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Here's a funny story about the recording of that song. 

Bob Dylan went into the studio to record it, and everyone around wanted to get in on the recording because they knew it would be a hit.  Al Kooper (leader of the original Blood Sweat and Tears) was one of them.  He was a guitarist at the time, so normally he'd be a studio guitarist.  But there was another guitar player there who played much better than he did, and he knew it.  So he knew that if he tried to play the guitar on the song, they'd ask him to sit out. 

So he went over to a Hammond B3 organ and pretended to know how to play it.  He didn't even know how to turn it on.  One of the engineers even asked him why he was at the organ, since he was a guitar player, and he said he had a good part to play in the song.  He managed to get the thing on, and faked it, playing some simple licks. 

During the mix, Bob Dylan really liked the organ part and even asked to have it turned up.  So Al Kooper not only got away with it, he got kudos from Dylan. 

After that, Kooper mostly played piano.  In fact, I saw him (solo) at a concert when I was young, and it was just him and the piano. 

[No, I don't have inside knowledge -- I remember Al Kooper telling this story in an interview, and I was fascinated by it, because I almost became a studio guitar player.  That, and Freewheelin' Bob Dylan was the first album I ever bought.]

 
Dylan always struck me as an artist with a great punk sensibility, if only you play his tunes faster and louder.

Yep. Especially a song that runs 11 minutes and change at its original tempo.

http://youtu.be/FOuSxal8pf4
 
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