As promised, here is the complete "Minnesota Party Tape 1961", a mysterious bootleg with a colorful history. It shouldn't be confused with the "Minnesota Hotel Tape" (also recorded at Beecher's home but several months later) or the "Minnesota University Tape" (recorded a year earlier). However, these tapes go by many different names, so I recommend you look over Olof's files if you're interested in Dylan's timeline: www.bjorner.com/DSN00020%20196.... According to his database, this tape was recorded at an unidentified coffee house at Minneapolis, MN in May 1961.
Below is a tracklist with timestamps, and below that is an amazing backstory about "Bonnie, Why'd You Cut My Hair?" told by Jaharana Romney (wife of Hugh Romney/Wavy Gravy), formerly Bonnie Beecher, the subject of this song.
TRACKLIST:
0:00 - Ramblin' Round (W. Guthrie)
4:15 - Death Don't Have No Mercy (G. Davis) [Amazing rendition, wish he finished it]
6:40 - It's Hard To Be Blind (trad.)
9:35 - This Train Is Bound For Glory (B.B. Broonzy, arr. by W. Guthrie)
12:50 - Harmonica solo [Fun little jig to wake you up in the morning]
16:44 - Talkin' Fish Blues (W. Guthrie)
22:56 - Pastures Of Plenty (W. Guthrie) ["I learned this from Woody", Dylan says, referring to his meeting with him in January 1961. Can't tell what he says after that--Can anyone transcribe it?]
29:05 - This Land Is Your Land (W. Guthrie)
33:00 - Two Trains Runnin' (M. Morganfield)
36:14 - Wild Mountain Thyme (trad.)
39:00 - Howdido (W. Guthrie)
40:45 - Car, Car (W. Guthrie)
42:55 - Don't Push Me Down (W. Guthrie)
44:37 - Come See (W. Guthrie)
47:09 - I Want My Milk (W. Guthrie)
50:17 - San Francisco Bay Blues (J. Fuller)
52:57 - A Long Time A-Growin' (trad.)
57:32 - Devilish Mary (B.L. Hawes)
59:13 - Railroad Bill (trad.)
1:03:26 - Will The Circle Be Unbroken (A.P. Carter)
1:04:30 - Man Of Constant Sorrow (trad.)
1:07:40 - Pretty Polly (trad.)
1:13:12 - Railroad Boy (trad.)
1:16:00 - James Alley Blues (R. Brown)
1:19:35 - Bonnie, Why'd You Cut My Hair?
"He came to my apartment and said, 'It's an emergency! I need your help! I gotta go home an' see my mother!' He was talking in the strangest Woody Guthrie-Oklahoma accent. I don't know if she was sick, but it was an unexpected trip he had to make up to Hibbing and he wanted me to cut his hair.' He kept saying, 'Shorter! Shorter! Get rid of the sideburns!' So I did my very best to do what he wanted and then in the door come Dave Morton, Johnny Koerner, and Harvey Abrams. They looked at him and said, 'Oh my God, you look terrible! What did you do?' And Dylan immediately said, 'She did it! I told her just to trim it up a little bit but she cut it all off. I wasn't looking in a mirror!' And then he went and wrote that song, 'Bonnie, why'd you cut my hair? Now I can't go nowhere!' He played it that night in a coffeehouse and somebody told me recently that they had been to Minnesota and somebody was still playing that song, 'Bonnie, Why'd You Cut My Hair?' It's like a Minnesota classic! And so I've gone down in history!"
~Jaharana Romney (Bonnie Beecher)
"Bonnie, Why'd You Cut My Hair?" is one of the earliest recorded Dylan originals, only preceded by a few tracks recorded from 1958-1960.
Credits to Olof Björner for information and backstory.
Peace & Love,
~SP