"I and I" | ||||
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Single by Bob Dylan | ||||
from the album Infidels | ||||
B-side | "Angel Flying Too Close to the Ground" | |||
Released | November 1983 | |||
Recorded | April 27, 1983 Power Station, New York City | |||
Genre | Reggae rock [1] | |||
Length | 5:10 | |||
Label | Columbia | |||
Songwriter(s) | Bob Dylan | |||
Producer(s) |
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Bob Dylan singles chronology | ||||
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"I and I" is a song by Bob Dylan that appears as the seventh track (or song number three on Side 2 of the LP) of his 1983 album Infidels. [2] Recorded on April 27, 1983, [3] it was released as a single in Europe in November of that year, featuring a version of Willie Nelson's Angel Flying Too Close to the Ground as its B-side. [4] The song was produced by Dylan and Dire Straits frontman Mark Knopfler.
The phrase "I and I" comes from the Rastafari vocabulary and refers to the "oneness" between God and humans. According to Rastafarian scholar E.E. Cashmore, "I and I is an expression to totalize the concept of oneness, the oneness of two persons. So God is within all of us and we're one people in fact. I and I means that God is in all men. The bond of Ras Tafari is the bond of God, of man. But man itself needs a head and the head of man is His Imperial Majesty Haile Selassie I (always pronounced as the letter 'I', never as the number one or 'the first') of Ethiopia'". The phrase is often used in place of "you and I". [5]
Dylan described "I and I" as “one of them Caribbean songs. One year a bunch of songs just came to me hanging around down in the islands". [6] He also claimed to have written the song in "about fifteen minutes" according to a famous anecdote often recounted by his friend Leonard Cohen. [7] According to Dylan scholar Tony Attwood, "Musically the song is a simple minor key blues riff built around Am, C, G; D Am. The chorus has the same musical basis, just leaving out the C chord. It is one of the many amazing things about Dylan’s music how it can get so much out of a chord sequence he has used so often before". [8]
The song's lyrics are often interpreted as an auto-commentary on the dichotomy between Dylan's private and public selves. Critic Tim Riley sees the line "Someone else is speakin' with my mouth, but I'm listening only to my heart / I've made shoes for everyone, even you, while I still go barefoot" in particular as exploring the distance between Dylan's "inner identity and the public face he wears". [9]
In addition to Dylan, the song features Mark Knopfler and Mick Taylor on guitar, Alan Clark on the keyboard, Robbie Shakespeare on bass and Sly Dunbar on drums. [10]
Spectrum Culture included the song on a list of "Bob Dylan's 20 Best Songs of the 1980s". In an article accompanying the list, critic Kevin Korber notes that "'I and I' feels like the most personal song on Infidels, an album not exactly known for Dylan cutting to the core of his or our very souls. Indeed, he feels very much present in the song, rather than playing the part of a detached narrator. Rather than use the deeply personal language that he used in his ’70s work, though, Dylan’s words take on a broader tone that still feels spiritual to some degree. He invokes King David and Hammurabi in the verses, and the chorus line 'I and I / In creation where one’s nature neither honors nor forgives' feels more philosophical than grounded. In that sense, 'I and I' maintains the throughline of Dylan’s newfound faith; it just finds him focusing on fire and brimstone as opposed to clouds and seraphim". [11]
Rolling Stone included it on a list of "Bob Dylan's Greatest Songs of the 1980s", calling it a "pretty, mystical song" and praising the "light Jamaican touch" laid down by the "legendary rhythm section of Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare". [12]
The Big Issue placed it at #63 on a list of the "80 best Bob Dylan songs - that aren't the greatest hits". [13] A 2021 Guardian article included it on a list of "80 Bob Dylan songs everyone should know". [14]
According to Dylan's official website, he performed the song 204 times in concert between 1984 and 1999. [15] A live version from Dylan's summer European tour of 1984 was included on his album Real Live . [16] A live version performed in Dijon, France on July 1, 1998 was made available to stream on Dylan's website in August 1998. [17] The last performance (to date) took place at Veterans Memorial Coliseum in New Haven, Connecticut on November 10, 1999. It is Dylan's most frequently performed live song from the Infidels album. [18]
Dylan allowed the song to be remixed by Doctor Dread for the 2004 album Is It Rolling, Bob? A Reggae Tribute to Bob Dylan Vol. 1. The album featured two remixes of the song, a reggae remix and a more radically altered dub remix. [19] Both remixes were included on a 12" vinyl "Jokerman / I and I Reggae Remix EP" released on Record Store Day in 2021. [20]
An alternate take of the song from the Infidels sessions in 1983 was included on the 2021 compilation album The Bootleg Series Vol. 16: Springtime in New York 1980–1985 . [21]
"Blind Willie McTell" is a song written and performed by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan. Named for the blues singer of the same name, the song was recorded in the spring of 1983, during the sessions for Dylan's album Infidels; however, it was ultimately left off the album and did not receive an official release until 1991, when it appeared on The Bootleg Series Volumes 1–3 1961–1991. It was also later anthologized on Dylan (2007).
Infidels is the 22nd studio album by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released on October 27, 1983 by Columbia Records.
"Love Sick" is a minor-key love song by American musician and Nobel laureate Bob Dylan. It was recorded in January 1997 and appears as the opening track on his 30th studio album Time Out of Mind (1997). It was released as the second single from the album in June 1998 in multiple CD versions, some of which featured Dylan's live performance of the song at the 1998 Grammy Awards. The song was produced by Daniel Lanois.
"Spirit on the Water" is a love ballad written and performed by the American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released in 2006 as the second track on his album Modern Times. The title is a reference to a passage in the Book of Genesis. It is notable for being the only song on Modern Times to feature a harmonica solo. As with much of Dylan's 21st-century output, he produced the song himself under the pseudonym Jack Frost.
"High Water " is a song written and performed by the American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released as the seventh track on his 31st studio album "Love and Theft" in 2001 and anthologized on the compilation album Dylan in 2007. Like much of Dylan's 21st century output, he produced the track himself under the pseudonym Jack Frost.
"Gotta Serve Somebody" is a song written and performed by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released as the opening track on his 1979 studio album Slow Train Coming. It won the Grammy Award for Best Rock Vocal Performance by a Male in 1980. It was later anthologized on the compilation albums Biograph (1985), Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits Volume 3 (1994), The Essential Bob Dylan (2000), The Best of Bob Dylan and Dylan (2007).
"Restless Farewell" is a song by Bob Dylan, released as the final track on his third studio album The Times They Are a-Changin' in 1964. The melody is based on the Scottish folk song "The Parting Glass".
"Standing in the Doorway" is a song written and performed by the American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, recorded in January 1997 and released in September that year as the third track on his album Time Out of Mind. The song was produced by Daniel Lanois.
"Tryin' to Get to Heaven" is a song written and performed by the American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, recorded in January 1997 and released in September that year as the fifth track on his album Time Out of Mind. The recording was produced by Daniel Lanois.
"Tears of Rage" is a song with lyrics written by Bob Dylan and melody by Richard Manuel. Dylan and the Band first recorded the song in 1967, but it was not released until 1975 on The Basement Tapes album. In 1968, the Band recorded it for their debut album Music from Big Pink.
"Highlands" is a blues song written and performed by Bob Dylan, and released as the 11th and final track on his 30th studio album Time Out of Mind in 1997. It is Dylan's second longest officially released studio recording at sixteen minutes and thirty-one seconds, surpassed only by "Murder Most Foul", which runs twenty-five seconds longer. The song was produced by Daniel Lanois.
"Señor " is a minor-key ballad written and performed by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan and released as the sixth track of his 18th studio album Street-Legal (1978). The song was produced by Don DeVito and later anthologized on the Biograph box set in 1985. Street-Legal was remixed and remastered for a 1999 compact disc release, with a further 5.1 remix done for a Super Audio CD release in 2003. Both re-releases featured the song.
"Everything is Broken" is an uptempo rock song written and recorded by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, and released as the first single from his 1989 album Oh Mercy, where it appears as the third track. It was later anthologized on the compilation albums The Essential Bob Dylan in 2000 and Dylan in 2007. The song spent eight weeks on Billboard's "Mainstream Rock Songs" chart, peaking at number eight on October 27, 1989. It was produced by Daniel Lanois.
"Forgetful Heart" is a minor-key blues song written by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan that appears as the fifth track on Dylan's 2009 studio album Together Through Life. Like much of Dylan's 21st century output, he produced the song himself using the pseudonym Jack Frost.
"Silvio" is a folk rock song written by Bob Dylan and Robert Hunter and released by Dylan as the seventh track of his 1988 album Down in the Groove. Performed alongside the Grateful Dead, the song was released as the album's only single and spent eight weeks on Billboard's Mainstream Rock chart, peaking at #5 on July 1, 1988.
"Tight Connection to My Heart (Has Anybody Seen My Love)" is a song by Bob Dylan that was released on his 1985 album Empire Burlesque. As a single, it was a Top 40 Hit in New Zealand and Belgium. An earlier version of the song, entitled "Someone's Got a Hold of My Heart", was recorded for Dylan's 1983 LP Infidels, but was not included on that album; it later appeared on The Bootleg Series Volumes 1–3 (Rare & Unreleased) 1961–1991.
"Jokerman" is a song by Bob Dylan that appeared as the opening track of his 1983 album Infidels. Recorded on April 14, 1983, it was released as a single on June 1, 1984, featuring a live version of "Isis" from the film Renaldo and Clara as its B-side.
"Sweetheart Like You" is a song by Bob Dylan that appeared as the second track of his 1983 album Infidels. The song was recorded on April 18, 1983 and released as a single in December 1983, with "Union Sundown" as its B-Side.
"Ring Them Bells" is a song written and performed by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released in 1989 as the fourth track on his album Oh Mercy. It is a piano-driven, hymn-like ballad that is considered by many to be the best song on Oh Mercy and it is the track from that album that has been covered the most by other artists.
"Po' Boy" is an acoustic folk/jazz song written and performed by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan that appears as the tenth song on his 2001 album Love and Theft. It was anthologized on the compilation album Dylan in 2007. Like most of Dylan's 21st century output, he produced the song himself under the pseudonym Jack Frost.