[7] The October sessions featured members of the Hawks, (later known as the Band), who Dylan had been touring with after his performance at the Newport Folk Festival in July.

[14][15] "Obviously 5 Believers" was recorded in the early morning hours of the March 9–10, 1966, Nashville session under the working title "Black Dog Blues".

Historian Sean Wilentz, author of Bob Dylan in America, feels that the song is driven by Robertson's guitar, Charlie McCoy's harmonica and Ken Buttrey's drumming.

[24] Music historians Philippe Margotin and Jean-Michel Guesdon describe "Obviously 5 Believers" as "a bluesy love song about loneliness".

"[26] Other blues imagery used in the song includes a woman who has left, a black dog barking, and a mother who works hard.

[28] Writing in Crawdaddy!, Paul Williams called the song "joyous" and praised the instrumental and vocal performances.

[30] Guitarist Mike Bloomfield cited Dylan's performance on the song as evidence that he was a talented singer of the blues, unlike many other American and British artists of the time who would "just listen to records and imitate them".

[31] The song received an "A" rating from author John Nogowski, who highlighted Dylan's "assured, commanding vocals".

[35] The band Obviously 5 Believers, named after the song and taking inspiration from Dylan and the Rolling Stones, formed in Birmingham, England in 1979.

[42] Their version of "Obviously 5 Believers", which featured a fiddle solo,[43] was described as a "strutting blues jaunt" by Dan Hyman in Rolling Stone,[42] and a "bluegrass breakdown" by the Knoxville News Sentinel reviewer Wayne Bledsoe.

He played it live a further 39 times before retiring it after a performance at the Charles A. Dana Center, Waltham, Massachusetts on April 12, 1997.