Bob Dylan's 115th Dream


"Bob Dylan's 115th Dream" is a song by Bob Dylan, released on his fifth album, Bringing It All Back Home. In 2005, Mojo magazine rated the song as the 68th greatest Bob Dylan song.
Dylan recorded an acoustic version on January 13.1965, the first day of the Bringing It All Back Home sessions, a day later he recorded the final version with Bobby Gregg on drums, William Lee on bass, and Paul Griffin on piano. He did not perform the song live until October 13, 1988, then went on to play it during the final six concerts of his 1988 tour.
The title is an allusion to a Dylan number from two years prior: "Bob Dylan's Dream". The track commences with an early take of Dylan beginning to play the song alone before producer Tom Wilson is heard bursting into laughter and signalling for a start-over. The track is then transitioned into a later take played by the full band.
The song is a satirical and highly surrealistic story that gleefully jumbles together historical and literary and narrative reference points from the voyages of Columbus to Moby Dick to the present day. A protagonist, "Captain Arab" is in the narrator's mind for much of the tale.
The song was covered on by Taj Mahal on the Dylan tribute album Chimes of Freedom