CALIFORNIA BROWN EYED BABY

(Bob Dylan)

"McKenzie manuscripts," Summer 1961

Bob Dylan, 1961 (John Cohen)

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When Bob came back from Wisconsin, Kevin [Krown] had got him a gig, singing at the Fifth Avenue Hotel at some convention, for people in suits and ties.... [July 1961]
Anyway, along came Ramblin' Jack Elliott, who was also going to sing there, and they saw each other, and Jack said, "Hey, c'mon Bob, let's get up there!" And he said to Jack, "I got a girl, Jack! I have a girl!" He was high as can be.

When I got him home that night, boy did I have my hands full. He was insisting on using the telephone. "I'm gonna call her!" And I tried to stop him. He said he'd call collect, and I said no, that she [Avril, in San Francisco] was a poor girl and she couldn't afford to take a call collect. It was... ah! But he did call her -- maybe it was the next day -- and she took the call. And he said, "I have a song for you." And he sang California Brown-Eyed Baby. I held the phone for him, he sang it, and everybody cried. It was the first time we'd heard him sing one of his own songs publicly.

John Bauldie et al., "Eve McKenzie Remembers," The Telegraph 56, Winter 1997, pp. 36-37.

McKenzie manuscripts, Summer 1961
first transcribed by Chris C. in "Isis", No. 44, Aug-Sep 1992

The rain is falling out my window,
My thoughts are sad forever.
Thinking about my fair haired baby,
The one I really do adore

She's my California brown eyed baby,
She's the one I think about today,
She's my California brown eyed baby,
Livin' down San Francisco way

Sadly I look out my window,
Where I can hear the raindrops fall.
My heart is sayin' ***** ****
Where I can hear my true love call.

Now boys don't start to ramble,
You better stay in your hometown
Get you a gal that really loves you,
Stay right there and settle down.