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I had the chance to see the Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown this weekend and it most certainly lived up to its promise. A sensational film that captured the essence of a genius poet who defiantly stayed true to his art despite (or in spite of) the expectations of critics and fans.
Among the songs highlighted in the film that marked the spirit of that early period of Dylan are the familiar tracks "Blowin' In The Wind", and "Like A Rolling Stone". But there is one song that may not be so familiar to the average music fan but is about to be - "Girl From The North Country".
If you caught the trailer for the film months ago, you would have heard this gem from Dylan's early folk era.
"Girl From the North Country" was recorded at Columbia Recording Studios in New York City in April 1963, and released the following month as the second track on Dylan's second studio album, The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan. Dylan re-recorded the song as a duet with Johnny Cash in February 1969. That version became the opening track on Dylan's ninth studio album Nashville Skyline.
The song was originally written by Dylan when he visited England late in 1962 while finishing his second album. Many Dylan fans have speculated who the mystery woman in the song really is, with some suggesting it could have been any of his former girlfriends, Echo Helstrom, Bonnie Beecher, or Suze Rotolo. Looking at the timeline, it's a good possibility Rotolo is the subject of the song. Dylan left England for Italy to search for Rotolo, whose continuation of studies there had caused a serious rift in their relationship. Unbeknownst to Dylan, she had already returned to the United States, leaving about the same time that he arrived in Italy. It was there that he finished the song, evidently inspired by the apparent end of his relationship with Rotolo.
While Dylan was in London, he met folk revivalist Martin Carthy who exposed him to several traditional English folk songs, which Dylan used to inform ‘Girl From The North Country’.
Carthy also showed Dylan his own song "Scarborough Fair", and he used the lyrics and melody to inform his track, including the line “Remember me to one who lives there, she once was a true love of mine”.
The song's inclusion on The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan would lead Dylan to re-recording the song with Johnny Cash. Cash told Dylan it was one of his favorite songs and couldn’t resist the offer to sing with Dylan on the track recorded in 1969.
Fun Facts
According to his official website, Dylan performed the song 569 times live between 1963 and 2019
Rolling Stone magazine ranked the song 30th on a list of the "100 Greatest Bob Dylan Songs"
Keith Richards wrote of the song: "While the British Invasion was going on, Bob Dylan was the man who really pulled the American point of view back into focus. At the same time, he had been drawing on Anglo-Celtic folk songs, and that's certainly true of 'Girl From the North Country'. It's got all the elements of beautiful folk writing without being pretentious. In the lyrics and the melody, there is an absence of Bob's later cutting edge. There's none of that resentment. He recorded it again later with Johnny Cash, but I don't think it's a duo song. Bob got it right the first time"
Joe Cocker, Sting, Rod Stewart, Eddie Vedder, Counting Crows, Roy Harper, Stephen Stills, John Waite, Neil Young, and The Black Crowes have all covered this song
1963 Version
1969 Version (w/ Johnny Cash)
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