Link to Song: Love Minus Zero/No Limit
What you should know about this song: This is one of Dylan’s most lastingly popular hits from the Bringing It All Back Home album he recorded in 1965. Joan Baez and The Turtles are among the other artists who have covered this song on record. Some sources say it was originally written as a tribute to Dylan’s future wife, Sara Lowndes, to exemplify how she brought him calm in the midst of chaos. What I also found interesting was that some sources have pointed to a number of famous authors from which Dylan possibly pulled to create the surreal imagery found in this song’s lyrics. For example, some of the lyrics seem to recall Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Raven” and the book of Daniel from the Bible. Also, there is some speculation that the style of the song’s lyrics are reminiscent of William Blake’s Poem “The Sick Rose”(source).
“Songwriting is like fishing in a stream: you put in your life and hope you catch something. And I don’t think anyone downstream from Bob Dylan ever caught anything.” – Arlo Guthrie*
Photo Source: Daniel Kramer
