Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window?

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources:  –  ·  ·  · scholar · JSTOR (October 2019) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

"Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window?"
Single by Bob Dylan
B-side	"Highway 61 Revisited"
Released	December 21, 1965 (1965-12-21)
Recorded	November 30, 1965
Genre	Folk rock
Length	3:32
Label	Columbia
Songwriter(s)	Bob Dylan
Producer(s)	Bob Johnston
Bob Dylan singles chronology
"Positively 4th Street" (1965) "Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window?" (1965) "One of Us Must Know (Sooner or Later)" (1966)

"Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window?" is a folk rock song written by American musician Bob Dylan. In 1965, Columbia Records released it as a single, which reached number 58 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart and number 17 on the UK chart in January 1966.

Background[]

Dylan is accompanied on the song by the musical group then known as the Hawks, who would back the singer on his 1966 world tour and subsequently go on to fame in their own right as the Band: Robbie Robertson on guitar, Rick Danko on bass, Levon Helm on drums, Richard Manuel on piano, and Garth Hudson on organ.

Numerous takes of the song were recorded on July 30, 1965 during the sessions for the album Highway 61 Revisited with a band including Mike Bloomfield on guitar, Harvey Brooks on bass, Bobby Gregg on drums, Paul Griffin on piano, and Al Kooper playing a bell-like celesta; one was mistakenly issued on a false pressing of the single "Positively 4th Street" that autumn. The official single version, with the Hawks, is generally considered to have been recorded on November 30, 1965, although at least one Dylan scholar contends that the recording date was October 5.^[1] The entire July 1965 and October/November 1965 recording sessions were released on the 18-disc Collector's Edition of The Bootleg Series Vol. 12: The Cutting Edge 1965–1966 in 2015, while highlights from the outtakes appeared on the 2-disc and 6-disc versions of that album.^[2]

Originally available as a single only, the song was eventually included (in its original mono form) on Dylan's compilations Masterpieces (1978) and Biograph (1985), and on the Band's box set A Musical History (2005). An extended stereo mix of the original single version appeared on the limited Collector's Edition of The Bootleg Series Vol. 12: The Cutting Edge 1965–1966.

Billboard described the song as "more strong folk-rock Dylan material which will have no trouble finding its way up the singles chart" and also praised the "strong material and performance."^[3]

The song was included in Nick Hornby's book 31 Songs, published in the U.S. as Songbook.

Dylan played the song to Phil Ochs as the two were riding in a limousine. When Ochs expressed a lukewarm feeling about the piece, Dylan ejected him from his limousine, yelling "You're not a folk singer. You're a journalist."^[4]

Cover versions[]

This section may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. The specific problem is: versions may not meet WP:SONGCOVER. Please help if you can. (October 2019) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

• Wilko Johnson recorded a version for his 1981 album "Ice on the Motorway"
• The Jimi Hendrix Experience covered the song for BBC Radio. This version was later released on the BBC Sessions album.
• The Hold Steady covered the song for the soundtrack to the Dylan quasi-biopic I'm Not There.
• Transvision Vamp covered the song on their third album, Little Magnets Versus the Bubble of Babble.
• Les Fradkin covers it in his 2006 Dylan cover album If Your Memory Serves You Well.
• Wilko Johnson and Roger Daltrey covered it for their album Going Back Home

Notes[]

References[]

• Hornby, Nick (2002) Songbook, McSweeney's Books, ISBN 0-9719047-7-4