Love Minus Zero/No Limit

Last updated
"Love Minus Zero/No Limit"
Song by Bob Dylan
from the album Bringing It All Back Home
ReleasedMarch 22, 1965 (1965-03-22)
RecordedJanuary 14, 1965
Studio Columbia Recording, New York City
Genre Folk rock
Length2:53
Label Columbia
Songwriter(s) Bob Dylan
Producer(s) Tom Wilson
Audio sample

"Love Minus Zero/No Limit" (read "Love Minus Zero over No Limit", sometimes titled "Love Minus Zero") is a song written by Bob Dylan for his fifth studio album Bringing It All Back Home , released in 1965. Its main musical hook is a series of three descending chords, while its lyrics articulate Dylan's feelings for his lover, and have been interpreted as describing how she brings a needed zen-like calm to his chaotic world. The song uses surreal imagery, which some authors and critics have suggested recalls Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven" and the biblical Book of Daniel. Critics have also remarked that the style of the lyrics is reminiscent of William Blake's poem "The Sick Rose".

Contents

Dylan has performed "Love Minus Zero/No Limit" live on several of his tours. Since its initial appearance on Bringing It All Back Home, live versions of the song have been released on a number of Dylan's albums, including Bob Dylan at Budokan , MTV Unplugged (European versions), and The Bootleg Series Vol. 5: Bob Dylan Live 1975, The Rolling Thunder Revue , as well as on the reissued Concert for Bangladesh album by George Harrison & Friends. Live video performances have been included on the Concert for Bangladesh and Other Side of the Mirror: Live at Newport Folk Festival 1963–1965 DVD releases.

Artists who have covered "Love Minus Zero/No Limit" include Ricky Nelson, Buck Owens, the Turtles, Joan Baez, Judy Collins, Fleetwood Mac, Rod Stewart, and Jackson Browne. Eric Clapton played it at Bob Dylan's 30th Anniversary Concert Celebration.

Composition and recording

The version of the song that appears on Bringing It All Back Home was recorded on January 14, 1965, and was produced by Tom Wilson. [1] This version was recorded by the full rock band that Dylan used to accompany him on the songs that appeared on side one of the album, and features a prominent electric guitar part played by Bruce Langhorne. [1] [2] [3] However, like the other love song on side one, "She Belongs to Me", "Love Minus Zero/No Limit" had been recorded a day earlier in various acoustic configurations, and one of these takes was a strong contender to be included on the album. [1] The January 13, 1965 recordings and a first take from January 14 were released on the 6-disc and 18-disc versions of The Bootleg Series Vol. 12: The Cutting Edge 1965–1966 in 2015. [4] The initial title of the song was "Dime Store", in a reference to an included lyric; it was also briefly referred to as "(Tune Z) Dimestore" on the recording sheet.

Author and music critic Richie Unterberger has called the song, "one of the more tuneful and accessible tracks" on the album, with a prominent series of three descending diatonic chords providing the main hook. [5] [6] Critic Robert Shelton has described the music as soothing, so that the love expressed seems tranquil, even when images such as cloaks and daggers and trembling bridges are evoked by the lyrics. [7] The tune and rhythm have a Latin feel and the lyrical rhyming pattern varies from verse to verse. [5] [8] For example, in the first verse, the first and second lines rhyme, the fourth and eighth lines rhyme, and the sixth and seventh lines rhyme, but the third and fifth lines are unrhymed. [8] But in the second verse, the first three lines rhyme. [8] Throughout the song, the rhymes are sometimes approximate; for example "another" is rhymed with "bother" and "trembles" is rhymed with "rambles." [8]

Interpretation

Some commentators, including Dylan biographer Clinton Heylin, have suggested that the lyrics reflect the Zen-like detachment of the singer's lover through a series of opposites, for example, that she "speaks like silence" and is both "like ice" and "like fire". [1] [9] Another famous line from the song that captures this dichotomy is, "She knows there's no success like failure, and that failure's no success at all." [1] [10]

The first verse of the song has the singer infatuated with a woman, admiring her inner strength. [9] The three remaining verses reflect the inauthentic chaos that the singer has to deal with in the outside world, from which the lover's Zen-like calm provides needed refuge. [9] Author Andy Gill has commented that the final image of the lover being like some raven at the singer's window with a broken wing recalls Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven", but is also a symbol of the lover's vulnerability in spite of her strength. [9] Author Anthony Varesi has remarked that the broken wing may also be a reference to the woman's need for shelter, or else to a flaw in her. [11] According to Dylan critics Oliver Trager and Marcus Gray, the style of the song's lyrics are comparable to William Blake's poem "The Sick Rose" in their economy of language and use of a detached tone to express the narrator's intense emotional experience. [12] [13] Wilfrid Mellers has suggested that the song's surreal images anticipate the psychedelic songs Dylan would later write. [6]

Author Seth Rogovoy, an expert on Jewish music, has pointed out that some of the song's images evoke prophecies from the Biblical Book of Daniel. [14] For example, the line:

Statues made of matchsticks
Crumble into one another [10]

is reminiscent of Daniel's prophecy that Nebuchadnezzar would build a statue of precious metals only to see it crumble like "chaff". [14] Similarly, literary critic Christopher Ricks has noted that another line in the song states that people "Draw conclusions on the wall." [8] Ricks writes that drawing conclusions on the wall rather than from the wall evokes the story from the Book of Daniel where a hand writes on a wall the words "MENE MENE TEKEL UPHARSIN," warning that the Neo-Babylonian Empire was about to end. [8]

One interpretation that has been put forward by author John Hinchey regarding the identity of the lover in the song, as well as the one featured in "She Belongs to Me", is that she is Dylan's muse. [15] Hinchey states that in each song the inaccessibility of the lover/muse can be interpreted as Dylan's acknowledgment of his own limitations—limitations that he attempts to overcome in writing the songs. [15] In this interpretation, the final raven image sitting at the window can be viewed as a symbol of the muse's inaccessibility, and the raven's broken wing a symbol of its wildness. [15] A related interpretation suggested by Shelton is that the song reflects an artist's "self-awareness through isolation." [7] The line "She knows there's no success like failure, and that failure's no success at all" can be seen as a reflection of the isolation of the American writer. [7]

The original title of the song was "Dime Store", which originates from the line "In the dime stores and bus stations..." [1] The official title "Love Minus Zero/No Limit" is, according to Dylan, a fraction with "Love Minus Zero" on the top and "No Limit" on the bottom, and this is how the title appeared on early pressings of the Bringing It All Back Home LP. [1] [12] Therefore, the correct pronunciation of the song's title is "Love Minus Zero over No Limit". [16] This has been interpreted by Trager as "absolutely unlimited love." [12] Trager also noted that the title is based on gambling terminology which would mean that all love is a risk. [12]

Performances and recordings

Dylan has frequently performed the song in concert since the time it was written, nearly always acoustically. [1] He performed it occasionally in concert during 1965 and 1966, but more frequently during the Rolling Thunder Revue tours from 1974 through 1976. [12] Dylan also played it at The Concert for Bangladesh, during the first of the two August 1, 1971 benefit concerts organized by George Harrison and Ravi Shankar to help provide relief for refugees in Bangladesh. [7] Dylan has also been playing the song live throughout the Never Ending Tour that began in 1988. [12] Dylan has performed the song 365 times, with the most recent performance taking place in 2012. [17]

In addition to its appearance on Bringing It All Back Home, "Love Minus Zero/No Limit" has been included on several Dylan live and compilation albums. In the 1970s, it was included on the compilation Masterpieces and on the live Bob Dylan at Budokan album, recorded in 1978. [5] Other live performances have been included on Live 1962-1966: Rare Performances From The Copyright Collections (recorded in May 1965), the 2005 reissue of the Concert for Bangladesh album, The Bootleg Series Vol. 5: Bob Dylan Live 1975, The Rolling Thunder Revue (recorded December 1975; also released on The Rolling Thunder Revue: The 1975 Live Recordings ), and the European versions of MTV Unplugged (recorded November 1994). [5] Footage of Dylan playing the song is included on the 2005 DVD of the Concert for Bangladesh film and in The Other Side of the Mirror: Live at Newport Folk Festival 1963–1965 , a film by Murray Lerner showing Dylan's performances at the Newport Folk Festival. [5] A snippet from an impromptu performance of "Love Minus Zero/No Limit" is also included in the film Dont Look Back . [5]

The song was also included on the Rhino/Starbucks compilation album This is Us: Songs from Where You Live. [5]

Cover versions

The song was covered several times in 1965, including a version by the Turtles on their album It Ain't Me Babe and a version by the Walker Brothers on their album Take It Easy with The Walker Brothers . [18] [19] Los Angeles band the Leaves covered the song on their 1966 album Hey Joe and Joan Baez included it [10] on her 1968 album of Dylan covers, Any Day Now . [19] Billboard described Baez's version as being "performed to perfection" and "one of her most commercial efforts to date". [20] A version by singer/songwriter Turley Richards became a minor hit in 1970 (US number 84)[ citation needed ] and Australian number 96. [21]

It was also covered in 1993 by Judy Collins on Judy Collins Sings Dylan... Just Like a Woman. [19] Eric Clapton covered the song during Bob Dylan's 30th Anniversary Concert Celebration. [19] Other musicians who have covered the song include Fleetwood Mac, Rod Stewart, Jackson Browne, Ricky Nelson, Buck Owens, Slaughter Beach, Dog, Doug Sahm, Bridget St. John, Eliza Gilkyson, Leon Russell, Les Fradkin, Willie Nile and Baby Gramps. [19]

Legacy

In a 2005 reader's poll for Mojo magazine, "Love Minus Zero/No Limit" was listed as the #20 all-time greatest Bob Dylan song, and a similar poll of artists ranked the song #32. [22] In 2002, Uncut magazine listed it as the #23 all-time greatest Bob Dylan song. [23] Australian music critic Toby Creswell included the song in his book 1001 Songs: The Great Songs of All Time and the Artists, Stories and Secrets Behind Them. [24]

Related Research Articles

<i>Bringing It All Back Home</i> 1965 studio album by Bob Dylan

Bringing It All Back Home is the fifth studio album by the American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released in March 1965 by Columbia Records. In a major transition from his earlier sound, it was Dylan's first album to incorporate electric instrumentation, which caused controversy and divided many in the contemporary folk scene.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mr. Tambourine Man</span> 1965 song by Bob Dylan

"Mr. Tambourine Man" is a song written by Bob Dylan, released as the first track of the acoustic side of his March 1965 album Bringing It All Back Home. The song's popularity led to Dylan recording it live many times, and it has been included in multiple compilation albums. It has been translated into other languages and has been used or referenced in television shows, films, and books.

"Chimes of Freedom" is a song written and performed by Bob Dylan and featured on his Tom Wilson produced 1964 album Another Side of Bob Dylan. The song depicts the thoughts and feelings of the singer and his companion as they shelter from a lightning storm under a doorway after sunset. The singer expresses his solidarity with the downtrodden and oppressed, believing that the thunder is tolling in sympathy for them.

"4th Time Around" is a song by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, which was released as the 12th track on his seventh studio album Blonde on Blonde on June 20, 1966. The song was written by Dylan and produced by Bob Johnston. Commentators often interpret it as a parody of the Beatles' 1965 song "Norwegian Wood ". John Lennon composed "Norwegian Wood" after being influenced by the introspective lyrics of Dylan. Lennon later reflected on his feelings of paranoia when Dylan first played him "4th Time Around".

"Absolutely Sweet Marie" is a song by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, which was released on the third side of the double album and Dylan's seventh studio album, Blonde on Blonde (1966). The song was written by Dylan and produced by Bob Johnston. It was recorded at around 1:00 am on March 8, 1966, at Columbia Studio A, Nashville. Some commentators have interpreted the song as being about sexual frustration.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">All I Really Want to Do</span> 1964 song by Bob Dylan

"All I Really Want to Do" is a song written by Bob Dylan and featured on his Tom Wilson-produced 1964 album, Another Side of Bob Dylan. It is arguably one of the most popular songs that Dylan wrote in the period immediately after he abandoned topical songwriting. Within a year of its release on Another Side of Bob Dylan, it had also become one of Dylan's most familiar songs to pop and rock audiences, due to hit cover versions by Cher and the Byrds.

"Angelina" is a song by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, recorded on March 26, 1981, for his album Shot of Love but not included on the record. The song was written by Dylan and produced by Jimmy Iovine. A version was released on The Bootleg Series Volumes 1-3 1961-1991 on March 26, 1991, exactly ten years later. A different take was issued on The Bootleg Series Vol. 16: Springtime in New York 1980–1985 in 2021. Critics have expressed their lack of understanding of the lyrics, whilst generally affording the song a positive reception. Dylan's rhyming of the name in the title of the song with "concertina", "hyena", "subpoena", "Argentina" and "arena" has attracted commentary, with scholar Nicholas Birns calling the rhymes "bravura and ... provocative".

"Tombstone Blues" is a song by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, which was released as the second track on his sixth studio album Highway 61 Revisited (1965). The song was written by Dylan, and produced by Bob Johnston. Critical interpretations of the song have suggested that the song references the Vietnam War and US President Lyndon Baines Johnson.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Queen Jane Approximately</span> 1965 song by Bob Dylan

"Queen Jane Approximately" is a song from Bob Dylan's 1965 album Highway 61 Revisited. It was released as a single as the B-side to "One of Us Must Know " in January 1966. It has also been covered by several artists, including the Grateful Dead and The Four Seasons.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues</span> Song written and composed by Bob Dylan

"Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues" is a song written and performed by Bob Dylan. It was originally recorded on August 2, 1965, and released on the album Highway 61 Revisited. The song was later released on the compilation album Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits Vol. II and as two separate live versions recorded at concerts in 1966: the first of which appeared on the B-side of Dylan's "I Want You" single, with the second being released on The Bootleg Series Vol. 4: Bob Dylan Live 1966, The "Royal Albert Hall" Concert. The song has been covered by many artists, including Gordon Lightfoot, Cat Power, Nina Simone, Barry McGuire, Judy Collins, Frankie Miller, Linda Ronstadt, the Grateful Dead, Neil Young, The Black Crowes, Townes Van Zandt, Bryan Ferry, and The Handsome Family. Lightfoot's version was recorded only weeks after Dylan's original had been released and reached #3 on the Canadian RPM singles chart.

"It's Alright, Ma " is a song written and performed by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan and first released on his 1965 album Bringing It All Back Home. It was written in the summer of 1964, first performed live on October 10, 1964, and recorded on January 15, 1965. It is described by Dylan biographer Howard Sounes as a "grim masterpiece".

"She Belongs to Me" is a song by Bob Dylan, and was first released as the second track on his 1965 album Bringing It All Back Home. The song may be about a former girlfriend, Suze Rotolo, or fellow folk singer Joan Baez, contemporary siren Nico, or Sara Lownds, the woman that Dylan would wed in November 1965.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pledging My Time</span> 1966 single by Bob Dylan

"Pledging My Time" is a blues song by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan from his seventh studio album, Blonde on Blonde (1966). The song, written by Dylan and produced by Bob Johnston, was recorded on March 8, 1966 in Nashville, Tennessee. Dylan is featured on lead vocals, harmonica, and guitar, backed by guitarist Robbie Robertson and an ensemble of veteran Nashville session men.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">One of Us Must Know (Sooner or Later)</span> 1966 single by Bob Dylan

"One of Us Must Know (Sooner or Later)" is a song by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, which was released as a single on February 14, 1966, and as the fourth track on his seventh studio album Blonde on Blonde in June of that year. The song was written by Dylan and produced by Bob Johnston. It is the narrator's account of a burned-out relationship. It was recorded at Columbia studio A in New York on January 25, 1966, with Dylan and other musicians developing the song through over twenty takes during the session.

"To Ramona" is a song by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, first released on his fourth studio album, Another Side of Bob Dylan (1964). The song was written by Dylan, and produced by Tom Wilson. The lyrics were started at the May Fair Hotel in London in May 1964, and finished during a week-long stay in the Greek village of Vernilya later that month. Dylan recorded all the tracks for the album, including the song, in a single three-hour session on June 9, 1964, at Studio A, Columbia Recording Studios, New York. Its narrator advises Ramona, who is preparing to return to "the South", not to follow the advice of others. Critics have suggested several different people as inspirations for the song, including Joan Baez, Suze Rotolo, and Sara Lownds.

"It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry" is a song written by Bob Dylan, that was originally released on his album Highway 61 Revisited. It was recorded on July 29, 1965. The song was also included on an early, European Dylan compilation album entitled Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits 2.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gates of Eden (song)</span> 1965 single by Bob Dylan

"Gates of Eden" is a song by Bob Dylan that appears on his fifth studio album Bringing It All Back Home, released on March 22, 1965 by Columbia Records. It was also released as a single as the B-side of "Like a Rolling Stone". Dylan plays the song solo, accompanying himself on acoustic guitar and harmonica. It is considered one of Dylan's most surreal songs. In a 2005 Mojo magazine poll of its writers and various well-known musicians, "Gates of Eden" was ranked 76th among Dylan's 100 greatest songs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tonight I'll Be Staying Here with You</span> 1969 single by Bob Dylan

"Tonight I'll Be Staying Here with You" is a song written by Bob Dylan from his 1969 album Nashville Skyline. It was the closing song of the album. The song was the third single released from the album, after "I Threw It All Away" and "Lay Lady Lay", reaching #50 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, and reaching the top 20 in other countries. It was anthologized on the compilation albums Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits Vol. II and Playlist: The Very Best of Bob Dylan '60s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Man Gave Names to All the Animals</span> 1979 single by Bob Dylan

"Man Gave Names to All the Animals" is a song written by Bob Dylan that appeared on his 1979 album Slow Train Coming and was also released as a single in some European countries, becoming a chart hit in France and Belgium. It was also released as a promo single in the US. However, some have labelled it the worst song Dylan ever wrote. A 2013 reader's poll conducted by Rolling Stone magazine, ranked "Man Gave Names to All the Animals" as being the fourth worst Bob Dylan song, behind "Gotta Serve Somebody" in second place.

"Mama, You Been on My Mind" is a song by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan. Written in 1964 during a trip to Europe, the song dealt with his recent breakup with his girlfriend, Suze Rotolo. Dylan first recorded the song in June of that year during a session for his album Another Side of Bob Dylan. However, the song was not included on the album, and Dylan's version remained unreleased until 1991. In total, in the 1990s and 2000s four versions were put out on Dylan's Bootleg Series of releases, including two live performances with Joan Baez from 1964 and 1975.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Heylin, C. (2009). Revolution in the Air. Chicago Review Press. pp. 224–226. ISBN   978-1-55652-843-9.
  2. ↑ Gray, M. (2008). The Bob Dylan Encyclopedia: Revised and Updated Edition. Continuum. pp. 395–396. ISBN   978-0-8264-2974-2.
  3. ↑ "Bruce Langhorne". allmusic . Retrieved 2009-07-22.
  4. ↑ "Bob Dylan - The Cutting Edge 1965-1966: The Bootleg Series Vol. 12". Archived from the original on 2016-02-07. Retrieved 2015-11-22.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Love Minus Zero/No Limit". allmusic . Retrieved 2009-07-24.
  6. 1 2 Mellers, W. (1984). A Darker Shade of Pale . Oxford University Press. p.  136. ISBN   0-19-503622-0.
  7. 1 2 3 4 Shelton, R. (1986). No Direction Home. Da Capo Press. pp. 272–273, 421. ISBN   0-306-80782-3.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Ricks, C. (2003). Dylan's Visions of Sin. HarperCollins. pp. 287–302. ISBN   0-06-059924-3.
  9. 1 2 3 4 Gill, A. (1998). Don't Think Twice, It's All Right. Thunder's Mouth Press. pp. 71–72. ISBN   1-56025-185-9.
  10. 1 2 3 Gilliland, John (1969). "Show 32 - Ballad in Plain D: An introduction to the Bob Dylan era. [Part 2]" (audio). Pop Chronicles . University of North Texas Libraries.
  11. ↑ Varesi, A. (2002). The Bob Dylan Albums. Guernica. pp. 50–51. ISBN   1-55071-139-3.
  12. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Trager, O. (2004). Keys to the Rain . Billboard Books. pp.  402–403. ISBN   0-8230-7974-0.
  13. ↑ Gray, M. (2000). Song and Dance Man III. Continuum. pp. 58–59. ISBN   0-8264-5150-0.
  14. 1 2 Rogovov, S. (2009). Bob Dylan: Prophet, Mystic, Poet. Scribner. pp. 80–81. ISBN   978-1-4165-5915-3.
  15. 1 2 3 Hinchey, J. (2002). Like a Complete Unknown. Stealing Home Press. pp. 81–85. ISBN   0-9723592-0-6.
  16. ↑ Ricks, C. B. (2003). Dylan's Visions of Sin. Viking Press. p. 289. ISBN   978-0-670-80133-6.
  17. ↑ "Love Minus Zero/No Limit | The Official Bob Dylan Site". www.bobdylan.com. Retrieved 2023-11-26.
  18. ↑ "It Ain't Me Babe". allmusic . Retrieved 2010-09-09.
  19. 1 2 3 4 5 "Love Minus Zero/No Limit covers". allmusic . Archived from the original on August 8, 2009. Retrieved 2009-07-24.
  20. ↑ "Spotlight Singles" (PDF). Billboard. March 15, 1969. p. 70. Retrieved 2021-02-20.
  21. ↑ Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. p. 252. ISBN   0-646-11917-6.
  22. ↑ "100 Greatest Dylan Songs". Mojo. November 2005. Retrieved 2009-07-24.
  23. ↑ "Uncut – Top 40 Dylan Tracks". Uncut. June 2002. Retrieved 2009-07-24.
  24. ↑ Creswell, T. (2006). 1001 Songs: The Great Songs of All Time and the Artists, Stories and Secrets Behind Them. Da Capo Press. p. 803. ISBN   978-1-56025-915-2.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.