\"I Shall Be Released\" is a 1967 song written by Bob Dylan.
The Band recorded the first officially-released version of the song for their 1968 debut album, Music from Big Pink, with Richard Manuel singing lead vocals, and Rick Danko and Levon Helm harmonizing in the chorus. The song was also performed near the end of the Band's 1976 farewell concert, The Last Waltz, in which all the night's performers (with the exception of Muddy Waters) plus Ringo Starr and Ronnie Wood appeared on the same stage. Additional live recordings by the Band were included on the 1974 concert album Before the Flood and the 2001 expanded CD reissue of Rock of Ages.
The song is influenced by gospel music, combining imagery of religious redemption, or release from sin, with implied literal release from prison. David Yaffe describes it as a song about \"redeemed prisoners\".The singer describes life behind a wall reflecting on every man \"who put me here\" and a man \"who swears he's not to blame\" who is \"crying out that he was framed\". He repeats that \"any day now\" he will be released. Mike Marqusee says that \"the first person narrator speaks from a prison cell. Prison – and more broadly the cruelty of the justice system – is a leitmotif in Dylan's work\", but that Dylan broadens the idea of imprisonment to link social issues with a seemingly ancient urge for freedom.
\"I Shall Be Released\" has been covered by many artists. It has been recorded: by The Youngbloods; The Earl Scruggs Revue; Jeff Buckley; The Marmalade; Joan Baez; Peter, Paul and Mary; Joe Cocker; Tremeloes; Bette Midler; The Box Tops; The Byrds; Ricky Nelson; Aaron Neville; Melissa Etheridge; Coheed and Cambria; Tom Robinson Band; Nina Simone; The Slackers; Paul Weller; Jerry Garcia Band; Sting; The Deftones; The Hollies; Pearls Before Swine; OK Go; Beth Rowley; Ken Lazarus; Big Mama Thornton; Chatham County Line; The Flying Burrito Brothers; Jack Johnson; Gov't Mule; Martin Harley; Kiosk; Dino McGartland with Laurence Jones; James Blundell; Miriam Makeba; Boz; Mahotella Queens; Jacob Miller; Bobby McFerrin; Black Oak Arkansas; Marion Williams; Wilco; Zac Brown Band; Kesha and by Half Moon Run. Elvis Presley.
