The Ballad of Frankie Lee and Judas Priest composer Bob Dylan
"The Ballad of Frankie Lee and Judas Priest" is a song by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan. It was released as the fifth track on his eighth studio album John Wesley Harding (1967). The track was written by Dylan and produced by Bob Johnston. It was recorded in one take on October 17, 1967, at Columbia Studio A in Nashville. The song's lyrics refer to two friends, Frankie Lee and Judas Priest. Lee asks Priest for a loan of money and  Priest offers it freely. Lee spends it in a brothel over 16 days, then dies of thirst in Priest's arms. It has been suggested by commentators that the song refers to Dylan's relationship with his manager Albert Grossman or to his contractual negotiations with his record company. The song received a largely negative critical reception. Dylan has performed the song live in concert 20 times, from 1987 to 2000.Background and recording
Dylan's seventh studio album, Blonde on Blonde, was released in June 1966. In July 1966, Dylan had a motorcycle accident, and spent the next year-and-a-half recovering and writing songs at his home in Woodstock. From around June to October 1967, he recorded 138 songs with members of the group the Hawks (later known as the Band).According to Dylan biographer Clinton Heylin, all the songs for John Wesley Harding, Dylan's eighth studio album, were written and recorded during a six-week period at the end of 1967. With one child born in early 1966 and another in mid-1967, Dylan had settled into family life."The Ballad of Frankie Lee and Judas Priest" was recorded in one take during the first recording session for John Wesley Harding on October 17, 1967, in Columbia Studio A, Nashville. The producer was Bob Johnston. Dylan speaks, rather than sings, the lyrics, and plays guitar and harmonica. He is accompanied by Charlie McCoy on bass and Kenneth Buttrey on drums; both had been part of the larger cohort of musicians that played on Blonde on Blonde. Dylan told interviewer Jann Wenner that he had been seeking a sound similar to Gordon Lightfoot's album The Way I Feel, which McCoy and Buttrey had also played on. The song was released as the fifth track on John Wesley Harding on December 27, 1967. It was issued as the lead track of an EP single in Portugal in 1968, and included on the compilation box set The Original Mono Recordings in 2010.
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