John Brown (Bob Dylan song)

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"John Brown" is an anti-war song written and composed by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan. Written in October 1962, the song was never included on any of Dylan's official studio albums.^[1]

Releases[]

A rough demo of the song performed for publishing company M. Witmark & Sons in August 1963 was eventually given an official release in 2010 on The Bootleg Series Vol. 9 – The Witmark Demos: 1962–1964.^[2]

However, a studio version of the song had already been released under the pseudonym "Blind Boy Grunt" in 1963 on a compilation album entitled Broadside Ballads, Vol. 1 (one of five Dylan compositions on the release). This performance was later included in The Best Of Broadside 1962–1988 box set released in 2000. A pseudonym was employed due to contractual issues regarding Dylan performing on non-Columbia Records releases.^{[citation needed]}

Three live versions are officially available: one of Dylan's earliest recorded performances of the song on Live at the Gaslight 1962 (released in 2005), a 1963 performance on Live 1962–1966: Rare Performances From The Copyright Collections (released in 2018), and a 1994 performance on MTV Unplugged (released in 1995).

Song lyrics[]

"John Brown" consists of twelve verses written in a straightforward manner.^[3] The song, composed in Dylan's protest song period, tells a story about a mother who sends her son John Brown to war on some foreign land, and he returns blinded and injured. Thematically, the song is very similar to the old Irish folk-song "Mrs. McGrath".

See also[]

• List of Bob Dylan songs based on earlier tunes

References[]