“It’s not as good”: Why Bob Dylan preferred a different version of ‘Heart of Mine’
Some musicians are far more meticulous than others when it comes to the writing and recording process. While many try to shoot for a happy medium, achieving a good standard without getting too held back by overprecision, others find it difficult to accept versions of things they know aren’t as good as the previous vision. This was true for Bob Dylan and one song from Shot of Love.
The final album of Dylan’s gospel trilogy, Shot of Love, was an immediate favourite of Dylan’s for many reasons—an intriguing feat considering how often the man of mystery himself steers away from delivering any decipherable indication about his own work. With Shot of Love, however, its overlooked nature, especially against the success of some of his other albums, was incredibly frustrating for Dylan, who once claimed it to be “the most explosive album I’ve ever done”.
It’s easy to understand why he would feel protective—not only does it draw together all the musical elements he became known for during his breakthrough, it also taps into the different spaces he became enamoured with growing up, providing a basis for exploration that was about as Dylan as it gets. In other words, Shot of Love wasn’t just another record that ticked all the quintessential Dylan boxes; it was also a sentimental affair that felt like a true kaleidoscopic view of his artistic expression.
The second track, ‘Heart of Mine’, provides a good example of many of these foundational elements. Alongside the initial rhythmic groove, there’s also a melodic charm that wasn’t always Dylan’s priority in previous albums, giving the song an overall simplicity that’s easy to warm up to almost immediately. Dylan brought in industry veterans Ringo Starr and Ronnie Wood for the track, both contributing to that unmistakable 1960s-leaning sound that exudes throughout.
According to Dylan, however, he wasn’t entirely pleased with the recorded version, later saying that he felt the previous versions (the less funky ones) sounded better. “[‘Heart of Mine’] was done in a bunch of different ways,” he said, “But I chose for some reason a particularly funky version of that and it’s really scattered. It’s not as good as some of the other versions, but I chose it because Ringo and Ronnie Wood played on it, and we did it in like ten minutes.”
However, this dislike could have stemmed from the fact that, according to Starr, Dylan was over six hours late to the studio on the day they were set to record the song. In his absence, he started playing around with engineer Chuck Plotkin, playing different sounds and styles until they accidentally stumbled upon “the feel of this song”. Perhaps if Dylan had been there, he might have been able to steer the song in a way that made him happier with the end result.
That said, the version of ‘Heart of Mine’ they put out isn’t bad. In fact, it’s a great addition to Shot of Love that proves Dylan’s proficiency for structural, melodic, and lyrical finesse, and not always when these elements are at their most intricate or poetic. While there are sprinklings of that, too, the entire song feels like it flowed effortlessly, coming together in quick succession like it already existed somewhere, waiting to be recorded by the legends themselves.
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