Category Archives: Bob Dylan Songs

Bob Dylan covers: Acoustic cover songs – music videos by the songwriters of the Laptop Sessions video blog. Daily music blog with new indie rock acoustic songs.

“Please, Mrs. Henry” by Bob Dylan – Chords, Tabs, & How to Play

Posted on by
Reply

“Please, Mrs. Henry”
Bob Dylan

C#                                                               F#
Well, I’ve already had two beers, and I’m ready for the broom.
C#                                              F#
Please, Mrs. Henry, won’t you take me to my room?
C#                                                G#
I’m a good ol’ boy, but I’ve been sniffin’ too many eggs,
F#                                               C#
Talkin’ to too many people, drinkin’ too many kegs.

C#
Please, Missus Henry, Missus Henry, please!
F#
Please, Missus Henry, Missus Henry, please!
C#
I’m down on my knees, and I ain’t got a dime…

Well, I’m groanin’ in a hallway, pretty soon I’ll be mad.
Please, Mrs. Henry, won’t you take me to your dad?
I can drink like a fish; I can crawl like a snake.
I can bite like a turkey; I can slam like a drake.

Please, Missus Henry, Missus Henry, please!
Please, Missus Henry, Missus Henry, please!
I’m down on my knees, and I ain’t got a dime…

Now, don’t crowd me, lady, or I’ll fill up your shoe.
I’m a sweet bourbon daddy, and tonight I am blue.
I’m a thousand years old, and I’m a gorgeous bomb.
I’m T-boned and punctured, but I’m known to be calm.

Please, Missus Henry, Missus Henry, please!
Please, Missus Henry, Missus Henry, please!
I’m down on my knees, and I ain’t got a dime…

Now, I’m startin’ to drain; my stool’s gonna squeak.
If I walk too much farther, my crane’s gonna leak.
Look, Mrs. Henry, there’s only so much I can do.
Why don’t you look my way and pump me a few?

Please, Missus Henry, Missus Henry, please!
Please, Missus Henry, Missus Henry, please!
I’m down on my knees, and I ain’t got a dime…

** These chords and lyrics are interpretations and transcriptions, respectively, and are the sole property of the copyright holder(s). They are posted on this website free of charge for no profit for the purpose of study and commentary, as allowed for under the “fair use” provision of U.S. copyright law, and should only be used for such personal and/or academic work. **

Editor’s note: this post was originally published before December 2015; the exact original date is uncertain.

Related posts

“Please, Mrs. Henry” (Bob Dylan Cover)

Posted on by
Reply

For Bob Dylan chords / tabs / lyrics, CLICK HERE!

By Chris Moore:

And, just like that, I’m back with my second session of the night!

As a follow-up to my previous music video, this is “Please, Mrs. Henry,” also from Bob Dylan’s 1975 release The Basement Tapes. Generally, I am most impressed with complete, clean studio recordings of songs from my favorite bands, yet there are many instances of great music being created when an artist has stripped away at all the usual standards and practices of studio recording. A most recent — and admittedly weird — instance of this is the re-release of Beck’s early nineties indie rock release One Foot in the Grave. While this album really isn’t the kind of music I’ll be showing off to my friends, there is this really raw and unique sound to it. One of the benefits to these types of recordings is the quantity of music usually available — i.e. 24 Basement Tapes tracks and 32 tracks on the aforementioned Beck album. In the first 16 album tracks, songs like “Cyanide Breath Mint,” “Asshole” (later covered by Tom Petty for the She’s the One soundtrack!), and “Painted Eyelids” would never make it anywhere near the radio. I love the lyrics and sound to some of the bonus tracks, as well — “Favorite Nerve,” “Burning Boyfriend,” and, “Feather in Your Cap” to name a few.

Of course, with these types of recordings, there are always going to be throwaway tracks and songs that will make you want to say, “What was he thinking?!” But that’s to be expected…

Getting back to the Laptop Session at hand, “Please, Mrs. Henry” is one of the songs I initially disliked from this album. More specifically, I found it kind of plain. Now that I’ve gone back to it — specifically during my Bob Dylan mp3 marathon earlier this month — I have a newfound appreciation for the lyrics as well as the music. Where else can you get the perspective of a singer/narrator who is not only telling you he is drunk, but actuallly sounds drunk while he’s doing it? Dylan’s inflection aside, how else can you read lyrics like “I’ve been sniffin’ too many eggs…Drinkin’ too many kegs” or “I’m groanin’ in a hallway; pretty soon, I’ll be mad” or, who could forget, “Why don’t you look my way and pump me a few?”

Great stuff.

With that, I’ll leave you to watch my interpretation of one of the many songs on The Basement Tapes that have been capturing the attention of fans since it was recorded in 1968. Even before the album was officially released, these tracks became some of the most bootlegged songs in rock music history. (Think: Great White Wonder.) And now you have my version to add to the mix. It certainly doesn’t approach the level that Dylan’s on, but it was a lot of fun to try! (Check out the chords, linked at the top of this post, so you can play, too…)

See you next session!

Editor’s note: this post was originally published before December 2015; the exact original date is uncertain.

More Laptop Sessions covers

Best Covers of 2012: A Weekend Review Special Edition

Posted on by
Reply

By Chris Moore:

The BEST COVER SONGS of 2012

 

As I have previously written about, covers are typically of little interest to me (which is, of course, ironic when considering the large number I have played over the years).  Of course, I typically end up hearing a few that stand out, and this year, they were almost all on the Amnesty International charity album Chimes of Freedom.  Sadly, though the compilation included over seventy songs from a vast range of artists, there were only a handful worthy of recognition.  My favorite cover song of the year, however, is the one unearthed on the soundtrack to the Martin Scorcese documentary based on George Harrison’s life: it is Harrison’s cover of his friend Bob Dylan’s song “Mama You’ve Been On My Mind.”  It is a stripped down, acoustic cover, but it is brilliant and the beauty radiates warmly from this simple yet nuanced performance.

 

1)  “Mama You’ve Been On My Mind” – George Harrison

2)  “One Too Many Mornings” – Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan, and the Avett Brothers

3)  “You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere” – Brett Dennen

4)  “Mr. Tambourine Man” – Jack’s Mannequin

5)  “Ring Them Bells” – Natasha Bedingfield

 

Honorable Mention:

“Ballad of Hollis Brown” – Rise Against

Editor’s note: this post was originally published before December 2015; the exact original date is uncertain.

More Laptop Sessions covers

The Best of the Bob Dylan Covers – Playlists on Parade

Posted on by
Reply

By Chris Moore:

With some sources placing Bob Dylan as the #2 most covered artist (behind the Beatles, of course), there are some excellent performances of his songs.

Predominantly, though, there are hundreds and hundreds of inferior versions of his work, ranging from mediocre all the way down to openly offensive.

As a Dylan fan now for over a decade, I have accumulated quite a number of covers.  Folk?  I have it.  Bluesgrass?  Regrettably, yes.  Gospel?  You betcha!  Reggae?  For reals.

Suffice it to say, there’s some utter crap.

I’ve been thinking for weeks now about putting together a playlist of my favorite Dylan covers.  Finally, after coming across a Jimi Hendrix recording of “Tears of Rage” on iTunes today, I sorted through the archives and pieced together eighteen of my favorite recordings.  For those who don’t know me, you should understand that I’m often the guy who will remind you that, “This song was actually written by…” or ask you, “Have you ever heard the original?”  So, for me to say I love these songs means that they’ve truly made the cut for me.

And I hope you’ll enjoy them as well!

The artists are as wide ranging as George Harrison and Beck.  They go back as far as the sixties, with a sampling of classics by the original masters of the Dylan cover the Byrds, and are as recent as the Dead Weather, that super-ish-group co-fronted by Jack White.  In the case of the former, I love the Dylan versions about as much as Roger McGuinn and company’s, but in the case of the latter, a forgettable Street Legal track was revived and successfully reimagined.

There are some that you absolutely must listen to the originals – “Simple Twist of Fate” for one, and “Born in Time” for another (that is, if you find the Bootleg Series version).  There are some that are, frankly, better as covers – I’m thinking of “Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat” here.

So, go explore.  Visit Amazon and iTunes.  Expand your Dylan horizons.  And, most of all, remember why Bob Dylan was, is, and forever shall be the freakin’ man.

1)  “Mr. Tambourine Man” – The Byrds

2)  “Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat” – Beck

3)  “All Along the Watchtower” – Jimi Hendrix

4)  “If Not for You” – George Harrison

5)  “Mama You’ve Been on My Mind / A Fraction of Last Thoughts on Woody Guthrie” – Jack Johnson

6)  “Masters of War” – Pearl Jam

7)  “New Pony” – The Dead Weather

8)  “Simple Twist of Fate” – Jeff Tweedy

9)  “My Back Pages” – The Byrds

10)  “Absolutely Sweet Marie” – George Harrison

11)  “Tears of Rage” – Jimi Hendrix

12)  “I Shall Be Released” – The Band

13)  “Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright” – Eric Clapton

14)  “Mississippi” – Sheryl Crow

15)  “John Wesley Harding” – Wilco

16)  “You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere” – The Byrds

17)  “Born in Time” – Eric Clapton

18)  “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door” – Warren Zevon

Editor’s note: this post was originally published before December 2015; the exact original date is uncertain.

More Laptop Sessions covers