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You're No Good (Jesse Fuller)

Recorded November 20, 1961, Columbia Recording Studios, Studio A, New York.

Bob Dylan - guitar, harmonica

The young Bob Dylan opens his debut album with a tune by bluesman Jesse 'The Lone Cat' Fuller. Born in Georgia in 1896, Fuller only began his recording career in the mid-'50s after relocating to California. A true one-man band, in addition to guitar the "Lone Cat" played the "fotdella," (a homemade bass which he constructed from piano strings and played with a foot pedal), harmonica, kazoo, cymbal and a washboard, often playing several at the same time.
Fuller frequently performed in Colorado and Dylan probably met the bluesman there in the summer of 1960 (the summer before he left the University of Minnesota for New York). According to Dylan biographer Anthony Scaduto,, Dylan discusses meeting Fuller at the Exodus in Denver in an interview with Izzy Young,on October 20, 1961. (Scaduto, Bob Dylan p. 83; cf. Heylin, A Life In Stolen Moments, p. 22) More likely than not, Dylan learned how to fashion a harmonica holder from watching the "Lone Cat." Indeed, the first reliable reports of Dylan playing harmonica at all date to his return from Colorado. (Heylin, Behind The Shades, p. 26) Quite possibly, therefore, Fuller directly inspired the young musician to learn the instrument. In any event, Fuller had a powerful influence on the young Dylan. If nothing else, Fuller provided a role model for how to import a blues sensibility into performances for a folk audience. Probably without realizing it, the younger man learned from Fuller that he need not abandon completely the lessons he learned from listening to rhythm and blues and to rock and roll. Listeners with a snobbish disdain for rock 'n roll -- and for rhythm and blues, for that matter -- may have missed it, but Dylan was exposing them to a rock and roll sensibility right from the start, track one, album one.

Dylan's repertoire has also included "San Francisco Bay Blues," Fuller's signature song. Indeed, Dylan has never sang "You're No Good" in concert; by contrast, he performed "San Francisco Bay Blues" several times, including two performances in June, 1988, the first month of what has became known as The Never Ending Tour.