Delia

(Background Info)

Also known as "Little Delia," "Delia's Gone," & "All My Friends Are Gone" From "World Gone Wrong, More About The Songs" by John Way ("The Telegraph" #47): This song was recorded by Blind Willie McTell on 5 November 1940 for John Lomax, who was in Atlanta on a field recording trip for the Library of Congress, and again in Atlanta in 1949 as "Little Delia." Dylan's version is more or less a mixture of Blind Willie McTell's 1940 performance and "All My Friends Are Gone," a version from North Carolina which was adapted by Stefan Grossman to fit Reverend Gary Davis' tune and imperfectly remembered lyric. A true hybrid, then, but the song is probably too old and too widespread to have a definitive version anyway.
From "World Gone Wrong, More About The Songs" by John Way ("The Telegraph" #47):: This song was recorded by Blind Willie McTell on 5 November 1940 for John Lomax, who was in Atlanta on a field recording trip for the Library of Congress, and again in Atlanta in 1949 as "Little Delia." Dylan's version is more or less a mixture of Blind Willie McTell's 1940 performance and "All My Friends Are Gone," a version from North Carolina which was adapted by Stefan Grossman to fit Reverend Gary Davis' tune and imperfectly remembered lyric. A true hybrid, then, but the song is probably too old and too widespread to have a definitive version anyway.

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