Time Out of Mind – Bob Dylan (1997)
The 90s were not particularly memorable for Bob Dylan.
He followed 1989’s comeback success Oh Mercy with 1990’s disappointing Under the Red Sky and over the next seven years managed only to release two albums of classic folk covers.
I happen to enjoy those cover albums quite a bit — Dylan has always been an expert interpreter of others’ material — but that span marked the longest dry spell without original material in Dylan’s career.
But in 1997, Dylan broke the silence in dramatic fashion, releasing an album that ranks among his best and kicking off a late career renaissance that would produce three more excellent releases in the decade to follow.
It’s ironic that Time Out of Mind served as the beginning of a new chapter in Dylan’s career because the album itself is about endings — particularly human mortality. On such songs as ‘Trying to Get to Heaven,”Standing in the Doorway’ and ‘Not Dark Yet,’ Dylan is alternately romantic and depressing, singing with raw emotion about the great beyond.
On ‘Cold Irons Bound,’ one of my favorite Time Out of Mind tracks, Dylan sings in apocalyptic terms about a love affair gone wrong. “Some things last longer than you think they will,” he sings about his feelings for the woman who has scorned him. He may as well be singing about his own extraordinary career.
Well, I’m all used up and the fields have turned brown
I went to church on Sunday and she passed by
My love for her is taking such a long time to die
I’m waist deep, waist deep in the mist
It’s almost like, almost like I don’t exist
I’m twenty miles out of town in cold irons bound
The walls of pride are high and wide
Can’t see over to the other side
It’s such a sad thing to see beauty decay
It’s sadder still to feel your heart torn away
One look at you and I’m out of control
Like the universe has swallowed me whole
I’m twenty miles out of town in cold irons bound
There’s too many people, too many to recall
I thought some of ’m were friends of mine, I was wrong about ’m all
Well, the road is rocky and the hillside’s mud
Up over my head nothing but clouds of blood
I found my world, found my world in you
But your love just hasn’t proved true
I’m twenty miles out of town in cold irons bound
Twenty miles out of town in cold irons bound
Oh, the winds in Chicago have torn me to shreds
Reality has always had too many heads
Some things last longer than you think they will
There are some kind of things you can never kill
It’s you and you only I been thinking about
But you can’t see in and it’s hard lookin’ out
I’m twenty miles out of town in cold irons bound
Well the fat’s in the fire and the water’s in the tank
The whiskey’s in the jar and the money’s in the bank
I tried to love and protect you because I cared
I’m gonna remember forever the joy that we shared
Looking at you and I’m on my bended knee
You have no idea what you do to me
I’m twenty miles out of town in cold irons bound
Twenty miles out of town in cold irons bound
Meet Me In Montauk 
Bob Dylan must have the honor of having appeared on your blog more often than any single other artist, no? A well-deserved honor, no doubt. I’m liking today’s song – great vibe. I guess these are the rewards you get when you’re a music purist; once in a while you do get a delightful surprise from an artist you might have otherwise written off years ago.
I really like this song too; it’s amazing that he’s been doing this for 50 years and still “rocks” ! I think when they reach their 70’s they tend to reflect on their pasts and the “great beyond”–reminds me of Paul Simon’s “So Beautiful or so What” in theme.
For me, the only sad thing is to hear the voice begin to deteriorate while the songwriting chops remain strong as ever. Here, he still has some semblence of a voice, but it’s clearly on the decline. The song though is strong.
Randy Newman is another one who was vocally limited in his prime and becomes more so with age, even though the writing remains great.
Simon, on the other hand, hasn’t seemed to lose to much vocally.