It Ain't Me Babe

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“It Ain't Me Babe”
Album cover
Song by Bob Dylan
Album Another Side of Bob Dylan
Released 1964
Label Columbia Records
Writer Bob Dylan
Composer Bob Dylan
Producer Tom Wilson
Cover versions

The Turtles, Silvertide, Johnny Cash
Another Side of Bob Dylan track listing
  1. "All I Really Want to Do"
  2. "Black Crow Blues"
  3. "Spanish Harlem Incident"
  4. "Chimes of Freedom"
  5. "I Shall Be Free No. 10"
  6. "To Ramona"
  7. "Motorpsycho Nitemare"
  8. "My Back Pages"
  9. "I Don't Believe You (She Acts Like We Never Have Met)"
  10. "Ballad in Plain D"
  11. "It Ain't Me Babe"

"It Ain't Me Babe" is the title of a 1964 song by Bob Dylan, first included on his album Another Side of Bob Dylan. The song's opening line ("Go away from my window...") is allegedly influenced by musicologist/folk-singer John Jacob Niles' composition "Go 'Way From My Window." Niles is referred to by Dylan as an early influence in his autobiography, Chronicles, Vol. 1. Clinton Heylin reports that a London Times reporter at a May 1964 Royal Festival Hall concert where Dylan first played the "It Ain't Me" took the lines "no, no, no, it ain't me babe" as a parody of The Beatles' "She Loves You".[1] When Bob Dylan played his first electric concerts at the Forest Hills Tennis Stadium, Carnegie Hall, The Hollywood Bowl, and Monterey in 1965, he gave "It Ain't Me, Babe" an electric arrangement.

[edit] Covers and uses

Dylan and Johnny Cash admired each other's work a great deal, and with Dylan's blessing, Cash recorded the song with June Carter. The song was released on Cash's 1965 album, Orange Blossom Special, and became a hit. This song was also featured in the 2005 film about Cash's life, Walk the Line, and was performed by Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon.

In the film Blow, George Jung (played by Johnny Depp) recites a line from "It Ain't Me Babe" while on trial for marijuana possession with intent to distribute.

In 1965, The Turtles also had a hit single of the song, which was then featured on their album of the same name.

"It Ain't Me Babe" was among many Dylan songs recorded by Joan Baez in the early years of their careers. Baez' version appeared on Joan Baez/5, which also included "Go 'Way From My Window."

Nancy Sinatra covered "It Ain't Me Babe" on her 1966 Boots album.

The song is covered by Silvertide, and is featured on the soundtrack of M. Night Shyamalan's Lady in the Water.

"It Ain't Me Babe" and, particularly, use of the term 'Babe', inspired Sonny and Cher and the writing of their biggest hit, "I Got You Babe".

It Ain't Me Babe was also the title of an underground comix anthology, edited by Trina Robbins in 1970 and published by Last Gasp. It was among the first comics to feature all women artists, and it stands as an early example of the feminist art produced as part of the Women's Liberation movement.

"It Ain't Me Babe" was also covered by independent pop-rock artist Dave Melillo in 2005.

Johnny Cash's version of the song was re-recorded by New Found Glory for their cover song LP From the Screen to Your Stereo Pt. 2.

On the 2007 Jesse Cook album, Frontiers, a version of "It Ain't Me Babe" is performed with Melissa McClelland singing.

In 2007 American rock band Chiodos used the lines "I'm not the one that you want, I'll only let you down" in their song, Intensity In Ten Cities.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Heylin, Clinton (2001). Bob Dylan: Behind the Shades Revisited. HarperCollins, 154. ISBN 006052569X. 
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