When The Ship Comes In by Bob Dylan

Album: The Times They Are A-Changin' (1964)

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Dylan wrote this violent and vengeful song in a hotel room in August 1963. He was in an angry mood when he penned it, as a hotel clerk who thought he looked like a deadbeat had refused him admission. Dylan finally got a room after Joan Baez vouched for his good character.

Comments: 4

Danny from TennesseeThe hotel in question where Dylan was denied access was called the Yale Motor Inn. It was in my hometown of Wallingford Ct. it no longer exists. I know this because it is where all the acts who performed at the Oakdale Theatre would stay. My dad was at the show that evening when Dylan performed. He was introduced as guest of Joan Baez whom my dad had gone to see. He never heard of Dylan but was impressed & became a fan.
Ian Pratt from BournemouthI love song facts. Not just this site but learning the background of how,why and when it was written. Hearing it the first time, I liked the melody and the lyrical description, so to realise that it was written (as Joan Baez says) in a curmudgeonly huff! Is amazing! In her interview she said he scribbled it off and nearly left it behind in the hotel room. She picked it up and persuaded him to record it.
Jon from Yellow Springs, OhIn “The Double Life Of Bob Dylan ” Clinton Heylin writes that Dylan had been playing around with ideas for this song previous to being refused a room at a hotel over his appearance. Heylin thinks that Dylan had the song “Pirate Jenny” from Three Penny Opera, another revenge fantasy concerning a ship and an apocalyptical comeuppance, as a key source of inspiration for “When the Ship Comes In.”
Barry from New York, NcI was at the Dylan tribute show at Madison Square Garden in 1992. The Clancy Bros. with Tommy Makem did a stirring rendition of this song. "Dylan with an Irish accent."

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