The Bootleg Series Volumes 1–3 [Rare & Unreleased] 1961–1991 is a 1991 three-disc box set by Bob Dylan released on Columbia Records (C3K 47382). Produced by Jeff Rosen, its fifty-eight tracks span three decades of studio outtakes, home demos, and live recordings—from solo acoustic sessions in 1961 through the Oh Mercy sessions of 1989, with stops at the Gaslight Café and Carnegie Hall along the way. Forty-five tracks are studio outtakes; the rest include live recordings and demos. Notable inclusions are "Blind Willie McTell" (cut from Infidels), "Let Me Die in My Footsteps," and "I'll Keep It With Mine." Released after decades of bootleg circulation, the set effectively rewrote Dylan's public canon and established the model for official archival releases that major artists would follow for decades.
Tracklist
- 1 Hard Times In New York Town - Demo - 1961 2:17
- 2 He Was a Friend of Mine - Take 2 4:02
- 3 Man On the Street - Studio Outtake - 1961 1:55
- 4 No More Auction Block - Live at the Gaslight Café, New York, NY - October 1962 3:02
- 5 House Carpenter - Take 1 4:07
- 6 Talkin' Bear Mountain Picnic Massacre Blues - Studio Outtake - 1962 3:44
- 7 Let Me Die In My Footsteps - Studio Outtake - 1962 3:32
- 8 Rambling, Gambling Willie - Studio Outtake - 1962 4:12
- 9 Talkin' Hava Negeilah Blues - Studio Outtake - 1962 0:51
- 10 Quit Your Low Down Ways - Studio Outtake - 1962 2:39
- 11 Worried Blues - Studio Outtake - 1962 2:38
- 12 Kingsport Town - Freewheelin' Outtake, NYC, 1962 3:28
- 13 Walkin' Down the Line - Demo - 1963 2:52
- 14 Walls of Red Wing - Studio Outtake - 1963 5:03
- 15 Paths of Victory - Studio Outtake - 1963 3:17
- 16 Talkin' John Birch Paranoid Blues - Live at Carnegie Hall, New York, NY - October 1963 4:25
- 17 Who Killed Davey Moore? - Live at Carnegie Hall, New York, NY - October 1963 3:08
- 18 Only a Hobo - Studio Outtake - 1963 3:28
- 19 Moonshiner alt version 5:05
- 20 When the Ship Comes In - Witmark Demo - 1963 2:54
- 21 The Times They Are A-Changin' - Witmark Demo - 1963 2:58
- 22 Last Thoughts on Woody Guthrie - Live at Town Hall, New York, NY - April 1963 7:08
- 23 Seven Curses - The Times They Are A-Changin' Outtake, NYC, 1963 3:47
- 24 Eternal Circle - Studio Outtake - 1963 2:37
- 25 Suze (The Cough Song) - Studio Outtake - 1963 1:57
- 26 Mama, You Been On My Mind - Studio Outtake - 1964 2:55
- 27 Farewell, Angelina - Studio Outtake - 1965 5:26
- 28 Subterranean Homesick Blues - Alternate Take 2:54
- 29 If You Gotta Go, Go Now (Or Else You Got to Stay All Night) - Studio Outtake - 1965 2:54
- 30 Sitting On a Barbed Wire Fence - Studio Outtake - 1965 3:52
- 31 Like a Rolling Stone - Alternate Take 1:35
- 32 It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry - Alternate Take 3:20
- 33 I'll Keep It with Mine - Studio Outtake - 1966 3:38
- 34 She's Your Lover Now - Studio Outtake - 1966 6:08
- 35 I Shall Be Released - Alternate Take 3:55
- 36 Santa-Fe - Studio Outtake - 1967 2:08
- 37 If Not for You (Alternate Take) 3:32
- 38 Wallflower - Studio Outtake - 1971 2:48
- 39 Nobody 'Cept You - Studio Outtake - 1973 2:40
- 40 Tangled Up in Blue - Take 3, Remake 2 6:50
- 41 Call Letter Blues - Take 2 4:27
- 42 Idiot Wind - Take 4, Remake with organ overdub 8:52
- 43 If You See Her, Say Hello - Take 2 3:44
- 44 Golden Loom - Studio Outtake - 1975 4:26
- 45 Catfish - Studio Outtake - 1975 2:48
- 46 Seven Days - Live at the Curtis Hixon Convention Center, Tampa, FL - April 1976 3:59
- 47 Ye Shall Be Changed - Studio Outtake - 1979 4:07
- 48 Every Grain of Sand - Demo - 1980 3:37
- 49 You Changed My Life - Studio Outtake - 1981 5:13
- 50 Need a Woman - Studio Outtake - 1981 5:42