Going Back to Brooklyn is an album by American folk and blues singer Dave Van Ronk, released in 1985.
Although Van Ronk was primarily an interpretive singer of traditional folk and blues songs along with covers of the songs of others, he still wrote a number of songs over his long career. Going Back to Brooklyn is the only album he made that is devoted entirely to his own compositions. Many of the songs were written, and some recorded, years and even decades previous to this release; however, all of the songs on this release were re-recorded specially for this album.[1]
Going Back to Brooklyn was re-released on CD twice, in 1991 by Gazell Records and in 2006 by Hightone Records.
Writing for Allmusic, critic William Ruhlman wrote of the album "Van Ronk is primarily an interpretive singer with a repertoire of traditional folk-blues songs along with covers of the songs of his peers... Even when he writes a well-developed original, he basically adapts one of his favorite folk-blues fingerpicking patterns to accompany a lyric idea... Van Ronk uses his raspy, expressive voice, which contrasts with the sweetness of his guitar playing, to get across harsh, bitter feelings... Going Back to Brooklyn is unique among Dave Van Ronk albums for the portrait it provides of the artist, even if on the surface it sounds like many of this other records."[1] Music critic Robert Christgau gave the album a one-star honorable mention indicating "a worthy effort consumers attuned to its overriding aesthetic or individual vision may well like" and called Van Ronk "the most steadfast of the folkies—and the funniest."[2]