Ballad of Hollis Brown

"Ballad of Hollis Brown"
Song by Bob Dylan from the album The Times They Are a-Changin'
Released	January 13, 1964
Recorded	August 7, 1963
Genre	Folk blues
Length	5:06
Label	Columbia
Writer(s)	Bob Dylan
Producer(s)	Tom Wilson
The Times They Are a-Changin' track listing
10 tracks Side one "The Times They Are a-Changin'" "Ballad of Hollis Brown" "With God on Our Side" "One Too Many Mornings" "North Country Blues" Side two "Only a Pawn in Their Game" "Boots of Spanish Leather" "When the Ship Comes In" "The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll" "Restless Farewell"

10 tracks
Side one "The Times They Are a-Changin'" "Ballad of Hollis Brown" "With God on Our Side" "One Too Many Mornings" "North Country Blues" Side two "Only a Pawn in Their Game" "Boots of Spanish Leather" "When the Ship Comes In" "The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll" "Restless Farewell"

"Ballad of Hollis Brown" is a blues song written by Bob Dylan, released in 1964 on his third album The Times They Are A-Changin'. The song tells the story of a South Dakota farmer who, overwhelmed by the desperation of poverty, kills his wife, children and then himself.

Musically, this song is a simple blues. The album version is played by Dylan alone on an acoustic guitar in the flatpicking style. The guitar is in 'double-dropped D tuning': Both the 1st and 6th strings, which normally play two Es separated by two octaves, are tuned down a whole step, down to D. Also, Dylan uses a capo on the 1st fret. Therefore, while his fingers are positioned as if he were playing in the key of D minor, the song actually comes out in Eb minor.

The recording of the song that was included on The Times They Are A-Changin' was made on August 7, 1963. The song had been recorded during sessions for Dylan's previous album, The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan, in November 1962, but remained an outtake. On this earlier version, Dylan played the harmonica and just strummed the chords, rather than picking the strings. (The live versions between 1962 and 1964 were also played that way, but without the harmonica.) According to Michael Gray, the guitar work and melodic structuring in "Hollis Brown" are taken from the Appalachians, "where such forms and modes had evolved, in comparative isolation, over a period of almost two hundred years."

The chords, tune and verse-structure of "Ballad of Hollis Brown" is based on the ballad "Pretty Polly", a song Dylan performed at the Gaslight Club prior to recording "Ballad of Hollis Brown".

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