You Ain't Goin' Nowhere - The Byrds' Version

The Byrds' Version

The Byrds' recording of "You Ain't Goin' Nowhere" was released as a single on April 2, 1968, some three years prior to any commercial release of the song by Dylan. It was the lead single from The Byrds' 1968 country rock album, Sweetheart of the Rodeo, and reached number 74 on the Bllboard Hot 100 chart and number 45 on the UK Singles Chart. Along with the then current line-up of The Byrds, the song also features musical contributions from session musician Lloyd Green on pedal steel guitar. Although it is not as famous as their cover version of "Mr. Tambourine Man", The Byrds' recording of "You Ain't Goin' Nowhere" is often considered by critics to be the band's best Dylan cover.

The song was selected as a suitable cover by The Byrds after their record label, Columbia Records, sent them some demos from Dylan's Woodstock sessions. Included among these demos were the songs "You Ain't Goin' Nowhere" and "Nothing Was Delivered", both of which were recorded by The Byrds in March 1968, during the Nashville recording sessions for Sweetheart of the Rodeo. Despite the change in musical style that the country-influenced Sweetheart of the Rodeo album represented for The Byrds, the inclusion of two Dylan covers on the album forged a link with their previous folk rock incarnation, when Dylan's material had been a mainstay of their repertoire.

The Byrds' recording of the song caused a minor controversy between the band and its author. Dylan's original demo of "You Ain't Goin' Nowhere" contained the lyric "Pick up your money, pack up your tent", which was mistakenly altered in The Byrds' version, by guitarist and singer Roger McGuinn, to "Pack up your money, pick up your tent". 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." 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. McGuinn and the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band's 1989 recording of the song, which also featured The Byrds' former bass player Chris Hillman, was released as a single and peaked at number six on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart in 1989, as well as number eleven on the Canadian country music charts published by RPM. In spite of the involvement of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, the single release was credited to McGuinn and Hillman alone.

After its appearance on Sweetheart of the Rodeo, the song would go on to become a staple of The Byrds' live concert repertoire, until their final disbandment in 1973. The Byrds also chose to re-record "You Ain't Goin' Nowhere" in 1971 with Earl Scruggs, as part of the Earl Scruggs, His Family and Friends television special, and this version was included on the program's accompanying soundtrack album. 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. McGuinn continues to perform the song in his solo concerts and consequently it appears on his 2007 album, Live from Spain.

In addition to its appearance on the Sweetheart of the Rodeo album, The Byrds' original recording of "You Ain't Goin' Nowhere" also appears on several of the band's compilations, including The Best of The Byrds: Greatest Hits, Volume II, History of The Byrds, The Byrds Play Dylan, The Original Singles: 1967–1969, Volume 2, The Byrds, and There Is a Season. Live performances of the song are included on the expanded edition of The Byrds' (Untitled) album and on Live at Royal Albert Hall 1971.