Released 1971 Length 3:01 Writer(s) Bob Dylan | Genre Folk Label Columbia Records | |
Recorded April 12, 1963, Town Hall, New York City | ||
"Tomorrow Is a Long Time" is a song written and recorded by Bob Dylan. Dylan's version first appeared on the album Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits Vol. II compilation, released in 1971. It was subsequently included in the triple LP compilation, Masterpieces.
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Dylan's versions
Dylan's officially released version of the song is a live recording from his April 12, 1963, concert at New York's Town Hall. Dylan had recorded the song in December 1962 as a demo for M. Witmark & Sons, his publishing company. This particular recording, long available as a bootleg, was released by Columbia in 2010 on The Bootleg Series Vol. 9: The Witmark Demos: 1962-1964. A studio version of the song, an outtake from the June 1970 sessions for New Morning, has also been bootlegged.
The song was featured in the first season finale of The Walking Dead.
Elvis Presley version
Elvis Presley recorded the song on May 26, 1966 during a session for his album How Great Thou Art. The song originally appeared as a bonus track on the album Spinout. Dylan once said that Presley's cover of the song was "the one recording I treasure the most."
According to Ernst Jorgensen's' book Elvis Presley: A Life In Music - The Complete Recording Sessions, Presley first heard the song via Charlie McCoy, who had previously participated in the Highway 61 Revisited and Blonde on Blonde sessions. McCoy played the 1965 Odetta album Odetta Sings Dylan before an Elvis session and Presley "had become taken with 'Tomorrow Is A Long Time.'"
Dylan has said that this was his favorite cover of any of his songs.