Dylan Recording Session in London

Following his final concert tour shows at The Royal Albert Hall (May 9th and 10th,1965), Bob Dylan spent an afternoon at Levy’s Recording Studio in London. Studio time was partly used to record promo spots in which Dylan would say thanks to Columbia employees for selling so many of his albums. As you can hear below, recording these messages was somewhat problematic.

The remainder of the time at Levy’s was spent working on a version of "If You Gotta Go, Go Now (Or Else You Gotta Stay All Night)". Joining Dylan on the track were members of John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers, though apparently both Eric Clapton and John Mayall himself were absent. Dylan was reportedly drunk by the time he got around to recording the song, which is perhaps evidenced during the count-in intro when the band start laughing and someone says, "You haven’t worked much with bands have you?"

Dylan responds, "I don’t need no count, man."

A complete version of "If You Gotta Go, Go Now (Or Else You Gotta Stay All Night)" didn’t emerge from the session.

Listen below to "If You Gotta Go, Go Now (Or Else You Gotta Stay All Night)" recorded in London on May 12th 1965 along with a live version from 1964 and an outtake recorded in January 1965 for the Bringing It All Back Home sessions.