Dylan Song by Song: "Mr. Tambourine Man" Quiz

Answer: False

Many listeners have considered this song to be about drugs because of lines that make reference to "smoke rings" and taking "a trip upon your magic swirling ship." While "Rolling Stone" magazine says the song was "written partly during a drug-fueled cross-country trek in 1964," Dylan had not yet been introduced to LSD, according to Clinton Heylin's book "Revolution in the Air." Dylan himself has denied the song was about any kind of drugs at all, according to Sean Egan in "The Mammoth Book of Dylan."

Answer: jangle

In "Song & Dance Man III," Michael Gray describes the melody of this song as having "lightness" and "brightness." That lightness and brightness is further reinforced by the use of alliteration, which is the repetition of beginning consonant sounds. Dylan makes frequent use of alliteration in this song, with phrases such as "jingle jangle," "swirling ship," "spinning, swinging madly across the sun," "driven deep," and so forth.

Answer: The Byrds

Released on April 12, 1965, The Byrds' version of "Mr. Tambourine Man" reached number one on the UK Singles Chart and the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the U.S. It was their first single, with "I Knew I'd Want You" on the B-side. The group's version only contains the chorus and one of the four verses to be found in Dylan's original song. Dylan, as quoted in "Rolling Stone" magazine, said of The Byrds' version: "Wow, man, you can even dance to that!"

Answer: sand

"Though I know that evening's empire has returned into sand
Vanished from my hand
Left me blindly here to stand but still not sleeping."

These lines suggest the song begins at night, after the evening has already passed. Nevertheless, the narrator remains awake and unable to sleep. The late, nighttime setting is further emphasized by the "weariness" of the narrator who is "sleepy," and yet morning must be right around the corner, because he promises the tambourine man: "in the jingle jangle morning, I'll come following you."

Answer: True

The song was first recorded on Bob Dylan's 1965 studio album "Bringing It All Back Home." It was also included on several compilation albums, including "Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits," "Biograph," "The Essential Bob Dylan," "The Best of Bob Dylan," and "Dylan."

Live versions can be found on "Bob Dylan - The Rolling Thunder Revue," "Bob Dylan at Budokan," and "Live 1962 -1966 - Rare Performances."

Additional versions of the song can also be found on "Bootleg" Volumes 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, and 12. The song is also included on "The Original Mono Recordings" (2010) and "The Best of the Original Mono Recordings" (2010 compilation album).

Answer: dreaming

The deadness of the street further emphasizes that the narrator is awake during hours when people normally sleep. "Dead for dreaming" is another example of Dylan's repeated use of alliteration in this song.

According to the Official Bob Dylan website, "Mr. Tambourine Man" was first played live on May 17, 1964 and has been played live over 900 times since.

The song was never released as a single from "Bringing It All Back Home." Instead, Columbia released "Subterranean Homesick Blues" with "She Belongs to Me," "Maggie's Farm" with "On the Road Again," and "Gates of Eden" as singles.

Answer: Tom Petty

Roger McGuinn (formerly of the Byrds) also performed along with Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers. The tribute concert was held on October 16, 1992, at Madison Square Garden in New York City to celebrate thirty years of Dylan's career.

Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers also performed "License to Kill" and "Rainy Day Women #12 & 35" at the concert.

Answer: senses

Once again, we see Dylan's use of alliteration in "senses" and "stripped." The next two lies of the song are:

"My toes too numb to step.
Wait only for my boot heels to be wandering."

According to "Rolling Stone" magazine, the song was recorded "based on a demo (which Dylan cut with Ramblin' Jack Elliott)," who sang harmony. The demo was not used, however, because Elliott was singing off-key. Dylan re-recorded the song on January 15, 1965, during the recording sessions for "Bringing It All Back Home."

Answer: Bruce Langhorne

"Rolling Stone" magazine, in their article "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time," quotes Dylan as saying that Bruce Langhorne "was one of those characters....He had this gigantic tambourine as big as a wagon wheel. The vision of him playing just stuck in my mind."

Langhorne was active in the Greenwich Village folk scene in the 1960s. His instrument wasn't precisely a tambourine. Rather, it was a large Turkish frame drum with small bells attached to the inside, which gave it a jingle-jangle sound much like that of a tambourine.

Answer: parade

The song continues:

"Cast your dancing spell my way, I promise to go under it."

Actor William Shatner released a spoken word album in 1968 called "The Transformed Man." The album contained the "Theme from Cyrano" juxtaposed with a beatnik version of "Mr. Tambourine Man." It was named one of the "50 Worst Albums Ever" by "Q" magazine.

Judy Collins recorded a cover of "Mr. Tambourine Man" on "Fifth Album," which was released in 1965.

Answer: Acoustic guitar and harmonica

Bruce Langhorne plays the countermelody on electric guitar for this song. Otherwise, the only two instruments used are Bob Dylan's acoustic guitar and harmonica.

"Rolling Stone" Magazine ranked this song number 107 on its "500 Greatest Songs of All Time" list. In "The Financial Times," Richard Clayton called it "one of the signature songs of the 1960s, the moment when the 'voice of a generation' (an epithet Bob Dylan always loathed) broke free of the strictures of folky protest to find himself in surrealistic poetry."

Answer: the sky

"Though you might hear laughing, spinning, swinging madly across the sun
It's not aimed at anyone
It's just escaping on the run
And but for the sky there are no fences facing."

These verses underscore the sense of freedom the narrator is feeling as he gets caught up in the music of the tambourine man.

On his 1966 album "Down to Earth," Mowtown singer Stevie Wonder recorded a version of "Mr. Tambourine Man." At the 30th Anniversary Concert Celebration, however, Stevie Wonder sang "Blowin' in the Wind."

Answer: a ragged clown

"And if you hear vague traces of skipping reels of rhyme
To your tambourine in time
It's just a ragged clown behind
I wouldn't pay it any mind
It's just a shadow you're seeing that he's chasing."

Here, the narrator seems to be describing himself as a "ragged clown" who is entranced by the music and following along behind the tambourine man.

Odetta, accompanying herself on acoustic guitar, sang a slow-paced, over-ten-minute version of "Mr. Tambourine Man" on her 1965 album "Odetta Sings Dylan." Bruce Langhorne, Dylan's inspiration for this song, also played guitar and tambourine on Odetta's album.

Answer: F

There's that alliteration again! All of the missing words start with the letter F:

"And take me disappearing through the smoke rings of my mind
Down the foggy ruins of time
Far past the frozen leaves
The haunted frightened trees."

The lightness of the tambourine man's music, which is "swirling" and "skipping" and jingling and jangling, is contrasted here with the heaviness of the foggy, frozen, and frightened scenery that the narrator is being led beyond.

In a review in "The Financial Times," music critic Richard Clayton suggests, "It's a fair bet that Dylan's 'trip upon a magic swirling ship' is a reference to the French symbolist poet Rimbaud's 'Le Bateau Ivre' and the idea that inspiration can come via a 'systematic derangement of the senses'."

Answer: diamond

The tambourine leads the narrator beyond the frozen and foggy scenery to a more pleasant setting:

"Out to the windy beach
Far from the twisted reach of crazy sorrow
Yes, to dance beneath the diamond sky
With one hand waving free
Silhouetted by the sea."

The wind, sky, and sea, coupled with a free waving hand, all emphasize the sense of freedom the tambourine man's music has instilled in the narrator.

In addition to the recordings already mentioned in this quiz, "Mr. Tambourine Man" has been covered by the Four Seasons, the Barbarians, Glen Campbell, and Kenny Rankin, among many others. Even Alvin and the Chipmunks did a version of the song.