Bob Dylan » Tracks » Desolation Row

Bob Dylan – Desolation Row (11:20)

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About This Track

“Desolation Row” is the closing track of Bob Dylan’s sixth studio album, Highway 61 Revisited. It is noted for its length (11:21) and surreal lyrics. It was recorded on August 4, 1965, in Columbia’s Studio A in New York City. The two takes spliced for the album were the second and third time Dylan had sung the song. Charlie McCoy played acoustic guitar for the record, making it the album’s only track not to feature an electric guitar. An alternate version was also recorded with electric guitar and a prominent bass that was eventually released on The Bootleg Series Vol. 7: No Direction Home: The Soundtrack. Rolling Stone ranked the song as number 185 in their 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. Joe Strummer makes a reference to Desolation Row in his song “Coma Girl” released on Streetcore. It’s also referenced in Laura Branigan’s “Spanish Eddie” (David Palmer/Chuck Cochran), Atlantic, 1985.

In the New Oxford Companion to Music, Gammond described “Desolation Row” as an example of Dylan’s work that achieved a “high level of poetical lyricism.”

In an interview with USA Today on September 10, 2001, the day before the release of his album Love and Theft, Dylan claimed that the song “is a minstrel song through and through. I saw some ragtag minstrel show in blackface at the carnivals when I was growing up, and it had an effect on me, just as much as seeing the lady with four legs.”

It has been suggested that the title is a reference to Jack Kerouac’s novel Desolation Angels and John Steinbeck’s Cannery Row.
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Albums featuring this track

  • Bob Dylan: The Collection
    Bob Dylan Play
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  • Highway 61 Revisited
    Bob Dylan Play
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  • Mtv Unplugged
    Bob Dylan Play
    Buy
  • Unplugged
    Bob Dylan Play
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See all 26 albums

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  • PattySauce

    Even better than the last time I heard it <3

    Monday morning

  • LordCaseus

    Dylan's album closer are nothing short of amazing.

    12 days ago

  • PattySauce

    Listen to those strangely beautiful lyrics. Only Dylan can make them sound so good. Nobody can ever come close to doing it as good, so they should stop trying!! :)

    23 days ago

  • TheFatChocobo

    A fellow Dylan fiend here on last.fm turned me on to a live version from Berlin in 2003... damn. And here I thought the album version was good!

    last month

  • MarvellousG

    Decided this is my favourite song of all time, it's easily the quickest 10 minute songs I've ever heard

    last month

  • Sjitty

    Masterpiece

    last month

  • BlueOclock

    Beautiful

    last month

  • mrzigge

    Bootleg #7 version, something different!

    March 2012

  • NorthernExile

    Want to why Bob is so revered, this explains it, 11 minutes of brilliance.

    March 2012

  • foG_

    this is off the charts. seriously.

    March 2012

  • shreddiesSH

    OK, having spun this tune an uncountable number of times i have concluded it is one of the greatest pieces of poetry ever written. Straight up. Unreal. etc.

    February 2012

  • Druid66

    The man's a lyrical sorcerer.

    February 2012

  • Yorkwhite

    Simply brilliant! Greatest lyrics ever IMHO

    February 2012

  • HampusForever

    well any attempt to list the greatest songs ever is doomed to fail from the start

    February 2012

  • RottingGrass

    Placed ten spots below ABBA's "Dancing Queen" on Rolling Stone Magazine's list of the 500 Greatest Songs.

    February 2012

  • Shauni51

    Fucking love this song though I don't understand it.

    February 2012

  • IlanDatabase

    *probably.

    January 2012

  • H0USE-MD

    Possibly the best song of all time [2]

    January 2012

  • NefandusDeus

    v Best comment ever.

    January 2012

  • zutaraeh

    Regarding MCR: Yes, I know them, they're quite lame.

    January 2012
See all 321 shouts

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