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"From a Buick 6"
"From a Buick 6"
	US single picture sleeve
Single by Bob Dylan
from the album Highway 61 Revisited
A-side	"Positively 4th Street"
Released	September 7, 1965
Recorded	July 30, 1965
Studio	Columbia, New York City
Genre	Blues; garage rock;
Length	3:19
Label	Columbia
Songwriter(s)	Bob Dylan
Producer(s)	Bob Johnston
Bob Dylan singles chronology
Audio sample
	file; help;

"From a Buick 6" is a song by Bob Dylan from his album Highway 61 Revisited, which was also released as a single on the B-side of "Positively 4th Street". It was recorded on July 30, 1965.^[2]

Musical style

The song is a raucous blues song played recklessly by a band that included Al Kooper on organ and Mike Bloomfield on guitar.^[3] The guitar part is patterned after older blues riffs by Robert Johnson, Charlie Patton and Big Joe Williams.^[4] It also features a backbeat from drummer Bobby Gregg, a bass line from Harvey Brooks, and a soaring harmonica break.^[3]^[5] The song starts with a snare shot that is similar to the opening song of Highway 61 Revisited, "Like a Rolling Stone".^[2]^[5] It is essentially a 12-bar blues pattern, played with power chords, and is notable for Brooks' almost indiscernible substitution of an F in the tenth bar of all but the first verses, while the guitar and organ play the G-chord.

The song is partially based on Sleepy John Estes' 1930 song "Milk Cow Blues", even taking a few lyrics from the older song, but its approach is more similar to The Kinks' version of a Kokomo Arnold song that was also called "Milk Cow Blues".^[3]

Cash Box described it as a "rollicking, fast-moving blues-drenched folk rocker."^[6]

Legacy

"From a Buick 6" has been covered by musicians such as Gary U.S. Bonds, Mitch Ryder, Treat Her Right, Mike Wilhelm, Alex Taylor and Johnny Winter.^[7]
G. E. Smith performed "From a Buick 6" with Booker T. & The M.G.'s during the tribute concert for Dylan's 30th anniversary as a recording artist on October 16, 1992, at Madison Square Gardens in New York City.^[8]
The name of a 2002 novel by Stephen King, From a Buick 8 is adapted from the title of this song.
The Billy Bragg song "From a Vauxhall Velox" on the 1984 album Brewing Up with Billy Bragg was written as a response to "From a Buick 6".^[9]

References

^ "Highway 61 Revisited review". Allmusic. Retrieved 2011-05-15.
^ ^a ^b Polizzotti, M. (2006). Highway 61 Revisited. pp. 29, 90–95. ISBN 978-0-8264-1775-6.
^ ^a ^b ^c "From a Buick 6". allmusic. Retrieved 2009-06-24.
^ Shelton, R. (1997). No Direction Home. p. 280. ISBN 0-306-80782-3.
^ ^a ^b Gill, A. (1998). Don't Think Twice It's Alright. p. 86. ISBN 1-56025-185-9.
^ "CashBox Record Reviews" (PDF). Cash Box. September 18, 1965. p. 16. Retrieved 2022-01-12.
^ "From a Buick 6 covers". Allmusic. Retrieved 2014-08-11.
^ This performance was not included in The 30th Anniversary Concert Celebration double-album.
^ Sweeting, Adam (5 April 2001). "Driven to distraction". theguardian.com. Retrieved 20 January 2018.