To Be Alone with You
| "To Be Alone with You" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Song by Bob Dylan from the album Nashville Skyline | ||||
| Released | April 9, 1969 | |||
| Recorded | February 13, 1969 | |||
| Genre | Country | |||
| Length | 2:07 | |||
| Label | Columbia | |||
| Writer | Bob Dylan | |||
| Producer | Bob Johnston | |||
| Nashville Skyline track listing | ||||
| ||||
"To Be Alone with You" is a song by Bob Dylan from his 1969 album Nashville Skyline.
"To Be Alone with You" was the first song Dylan recorded for Nashville Skyline, on February 13, 1969.[1] It was one of four songs Dylan had written for the album before the recording sessions, the others being "Lay Lady Lay", "I Threw It All Away" and "One More Night".[1] It was recorded in eight takes, during which Dylan increased the backing instrumentation to include multiple guitars in addition to a dobro, a piano and an organ.[1]
Before the song starts, Dylan is heard asking his producer, Bob Johnston, "Is it rolling, Bob?"[2][3] It is a simple love song, with lyrics that Allmusic's Thomas Ward compares to a nursery rhyme.[1][2] Rather than the complex metaphors of earlier songs such as "Visions of Johanna", the imagery of "To Be Alone with You" invokes clichés such as "mockingbirds" and the "big fat moon."[2] Ward considers this "one of Dylan's prettiest melodies" and notes that it "is coupled with a gorgeous, traditional country bridge (shifting to the V of the chord, then adding the II inversion) and a genuinely affecting, modest vocal."[2] Andy Gill suggests that Dylan was influenced by Jerry Lee Lewis on this song.[3] Gill suggests that both the arrangement and Dylan's delivery imitate Lewis' style, and that the final verse, which combines carnal and religious lyrics, is also in the style of Lewis' songs.[3] Years after recording it, Dylan commented that "I was trying to grasp something that would lead me on to where I thought I should be, and it didn't go anywhere."[1]
The bridge of the song begins with the line "They say that nighttime is the right time."[4] Music critic Michael Gray notes that "Night Time Is the Right Time" is a blues lyric that may have been based on much older song and that it is surprising to find such a lyric in one of Nashville Skyline's country songs.[5]
Dylan first played "To Be Alone with You" live in concert more than 20 years after it was written, on October 15, 1989 at the Tower Theater in Philadelphia on the Never Ending Tour.[1][6] Since then, it has been played occasionally on the Never Ending Tour.[2] In 1991 and 1992 it was frequently used to open the set.[7] In the early 2000s it again became a frequent show opener, this time in a stirring rock and roll arrangement.[7] Through 2010, Dylan had played it live 124 times, most recently on November 4, 2005.[6]
Other recordings
It has been subsequently recorded by Catherine Howe for her 1975 album Harry, by Marshall Chapman for her 1982 album Take It on Home, by Steve Gibbons for his 1992 album On the Loose and by Sue Foley on her 1995 album Big City Blues.[2][7]
References
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 Heylin, C. (2009). Revolution in the Air. Chicago Review Press. pp. 385, 388, 392–393. ISBN 978-1-55652-843-9.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 "To Be Alone with You". Allmusic. Retrieved 2011-03-02.
- 1 2 3 Gill, A. (1998). Don't Think Twice, It's All Right. Thunder's Mouth Press. p. 139. ISBN 1-56025-185-9.
- ↑ "To Be Alone with You lyrics". bobdylan.com. Retrieved 2011-03-03.
- ↑ Gray, M. (2000). "Even Post-Structuralists Oughta Have the Pre-War Blues". Song and Dance Man III. Continuum. p. 349. ISBN 0-8264-5150-0.
- 1 2 "Bob Dylan songs". bobdylan.com. Retrieved 2011-03-03.
- 1 2 3 Trager, O. (2004). Keys to the Rain. Billboard Books. p. 429. ISBN 0-8230-7974-0.
