1 Introduction

Bob Dylan was back on the road and also back on the streets. He returned to New York City in the summer and started hanging out in the Village. He met Jacques Levy and they started writing a number of songs that were later to become Desire, one of Dylan’s most commercially successful albums. Late in the summer the idea of a new tour took form. This turned out to be something completely different compared to the last year’s comeback tour with The Band. This was to be a low-key tour with a number of friends like Bob Neuwirth, Roger McGuinn, Allen Ginsberg, Ramblin’ Jack Elliott and Joan Baez. He called it the Rolling Thunder Revue.

2 1975 At A Glance

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3 The 1975 Calendar

17 January	Release of Blood On The Tracks.
February	Release of Tangled Up In Blue/If You See Her Say Hello single
23 March	SNACK benefit concert in Golden Gate park - Kezar Stadium in San Francisco together with members from The Band and Neil Young. The whole show is broadcast by a local radio station, but Dylan's microphone is somehow turned away, making his vocals practically inaudible.
26 April	Mary Travis and Friends radio show on KNX-FM.
May-June	Dylan visits France.
Mid-June	Dylan visits Rubin Carter in jail for the first time.
26 June	Release of The Basement Tapes
July	Release of Million Dollar Bash/Tears Of Rage single.
3 July	Dylan joins Ramblin’ Jack Elliott on stage at the Other End in Greenwich Village.
Summer	Dylan plays harmonica on the song Who Love (If Not You Love) on David Blue's album 'Comin' Back For More' (Asylum).
Summer	Dylan meets Jacques Levy and starts co-writing the Desire songs.
14 July	1^st Desire recording session in New York City
28 July	2^nd Desire recording session in New York City
29 July	3^rd Desire recording session in New York City
30 July	4^th Desire recording session in New York City
31 July	5^th Desire recording session in New York City
10 September	Dylan appears in The World Of John Hammond TV-program.
October	Recording of Buckets Of Rain with Bette Midler.
24 October	6^th Desire recording session in New York City is spent re-recording Hurricane with slightly changed but accurate lyrics. The first recorded versions had mistakenly placed Arthur Dexter Bradley in the bar.
October	Rolling Thunder Revue rehearsals in New York City.
30 October	The first Rolling Thunder Revue starts with a show in the War Memorial Auditorium in Plymouth, Massachusetts. The show contains five new songs from the unreleased Desire album: Romance In Durango, Isis, Oh, Sister, Hurricane, One More Cup Of Coffee (Valley Below), and Sara. The songs I Shall Be Released and Never Let Me Go get their first live treatment.
November	Release of Hurricane single.
4 November	At the afternoon show in Providence, Rhode Island, Dylan sings With God On Our Side for the first and last time during Rolling Thunder Revue. Lyrics include extra lines about having learned to hate Korea, Vietnam, Poland, South America and Cuba.
	The evening show features the only version of It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding) during Rolling Thunder Revue.
6 November	Arlo Guthrie is guest at the evening show in Springfield, Massachusetts, and plays two songs with Roger McGuinn.
8 November	Simple Twist Of Fate is played for the first time in concert at the show in Burlington, Vermont.
10 November	People Weekly publishes interview by Jim Jerome.
13 November	During the afternoon show in New Haven, Connecticut, Dark As A Dungeon and Tangled Up In Blue are played for the first time.
	Joni Mitchell joins The Rolling Thunder Revue at the evening show and stays on until the last show in December.
22 November	In Waltham, Massachusetts Tonight I’ll Be Staying Here With You is played live for the first time. This version has rewritten lyrics.
1 December	Dylan’s mother Beatty attends the show in Toronto, Canada, and comes up on stage.
8 December	Night Of The Hurricane 1, a special Hurricane Carter Benefit show takes place in Madison Square Garden in New York City. It is also the last show in 1975.

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1 Desire

1.1 The recording sessions

Desire was recorded in six recording sessions during July and October. Here's a summary of these sessions: