Released September 7, 1965 Genre Blues, garage rock | Format 7" single Length 3:19 | |
A-side "Positively 4th Street" Recorded July 30, 1965 at Columbia Studios, New York | ||
"From a Buick 6" is a song by Bob Dylan from his album Highway 61 Revisited, which was also released as a single on the B-side of "Positively 4th Street." It was recorded on July 30, 1965.
Contents
Musical style
The song is a raucous blues song played recklessly by a band that included Al Kooper on organ and Mike Bloomfield on guitar. The guitar part is patterned after older blues riffs by Robert Johnson, Charlie Patton and Big Joe Williams. It also features a backbeat from drummer Bobby Gregg, a bass line from Harvey Brooks, and a soaring harmonica break. The song starts with a snare shot that is similar to the opening song of Highway 61 Revisited, "Like a Rolling Stone". It is essentially a 12-bar blues pattern, played with power chords, and is notable for Bloomfield's almost indiscernible substitution of an F-chord in the tenth bar of all but the first verses, while the bass and organ play the G-chord. The song is partially based on Sleepy John Estes' 1930 song "Milk Cow Blues", even taking a few lyrics from the older song, but its approach is more similar to The Kinks' version of a Kokomo Arnold song that was also called "Milk Cow Blues".
Cover versions
"From a Buick 6" has been covered by musicians such as Gary U.S. Bonds, Mitch Ryder, Treat Her Right, Mike Wilhelm, Alex Taylor and Johnny Winter.
Legacy
The name of a 2002 novel by Stephen King, From a Buick 8 is adapted from the title of this song.
The track "From a Motel 6" on the 1993 Yo La Tengo album Painful is a nod to the title of this song.
In an Apple presentation held in 2006, Steve Jobs noted that this was his favorite track of all time.