Thank you. That is a very cool version of a very cool song.

Dylan initially had two great versions of it. It was left off of the "Infidels" album, which was tragic. It would have elevated that album from good to great.

Anyway, I'm fuzzy on chronology, but the first version of it officially released was on Dylan's first boxed set "Bootleg Series Vol 1" back when boxed sets were an amazing event. The version on there is a clean studio version with Dylan and Mark Knopfler on guitars, very acoustic.

However, there was a bootleg version in wide circulation. It was electric; Dylan on piano and vox, Mick Taylor on electric slide guitar, plus bass and drums. It is very powerful, very haunting - the boomy and slightly fuzzy bootleg quality only adds to the vibe if you are like me and are used to bootlegs - and Mick Taylor really plays some luscious slide. Dylan does cough or laugh mid-vocal, which is part of why this take was not made official. I think the other issue is that for a vocal / lyric song, a listener can get distracted by that juicy guitar.

But the ABB kill it. I love the back-and-forth between Gregg and Warren; I think the haunted nature of the subject matter fits the ABB aesthetic also. I have had pals complain about "too many Warren man-ballads," and I get that; Warren often brings a very similar vocal approach to serious songs. BUt this is a good 'un.

Thank you. That is a very cool version of a very cool song.

Dylan initially had two great versions of it. It was left off of the "Infidels" album, which was tragic. It would have elevated that album from good to great.

Anyway, I'm fuzzy on chronology, but the first version of it officially released was on Dylan's first boxed set "Bootleg Series Vol 1" back when boxed sets were an amazing event. The version on there is a clean studio version with Dylan and Mark Knopfler on guitars, very acoustic.

However, there was a bootleg version in wide circulation. It was electric; Dylan on piano and vox, Mick Taylor on electric slide guitar, plus bass and drums. It is very powerful, very haunting - the boomy and slightly fuzzy bootleg quality only adds to the vibe if you are like me and are used to bootlegs - and Mick Taylor really plays some luscious slide. Dylan does cough or laugh mid-vocal, which is part of why this take was not made official. I think the other issue is that for a vocal / lyric song, a listener can get distracted by that juicy guitar.

But the ABB kill it. I love the back-and-forth between Gregg and Warren; I think the haunted nature of the subject matter fits the ABB aesthetic also. I have had pals complain about "too many Warren man-ballads," and I get that; Warren often brings a very similar vocal approach to serious songs. BUt this is a good 'un.

Thanks for the great history!

AllMusic Song Review by Thomas Ward:

One of Bob Dylan's absolute masterpieces, "Blind Willie McTell" is the jewel of The Bootleg Series and arguably one of the finest songs ever written. Recorded in 1983 for the album Infidels, it was deemed superfluous to requirements, and all that remains is one take of the song with a full band (yet to be officially released) and this haunting demo, with Dylan playing piano with accompaniment from Mark Knopfler. The song, while alluding to many blues songs and spirituals, essentially tracks the history of America backwards, with Dylan ruminating at the end of each verse, "I know no one can sing the blues like Blind Willie McTell." The poetry of the song lyrics is quite staggering; the song opens with the exquisite "Seen the arrow on the doorpost/Saying this land is condemned/All the way from New Orleans/to Jerusalem/I traveled through East Texas/Where many martyrs fell/And I know no one can sing the blues like Blind Willie McTell." Writing in popular music has rarely been so poetic or evocative. Further on in the song, Dylan alludes to "slavery ships" and "plantations burning," phrases you might associate with a particularly literate Mississippi John Hurt or, indeed, Blind Willie McTell himself. Indeed, after quoting the song's lyrics, the critic Michael Gray could only gasp "What a song!" before deconstructing its influences, which in structure can be traced to many songs authored by Blind Willie McTell. The performance is at times heartbreaking, at times strong with defiance. Dylan's rudimentary piano work is simply magnificent, and the melody, derived from the blues standard "St. James Infirmary," is impeccable. Without question one of the finest songs Dylan has ever written, it has, quite rightly, scarcely been touched by other artists. Only the Band has performed a successful version of it, albeit a reverential one. Dylan has often performed the song live on his Never Ending Tour, yet the power and poise of the original demo performance have never come within a mile of being equalled.

Here is the Dylan/Mick Taylor version Jim talks about above

Here is an incredible Live version by Taylor from about a decade ago. It starts at 31 minutes and 10 seconds.

I wish he's remained with the Stones as I think he's a 100 times the guitar player that Ronnie Woods is.

The Band did a nice version on their first 1990s-era album, Jericho:

But Gregg and Warren and the Brothers nail this tune.

Also Mick Taylor and Mark Knopfler are excellent guitarists. Chet Atkins bragged about Mark Knopfler some years ago and so did Country picker and singer Jerry Reed.

I saw the Faces in early 70's and it was a good show. Rod Stewart was in the band but I wasn't that impressed with Ron Wood. So I was surprised when the Rolling Stones selected him to replace Taylor. Wood had held that gig for a long time and it has made him very wealthy. But perhaps another guitar slinger would have been better for that slot in the Stones.

That video that Dead Mallard posted of the Mick Taylor band is 45 or so minutes long I think. They do indeed do "Blind Willie McTell" at around the 31 minute mark, but the song that they open with is a great sprawling instrumental that makes me think of something that the ABB with Derek might have stretched out on. It's called "Going South," a latin-flavored jam. It is the opening song on that video; check it out again: