Bob Dylan names his two most underrated songs: “One of the greatest things I ever heard in my life”
Bob Dylan rarely opens his mouth to dissect his own work. A true artist, Dylan would rather his oeuvre do all the talking.
Therefore, when he does speak out on the songs he created, it’s crucial to hang on to his every word. While Dylan is unafraid to explore material made by his contemporaries, an avenue which provided the contents for his book, The Philosophy Of Modern Song, he’s reluctant to use the same level of analysis upon his creations.
In recent history, Dylan has spoken less and less about his collected works. The singer-songwriter can often go years without carrying out an interview, and usually, the only way to understand what’s going on in his life is through dissecting his music. Due to his hostile relationship with the media, there’s an air of mystery which surrounds Dylan. It’s a vision of a musician who is at odds with the typical modern music idol, continuously documenting their existence on social media.
Every so often, however, Dylan realises it has been too long without him raising his head above the parapet, and he breaks his silence with a rare interview. In 2017, the musician broke his silence by releasing an interview with author Bill Flanagan on his website. In the expansive conversation, Dylan discussed his favourite modern artists, a wild night spent at Frank Sinatra’s house with Bruce Springsteen, and his failed recording session with Elvis Presley.
In addition to reflecting upon his career and sharing a string of anecdotes from a life lived in the fast lane, Dylan also revealed which of his own songs he believes are underappreciated. In response to Flanagan asking, “Which one of your songs do you think did not get the attention it deserved?” Dylan toyed between two tracks and responded, “‘Brownsville Girl,’ or maybe ‘In the Garden.'”
‘Brownsville Girl’, which he co-wrote with playwright Sam Shepherd, appeared on, Knocked Out Loaded, released at an intriguing point in Dylan’s career in 1986. His popularity had declined since his commercial heyday, and the album only charted at 53 in the United States. Meanwhile, the LP charted marginally higher in the United Kingdom at 35.
Most of the album received a poor reaction from fans and critics, but ‘Brownsville Girl’ was an anomaly, proving Dylan still had his magical touch. Lou Reed once said of the track: “The thing Dylan did with Sam Shepherd, ‘Brownsville Girl’, I mean, I think that is one of the greatest things I ever heard in my life. I fell down laughing. You can listen to that, you can listen to the words going on, and it’s tremendous.” If ‘Brownsville Girl’ was released at a more triumphant time in Dylan’s career, it would likely be one of his most commonly-known tracks, but instead, it’s a cult classic rather than a bestseller.
The track is also attached to a story that seems to naturally follow Dylan around and highlights just how skilled a lyricist he was. “During the recording, Bob said he was short a verse,” Ira Ingber told Uncut. “I said, ‘Let’s come back to it tomorrow or whenever you finish it.’ He said, ‘wait a second.’ He took out this impossibly small pen or pencil-like, maybe an inch and a half long, and this tiny scrap of paper. He went off into the corner of the studio, and we’re waiting maybe five or ten minutes. He comes back and says, ‘OK, let’s go.’ We start playing the song again, and all of a sudden here comes this new verse that he’d written, and it was breathtaking.”
For Ingber, and likely everybody else in the room it was a realisation that they really were working with the best in the business: “At that very moment I remember thinking: ‘That’s why he’s Bob Dylan. That’s what the guy does. We all looked at each other and we were thinking, well – this is one for the ages.”
Dylan’s other selection, ‘In The Garden’, derives from his 1980 album, Saved, and his period of embracing Christianity. As an era, it’s compelling yet confusing in equal measure with the sleevenotes of the record stating: “‘Behold, the days come, sayeth the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah’ (Jeremiah 31:31)”.
‘In The Garden’ is a continuation of this religious theme as Dylan explores the downfall of Jesus through a series of rhetorical questions. At one point, he asks, “When they came for him in the garden, did they know?” Later in the track, Dylan says, “When he spoke to them in the city, did they hear?” He also wonders, “Did they speak out against him, did they dare?” Finally, he sings, “When he rose from the dead, did they believe?”
While ‘In The Garden’ isn’t one of his most widely cherished tracks, Dylan reveres it. Throughout his lengthy career, he has performed it live on 329 occasions. Although the song hasn’t been aired in a concert since 2002, his comments show Dylan still holds the creation in the highest esteem.
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