You Ain't Goin' Nowhere

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"You Ain't Goin' Nowhere" is a song by Bob Dylan and The Band, officially released in 1975 on the album The Basement Tapes.

Starting in late 1967, Bob Dylan's legendary Basement Tapes were the underground source of many new songs for hungry fans and fellow artists alike. Columbia Records, owning all of Dylan's recordings, sent labelmates The Byrds some demos from the sessions, including this song and "Nothing Was Delivered". They recorded both in Nashville, Tennessee in March 1968 for their seminal Sweetheart of the Rodeo LP, released late-August.

Dylan re-recorded the song in 1971, and it was included on his greatest hits album Greatest Hits Vol. II, with lyrics that differed significantly from the Basement Tapes version, and also played upon a mistaken lyric in the Byrds' cover. Dylan's original Basement Tapes demo had the lyric "Pick up your money, pack up your tent", which was mistakenly altered by the Byrds to "pack up your money / pick up your tent". Dylan further modifies the error on the 1971 version, singing "Pack up your money, put up your tent, McGuinn," referring to The Byrds singer and guitarist Roger McGuinn, who was presumably responsible for the accidental lyric change. McGuinn replied on the 1989 release of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band's Will the Circle Be Unbroken: Volume Two, adding "Dylan" after the same "pack up your money / pick up your tent" lyric. McGuinn's version, which featured Chris Hillman, was also released a single, peaking at #6 on Hot Country Singles in 1989.

Other covers

• Joan Baez included a gender-switched version of the song (in which she sings "tomorrow's the day my man's gonna come" on her 1968 album of Dylan covers Any Day Now; Baez frequently includes the song in her concert set lists.
• Counting Crows recorded the song as a bonus track on their Hard Candy album (2002). There is no alteration in lyrics. They also perform it live with Augustana.
• Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová recorded the song for the soundtrack album to Todd Haynes' impressionistic Dylan biopic, I'm Not There (2007), using the lyrics from Dylan's 1971 version, including the reference to Roger McGuinn.
• Maria Muldaur recorded the song, with slightly altered lyrics, on "Heart of Mine: Maria Muldaur Sings Love Songs of Bob Dylan" (2006) (Telarc).
• Marty Raybon, former vocalist of Shenandoah, also covered the song on his 2006 album When the Sand Runs Out.
• Shawn Colvin, Mary Chapin Carpenter, and Rosanne Cash performed the song at Madison Square Garden in 1992 for eventual release on The 30th Anniversary Concert Celebration.