You Ain't Goin' Nowhere

"You Ain't Goin' Nowhere" is a song written by the American musician Bob Dylan in 1967 in Woodstock, New York, during the self-imposed exile from public appearances that followed his July 29, 1966 motorcycle accident.

[8] Starting in June 1967 and ending in October 1967, Bob Dylan's writing and recording sessions with the Band (then known as the Hawks) in the basement of their house in Woodstock, New York, known as "Big Pink", were the source of many new songs.

[9] "You Ain't Goin' Nowhere" was written and recorded during this period and features lyrics that allude to the singer waiting for his bride to arrive and, possibly, a final premarital fling.

[13] The pair also describe the finished lyrics as being surrealist, with the narrator waiting for his bride to arrive, before flying "down in the easy chair", and even name-dropping Mongol ruler Genghis Khan.

[13] They also describe Dylan's singing voice in the recording as being laid-back, while he accompanies himself on a 12-string acoustic guitar, backed by Rick Danko on bass, Garth Hudson on organ, Richard Manuel on piano, and Robbie Robertson on drums (the Band's drummer Levon Helm had temporarily left the group at this point).

[13] On September 24, 1971, Dylan re-recorded three Basement Tapes-era songs for inclusion on this compilation—"You Ain't Goin' Nowhere", "I Shall Be Released", and "Down in the Flood"—with Happy Traum playing bass, banjo, and electric guitar, as well as providing a vocal harmony.

[12] The lyrics of the 1971 recording differed significantly from the Basement Tapes version,[13] and featured what Heylin describes as "riddles, wisely expounded", such as, "Buy me some rings and a gun that sings/A flute that toots and a bee that stings/A sky that cries and a bird that flies/A fish that walks and a dog that talks.

[5][18] The Byrds' version of "You Ain't Goin' Nowhere" features musical contributions from session musician Lloyd Green on pedal steel guitar.

[28] Dylan expressed mock-annoyance at this lyric change in his 1971 recording of the song, singing "Pack up your money, put up your tent, McGuinn/You ain't goin' nowhere.

"[18] McGuinn replied in 1989 on a new recording of the song included on the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band's Will the Circle Be Unbroken: Volume Two album, adding the word "Dylan" after the same "Pack up your money, pick up your tent" lyric.

[31] The song was also performed live by a reformed line-up of the Byrds featuring Roger McGuinn, David Crosby, and Chris Hillman in January 1989.