Les Crane Show WABC TV, NYC

February 17, 1965

It's All Over Now, Baby Blue
It's Alright Ma, I'm Only Bleeding

This is probably Dylan's best TV appearance. It's certainly the most entertaining of all that I've heard. Not only does Dylan play two of his very best songs, and with Bruce Langhorne on electric guitar accompaniment, he also gets to talk extensively with host Les Crane and the rest of the panel. Much of this talk is hilarious as Dylan proceeds to put everyone on for the entire duration of his stay. It was clear that by this time Dylan had begun to perfect his guerilla interview techniques - turning questions back on the interviewer; poking and prodding; changing the subject, etc., and he seems to be having a good time needling Les Crane, whom he seems to like.

A little about Les Crane: he was a former DJ who became a sort of poor man's Johnny Carson and tried to compete directly with the Tonight Show and, like many others, failed to survive. Years later he had a hit single with Desiderata (go placidly amidst the noise...) and more recently has become a computer software entrepreneur of sorts.

About Dylan's performance: just great. It's Alright Ma is especially good with the electric guitar accompaniment. Very different from the album version which was acoustic guitar alone. Baby Blue has a completely different electric guitar feel to it. Dylan himself sings with great confidence and was really beginning to hit his stride here.

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