Shelter from the Storm
"Shelter from the Storm" | |
---|---|
A&R Recording in New York City | |
Genre | Folk rock |
Length | 5:02 |
Label | Columbia |
Songwriter(s) | Bob Dylan |
Producer(s) | Bob Dylan |
Blood on the Tracks track listing | |
"Shelter from the Storm" is a song by Bob Dylan, recorded on September 17, 1974, and released on his 15th studio album, Blood on the Tracks, in 1975. It was later anthologized on the compilation album The Essential Bob Dylan in 2000.
Composition and recording
Dylan recorded five takes of the song on September 17, 1974 at
The song opens with anachronistic language and Christian symbolism:[2]
"'Twas in another lifetime, one of toil and blood
When blackness was a virtue, the road was full of mud
I came in from the wilderness, a creature void of form
'Come in,' she said, 'I'll give you shelter from the storm'"
Dylan scholar Tony Attwood calls the song a "complexly woven tale" that is "told around three chords". He notes that the same three chords repeat in every line of every verse, which culminates in the redemptive refrain "Come in, she said, I'll give you shelter from the storm". Attwood describes the story told in the song's lyrics thusly: "He finds her when he is nothing and has nothing or both, she welcomes him in, and he wanders off and loses her, much to his eternal regret".[4]
In their book Bob Dylan All the Songs: The Story Behind Every Track, authors Philippe Margotin and Jean-Michel Guesdon note that Dylan's performance "oscillates between intimacy and declamation, and his performance is excellent, including short harmonica playing (in E)". They also note that the "excellent bass player Tony Brown", the only other musician on the track, "offers subtle and melodic playing" to accompany Dylan.[5]
Personnel
- Bob Dylan – lead vocals, acoustic guitar, harmonica
- Tony Brown – bass guitar
Critical reception
Spectrum Culture included the song on a list of "Bob Dylan's 20 Best Songs of the '70s". In an article accompanying the list, critic Tyler Dunston credits Dylan for bringing out "the beauty and spirituality in pain, highlighting the terror that accompanies the greatest joy". He compares Dylan's vision of love to Rainer Maria Rilke's Duino Elegies for being "one in which pain and beauty, romance and faith are inextricable, almost indistinguishable, from one another".[6]
Rolling Stone ranked the song 66th on a list of the "100 Greatest Bob Dylan Songs".[7] A 2021 Guardian article included it on a list of "80 Bob Dylan songs everyone should know".[8]
Other versions
The first take of the song, from the same recording session that produced the album track, was released on the soundtrack to the 1996 motion picture Jerry Maguire. The same take was also featured on The Best of Bob Dylan the following year. This take and three others are included in the 2018 deluxe edition of The Bootleg Series Vol. 14: More Blood, More Tracks, (with Take 2 included on its single-CD and 2-LP versions).[9]
Live performances
According to his official website, Dylan played the song 376 times between 1976 and 2015.[10] Live versions of the song have officially released on the albums Hard Rain in 1976 and Bob Dylan at Budokan in 1979.[11] Dylan's live performance debut of the song during the Rolling Thunder Revue tour was described by Trager as having a "blustery, metallic edge complete with screeching electric guitar crescendos".[2] During Dylan's 1978 World Tour, a saxophone part played by Steve Douglas and backing vocals featured in the renditions.[12] Trager criticized the "emotionless lead vocal and sax solo" from the 1978 tour,[2] while Paul Williams felt that the saxophone and backing vocalists failed to match the intensity of Dylan's singing.[12]
Notable covers
Bill Murray sings along to the song in its entirety in the film St. Vincent.[15] Chris Martin of the band Coldplay performed a solo acoustic version of the song in the Saturday Night Live at Home episode of Saturday Night Live on April 11, 2020.[16]
In popular culture
Hip hop group Public Enemy reference it in their 2007 Dylan tribute song "Long and Whining Road": "There's a poison goin' on, there's a shelter from the storm / Hard rain's gonna fall, still the people rock on".[17]
References
- ISBN 9781849015981.
- ^ ISBN 0823079740.
- ISBN 0450048438.
- ^ "Shelter from the storm: Dylan the poet laureate, Dylan the myth maker | Untold Dylan". 3 March 2013. Retrieved 2021-05-14.
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- ^ "Bob Dylan's 20 Best Songs of the '70s". Spectrum Culture. 2020-07-17. Retrieved 2021-05-14.
- ^ "100 Greatest Bob Dylan Songs". Rolling Stone. 2020-05-24. Retrieved 2021-05-14.
- ^ "Beyond Mr Tambourine Man: 80 Bob Dylan songs everyone should know". the Guardian. 2021-05-22. Retrieved 2021-05-22.
- ^ "More Blood, More Tracks – The Bootleg Series Vol. 14 to Be Released on November 2 | The Official Bob Dylan Site". bobdylan.com. Retrieved 2018-10-21.
- ^ "Setlists that contain Shelter from the Storm". www.bobdylan.com. Retrieved 2021-05-13.
- ^ "Shelter from the Storm". www.bobdylan.com. Retrieved 2021-05-13.
- ^ ISBN 1844490963.
- ^ Songs of the year – Times Online
- ^ "Pakistan's Sachal Jazz Ensemble rises above the risks in 'Song of Lahore'". Los Angeles Times. November 5, 2015.
- ^ "Bill Murray sings Bob Dylan's 'Shelter From The Storm' in new clip from 'St Vincent' - watch | NME". NME. October 7, 2014.
- ^ Perkins, Dennis (April 12, 2020). "The Cast and Tom Hanks Cobble Together a Scattershot But Welcome Saturday Night Live Return". The A.V. Club. Retrieved April 12, 2020.
- ^ Public Enemy – The Long and Whining Road, retrieved 2021-04-12
External links
- Lyrics at Bob Dylan's official site