C. Ham wrote:
I've talked to Dave Van Ronk about "He was a Friend of Mine." Dave said that "Shorty George" was the source and that he, Von Schmidt and Dylan, who were all friends with each other, all contributed to the adaptation. They didn't sit down together to come up with the arrangement, it just evolved as they passed it around over a period of time.

Julieann writes: Has Dylan ever said anything about it? I mean the song and where it came from? Or what the thoughts were when adapting it?