Laura Marling’s favourite Bob Dylan song
Bob Dylan has had a mammoth influence on music as a whole, but his impact on modern folk is second to none. Every generation of guitar-strumming singer-songwriters since Dylan is indebted to him, borrowing from his lyrical storytelling and poetic words of protest, following the path he paved off the beaten track.
From the quirky contemporary folk-rock of Julia Jacklin to the considerable success of commercial folk outfits like Mumford and Sons, Dylan’s influence can be found in every modern iteration of rock. British folk soloist Laura Marling is no exception.
With muted, intricate, twangy guitars and vulnerable lyrics related to her own experiences, Marling has carved out a place for herself as one of the leading figures in modern folk. Making deeply personal topics feel universal and accompanying them with soft soundscapes, she has become the voice for a generation of women. Like almost all artists who are folk-inclined, she harbours a deep love for Dylan.
“He spoke to so many people in such a brilliantly simple way that anyone could understand it,” she once enthused, “It’s important to be accessible – you can’t be too far left field. Otherwise, you’re shooting yourself in the foot.” It’s a line that Marling herself has walked, succeeding in finding both critical and commercial success as a result.
But there is one Dylan song Marling holds more dearly than any other – and it’s surprisingly not the one she covered in 2021. Rather, her choice is a deep cut from Dylan’s discography and a track he initially rejected. “My favourite Bob Dylan track is ‘Up To Me’,” she told Stereogum before going on to show off her in-depth Dylan knowledge.
The song was released on Biograph in 1985, a compilation record, but Marling notes that it was also “a reject/alt from Blood On The Tracks/Tapes, depending on how much of a Dylan nerd one wishes to appear.”
Though Dylan may have cut the song from his magnum opus, it’s difficult to understand why. The song features some of the singer-songwriter’s most beautiful storytelling and songwriting, an element Marling shared her love for.
Marling explained: “It contains the line ‘The only decent thing I did when I worked as a postal clerk/ Was to haul your picture down off the wall near the cage where I used to work/ Was I a fool or not to protect your real identity?/ You looked a little burned out, my friend/ I thought it might be up to me’ – which tells more of a story than most people could hope to tell in a lifetime.”
She also suggests that the lines “I met somebody face to face, I had to remove my hat… It frightens me, the awful truth of how sweet life can be/ But she ain’t gonna make a move/ I guess it must be up to me,” tell “more about the angst of love than ever needed to be written”.
Like many devoted Dylan fans, Marling was baffled by Dylan’s choice to omit it from Blood On The Tracks. “And it was a song he essentially threw away,” she exclaimed, “He reused the same chords and wrote an equally brilliant, timeless song – ‘Shelter From The Storm’. Goddammit.”
Listen to ‘Up To Me’, Laura Marling’s favourite Bob Dylan song, below.
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