Bob Dylan - Songwriter - Non-Album Tracks (1962-1963)

My gathering of stray tracks by Bob Dylan continues.

As I mentioned in my last post in this series, between Dylan's 1962 album "Bob Dylan" and his 1963 album "The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan," he wrote a remarkable number of songs, probably more than in any other year of his long career.

The first album I made to gather up the stray tracks from this time was easy, because there were a bunch of songs all recorded at the same time, and even a proposed album title, which I used ("Bob Dylan's Blues"). However, for the rest of his music from this time period, I could find no such help. So I decided to simply organize the songs in the order they were recorded, and sort them into album-length groupings as best I could.

Thus, this album is more of a hodge-podge. Songs come from everywhere, including Whitmark demos, a couple from concerts, and various compilations, as well as album recording sessions. There even are two songs that are early stabs at rock and roll music instead of folk. But on the plus side, his songwriting was consistently improving.

I could be wrong, but I think he only does five cover songs here ("Worried Blues," "That's All Right, Mama," "Handsome Molly," "No More Auction Block," and "When Death Comes Creepin'"). I could have included more cover songs, but I stuck to the ones that were considered good enough to be included on one of his compilations, such as one of his "Bootleg Series" albums, or because he recorded them in the studio to possibly be on his next album. ("When Death Comes Creepin'" and "That's All Right, Mama" are both examples of the latter.)

All the songs were recorded in the latter half of 1962, but the last two were in December, so I figure this album would have come out in very early 1963.

01 Baby, I'm in the Mood for You (Bob Dylan)
02 The Ballad of Donald White (Bob Dylan)
03 Worried Blues (Bob Dylan)
04 Mixed-Up Confusion (Bob Dylan)
05 That's All Right, Mama (Bob Dylan)
06 Long Ago, Far Away (Bob Dylan)
07 Handsome Molly [Live] (Bob Dylan)
08 No More Auction Block [Live] (Bob Dylan)
09 Whatcha Gonna Do (Bob Dylan)
10 Ye Playboys and Playgirls (Bob Dylan)
11 Cuban Missile Crisis (Bob Dylan)
12 Kingsport Town (Bob Dylan)
13 When Death Comes Creepin' (Bob Dylan)
14 Hero Blues (Bob Dylan)

https://www.upload.ee/files/15105662/BobD_1962f-1963_Songwritr_atse.zip.html

I was stuck for a title for this album. Normally, I'll resort to one of the song titles if I can't think of something better, but none of them sounded that fitting to me. So I tried to put myself in the mind of a record executive back in 1963 trying to come up with at title. At the time, Dylan was getting widespread acclaim for his songwriting, so it made sense to highlight that. Thus, "Songwriter."