Reaction: Bob Dylan releases first new song in eight years
Songwriting legend surprises fans with J.F.K.-themed track
Singer-songwriter Bob Dylan is wowing both critics and fans with his first original new track in eight years.
Released without fanfare on his official website on Thursday evening, the 17-minute ballad, Murder Most Foul, retells the 1963 assassination of then-president John F. Kennedy and the “death of the American dream”, says The Telegraph’s music critic Neil McCormick.
The “elegiac ramble” - Dylan’s first original work since his acclaimed 2012 album Tempest - describes J.F.K. “being led to the slaughter like a sacrificial lamb … they blew off his head while he was still in the car / shot down like a dog in broad daylight”.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
“Dylan’s song was clearly not inspired by the coronavirus pandemic, yet its surprise release has been,” says the newspaper.
A message on the 78-year-old’s website accompanying the track offers thanks to his fans for their support and loyalty, and urges them to “stay safe, stay observant and may God be with you”.
–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
For a round-up of the most important stories from around the world - and a concise, refreshing and balanced take on the week’s news agenda - try The Week magazine. Start your trial subscription today –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
What are the critics saying?
Music journalists have been blown away yet again by Dylan, who in 2016 became the first songwriter to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.
Rolling Stone’s Brian Hiatt praises the “structural freedom and mesmerizing arrangement” of this “dizzying, utterly extraordinary” new release.
What begins as a “straightforward recounting of the assassination of John F. Kennedy” gradually “expands into an impressionistic, elegiac, increasingly apocalyptic journey through what feels like the entire Sixties”, Hiatt continues.
The Guardian’s rock and pop critic Alexis Petridis describes Murder Most Foul as a “dark, dense ballad for the end times” and a “fascinating portrait of [Dylan’s] obsession with J.F.K.’s assassination, rich with pop cultural detail and apocalyptic dread”.
The Telegraph’s McCormick also gives the song a rave review, saying that the musician’s “age and experience lend a different kind of weight to his voice and words” compared with his earlier work.
“The effect of all these thoughts and images piled relentlessly upon one another becomes increasingly intense and mesmeric,” McCormick adds. “Dylan breaks the narrative timeline and conjures an almost hallucinatory vision of the impact of a national tragedy.”
The Times’ Will Hodgkinson agrees that the song is a “reflection on the death of innocence as much as the death of an American leader”.
This new track is a “poignant, reflective reminder of why, as much as he hated the title, Dylan was, and essentially remains, the voice of his generation”, Hodgkinson concludes.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Geoff Capes obituary: shot-putter who became the World’s Strongest Man
In the Spotlight The 'mighty figure' was a two-time Commonwealth Champion and world-record holder
By The Week UK Published
-
Israel attacks Iran: a 'limited' retaliation
Talking Point Iran's humiliated leaders must decide how to respond to Netanyahu's measured strike
By The Week UK Published
-
Crossword: November 2, 2024
The Week's daily crossword puzzle
By The Week Staff Published
-
Sport on TV guide: Christmas 2022 and New Year listings
Speed Read Enjoy a feast of sporting action with football, darts, rugby union, racing, NFL and NBA
By Mike Starling Published
-
House of the Dragon: what to expect from the Game of Thrones prequel
Speed Read Ten-part series, set 200 years before GoT, will show the incestuous decline of Targaryen
By Chas Newkey-Burden Published
-
One in 20 young Americans identify as trans or non-binary
Speed Read New research suggests that 44% of US adults know someone who is transgender
By The Week Staff Published
-
The Turner Prize 2022: a ‘vintage’ shortlist?
Speed Read All four artists look towards ‘growth, revival and reinvention’ in their work
By The Week Staff Last updated
-
What’s on TV this Christmas? The best holiday television
Speed Read From films and documentaries to musicals for all the family
By The Week Staff Published
-
Coco vision: up close to Chanel opticals
Speed Read Parisian luxury house adds opticals to digital offering
By The Week Staff Published
-
Abba returns: how the Swedish supergroup and their ‘Abba-tars’ are taking a chance on a reunion
Speed Read From next May, digital avatars of the foursome will be performing concerts in east London
By The Week Staff Published
-
‘Turning down her smut setting’: how Nigella Lawson is cleaning up her recipes
Speed Read Last week, the TV cook announced she was axing the word ‘slut’ from her recipe for Slut Red Raspberries in Chardonnay Jelly
By The Week Staff Published