"Desolation Row" is the closing track of Bob Dylan's sixth studio album, Highway 61 Revisited. It is noted for its length (11:21) and surreal lyrics. It was recorded on August 4, 1965, in Columbia's Studio A in New York City. The two takes spliced for the album were the second and third time Dylan had sung the song. Charlie McCoy played acoustic guitar for the record, making it the album's only track not to feature an electric guitar. An alternat...
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"Desolation Row" is the closing track of Bob Dylan's sixth studio album, Highway 61 Revisited. It is noted for its length (11:21) and surreal lyrics. It was recorded on August 4, 1965, in Columbia's Studio A in New York City. The two takes spliced for the album were the second and third time Dylan had sung the song. Charlie McCoy played acoustic guitar for the record, making it the album's only track not to feature an electric guitar. An alternate version was also recorded with electric guitar and a prominent bass that was eventually released on The Bootleg Series Vol. 7: No Direction Home: The Soundtrack. Rolling Stone ranked the song as number 185 in their 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. Joe Strummer makes a reference to Desolation Row in his song "Coma Girl" released on Streetcore. It's also referenced in Laura Branigan's "Spanish Eddie" (David Palmer/Chuck Cochran), Atlantic, 1985.
In the New Oxford Companion to Music, Gammond described "Desolation Row" as an example of Dylan's...
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