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Why it matters
A patchwork of covers and co-writes, it is remembered mainly for the eleven-minute Brownsville Girl.
Knocked Out Loaded came together in 1986 around Dylan's touring with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, assembled from sessions old and new rather than planned as a whole. It mixes covers, gospel and country songs with co-writes: one with Petty, another with Carole Bayer Sager, and a Kris Kristofferson song sung with a children's choir. The sound swings from loose rhythm and blues to slick backing vocals, and much of it feels unfinished. At its center, though, is "Brownsville Girl", an eleven-minute song written with the playwright Sam Shepard. It began life as a different song in the Empire Burlesque sessions, and it unfolds like a road movie, drifting between a Western film, memory and a love affair, with Dylan half speaking and half singing over a full band and gospel singers. Reviews of the album were poor and sales were low, but that one song has kept a devoted following and is often named among his best.
Track list · 8 songs
A man warns a restless lover that if she wants to run around, she should not expect him to wait at home.
love · the road
Its page ›Memories of loved ones and of the faith they passed on return unbidden and bring comfort in the night.
faith · time · loss
Its page ›A spurned lover imagines that someday his former partner will understand what she gave up, though he hardly believes it.
love · loss
Its page ›A rambling tale of a road trip, an old movie and a lost woman blurs memory and myth.
the road · time
Its page ›A man has decided to leave, and nothing his lover says will talk him out of taking off.
the road · freedom · love
Its page ›A man under a lover's spell is torn between devotion and the need to break away before he is lost.
love · freedom
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Where its songs lead
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