Bruce Langhorne, the man who Bob Dylan wrote ‘Mr Tambourine Man’ about in 1965 has just released his first album.
Langhorne has appropriately called his debut album ‘Tambourine Man’. He brought the instrument to Dylan in the 60s during a recording session and played electric lead guitar on the original Dylan song. Bob has often cited Bruce as his source of inspiration for the song.
Bruce Langhorne was much sort after session musician in the 60s and 70s. As well as performing with Dylan he also played on recordings by Peter, Paul & Mary, Joan Baez, Richie Havens, Gordon Lightfoot and Richard & Mimi Farina.
Dylan originally released the song on his 1965 album ‘Bringing It All Back Home’. It has been covered many times including a version by William Shattner but the biggest hit version was by The Byrds.
Dylan started writing the song in early 1964 and first recorded it but didn’t use it on the ‘Another Side Of Bob Dylan’ album. Dylan felt that version did not do the song justice and didn’t release it at the time.
The version eventually used on ‘Bringing It All Back Home’ was recorded on January 15, 1965. The final take was used for the album and first released on March 22, 1965.