"If you had Bruce playing with you, that's all you would need to do just about anything." Bob Dylan
After fifty years on the sidelines, Bruce Langhorne, former Bob Dylan sideman and the inspiration for "Mr. Tambourine Man," released his first solo album last month, called - what else? - Tambourine Man.
The front cover features a photograph of Langhorne with his giant Turkish tambourine, while behind the clear CD tray is a handwritten note from Bob Dylan written to Langhorne as an inscription in his personal copy of Chronicles, Volume One:
To Bruce, "Mr Tambourine Man"
Back there was Something Else !
Like they say, it was better to be in chains with friends than in a Garden with Strangers. So true huh ?
Stay Well + All the Best
Bob Dylan '04
Langhorne did not get confirmation that he was the inspiration for "Mr. Tambourine Man" until Dylan mentioned it in the 1985 box set, Biograph:
“I thought it might have been about Brother John Sellars because he played tambourine. I played a tambourine but it was massive, Turkish and had jingles on it. Bob may have seen me play it in the Village I used to play pied piper, just walk the streets and have people following me and dancing, like Hare Krishna before Hare Krishna. I’d take it with me whenever I went on the road, it always got people dancing and stuff...”
Langhorne also told Richie Unterberger:
(Dylan) said, there was this guy who used to play this giant tambourine. It was like as big as a wagon wheel, and that was kind of the inspiration for the song. So I am Mr. Tambourine Man (laughs) ... He didn't tell me about that. And probably if he did tell anybody, he'd probably deny it (laughs). Because...I don't know, just because he would. I think he has a wonderful sense of humor. And I think that he has a wonderful ability to let people just let out enough rope to hang themselves. And I think he'd probably do that with me, I think, if he thought that I was attached to being Mr. Tambourine Man, I think he'd just...(laughs hard).
Dylan first played with Langhorne at the September, 1961, Carolyn Hester session that lead to a contract with Columbia Records. For Dylan's second album, Freewheelin', Langhorne played guitar on three 1962 sessions, and returned in 1965 for Bringing It All Back Home, an appearance on the Les Crane Show, and an early Blonde On Blonde session. Langhorne last recorded with Dylan on the third and final session for Pat Garrett & Billy The Kid (according to Olof). He also appeared in Scorsese's documentary, No Direction Home.
Langhorne has played with everyone from The Clancy Brothers & Tommy Makem, Chad Mitchell Trio, and Richard & Mimi Fariña to Hugh Masakela, Richie Havens, and the Grateful Dead's Mickey Hart.
According to a post by Jeff Gold at Record Mecca, all proceeds from the album's sales go directly to Langhorne, who "has endured some serious health problems" recently. You can purchase the CD from Amazon. And yes, he does play tambourine on one track.
Thanks to Marty Katz for the head's up.
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