A career that had lost respect, a massively ambitious tour, and a marriage that was coming to an end all surrounded 34 year old Bob Dylan when he set out to make a sort of “return to form” album that would in turn exercise some of his deepest demons. No album perfectly embodies the turbulence of Dylan’s years in the ’70s quite like “Blood on the Tracks,” an album where Dylan puts down his dying marriage like an old dog.
Before the sessions for “Blood on the Tracks” began, Dylan had been involved in an affair with Columbia Records employee Ellen Bernstein which marked the point of no return for his marriage to his wife Sara Dylan. This period inspired Dylan to begin writing a number of songs unpacking the whole situation. In typical Dylan fashion, it seemed that he was able to reckon with himself and his mistakes much better through song. In a move many had been anticipating for a long time, “Blood on the Tracks” is Dylan’s first largely acoustic album since the early ’60s, with just two songs on the album featuring an organ as the only non-acoustic instrument.
The album has gone on to become one of his most revered, only truly rivaled by “Highway 61 Revisited” in terms of sheer critical attention. Rolling Stone ranked the album at 9th on the “500 Greatest Albums of All Time” list. It’s an album that deals with heartbreak, love, pain, and regret all with Dylan’s masterful songwriting detailing the collapse of his relationship from affair to acceptance. In addition to its impact on Dylan, it also changed the musical landscape, creating the first real “breakup album.” Every album in its wake detailing the personal heartbreak of the artist has “Blood on the Tracks” to thank.
One of my favorites from the record is “Simple Twist of Fate,” a song detailing the narrator having a sexual encounter that ultimately erodes his marriage. This is not unlike what Dylan experienced in his real life. We listen to and feel the emotions of a man trying to reckon with how he hurt someone he loves incredibly dearly. The imagery is seedy, dark, cold, and completely honest. It’s one of the most straightforward and honest Dylan songs one can find.
We also get one of my favorite harmonica solos from any Dylan track, with a sound that almost feels like weeping with the way it crescendos and decrescendos with a wheezing rhythm.
Another incredible high point on this record is “Idiot Wind,” the song where all the rage of a breakup pours out and Dylan lets loose a lyrical rage that is both parts vitriolic and tragic. We see the anger begin to wear off as the song goes on as Dylan reckons with the fact that he doesn’t know his wife anymore. They’ve grown apart for so long that the pair can’t recognize each other anymore. Some of Dylan’s most poetic words, including the incredible final verse.
I can’t feel you anymore, I can’t even touch the books you’ve readEvery time I crawl past your door, I been wishin’ I was somebody else insteadDown the highway, down the tracks, down the road to ecstasyI followed you beneath the stars, hounded by your memoryAnd all your ragin’ gloryI been double-crossed now for the very last time and now I’m finally freeI kissed goodbye the howling beast on the borderline which separated you from meYou’ll never know the hurt I suffered nor the pain I rise aboveAnd I’ll never know the same about you, your holiness or your kind of loveAnd it makes me feel so sorry
I’ll spare words on my favorite song from the record, which is the closing track “Buckets of Rain,” which I have a whole post about here. “Blood on the Tracks” is an absolute Dylan classic. It’s an essential album from his catalog, and an essential record in the popular music canon.
Related: 1977 Rock Classic, Written Beneath the Berlin Wall, is Ranked One of the Greatest Songs of All Time
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