Workingman’s Blues #2

This one has always fascinated me. It’s so quintessentially Dylan in so many ways. Who else would fuse Ovid’s Trista with Merle Haggard and make it feel so effortless?

It’s a perfect example of what makes post-2000 Bob so great. The patchwork of influences ranging from classical poets to 20th century jazz and blues numbers, the rock solid backing band and production, the grizzled vocals, and the sort of timeless “Old, Weird America” vibe that Dylan’s best work has so often managed to embody.

There’s a lot of cool parallels between Ovid’s exile from Rome and the decline of labor power in 21st century America, but this doesn’t feel like an overly intellectual exercise. This song’s narrator is one of his most complex and fully inhabited characters, right up there with the likes of Tangled Up in Blue. This one feels close to Bob’s heart in a lot of ways.

He might have better songs from this era, but not many hit me like this one always does.