"Bob Dylan's 115th Dream" is a song by Bob Dylan, released on his fifth album, Bringing It All Back Home. In 2005, Mojo magazine rated the song as the 68th greatest Bob Dylan song.[1]
Background
The title is an allusion to another Dylan number that had been released two years prior: "Bob Dylan's Dream." The song is a satirical and highly surrealistic story that gleefully jumbles together historical and literary and narrative reference points from the voyages of ColumbustoMoby Dick to the present day. The narrator mentions his ship's captain, "Captain Arab" (making reference to Captain Ahab from Moby-Dick)[2] several times during the telling of the tale.
Recording
Dylan recorded an acoustic version on January 13, 1965, the first day of the Bringing It All Back Home sessions. He recorded what would become the final album version a day later, with Bobby Gregg on drums, Bill Lee on bass, and Paul Griffin on piano.[3] He did not perform the song live until October 13, 1988, then went on to play it during the final six concerts of his 1988 tour.[4]
The track commences with an early take of Dylan beginning to play the song alone before producer Tom Wilson is heard bursting into laughter[5] and signalling for a start-over. The track is then transitioned into a later take played by the full band.[6]