One Too Many Mornings (Live at Free Trade Hall, Manchester, UK – May 17, 1966) – Bob Dylan and The Band

On October 21, I wrote about Dylan’s Experimental Documentary ‘Eat the Document’ which features clips of his monumental ‘Play it Loud!’ second set songs as heard in the Bob Dylan Live 1966 Bootleg. I always considered it the beacon of rock defining moments in my music collection. Today’s featured track, One Too Many Mornings, is a song Dylan performs with such raw energy that it leaves the English audience (conmensúrate with the rest of his set) almost bewildered as can be seen by the emotional reactions of the exiting audience in his documentary. Their ears, accustomed to the gentler sounds of folk, are jolted by these unexpected renditions and audacious presentation. They perhaps came expecting to see Joan Baez’s anointed “prince of folk” deliver his usual sound—only to encounter something wholly different, challenging their perception of live music in a way rarely, if ever, experienced before or since.

One Too Many Mornings was originally recorded on Dylan’s 1964 record The Times They Are A-Changin’. Dylan skillfully captures the nostalgic ache of a post-breakup landscape filled with loneliness—a separation where the reasons aren’t exactly clear, but where love has quietly faded away. Across three verses, he returns to the refrain, “just one too many mornings, and a thousand miles behind,” creating an image of a solitary man, recently parted, drifting through life as he tries to piece together the aftermath. The relationship hasn’t ended in a dramatic fallout, but rather in a soft, muted departure.

[Verse 1]
Down the street, the dogs are barkin’ and the day is a-gettin’ dark
As the night comes in a-falling, the dogs will lose their bark
And the silent night will shatter from the sounds inside my mind

[Refrain]
Yes, I’m one too many mornings and a thousand miles behind

[Verse 2]
From the crossroads of my doorstep, my eyes start to fade
And I turn my head back to the room where my love and I have laid
And I gaze back to the street, the sidewalk, and the sign

[Refrain]
And I’m one too many mornings and a thousand miles behind

[Verse 3]
It’s a restless hungry feeling that don’t mean no one no good
When everything I’m a-sayin’, you can say it just as good
You’re right from your side, I am right from mine

[Refrain]
We’re both just one too many mornings and a thousand miles behind

Johnny Cash covered the song numerous times, including on the album Johnny & June in 1978. He also recorded two versions of the song with Dylan while Dylan was recording Nashville Skyline. One can be seen here.  Cash would cover it again as a duet with Waylon Jennings for the album Heroes in 1986. I find it fascinating that Johnny Cash couldn’t shake this song from his mind for years, feeling compelled to record it repeatedly — despite all the incredible works in Dylan’s repertoire. If this song resonated so deeply with Cash, then it’s definitely something worth appreciating in my book.

References:
1. One Too Many Mornings – Wikipedia
2. Masterpieces #1 — Bob Dylan — One Too Many Mornings – Medium

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“The more I live, the more I learn. The more I learn, the more I realize, the less I know.”- Michel Legrand