I’ve been listening to Bob Dylan’s Blood on the Tracks for going on 40 years now. In high school, I would write out songs in my Trapper Keeper, using only the first letter of each word in a song. I got bored easily. Lily, Rosemary, and the Jack of Hearts was in there. Pretty sure Tangled Up in Blue was as well.

I can still listen to that album today and take away something new, something unexpected.

Here’s some examples of why I love Dylan.

Let’s start with LRATJOH. 75 lines of poetry and by the end of it, he’s told an entire story, capturing the hopes and fears and personalities of five different characters. Then there’s the way he leaves gaps in the words and lets you fill them in. For instance, Big Jim sees the Jack of Hearts across the cabaret room:

“I know I’ve seen that face somewhere,” Big Jim was thinkin’ to himself
“Maybe down in Mexico or a picture up on somebody’s shelf.”

Maybe on a first listen, we don’t know what Jack is up to, but listening again, we can figure out exactly where Big Jim has seen Jack before.

Or take this amazing passage, as Lily talks to Jack:

Lily took her dress off and buried it away
“Has your luck run out?” she laughed at him, “Well, I guess you must
Have known it would someday
Be careful not to touch the wall, there’s a brand-new coat of paint
I’m glad to see you’re still alive, you’re lookin’ like a saint.”

What have we learned here? Lily and Jack know each other and almost certainly had a relationship. However, things have changed, and Jack needs to watch out for Big Jim (be careful not to touch the wall). It’s virtuosic lyric writing.