himself with his first four records and continue to push into new climes. Famously, his decision to go electric and take a more rock-oriented route on 1965’s Bringing It All Back Home was a widely controversial move for the folk scene.

Although it would be the making of him and open him to a chapter of incredible artistic advancement at the end of the decade and into the 1970s, it was perceived as such a slight for some ardent folkists that one enraged fan felt compelled to try and stab him one day in Glasgow in 1966.

However, this is Bob Dylan, and he was undeterred. Since those heady days, he has tried his hand at almost every genre conceivable. Of course, this would yield varying results, with his Christian phase one of the most storied and derided parts of his story, but as with any true creative, he remained steadfast on his journey to creative fulfilment.

Many anecdotes paint Bob Dylan as a unique artist, and one of them, which aptly outlines how natural this distinction comes to him, is from his early stage. Notably, the song ‘Gospel Plow’ from his eponymous 1962 debut saw him refuse to give in to industry tradition and bring the track to life how he saw fit in just one take. Boldness was always a part of his character.

In Dominick Cavallo’s 1999 book A Fiction of the Past: The Sixties in American History, Dylan recalled rejecting the requests to record a second take of ‘Gospel Plow’: “I said no. I can’t see myself singing the same song twice in a row. That’s terrible.”

Listen to ‘Gospel Plow’ below.

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