Amongst the other streams over at NPR’s First Listen this week is a selection of tracks from The Witmark Demos, volume 9 of the Bob Dylan Bootleg Series.

Most of the recordings on The Witmark Demos 1962-1964 were made for the M. Witmark & Sons publishing company. Artists would record their songs for publishing companies so they might be heard by other artists wishing to cover their songs, or maybe for TV or movie use.

Witmark had a small 6×8-foot studio, and it’s there that these songs were recorded and then transcribed into sheet music. So what you get is a fairly relaxed and young Bob Dylan playing his newest songs at the time. You hear flubs, forgotten verses, inspired playing and brilliant songs. Many of these tunes you already know, even if you’re just a casual Dylan fan. But you’ve probably never heard “Mr. Tambourine Man” on piano, or the roughly 15 songs never released in any official form.

I’ve been an enormous fan of The Bootleg Series over the years, even if I only just managed to catch up and buy a copy of volume 8. The tracks streaming from NPR (not got a hold of the full thing yet!) are a great experience: Dylan’s ability as a young songwriter and performer is simply astonishing as is his growth over the first years of his career.

NPR: Bob Dylan, The Bootleg Series Vol. 9 – The Witmark Demos, 1962-1964 (Selected songs)

Disc one

1. “Man On The Street” (Fragment)
2. “Hard Times In New York Town”
3. “Poor Boy Blues”
4. “Ballad For A Friend”
5. “Rambling, Gambling Willie”
6. “Talking Bear Mountain Picnic Massacre Blues”
7. “Standing On The Highway”
8. “Man On The Street”
9. “Blowin’ In The Wind”
10. “Long Ago, Far Away”
11. “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall”
12. “Tomorrow Is A Long Time”
13. “The Death of Emmett Till”
14. “Let Me Die In My Footsteps”
15. “Ballad Of Hollis Brown”
16. “Quit Your Low Down Ways”
17. “Baby, I’m In The Mood For You”
18. “Bound To Lose, Bound To Win”
19. “All Over You”
20. “I’d Hate To Be You On That Dreadful Day”
21. “Long Time Gone”
22. “Talkin’ John Birch Paranoid Blues”
23. “Masters Of War”
24. “Oxford Town”
25. “Farewell”

Disc two

1. “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right”
2. “Walkin’ Down The Line”
3. “I Shall Be Free”
4. “Bob Dylan’s Blues”
5. “Bob Dylan’s Dream”
6. “Boots Of Spanish Leather”
7. “Walls of Red Wing”
8. “Girl From The North Country”
9. “Seven Curses”
10. “Hero Blues”
11. “Whatcha Gonna Do?”
12. “Gypsy Lou”
13. “Ain’t Gonna Grieve”
14. “John Brown”
15. “Only A Hobo”
16. “When The Ship Comes In”
17. “The Times They Are A-Changin’”
18. “Paths Of Victory”
19. “Guess I’m Doing Fine”
20. “Baby Let Me Follow You Down”
21. “Mama, You Been On My Mind”
22. “Mr. Tambourine Man”
23. “I’ll Keep It With Mine”