"It Ain't Me Babe" is a song by Bob Dylan that originally appeared on his fourth album Another Side of Bob Dylan, which was released in 1964 by Columbia Records. According to music critic Oliver Trager, this song, along with others on the album, marked a departure for Dylan as he began to explore the possibilities of language and deeper levels of the human experience. Within a year of its release, the song was picked up as a single by folk rock act the Turtles and country artist Johnny Cash.
Influences
Dylan's biographers generally agree that the song owes its inspiration to his former girlfriend Suze Rotolo. He reportedly began writing the song during his visit to Italy in 1963 while searching for Rotolo, who was studying there. Clinton Heylin reports that a Times reporter at a May 1964 Royal Festival Hall concert where Dylan first played "It Ain't Me" took the chorus "no, no, no" as a parody of the Beatles' "yeah, yeah, yeah" in "She Loves You". Nat Hentoff's late October 1964New Yorker article on Dylan includes an account of Hentoff's presence on the evening in June 1964 in the CBS recording studio when Dylan recorded this and a dozen or so other songs. After some description of the recording studio and booth exchanges among Dylan, his friends, and the session's producers, Hentoff describes the moment. "Dylan," Hentoff writes, "went on to record a song about a man leaving a girl because he was not prepared to be the kind of invincible hero and all-encompassing provider she wanted." "'It ain't me you're looking for babe,' he sang, with finality," Hentoff writes in his piece. The melody in both phrases uses a scale descending through a minor third.
Renditions
Dylan and Johnny Cash were admirers of each other's work. Cash recorded the song with June Carter. The song was released on Cash's 1965 album, Orange Blossom Special, and became a hit. This song was also featured in the 2005 film about Cash's life, Walk the Line, and was performed by Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon on the film's soundtrack.
Jan & Dean covered the song on their 1965 album, Folk 'n Roll.
"It Ain't Me Babe" was among many Dylan songs recorded by Joan Baez in the early years of her career. Baez's version appeared on her 1964 album Joan Baez/5, which also included "Go 'Way From My Window." Additionally, Baez's 1967 album Live In Japan contains the song. Dylan and Baez sang a duet of "It Ain't Me Babe" at the Newport Folk Festival on July 24, 1964, as can be seen in the 2007 documentary filmThe Other Side of the Mirror, and their October 31, 1964 performance of it may be heard on ', released in 2004.
Sebastian Cabot recorded a spoken-word variation of the song for his infamous Sebastian Cabot, actor...Bob Dylan, poet album in 1966. This version was included in Golden Throats: The Great Celebrity Sing Off in 1988.
Nancy Sinatra covered "It Ain't Me Babe" on her 1966 Boots album.
