Work Down To Me Someday

Bob Dylan “Narrow Way”

Like a lot of people – most people? – I tend to think of Bob Dylan’s voice mainly in terms of its strangeness and limitations. So, in a small way, paying attention to his new album brought a minor epiphany: As much as his voice has deteriorated, he has remarkable phrasing. (This is where long term Dylan fans, particularly the older ones, can groan or LOL or whatever they have to do.) I’m very fond of his playful performance on this track; it’s both nuanced and ridiculously hammy – in this way, it’s kinda like Brando, or maybe more like Joaquin Phoenix doing his often unhinged Brando riff in The Master. He clearly loves to play this old timey rogue, and he sounds so totally alive in each line that the dynamics of his performance distracts from the extremely repetitive music.

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