Previously in the “Song of the Year” series
- 1961. I was young when I left home
- 1962: Tomorrow is a long time
- 1963: Seven Curses
- 1964: Gates of Eden
- 1965: Visions of Johnanna
- 1966: One of Us Must Know (Sooner or Later)
- 1967 part 1: “Drifter’s Escape”
- 1967 part 2: I’m not there
- 1968: Bob stops but even so (Lay Lady Lay)
- 1969: I’ll have you any time
- 1970: Time passes slowly
- 1971: When I paint my Masterpiece, and Watching the River Flow
- 1972, Forever Young – preparing to open a minor door
- 1973: Amarillo and a back-up just in case.
By Tony Attwood
“Song of the year” is just one of my odd notions that turned up in my head as I was pondering if there was anything new I wanted to try writing about on this site.
And it turns out to be quite an interesting concept, for in trying to select a song of the year, year by year, I become yet more conscious of just how different each year has been for Dylan in terms of his songwriting output. To put it simply, we have years where brilliant works pour forth, and years when nothing that is truly memorable across the decades seems to arrive at all. Perhaps that shows that even Bob can’t be a genius songwriter all of the time.
1974 was one of the former – a year where at least half of the dozen songs composed could readily be suggested as being a “song of the year” – and if it had been composed in other eras, it would surely have been so nominated. But although I have already cheated by putting forward two songs for 1967, I am loath to do that again. I am trying to find just one song.
My first run through of the songs allowed me to whittle down the full list a bit, leaving me with five personal nominations…
- Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts
- Tangled up in blue
- Shelter from the storm
- Simple Twist of Fate
- Idiot Wind
In most other era, any of these could be my nominated Dylan composition of the year,” – and they all came in one rush.
So, working on these, I started by removing “Simple twist of fate” because I have always felt very uncomfortable with that rhyme
Hit him like a freight trainMoving with a simple twist of fate
That just grates for me, and its appearance in verse two seems to spoil the rest of what is a very emotional song.
As for “Shelter,” it is another very simple song. 10 verses with no variation in the music and the last line of each verse is pretty much always the same. For any other songwriter, that could be a winner without doubt, but Bob sets the bar so high that this one has to be left with an honourable mention.
So I am left with…
- Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts
- Tangled up in blue
- Idiot Wind
… and just looking at that list of three fills me with awe. It is not just that Bob Dylan wrote them, it is that he wrote those three utter masterpieces in one year.
“Lily” always lifts my spirits; it is such fun as a piece of music. It’s an enjoyable song and a really good song, with a good story, but I am not sure that is quite enough for a Dylan song of the year.
“Tangled,” I love, as it feels like two songs bolted together – and maybe it is – but it works. We have the first eight lines rotating on two chords, and then the answering four lines. It’s clever and effective, but for me (and of course this is always “for me” since this is a very personal selection), the rhymes and last four lines start to feel a bit forced. So I think that for me, the perfect song probably does have a complex layout of lines, but we never notice that until we go looking. Here, the 8 lines plus 4 lines arrangement is very unusual and works well, but I just have the feeling it gets a bit strained in terms of fitting in all the lyrics toward the end.
That doesn’t stop the song from being utterly wonderful and one that I would always stop to listen to, and indeed one that in other years would have won my fantasy “song of the year” award. But this year, it has a rival of such overwhelming brilliance that even a tiny feeling of being strained means I have to move on.
So I am left with “Idiot Wind,” a most uncomfortable song, but a song that musically and lyrically is of such inventiveness that it cannot be ignored. It is indeed unique.
Putting “idiot” in the title is not unique – there are a number of other songs that have done this, but what I think is utterly arresting is the opening chord sequence. which runs A minor, B suspended 4th, E major.
I certainly know nothing like this anywhere in the oeuvre – no song opens with a minor that has nothing to do with the key we find out to be in, a chord with a suspended fourth, and then what turns out to be the key chord – E major.
It is the chorus that opens with the lyric “Idiot Wind,” that tells us what key we are actually in, but the surprises are not finished there because every chorus, although opening “Idiot wind, blowing” turns out not to be a classic chorus at all, but a chorus nonetheless.
In the classic definition of a chorus, the lyrics and the music of the chorus, each time they appear, are always the same. But not here for although the chorus always begins “Idiot Wind blowing” what, how and where it is blowing changes. In fact, it is not exactly a chorus at all, although it feels like that because of the repeated use of the word “idiot.”
Which then brings about another thought. What other serious songs ever use the word idiot once, let alone repeatedly? I am sure there are such songs somewhere, but probably not many.
So what we have a song that seems to be in E major, which opens with a unique chord sequence (at least unique as far as I know), which starts with a chord that isn’t actually a chord from the key that the song is written in and which is primarily about a man who is seemingly falsely accused of murder, taking the murdered man’s wife overseas, before she dies and he inherits her fortune, claiming “I can’t help it if I’m lucky”.
But mixed up with this are lines that appear to be autobiographical, such as
People see me all the time and they just can’t remember how to act Their minds are filled with big ideas, images and distorted facts
Beyond that, there are all sorts of images and ideas, and possibly a fact or two, but there is not a huge amount of coherence, which is seemingly due to the fact that the singer hasn’t known peace and quiet for a long, long time. He is liable to awaken not knowing where he is, or quite possibly who he is, but is filled with images of the past which may or may not be real. If there is a God, may He save me from descending into such a condition.
But these images and memories are so profound for the singer, he “can’t even touch the books you’ve read”.
These are remarkable lyrics, but what makes them shine so much is the music with one of the strongest messages I have ever heard within a song: “We’re idiots, babe, It’s a wonder we can even feed ourselves.”
So overwhelming is the song, even after all these years, if one listens to it and focuses on the music and the lyrics, rather than has it on as background to some other activity, it can now, over half a century later, still be utterly overwhelming. And my thought is that this sense of being swamped by the song is not just because of the lyrics, but the lyrics combined with that extraordinary idea of opening with a minor chord which has no place in the key the music is in, and then following it with two major chords which establish the key.
I am not sure if anyone else has actually repeated this approach, but I suspect if they do, others will instantly think of “Idior Wind”. What Dylan has done is create a combination of chords which is so outstanding that once we have heard it in “Idiot Wind” that is where it always belongs. Of course, others have used the word “Idiot” in a title – I think immediately of Frank Zappa’s “Idiot” and Neil Innes “How Sweet to be an Idiot”.
But really the only one for which I can actually recall the sound is American Idiot.
Thus, quite reasonably, I suppose, “Idiot” is not a popular word to put in a song title. But Bob did it, and managed it, and turned it into an extraordinary piece of music.
So if you will, let me end with Bob, and if you do have some moments to spare, I do hope you play this live version from the Never Ending Tour from 1992. Maybe you’ll remember it from its earlier feature on this site, but if not, I would urge you to stop all distractions, ensure the room is quiet and let this sweep across you. For this above all is the reason why “Idiot Wind” is in my Dylan composition of 1974. 18 years after its composition he was still working on it, and finding new meanings.
In my view, there should be a Nobel Prize for Music, and as a starter, this song should get it. Nobel Prizes were created b Alfred Nobel, the Swedish chemist and engineer who invented dynamite.
In my view, as I say, and of course it is just my view, Bob Dylan took the dynamite, put it then in the background, and with this performance, gave it a new musical and lyrical context.