Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again
| "Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again" | ||||
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| Song by Bob Dylan from the album Blonde on Blonde | ||||
| Released | May 16, 1966 | |||
| Recorded | February 17, 1966, Columbia Row Music Studios, Nashville, Tennessee |
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| Genre | Rock, folk rock | |||
| Length | 7:07 | |||
| Label | Columbia | |||
| Writer | Bob Dylan | |||
| Producer | Bob Johnston | |||
| Blonde on Blonde track listing | ||||
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"Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again" is a song written by Bob Dylan that appears on his 1966 album Blonde on Blonde.1 The album version also appears on 1971's Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits Vol. II. A live version of this song appears on the 1976 album Hard Rain; and was also released as a single with "Rita May" as the B-side. An early studio take, done in a faster cut-time, was released on The Bootleg Series Vol. 7: No Direction Home: The Soundtrack. As the recording indicates, Dylan had difficulty fitting the words to the tempo, and evidently this led to its rearrangement, as heard on the official album, in a more "rock" oriented 4/4 time.
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Recording
All twenty takes of "Stuck Inside of Mobile" were recorded on February 17, 1966, in Columbia's Music Row Studios in Nashville. Earlier that day, Dylan had been writing, and he continued to do so in the studio, revising lyrics and changing the song's structure as he recorded different takes. Eventually, a master take, the twentieth and final take, was chosen after recording the song for three hours.2 Take five would eventually be released on The Bootleg Series Vol. 7.
Cover versions
The Grateful Dead covered the song in their live shows during the 1980s and 1990s, and performed it when Dylan himself toured with them in 1987. Cat Power covered the song on the soundtrack of the film I'm Not There. Spanish artist Kiko Veneno covered this song in a rumba (a subgenre of Flamenco) version. North Mississippi Allstars cover it on their 2011 album Keys to the Kingdom.
Cultural references
"Stuck Inside of Mobile" is used in the movie Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, and is mentioned in the book by Hunter S. Thompson. John Lennon wrote a spoof titled "Stuck Inside of Lexicon with the Roget's Thesaurus Blues Again," pointing out that Dylan was using obscure lyrics too extensively.citation needed This line is found in the song "Satire #2" on the John Lennon Anthology. The Sisters of Mercy song "Dominion/Mother Russia" features the line "stuck inside of Memphis in a mobile home", as a play on words on this song's title. The song also inspired the name of the Memphis Group, a 1980s design movement, with its title.34
Pappy's used the song as the basis for one of their sketches in their 2007 Edinburgh Festival show (while still known as Pappy's Fun Club) in which they told the story of how they used to be Bob Dylan's backing band.
The song was the first song played on longtime top 40 outlet WABB-FM, fittingly licensed to Mobile, Alabama, upon its February 5, 1973 launch. It would also be the last song played when the station signed off at midnight on February 29, 2012.
Notes
- ^ Gilliland, John (1969). "Show 40 - Ballad in Plain D: Bob Dylan. [1966] : UNT Digital Library" (audio). Pop Chronicles. Digital.library.unt.edu. http://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc19799/m1/. Retrieved 2011-04-29.
- ^ Bjorner, Olof (3 June 2011). Columbia Music Row Studios, Nashville Tennessee, 17 February 1966. Bjorner's Still on the Road. Retrieved 2011-09-10.
- ^ "The Memphis Group". Design-technology.org. http://www.design-technology.org/memphis1.htm. Retrieved 2011-04-29.
- ^ "Memphis / Design Museum Collection : Product + Furniture Designers (1981–1985) - Design/Designer Information". Designmuseum.org. http://www.designmuseum.org/design/memphis. Retrieved 2012-04-09.
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