"Long and Wasted Years" | |
---|---|
Song by Bob Dylan | |
from the album Tempest | |
Released | September 10, 2012 |
Recorded | January–March 2012 |
Studio | Groove Masters |
Genre | |
Length | 3:47 |
Label | Columbia Records |
Songwriter(s) | Bob Dylan |
Producer(s) | Jack Frost (Bob Dylan) |
Tempest track listing | |
10 tracks |
"Long and Wasted Years" is a song written and performed by Bob Dylan that appears as the fourth track on his 2012 studio album Tempest and was anthologized on the 2016 reissue of The Essential Bob Dylan . [1] Like much of Dylan's 21st-century output, he produced the song himself using the pseudonym Jack Frost.
Unusually for a Dylan song, "Long and Wasted Years" has no musical chorus or bridge and there is no lyrical refrain. Dylan recites 10 four-line verses over a "descending chord progression that becomes relentlessly more intense" as it repeats for nearly four minutes. [2] In their book Bob Dylan All the Songs: The Story Behind Every Track, authors Philippe Margotin and Jean-Michel Guesdon synopsize the song as describing the "twilight of a couple's contentious relationship" and raise the possibility that it may be "an allusion to the temptation of Adam and Eve by Satan and their expulsion from the Garden of Eden as described in John Milton's epic poem Paradise Lost". They note that Dylan's "singing is strong, half-sarcastic, half-ferocious". [3]
Musicologist and Dylan scholar Eyolf Ostrem called it Dylan's "craziest song in many years" and compared it to "Idiot Wind" as a "fabulous post-break up song". It is performed in the key of G major. [4]
Music journalist Patrick Doyle, writing in a 2020 Rolling Stone article where the song ranked 14th on a list of "The 25 Best Bob Dylan Songs of the 21st Century", compared the song's themes to Martin Scorsese's film The Irishman , observing that both feature a narrator looking back and surveying "the wreckage of a messy life". [2] Doyle praised the "small details" that make the song, "like when Dylan says, 'I ain’t seen my family in 20 years/That ain’t easy to understand, they may be dead by now/I lost track of ’em after they lost their land'”. [5]
Greil Marcus has cited "Long and Wasted Years" as the song that got him "into this record [ Tempest]", adding: "I just love it. I have to tell you I haven’t listened to the words at all. I have no idea what story is being told. I love the way he speechifies through the song. He sounds like Luke the Drifter, Hank Williams’s religious alter-ego. He sounds like Elmer Gantry. He is a preacher, a con man; he is lying through his teeth. And he believes every word he’s saying. For me this is just a declamatory voice, and it breaks the mold of this record". [6]
Spectrum Culture included the song on a list of "Bob Dylan's 20 Best Songs of the '10s and Beyond". In an article accompanying the list, critic Ian Maxton write that "The song might be seen as an early sketch for 'Murder Most Foul' – the invocation of 'Twist and Shout' stands out in the song’s unraveling of the past". [7]
The Big Issue placed it at #54 on a list of the "80 best Bob Dylan songs - that aren't the greatest hits". [8]
A 2021 WhatCulture article on the "10 Most Underrated Bob Dylan Songs" placed "Long and Wasted Years" at #4, noting that it "doesn’t sound like much if anything else in his canon, and his continued musical invention at the ripe old age of (then) 71 is beyond impressive. It’s a quietly devastating tune in a collection that tends to go for quantity and gusto". [9]
Between 2013 and 2019, Dylan performed the song live 359 times on the Never Ending Tour. [10] The live debut occurred at the Oslo Spektrum in Oslo, Norway on October 10, 2013 and the last performance (to date) took place at the University of California, Irvine in Irvine, California on October 11, 2019. [11]
"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.
"When the Deal Goes Down" is a love song written and performed by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, originally released as the fourth track on his 2006 album Modern Times and anthologized on the compilation albums Dylan in 2007 and reissues of The Essential Bob Dylan beginning in 2010. As with much of Dylan's 21st-century output, he produced the song himself under the pseudonym Jack Frost.
"Nettie Moore" is a folk love song written and performed by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released in 2006 as the eighth track on his album Modern Times. As with much of Dylan's 21st-century output, he produced the song himself under the pseudonym Jack Frost.
"Ain't Talkin" is a song written and performed by the American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, appearing as the tenth and final track on his 2006 album Modern Times. As with most 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.
"Mississippi" is a medium-tempo country-rock song by the American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan that appears as the second track on his 2001 album Love and Theft. The song was originally recorded during the Time Out of Mind sessions, but was ultimately left off the album. Dylan rerecorded the song for Love and Theft in May 2001.
"Thunder on the Mountain" is a song written and performed by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released in 2006 as the first track on his album Modern Times. Like much of Dylan's 21st century output, he produced the song himself under the pseudonym Jack Frost.
"Things Have Changed" is a song from the film Wonder Boys, written and performed by Bob Dylan and released as a single on May 1, 2000, that won both the Academy Award for Best Original Song and the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song. It was also anthologized on the compilation albums The Essential Bob Dylan in 2000, The Best of Bob Dylan in 2005 and Dylan in 2007.
"Workingman's Blues #2" is a song written and performed by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released as the sixth track on his 2006 album Modern Times. As with much of Dylan's 21st-century output, he produced the song himself under the pseudonym Jack Frost.
"Summer Days" is an uptempo twelve-bar blues/rockabilly song written and performed by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan that appears as the third song on his 2001 album Love and Theft. It was anthologized on the compilation album The Best of Bob Dylan in 2005. Like most of Dylan's 21st century output, he produced the song himself under the pseudonym Jack Frost.
"Beyond Here Lies Nothin' " is a song written by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan and performed by Dylan as the opening track on his 2009 studio album Together Through Life. The title is a quote from the ancient Roman poet Ovid. The track was available as a free download on Dylan's official website from March 30 to March 31, 2009, and a photo montage set to the song premiered on Amazon on April 21. It has been anthologized on every reissue of The Essential Bob Dylan since 2010. Like much of Dylan's 21st century output, he produced the song himself using the pseudonym Jack Frost.
Christmas in the Heart is the thirty-fourth studio album and first Christmas album by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released on October 13, 2009, by Columbia Records. The album comprises a collection of hymns, carols, and popular Christmas songs. All Dylan's royalties from the sale of this album benefit the charities Feeding America in the USA, Crisis in the UK, and the World Food Programme in perpetuity.
"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.
"Duquesne Whistle" is a song written by Bob Dylan and Grateful Dead lyricist Robert Hunter that appears as the opening track on Dylan's 2012 studio album Tempest. It was first released as a digital single on August 27, 2012 through Columbia Records then as a music video two days later. A limited edition "Record Store Day" 7" stereo single was released on November 23, 2012. It was also anthologized on the 2014 reissue of The Essential Bob Dylan. Like much of Dylan's 21st-century output, he produced the song himself using the pseudonym Jack Frost.
"Soon After Midnight" is a song written and performed by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan that appears as the second track on his 2012 studio album Tempest. Like much of Dylan's 21st-century output, he produced the song himself using the pseudonym Jack Frost.
"Narrow Way" is a blues rock song written and performed by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan that appears as the third track on his 2012 studio album Tempest. Like much of Dylan's 21st-century output, he produced the song using the pseudonym Jack Frost.
"Pay in Blood" is an uptempo rock song written and performed by Bob Dylan that appears as the fifth track on his 2012 studio album Tempest. Like much of Dylan's 21st-century output, he produced the song himself using the pseudonym Jack Frost.
"Scarlet Town" is a folk song written and performed by Bob Dylan that appears as the sixth track on his 2012 studio album Tempest. Like much of Dylan's 21st-century output, he produced the song himself using the pseudonym Jack Frost.
"Lonesome Day Blues" is a twelve-bar blues song written and performed by Bob Dylan that appears as the fifth song on his 2001 album Love and Theft. Like most of Dylan's 21st century output, he produced the song himself under the pseudonym Jack Frost.
"It's All Good'" is a blues song written by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan that appears as the 10th and final 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.
{{cite magazine}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link){{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)