Lonesome Day Blues

"Lonesome Day Blues" is a 12-bar blues song written and performed by Bob Dylan that appears as the fifth song on his 2001 album Love and Theft.[1] According to engineer Chris Shaw, it was the first song recorded for the album and "really set the mood for that whole record."[2]

"Lonesome Day Blues"
Song by Bob Dylan
from the album Love and Theft
ReleasedSeptember 11, 2001
RecordedMay 2001
GenreFolk rock
Length6:06
LabelColumbia
Songwriter(s)Bob Dylan
Producer(s)Jack Frost
Love and Theft track listing
12 tracks
  1. "Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dum"
  2. "Mississippi"
  3. "Summer Days"
  4. "Bye and Bye"
  5. "Lonesome Day Blues"
  6. "Floater (Too Much to Ask)"
  7. "High Water (For Charley Patton)"
  8. "Moonlight"
  9. "Honest With Me"
  10. "Po' Boy"
  11. "Cry a While"
  12. "Sugar Baby"

Critical reception

Music journalist Hank Shteamer, writing in a Rolling Stone article where the song placed 20th on a list of "The 25 Best Bob Dylan songs of the 21st Century", called it "a loose and raucous 12-bar shuffle in the spirit of classics like 'Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat,' where (Dylan) throws narrative out the window and simply riffs." Shteamer also noted that, although Dylan had been experimenting with blues forms for over 40 years when he recorded it, "he’d rarely sounded like he was having more fun with the genre than he did on “Lonesome Day Blues.”[3]

In their book Bob Dylan All the Songs: The Story Behind Every Track, authors Philippe Margotin and Jean-Michel Guesdon also cite it as an exemplary blues from Dylan, claiming that it "demonstrates how easily (he) can sing the genre. His voice takes on the atmosphere of Muddy Waters' electric period. The support of his musicians is extraordinary and shows remarkable unity."[4]

Cultural references

The songs's penultimate verse ("I'm gonna spare the defeated...I'm going to speak to the crowd / I am goin’ to teach peace to the conquered, I’m gonna tame the proud"[5]) refers to lines in Book VI of Virgil’s Aeneid. Allen Mandelbaum’s 1971 translation renders the Latin as follows: "“But yours will be the rulership of nations, Remember Roman, these will be your arts: To teach the ways of peace to those you conquer, To spare defeated peoples, tame the proud.”[6] This is significant as it marked the first of many times Dylan would quote authors from Classical antiquity in his 21st century output.[7]

The line "The road's washed out - weather not fit for man or beast" is a reference to a famous line in the comedic 1933 film The Fatal Glass of Beer in which W. C. Fields' character says, "It ain't a fit night out for man or beast!"[8]

Live versions

Between 2001 and 2017, Dylan played the song 160 times on the Never Ending Tour.[9] A live version from 2002 is included on The Bootleg Series Vol. 8 – Tell Tale Signs (2008).[10]

Cover versions

The British-Irish folk-rock band The Waterboys, and its lead singer Mike Scott in solo performance, have covered the song live on numerous occasions over the years.[11][12]

References
  1. "Love and Theft". Rolling Stone. September 4, 2001.
  2. "Recording With Bob Dylan, Chris Shaw Tells All!". UNCUT. 2008-10-27. Retrieved 2020-12-13.
  3. Vozick-Levinson, Jon Dolan,Patrick Doyle,Andy Greene,Brian Hiatt,Angie Martoccio,Rob Sheffield,Hank Shteamer,Simon; Dolan, Jon; Doyle, Patrick; Greene, Andy; Hiatt, Brian; Martoccio, Angie; Sheffield, Rob; Shteamer, Hank; Vozick-Levinson, Simon (2020-06-18). "The 25 Best Bob Dylan Songs of the 21st Century". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2020-12-13.
  4. Margotin, Philippe (27 October 2015). Bob Dylan : all the songs : the story behind every track. Guesdon, Jean-Michel (First ed.). New York. ISBN 978-1-57912-985-9. OCLC 869908038.
  5. "Lonesome Day Blues | The Official Bob Dylan Site". www.bobdylan.com. Retrieved 2021-01-03.
  6. "Calder Classics — Timeless Bob Dylan: Inspired by the Classics". Calder Classics. Retrieved 2020-12-20.
  7. "Bob Dylan and the Classics: An Interview with Professor Richard F. Thomas". projects.iq.harvard.edu. Retrieved 2020-12-21.
  8. "Quotes from "The Fatal Glass of Beer"". IMDb. Retrieved 2020-12-21.
  9. "Bob Dylan Tour Statistics | setlist.fm". www.setlist.fm. Retrieved 2020-12-18.
  10. "The Bootleg Series, Vol 8: Tell Tale Signs | The Official Bob Dylan Site". www.bobdylan.com. Retrieved 2020-12-18.
  11. "The Waterboys Setlist at Flygeln, Norrköping". setlist.fm. Retrieved 2020-12-13.
  12. "Road Photos 2016 - The Waterboys". waterboys.org.uk. Retrieved 2020-12-13.
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