You're No Good (Jesse Fuller song)

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You're No Good is a song written and performed by Jesse Fuller. Fuller released his own version on the Prestige Folklore album San Francisco Bay Blues, which came out on May 13, 1963. Fuller was a one-man band and inventor of the fotdella, and on this track he sings and plays guitar, harmonica, kazoo, washboard, and fotdella. The song tells of a difficult relationship with a woman and ends with the narrator wanting to lay down and die.

Bob Dylan’s debut album, Bob Dylan (1962), opens with a cover of You're No Good. Dylan learned the song directly from Fuller in Denver. He recorded eight takes on November 20, 1961, at Columbia Studio A in New York City; four of the takes were complete, while the others were false starts. The fifth take was used as the album’s opening track. Dylan’s version is faster and includes some lyric changes, such as omitting a line about a preacher.

The song’s single LP credits Fuller, and the liner notes note that Dylan learned the song from him. On some American pressings and the British LP, the track was mistakenly listed as “She’s No Good.” Dylan performed the song in a home set at Eve and Mac Mackenzie’s in New York on November 23, 1961, including both this song and Fuller’s San Francisco Bay Blues; as of 2022, Dylan has never performed it live in a public concert.

Reception and interpretation vary. Critics have described the Dylan recording as energetic and a strong opener for the album, with some noting it showcases his early rock-and-roll sensibilities. Fuller’s own version is framed as a blues-style piece about a troubled relationship, and the song has been discussed in the context of Dylan’s early work as a noteworthy and spirited performance.