Standing On Your Doorstep: Bob Dylan & The Witmark Demos

With Volume 9 of The Bootleg Series Bob Dylan keeps us on the edge of our living room couch with the stereo cranked up, waiting to hear what will be revealed -- and what could have been released years ago. It should come as no surprise that someone who has recorded for almost 50 years has material in the vault worth hearing, but Dylan continues to astound with what he's held back.

The Witmark Demos: 1962-1964 is a great example (and thanks to CD technology we get to hear them. There is little doubt that these would not be available had we only LPs to listen to). The Witmark recordings are Dylan's (and his publisher's) efforts to make a little money because that's how things were done in the Olden Days. Prior to Dylan (and a few others from the same era) artists did one of two things: they either wrote songs or they sang them. Once a writer wrote a few songs he'd sit down and record them, the publisher would transcribe them, then the sheet music and demo recording were sent to other artists the publisher thought might be a good fit for that song. If the artist recorded the song the publisher and songwriter would make some dough.

That's what's going on in these sparse Dylan-only demo recordings. He's in a small room (you can hear the tight space), he's sitting on chair, and he's playing guitar (mostly) or piano, accompanying himself on 47 songs ranging from straight blues to talking blues to protest music to many of his best-known early masterpieces including "Blowin' in the Wind," "A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall," "Masters of War," "Boots of Spanish Leather," "Girl from North Country," "The Times They Are A-Changin'," and "Mr. Tambourine Man." There's obscure music, too, some never released and some heard recorded only by others or on lousy-sounding bootlegs.

So what can you learn from The Witmark Demos? Well, not all that much, really, but that's no reason not to listen. Dylan is prolific, and that comes through. He's developing as a songwriter, and that comes through. He's exploding topically, moving from Woody Guthrie acolyte to protester to introspective chronicler of the soul, to mouthy and ribald frat boy and that comes through. He can (could) really sing, and that comes through loud and clear for tapes as old as these.

But the reason to listen to these demos is this is as close to pure, informal, relaxed Bob Dylan as we're likely to get. It's the heavily bootlegged St. Paul tape from May 1960 or the May 1961 Minneapolis Party Tape with much improved sound -- and with better songs and without the party. It's Dylan in your living room and he's just playing his music. Songs break down once in a while and he tells you why. One goes on for a time and he asks if you're sure you want him to continue "because it's kind of long." He coughs and keeps going. He repeats a verse then tags the correct verse on at the end and tells you what happened. Tempos speed and drag within the same song, and some songs he rushes through. Guitar playing ranges from simple strumming to the complex fingerpicking of "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right" (which he fumbles at one point) and you can hear his guitar skills pretty easily. You can tell he likes some songs more than others but on the whole he just likes playing and singing what he's written.

So here's how to listen to this music: Close your eyes and imagine the doorbell rings. You open it to a windy night and find Bob Dylan standing on your doorstep.

"Oh, Hi Bob."

He looks a little uncomfortable, smirks a bit, and doesn't say anything.

"Come on in outta the cold. Wanna beer?"

He nods and steps in, setting down his guitar case and shirking his pea coat from his slight shoulders. You close the door and head to the kitchen to get a couple brews and when you come back there's Dylan sitting on a dining room chair turned toward your couch and he's got his guitar on his lap and he's tuning it. He's turned down the volume on the TV behind him but he left the picture. He takes a swig and sets the bottle on the floor.

"Got some songs I wanna play" and he starts in on "Man on the Street" while you just sit back and listen.