Soon After Midnight

"Soon After Midnight" is a song written and performed by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan that appears as the second track on his 2012 studio album Tempest. Like much of Dylan's 21st-century output, he produced the song himself using the pseudonym Jack Frost.

"Soon After Midnight"
Song by Bob Dylan
from the album Tempest
Released	September 10, 2012
Recorded	January-March, 2012
Studio	Groove Masters
Genre	Pop, Rock
Length	3:27
Label	Columbia
Songwriter(s)	Bob Dylan
Producer(s)	Jack Frost (Bob Dylan)

At less than three-and-a-half minutes, it is the shortest of Tempest's 10 songs and the only example of the pre-Rock Pop Ballad genre to be found on the album. The title is a reference to "fairy time" in William Shakespeare's play A Midsummer Night's Dream.[1]

Reception

A 2015 USA Today article that ranked "all of Bob Dylan's songs" placed "Soon After Midnight" 40th on the list (out of 359), citing it as the "best song" on Tempest and comparing it to Dylan's earlier "Mississippi" as a memorable song on the theme of "lost love".[2]

Music journalist Patrick Doyle, writing in a 2020 Rolling Stone article on "The 25 Best Bob Dylan Songs of the 21st Century", where it placed 18th, commented on the track's unique, shape-shifting nature. He describes it as beginning as "Fifties doo-wop before it turns into a murder ballad" and calls the end result "soulful".[3] Dylan scholar Jochen Markhorst also wrote an essay in which he greatly expanded on the murder ballad conceit.[4]

In their book Bob Dylan All the Songs: The Story Behind Every Track, authors Philippe Margotin and Jean-Michel Guesdon note that the song's intro owes a debt to "A New Shade of Blue" by The Bobby Fuller Four and discuss how Dylan's vocal is "sweet and gentle", taking on a "new patina that makes it less aggressive" than on other recent songs. They also praise the "excellent" playing of the band, "especially Donnie Herron's steel guitar solo, doubled by a six-string guitar".[5]

Cultural references

The line "I've got a date with the fairy queen"[6] is a reference to William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, in which the character Bottom has an encounter with Titania, the fairy queen, shortly after midnight.[7]

Live performances

Between 2012 and 2019, Dylan played the song live 474 times on the Never Ending Tour.[8] This makes it the third most frequently performed song from Tempest.

Cover versions

Irish-American singer Aoife O'Donovan, of the bands Crooked Still and I'm with Her, released a studio recording of the song in 2016[9] and covered it live in concert in 2017.[10]

References

1. "When is "fairy time" in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream? - eNotes.com". eNotes. Retrieved 2021-01-03.
2. "Ranking all of Bob Dylan's songs, from No. 1 to No. 359". For The Win. 2015-11-06. Retrieved 2021-01-03.
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 2020-12-21.
4. "Soon after midnight: Bob Dylan's real murder ballad | Untold DylanUntold Dylan". Retrieved 2021-01-03.
5. Margotin, Philippe. Bob Dylan : all the songs : the story behind every track. Guesdon, Jean-Michel (First ed.). New York. ISBN 1-57912-985-4. OCLC 869908038.
6. "Soon After Midnight | The Official Bob Dylan Site". www.bobdylan.com. Retrieved 2021-01-03.
7. "Midsummer Night's Dream: Entire Play". shakespeare.mit.edu. Retrieved 2021-01-03.
8. "Bob Dylan Tour Statistics | setlist.fm". www.setlist.fm. Retrieved 2021-01-03.
9. Carroll, Brian (2016-11-15). "You Need This In Your Ears Now: Aoife O' Donovan & Anthony da Costa "Scarlet Harlot" (Dylan Covers)". Red Line Roots. Retrieved 2021-01-03.
10. "Aoife O'Donovan "Soon After Midnight" 3/23/17 Shea Theater Arts Center Turners Falls, MA - YouTube". www.youtube.com. Retrieved 2021-01-03.