Link to Song: Just Like a Woman
What you should know about this song: The first time I heard this song, it was introduced during a radio hour of Bob Dylan music as the DJ’s favorite Dylan song, and I’m going to be honest… I didn’t get it. Since then, I’ve learned a lot more about the song and have found it to have a sweet yet perplexing drift that I respect. The reality is that relationships are hard and at times extremely turbulent, and this song captures this very well. Rolling Stone Magazine rated it as the 4th greatest Dylan song of all time, describing it as “a complex portrait of adoration and disappointment, written as vengeance but sung as regret.” The article went on to say that it’s about the hard lessons in romance – “the giving, the taking, and leaving” (Issue 1131). “Just Like a Woman” is complicated and quite confusing, but so are relationships – that’s what’s so brilliant about it.
“‘Just Like a Woman’ is a hard song to pin down. It’s one of those that you can sing a thousand times and still ask, ‘What is it about?’, but you know there’s a real feeling there.” – Bob Dylan, 1992*
“There’s a lifetime of listening in these details. I still marvel at what an absolutely stunning piece of writing it is.” – Jimmy Webb, songwriter (Rolling Stone Magazine, Issue 1131)
*Source: “Dylan: 100 Songs and Pictures” by Fine Communications
