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Pledging My Time
"Pledging My Time" is a blues song by the American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan from his seventh studio album, Blonde on Blonde (1966). The song, written by Dylan and produced by Bob Johnston, was recorded on March 8, 1966 in Nashville, Tennessee. Dylan is featured on lead vocals, harmonica, and guitar, backed by guitarist Robbie Robertson and an ensemble of veteran Nashville session men.
As with most of the album's songs, "Pledging My Time" was conceived, composed, and recorded within the span of a few weeks. The song was first released, in shortened form, two weeks after its recording, as the B-side of the single "Rainy Day Women #12 & 35", a Top 10 hit in both the United States and Great Britain. The two songs also led off Blonde on Blonde, rock's first double album, which was officially released June 20, 1966.
Played in Chicago blues style, "Pledging My Time" depicts a young man who pledges himself to a prospective lover, hoping "[she]'ll come through, too". The song's musical and lyrical influences are thought to include Robert Johnson's "Come on in My Kitchen", "It Hurts Me Too" by Elmore James, and the Mississippi Sheiks classic "Sittin' on Top of the World".
Dylan performed "Pledging My Time" at 21 concerts from 1987 through 1999. He revived it two decades later, in 2021, for the soundtrack of his concert film Shadow Kingdom: The Early Songs of Bob Dylan. The song has also been covered on tribute albums by artists such as bluesman Luther "Guitar Junior" Johnson, folk musician Greg Brown, and the Americana band Old Crow Medicine Show.
"Pledging My Time" is an 8-bar blues song various writers link to the influences of Chicago blues legends Elmore James and Muddy Waters, as well as Mississippi Delta greats Robert Johnson and the Mississippi Sheiks. Dylan was first exposed to the blues as a teenager during the 1950s. He wrote and recorded a handful of blues songs for his early acoustic albums, but began focusing on the genre with his 1965 album Highway 61 Revisited, which featured several electric blues tracks.
Early in the fall of 1965, about a month after Highway 61's release, Dylan was back in Columbia's New York studios to begin work on his next album. After five sessions that stretched into early 1966 and produced only one usable track, Columbia producer Bob Johnston convinced Dylan to move the recordings to Nashville, where Johnston had previously worked at Columbia's studios on the city's legendary Music Row.
Dylan, who was on the North American leg of his 1966 World Tour, arrived in Nashville in mid-February with only a couple new songs in mind and only two musicians from the New York sessions, guitarist Robbie Robertson and organist Al Kooper. Johnston assembled a studio band that included some of Nashville's top session men, including drummer Kenny Buttrey, pianist Hargus "Pig" Robbins, bassist Henry Strzelecki, and guitarists Charlie McCoy, Wayne Moss and Joe South.
After three days in the studio with his new ensemble, Dylan left Nashville in mid-February to play eight dates that took him from New England to Canada to Florida. He returned to Music Row in early March for four more sessions. In the second of these, on March 8, the group laid down three new tracks, "Absolutely Sweet Marie", "Pledging My Time", and "Just Like a Woman". Only two full takes of "Pledging My Time" were recorded, the second of which became the master. (The first take was released on The Bootleg Series Vol. 12: The Cutting Edge 1965–1966 in 2015.) During the session, Dylan borrowed one of Buttrey's drumsticks to beat out a rhythm on the snare drum to show the musicians the "strong beat" he wanted.
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Pledging My Time
"Pledging My Time" is a blues song by the American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan from his seventh studio album, Blonde on Blonde (1966). The song, written by Dylan and produced by Bob Johnston, was recorded on March 8, 1966 in Nashville, Tennessee. Dylan is featured on lead vocals, harmonica, and guitar, backed by guitarist Robbie Robertson and an ensemble of veteran Nashville session men.
As with most of the album's songs, "Pledging My Time" was conceived, composed, and recorded within the span of a few weeks. The song was first released, in shortened form, two weeks after its recording, as the B-side of the single "Rainy Day Women #12 & 35", a Top 10 hit in both the United States and Great Britain. The two songs also led off Blonde on Blonde, rock's first double album, which was officially released June 20, 1966.
Played in Chicago blues style, "Pledging My Time" depicts a young man who pledges himself to a prospective lover, hoping "[she]'ll come through, too". The song's musical and lyrical influences are thought to include Robert Johnson's "Come on in My Kitchen", "It Hurts Me Too" by Elmore James, and the Mississippi Sheiks classic "Sittin' on Top of the World".
Dylan performed "Pledging My Time" at 21 concerts from 1987 through 1999. He revived it two decades later, in 2021, for the soundtrack of his concert film Shadow Kingdom: The Early Songs of Bob Dylan. The song has also been covered on tribute albums by artists such as bluesman Luther "Guitar Junior" Johnson, folk musician Greg Brown, and the Americana band Old Crow Medicine Show.
"Pledging My Time" is an 8-bar blues song various writers link to the influences of Chicago blues legends Elmore James and Muddy Waters, as well as Mississippi Delta greats Robert Johnson and the Mississippi Sheiks. Dylan was first exposed to the blues as a teenager during the 1950s. He wrote and recorded a handful of blues songs for his early acoustic albums, but began focusing on the genre with his 1965 album Highway 61 Revisited, which featured several electric blues tracks.
Early in the fall of 1965, about a month after Highway 61's release, Dylan was back in Columbia's New York studios to begin work on his next album. After five sessions that stretched into early 1966 and produced only one usable track, Columbia producer Bob Johnston convinced Dylan to move the recordings to Nashville, where Johnston had previously worked at Columbia's studios on the city's legendary Music Row.
Dylan, who was on the North American leg of his 1966 World Tour, arrived in Nashville in mid-February with only a couple new songs in mind and only two musicians from the New York sessions, guitarist Robbie Robertson and organist Al Kooper. Johnston assembled a studio band that included some of Nashville's top session men, including drummer Kenny Buttrey, pianist Hargus "Pig" Robbins, bassist Henry Strzelecki, and guitarists Charlie McCoy, Wayne Moss and Joe South.
After three days in the studio with his new ensemble, Dylan left Nashville in mid-February to play eight dates that took him from New England to Canada to Florida. He returned to Music Row in early March for four more sessions. In the second of these, on March 8, the group laid down three new tracks, "Absolutely Sweet Marie", "Pledging My Time", and "Just Like a Woman". Only two full takes of "Pledging My Time" were recorded, the second of which became the master. (The first take was released on The Bootleg Series Vol. 12: The Cutting Edge 1965–1966 in 2015.) During the session, Dylan borrowed one of Buttrey's drumsticks to beat out a rhythm on the snare drum to show the musicians the "strong beat" he wanted.