Idiot Wind by Bob Dylan

This song kicks a fair amount of buttocks, it's just one of those tunes you can endlessly play. And as is often the case with Dylan, all is a lyrical riddle, is it not? Just how exactly Bob Dylan expresses rage and desolation is quite fascinating, as the track in question contains what might be referred to as surreal Western imagery and a pessimistic viewpoint on intellectual pursuits. Of course, this is just my interpretation. Persons more educated than myself on Dylan probably no doubt realize that this song at least in part, deals with a serious breakup, perhaps even the breakdown of a marriage. Also, Bob Dylan makes clear to clarify that fame is not all it is cracked up to be. Needless to say, for a song that clocks in at a little over seven minutes, Dylan is killing quite a few birds with one incredibly large stone.

He runs the gamut of issues in his life, as if he almost has a lyrical checklist that he is working with. This is one of the most enduring and timeless Dylan cuts, and has a universal and generationless (Real word, no?) appeal, which is very refreshing for an artist so closely defined with 1960's Counter-Culture, which is slightly curious since Bob Dylan was never a Hippie and actually came to the attention of "The Young People" during those last few years of The Beat Generation, if you will. Also, so often is there complaints waged against Bob's singing or lack thereof, but what we have here then is a song that only Dylan could do justice to, it's a situation where Peter, Paul & Mary just wouldn't fit the bill. Bob's growl on this cut is unmistakable and undeniably good. Every aspect of the instrumentation on this cut just seems to reinforce the intensity of the lyrical content, and the song's chorus is like a dark mantra from Hell.

You won't find any goofy lead guitar solo on "Idiot Wind," as Bob, as already mentioned, has quite a lot to get off of his chest. Of course, you wouldn't expect anything less than near-perfect from a track featured on the epic "Blood On The Tracks," and while I love a great many Bob Dylan songs, like "Jokerman," for example. And while I may even prefer "Nashville Skyline" as an album on the whole, the rough and tumble, strangeness and darkness that is "Blood On The Tracks" contains one of the most thoughtful and intense songs in the history of Pop. And here we have a rather powerful live version: