Bob Dylan's choice to depart from the folk movement and adopt electric rock 'n' roll is one of the most revered tales in pop culture. The recent biopic A Complete Unknown explores this narrative—while sometimes diverging from established historical facts, it remains an engaging portrayal of the songwriter's ascent and that legendary evening at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965.
However, we may be missing an important detail. Dylan's transition to electric music didn’t start with albums like 'Bringing It All Back Home,' Newport, or his controversial UK tour (which included the infamous 'Judas' remark). In fact, it may have begun much earlier…
Dylan's first single was actually a full band effort, featuring—indeed—electric guitars. Specifically, it included two guitars played by George Barnes and Bruce Langhorne; the full band sound of the 1962 release 'Mixed-Up Confusion' foreshadows his later work, blending Little Richard-style rock 'n' roll with folk-inflected Americana.
Nonetheless, the single failed to make an impact. Bob Dylan would later distance himself from the track, which is absent from his subsequent acoustic album, 'Freewheeling…' When reissued on the Biography compilation, Dylan remarked: “I’m not sure what I based it on… It didn’t do anything, whatever it was supposed to do.”
He subsequently dismissed the record altogether: “I didn’t arrange the session. It wasn’t my idea.”
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One popularized account suggests that Dylan penned the song in a taxi while en route to the studio. The session was orchestrated by John Hammond, the figure in the record industry who was instrumental in launching Dylan's career, and Bruce Langhorne later noted in Behind The Shades that Hammond “put the whole thing together… but his orientation was jazz. So he thought that if you combined two musicians, they would come up with something to play.”
Dylan grew increasingly frustrated during the recording process and at one point appeared to walk out. However, Bruce Langhorne was quietly impressed: “He wasn’t a virtuoso guitarist, but he had some very creative ideas… he was doing some very interesting things with the guitar.”
The two remained in contact—Bruce Langhorne's collection of global instruments added a unique quality to his performances, and he is credited as the titular ‘Mr. Tambourine Man’ in Dylan's iconic song.
Listen to ‘Mixed-Up Confusion’ below.
A Complete Unknown will receive a full DVD/Blu-ray release this month.
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Bob Dylan's choice to depart from the folk movement and adopt electric rock 'n' roll is among the most celebrated stories in pop culture. Recent