The Return of The Freewheelin Bob Dylan.
The Return of The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan: A Rare Chance to Re-Hear the 60s
Every Record Store Day has its headline title, but this year’s Black Friday drop feels different.
For once, it’s not just “another reissue” of a classic album – it’s a chance to hear one of the 1960s’ most important records the way it was originally meant to exist.
For RSD Black Friday 2025, Columbia/Legacy are releasing The Original Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan – the first time The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan has ever come out in its original, unreleased configuration. Limited, exclusive, and built around an alternate tracklist that’s lived in collector legend for decades, this is more than a novelty pressing. It’s a rare chance to reassess a 60s album in real time, as if it just walked out of 1963 and onto the racks.
What’s Different About This Version?
When Freewheelin’ first hit shelves in May 1963, most fans had no idea there’d been chaos behind the scenes. At the last minute, Columbia pulled four songs from the album and swapped them for tracks the label thought were safer and more commercial.
The original line-up included four songs that were withdrawn before release:
“Rocks and Gravel”
“Let Me Die in My Footsteps”“Rambling, Gamblin’ Willie”
“Talkin’ John Birch Paranoid Blues”
Some were politically sharp, some complicated rights-wise, some just made nervous executives sweat. A few early pressings with that original tracklist slipped out before the change – and those copies became the stuff of collector myth and auction-house legend.
This RSD Black Friday edition finally puts those songs back where they were supposed to be: on the album itself, not buried in vaults or scattered across bootlegs and box sets.
Why This Matters in 2025![]()
We live in a world where classic albums get reissued constantly: colored vinyl, half-speed masters, anniversary editions, mono boxes, you name it. Most of the time, you’re hearing the same record in a fancier jacket.
This is different.
With The Original Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan, you’re not just getting better packaging – you’re getting a different story:
The running order changes the way the album flows.
The political edge of songs like “Talkin’ John Birch Paranoid Blues” hits harder when it’s part of the main narrative, not a bonus track.
“Let Me Die in My Footsteps” and “Rocks and Gravel” show where Dylan’s head really was in the early 60s – restless, fearless, and not designed for comfort.
It’s like seeing a famous film in its original director’s cut after spending your whole life with the studio edit.
Re-Hearing a 60s Classic with Fresh Ears
Most of us met Freewheelin’ as a fixed object:
“Blowin’ in the Wind,” “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall,” “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right” – set in stone.
But this release invites you to do something unusual with a 60s classic:
listen to it as a new album.
When you drop the needle on this version, try:
Pretending you’re in 1963, hearing Dylan’s second record for the first time
Forgetting the “canonical” tracklist you’ve known for years
Paying attention to how the mood shifts when the withdrawn songs appear in the body of the album instead of hiding on outtakes collections
You’re not just hearing extra tracks. You’re hearing a different version of Dylan – more raw, more political, and less filtered by corporate caution.
A Limited Window into an Alternate History
Part of what makes Record Store Day special is that it gives you little alternate timelines: albums that almost existed, tours that nearly happened, demos that could’ve changed everything if they’d come out on time.
This Freewheelin’ isn’t a random “lost” release. It represents:
The album Dylan originally turned in
The version that executives got cold feet about
The shape Freewheelin’ might have taken if nobody had interfered
For collectors and Dylan fans, that makes this more than another pressing to file on the shelf. It’s a physical snapshot of a road not taken – pressed into vinyl you can actually play.
Why This Is the Perfect Time to Reassess Freewheelin’
The 60s are so mythologized that albums like Freewheelin’ can start to feel like museum pieces. We “know” they’re important before we even listen. This RSD release is a rare chance to break that spell.
Instead of treating it as untouchable history, you can:
Hear the album with a new structure
Sit with the uncensored, unrestored tracklist
Decide for yourself whether Columbia’s changes made it better or worse
Experience Dylan not as a legend, but as a young songwriter pushing boundaries and irritating his label
In 1963, this version scared people.
In 2025, it might just remind us how alive and risky folk music used to feel.
Final Spin
With The Original Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan finally getting a proper vinyl release for Record Store Day Black Friday, we’re not just buying another copy of an album we already own.
We’re getting a rare, physical chance to reassess a cornerstone 60s record – to hear what might have been, and decide all over again what Freewheelin’ really is.
If you’ve only ever known the standard version, this is the moment to drop the needle, forget the legend for a minute, and just listen.