Roots of Bob

Farewell, Angelina

From the Bootleg Series notes (John Bauldie):

If the song's lyrics point us toward Bob Dylan's future, for the tune we must again look to the past. The melody is taken pretty much intact, from "The Wagoner's Lad", a song which Joan Baez sang regularly, and which Dylan himself has occasionally performed in recent years on the Never Ending Tour of 1988-1991. However, there's another source: a Scottish sailors' song called "Farewell to Tarwathie" written in the 1850s by one George Scroggie, a miller from New Deer (near Aberdeen, Scotland), which uses "The Wagoner's Lad" tune as a "farewell" song. It's surely the prime source for "Farewell, Angelina", but when and where Dylan came across it is anyone's guess.

Return to Roots of Bob

Send comments to Seth Kulick