Most recent truly great Bob Dylan song?

Yeah, Haggard's song is a classic, and I personally tend to go for the classics over more contemporary stuff. We'll have to see in thirty years how Dylan's song stacks up.

 

Recent songs seems to be taken very liberally! Heart of Mine (81), Jokerman (83), Make You Feel My Love(97). Surely we can only go back 10 years at the most to be termed recent?

For me it would probably be Cross The Green Mountain. As you could probably work out from other Dylan related posts, I don't much care for much post 97 Dylan. The voice!

 

Part of the reason Hag's "Workingman's Blues" is a classic is that it was written and recorded when Hag was at the peak of his creative and vocal powers. I can't say the same of Dylan at the point in his career when he wrote his sequel (and, as we all know from Hollywood, the sequel is never as good as the original). I doubt that the passage of thirty more years will change my opinion, but time will tell.

 

Time Out of Mind (and the two traditional cover albums that preceded it) were a worthy late-career peak. Since then, he's repeated the formula established on those three albums with ever-diminishing returns, imho. Others' mileage obviously varies.

 

It's something off of Tempest.

 

That's a good song.

But he asked for the "last truly great" one.

 

I would say Roll On John and Tempest. Stand out tracks on a excellent album

 

Soon After Midnight

 

I agree that "Workingman's Blues #2" is no masterpiece, despite some nice lines and some very nice singing (I like the way he lends a little lift and grace to the otherwise potentially awkward lines, "Them I will forget,/ But you I'll remember always," for example), but evaluation aside, I mainly think the song is just downright strange.

It does sound like it's going to be some kind of socio-economic critique or lament at first, as we hear the character sing those opening lines about proletariat and etc., but at the 9th line, things just take a weird turn--and not a left turn. Once this guy says something about his "cruel weapons," it seems to me we're not in Haggardville anymore, but in some odd corner of Dylan's imagination where the concerns of an aging American workingman get melded with stuff that comes from somewhere older and the mind of someone whose psychological situation is more than a little hard to read. I'm not sure these are the words of a particularly coherent persona. That's true about a lot of late Dylan tunes, but I usually have some sense of just what the mind of the tune is encompassing or offering or reflecting. Here, I'm much more puzzled than I am moved or entertained.

Here's the lyric:

There's an evening haze settling over town,
Starlight by the edge of the creek
The buying power of the proletariat's gone down,
Money's getting shallow and weak.
Well, the place I love best is a sweet memory;
it's a new path that we trod.
They say low wages are a reality
If we want to compete abroad.
My cruel weapons have been put on the shelf;
Come sit down on my knee.
You are dearer to me than myself,
As you yourself can see.
While I'm listening to the steel rails hum,
Got both eyes tight shut.
Just sitting here trying to keep the hunger from
Creeping it's way into my gut.

Meet me at the bottom, don't lag behind.
Bring me my boots and shoes.
You can hang back or fight your best on the front line.
Sing a little bit of these workingman's blues.

Well, I'm sailin' on back, ready for the long haul
Tossed by the winds and the seas.
I'll drag 'em all down to hell and I'll stand 'em at the wall.
I'll sell 'em to their enemies.
I'm a-tryin' to feed my soul with thought .
Gonna sleep off the rest of the day.
Sometimes no one wants what you got,
Sometimes you can't give it away.
Now the place is ringed with countless foes.
Some of them may be deaf and dumb.
No man, no woman knows
The hour that sorrow will come.
In the dark I hear the night birds call.
I can feel a lover's breath.
I sleep in the kitchen with my feet in the hall.
Sleep is like a temporary death.

Meet me at the bottom....

Well, they burned my barn, and they stole my horse.
I can't save a dime.
I got to be careful; I don't want to be forced
Into a life of continual crime.
I can see for myself that the sun is sinking
How I wish you were here to see.
Tell me now, am I wrong in thinking
That you have forgotten me?
Now they worry and they hurry and they fuss and they fret.
They waste your nights and days.
Them I will forget,
But you I'll remember always.
Old memories of you to me have clung.
You've wounded me with your words.
Gonna have to straighten out your tongue.
It's all true, everything you've heard.

Meet me at the bottom....

In you, my friend, I find no blame.
Wanna look in my eyes, please do.
No one can ever claim
That I took up arms against you.
All across the peaceful sacred fields,
They will lay you low.
They'll break your horns and slash you with steel.
I say it, so it must be so.
Now I'm down on my luck and I'm black and blue.
Gonna give you another chance.
I'm all alone I'm expecting you
To lead me off in a cheerful dance.
I got a brand new suit and a brand new wife,
I can live on rice and beans.
Some people never worked a day in their life
Don't know what work even means.

Well, meet me at the bottom....

 

This was the one that immediately jumped to mind. Gorgeous vocal (play it for those of your friends who say Dylan can't sing at all, or can't sing anymore). It should get points just for working "the buying power of the proletariat's gone down" into a melodic song.

I also agree with Things Have Changed and Mississippi, but those are really stretching the definition of "recent." Though WB#2 is no spring chicken itself these days. Not much of Tempest really moved me, sadly. I know others love it.

 

And if I might add, "Mississippi" doesn't have a wasted word. Love every line.

Every step of the way we walk the line
Your days are numbered, so are mine
Time is pilin’ up, we struggle and we scrape
We’re all boxed in, nowhere to escape

City’s just a jungle; more games to play
Trapped in the heart of it, tryin' to get away
I was raised in the country, I been workin’ in the town
I been in trouble ever since I set my suitcase down

Got nothin' for you, I had nothin' before
Don’t even have anything for myself anymore
Sky full of fire, pain pourin’ down
Nothing you can sell me, I’ll see you around

All my powers of expression and thoughts so sublime
Could never do you justice in reason or rhyme
Only one thing I did wrong
Stayed in Mississippi a day too long

Well, the devil’s in the alley, mule’s in the stall
Say anything you wanna, I have heard it all
I was thinkin’ 'bout the things that Rosie said
I was dreaming I was sleepin' in Rosie’s bed

Walkin' through the leaves, falling from the trees
Feelin' like a stranger nobody sees
So many things that we never will undo
I know you’re sorry, I’m sorry too

Some people will offer you their hand and some won’t
Last night I knew you, tonight I don’t
I need somethin’ strong to distract my mind
I’m gonna look at you ’til my eyes go blind

Well I got here followin' the southern star
I crossed that river just to be where you are
Only one thing I did wrong
Stayed in Mississippi a day too long

Well my ship’s been split to splinters and it’s sinkin' fast
I’m drownin’ in the poison, got no future, got no past
But my heart is not weary, it’s light and it’s free
I’ve got nothin’ but affection for all those who’ve sailed with me

Everybody movin’ if they ain’t already there
Everybody got to move somewhere
Stick with me baby, stick with me anyhow
Things should start to get interestin' right about now

My clothes are wet, tight on my skin
Not as tight as the corner that I painted myself in
I know that fortune is waitin’ to be kind
So give me your hand and say you’ll be mine

Well, the emptiness is endless, cold as the clay
You can always come back, but you can’t come back all the way
Only one thing I did wrong
Stayed in Mississippi a day too long

 

It's an enigmatic song, for sure (which is why I reacted to it kind of being pegged-down to one thing above). The first question to be answered, I think, is the temporal setting: when does it take place? It starts out with a contemporary feel, and I love how it anticipates the financial crisis of 2008 - you could easily believe it came out after that! "They say low wages are a reality / if we want to compete abroad" obviously suggests present-day outsourcing. But then the song appears to take us back in time, and I get a strong Reconstruction sense. There are references to "cruel weapons" and having fought on the front-lines, so it's clearly a post-war context. In that light, the meaning of the "peaceful sacred fields" where people "slash you with steel" should be clear, and again points to the Civil War specifically. "Meet me in the bottom" suggests mining, so maybe we're in Tennessee, Arkansas, or Virginia (in that order of probability).

So, what is going on here? Why does the song seemingly start in a present-day setting, only to go back to Reconstruction? Is the song narrated by a 175-year-old Confederate soldier?

 

That's the Dylan eternal American present in a nutshell....and especially late in his career his Civil War thing has really kicked it. My favorite line from Dylan's eternal American present: "They went down the Ohio, the Cumberland, the Tennessee/All them rebel rivers."

 

It's a strange song, and it's strangeness and wordiness make it something more than just another working man's blues....but I must say I always took the "not particularly coherent" persona of the narrator as kind of just plain ol' lack of coherence in the song. Maybe I haven't spent enough time with it -- wouldn't be the first time I missed something.

 

No, I think you're right about it in this case. This kind of "fragments floating around in the mind" of what you nicely called an "eternal American present" works very beautifully in any number of other songs, but I think there's something just, as you say, plain old incoherent about this one. Not that it doesn't have its moments and its mood.

L.

 

I'm goin' with "High Water".

 

for me, it's "Narrow Way"...prior to that, i'd have to say "I Feel A Change Comin' On"...i'm a big, big fan of Modern Bob.

 

Re-reading your post above, I think you may have a book right there: Bob Dylan and the Eternal American Present.

 

That's my favorite track on Together Through Life as well!
And my favorite Dylan track of the last 15 years or so is Beyond the Horizon.

 

I think those opening four lines of Workingman's Blues 2 have fed every reviewer's desire to put Dylan back in the protest box again, and the use of the word 'proletariat' has pushed everyone down a false path. The three other verses seem on familiar territory , personal rather than general in their intent, and relateable to many other of his songs.. eg Soon After Midnight to come more or less bang up to date.

Interestingly Dylan has been performing a re-written version with significant variations in concert, and those first lines have been changed or dropped.

 

Cross the green mountain

 

Early Roman Kings is a good song, but only live for me. I find the album version to be such a bore.

 

I wish those 2 tracks were not on Tempest at all. It would be a better album if it had stopped before those 2 started. The title track sounded great on paper before I heard it. It is fairly dull and way too long. Roll on John doesn't even sound like it belongs on the album at all. It is ok but a little trite. Just my opinion though !! However Scarlett Town is great. In fact the 4 song run from Pay In Blood through to Tin Angel is pretty near great. Are these truly great though? Hmmm it's close enough to ponder which is more than I could hope for at this late stage in his recording career.

My Wife's Home Town on Together Through Life is another song i'd say was great if asked.

Love And Theft is almost 14 yrs ago now and that has a couple of truly great tracks.

However if we are talking absolute top drawer Dylan such as Visions Of Johanna or most of Blood On The Tracks I guess 'Not Dark Yet ' is for me the most recent absolute classic Dylan song. Plenty of good to great songs on the last 4 or 5 studio albums though.

 

wow... I love the song Tempest. Probably the song I play the most off the album. It's Roll On John that I agree with you, though. I feel like Tin Angel could have been the end of the album, sure, but then Tempest comes in and it's a whole experience unto itself, the modern day Desolation Row. But then Roll On John, that's an afterthought that I could do without thinking about

 

+1, I think the lyrics to Tempest are great, but the music is boring and Roll On John is a sweet, loving tribute, but that does not make a good song IMO. I think the music is uninspired and the lyrics a bit too much.