Bob Dylan's Biggest Setlist Surprises - Part 3

Yea! Country Pie and a Bottle of Billy

The third and final chapter of our countdown! If you missed the first two, start with Part 1 (free) and Part 2 (subscribers only). Part 1 explains the project too.

Drifter's Escape 

First time played: April 30, 1992 in Eugene, OR
Time since first release: 25 years
Was it worth the wait? Just like he listened to Bringing It Back Home in ‘88, apparently he dusted off John Wesley Harding in '92, since here's yet another song debuting from it that year. It's sloppier than "Dear Landlord," with a new vocal melody that seems like he's making it up as he goes along. And not in one of those inspired-in-the-moment ways. More like, in a reverse of the usual first-time-out problem, he remembered the words but forgot the tune.
Did it stick around? Oh yeah. My favorite versions are the ones in the 2000s where he pulled in the guitar riff from Cream's "Crossroads."

Oxford Town

First time played: October 25, 1990 in Oxford, MS
Time since first release: 27 years
Was it worth the wait? You can hear the audience loudly whoop when the vocals start. Standard reaction when the band plays the song about your city, right? But usually the song in question is not about your city's racist past. Seems less whoop-worthy. Good acoustic rendition, to be sure, but perhaps playing it was more pointed than the audience realized. Or maybe that's giving Bob too much credit. I can't quite make out his spoken intro, but it doesn’t sound confrontational. Maybe Bob forgot the historical context of his song about Oxford too. "I've travelled all over the world and they say nobody rocks harder than Oxford, Mississippi! When I say James, you say Meredith!"
Did it stick around? No. But, then again, he hasn't played Oxford, MS again. He did play Oxford, Ohio - two times in less than a year, for some reason - but I guess that Oxford Town doesn't count.

Obviously Five Believers

First time played: May 15, 1995 in Palm Desert, CA
Time since first release: 29 years
Was it worth the wait? May 15, 1995 in Palm Desert was a good show for setlist-watchers. At this random show in the middle of the year, "Obviously Five Believers" immediately followed the Never Ending Tour debut of "Never Gonna Be the Same Again" (which he'd only played once before, in 1986). Two equally acclaimed songs off two equally beloved albums! Heh…
Did it stick around? More like "Obviously '95 Believers"! Tons of performances that year, a few in '96, then petered out after a one-off in '97.

This Wheel's on Fire

First time played: April 13, 1996 in Madison, NJ
Time since first release: 29 years [The Band played it nightly during their set on the 1974 tour, but I don’t think Bob stayed on stage for any of them]
Was it worth the wait? My favorite "This Wheel's on Fire" took place on April 17, 1996 in Burlington, VT. Up until creating this list, I had no idea that was only the fourth performance ever. This few-days-earlier one's extremely good too. One of the best debuts on this whole list, I'd say. But I still prefer that Burlington version.
Did it stick around? Well it at least lasted another 3 times, obviously. Oh, plus another 117 times after that, where he desperately tried to recapture the famed Burlington ‘96 magic of lore.

Country Pie

First time played: March 10, 2000 in Anaheim, CA
Time since first release: 31 years
Was it worth the wait? I don't think anyone was waiting for "Country Pie" until, out of nowhere, this fun but extremely inessential Nashville Skyline track became a nightly show highlight. When I ranked all 79 different songs Bob performed on the spring-2000 tour, "Country Pie" landed at #6. Looking back, I think even that was too low.
Did it stick around? He played it almost every night in 2000 and 2001, opening the shows' electric sets. Yes, a song called "Country Pie" wasn’t even in the country-er set. Every night, it signaled "Time to rawk." "Oh me, oh my, love that country pie" was the turn-of-the-century equivalent of "Play fucking loud."

If Dogs Run Free

First time played: October 1, 2000 in Münster, Germany
Time since first release: 31 years
Was it worth the wait? He didn't play “If Dogs Run Free” until the fall of 2000, which is just as well, because if I'd ranked it in the aforementioned spring-2000 list, it would have been dead last. As I've said before, no Dylan song rankles me more than goddamn "If Dogs Run Free." Even with his greatest band of the Never Ending Tour, "If Dogs Run Free" is irredeemable.
Did it stick around? Unfortunately.
Is "If Dogs Run Free" Dylan's worst song ever? Yes
Is "If Dogs Run Free" so bad it negates the entirety of Bob’s other recorded output? Almost.
Are you adding fake new categories just to dump on "If Dogs Run Free" more? Maybe.
Stop it? That's not a question.
Please? Fine.

Tell Me That It Isn't True

First time played: March 10, 2000 in Anaheim, CA
Time since first release: 31 years
Was it worth the wait? Unfortunately, the debut of "Tell Me That It Isn't True" is no "Country Pie." But - thank God - it's no "If Dogs Run Free" either.
Did it stick around? Yes, but not as long as it should. When he returns to the road, this could make a great addition to the set. 80-year old Bob could sound great on this.

Down Along the Cove

First time played: June 14, 1999 in Eugene, OR
Time since first release: 32 years
Was it worth the wait? Most notable part is what he says at the end of the song: "I wanna say hello to all the ex-hippies tonight. I’ve never been a hippie myself, but I’m an honorary hippie!" Is that line related to the song he just debuted? Maybe connecting to John Wesley Harding distancing him from the peace & love narrative in 1967?
Did it stick around? We're nearing the end here, and - spoiler alert - this is the last song where the answer is a strong yes. Beyond here lies weird one-off territory.

Meet Me in the Morning

First time played: September 19, 2007 in Nashville, TN
Time since first release: 32 years
Was it worth the wait? Dylan was technically onstage, but this was basically a Jack White performance. I love Jack White! He kills it here. But it's hard not to feel a little underwhelmed when Bob doesn't get anywhere near a microphone (I'm sure that's not him delivering the ripping guitar solos either). I do appreciate Jack having the audacity to tweak the lyrics though, working in a Robert Johnson verse.
Did it stick around? Nope. At least when Ronnie Hawkins took control for the first "One More Night," Bob eventually came back and sang it himself.

Yea! Heavy and a Bottle of Bread

First time played: November 11, 2002 in New York, NY
Time since first release: 35 years
Was it worth the wait? I love the goofy word-salad Basement Tapes songs, and, in the mid-2000s, so did Bob. This is a blast, complete with Larry-and-Charlie backing vocals. All together now: "Get the loot! Don't be slow! We're gonna catch a trout!"
Did it stick around? This is the last song on our list that wasn't a one-off. It was a two-off!

Billy 4

First time played: March 22, 2009 in Stockholm, Sweden
Time since first release: 36 years
Was it worth the wait? This is the most recent entry in the entire list. After a great run for most of the Never Ending Tour, in the last decade no songs more than ten years old have made debuts. But, if “Billy” does turn out to be the last time something like this happens, it was a strong way to go out. The circus-organ blasts are a little distracting - don't even get me started on Bob's "solo" here - and his voice in this period wasn't at its best, but he's giving it his all and it's still fun.
Did it stick around? Some sources say he played “Billy 4.” Some day he played “Billy 1.” I can understand why the latter got mixed in - that’s the number of times he played it.

Million Dollar Bash

First time played: November 21, 2005 in London, England
Time since first release: 38 years
Was it worth the wait? We may have saved the best for second-to-last. "Million Dollar Bash" is my favorite helping of Basement Tapes word salad, and Bob really makes a meal of it here. In all these songs, I'm not sure there's another where he sounds like he's having as much fun. Just listen to how he sings "potatoes" on my favorite, truly lunatic verse: "I looked at my watch / I looked at my wrist / I punched myself in the face with my fist / I took my potaaaaaatoes / Down to be mashed / Then I made it over to that million dollar bash."
Did it stick around? Not yet, but I'm sure he will come to his senses and make this a nightly feature when he returns. Forget "Visions of Johanna" or "Like a Rolling Stone" or all those other wannabes. "Million Dollar Bash" is the only song that matters.

Outlaw Blues

First time played: September 20, 2007 in Nashville, TN
Time since first release: 42 years
Was it worth the wait? This question now comes with a broader meaning: Was this, our grand finale, worth the wait of the preceding 38 songs? To which I cheerfully answer: "No!" In an anticlimactic ending worthy of Lost, the song Bob's waited the longest to debut is another in the "Jack White does all the heavy lifting" camp. To be sure, White does a hell of an "Outlaw Blues" - the Stripes' own version landed at #2 on the recent 100 Best Dylan Covers Ever list I oversaw. Bob’s band rises to meet the challenge here, rocking out harder than they usually get a chance to. But, as with "Meet Me in the Morning," this one comes with a rather enormous asterisk. I'd love to hear Bob himself sing it one day (though at least he adds some solid harmonica). But, if I can’t, I’ll take Jack.
Did it stick around? “Outlaw Blues” was done after this performance. And so is this list.