1989 · a landmark

Oh Mercy

The '80s · 1983–1990

Listen to the album

Why it matters

Recorded in New Orleans with producer Daniel Lanois, Oh Mercy wrapped new songs in a dark, atmospheric sound. Critics hailed it as his strongest album in years, and Dylan later devoted a long chapter of Chronicles: Volume One to making it.

Bono suggested that Dylan work with Daniel Lanois, and in early 1989 the two set up in a house in New Orleans that Lanois had turned into a studio. They worked mostly at night with a small group of local players, including Cyril Neville on percussion, and Lanois shaped a dark, humid sound of echoing guitars, low drums and close, intimate vocals. Dylan had arrived with new songs written over the previous year, and the album moves between social complaint, as in "Political World" and "Everything Is Broken", and private reckonings such as "Most of the Time" and "What Good Am I?". "Ring Them Bells" is played almost alone at the piano. The two men sometimes clashed, and songs such as "Dignity" and "Series of Dreams" were left off. Reviewers called it his best album in a decade, and Dylan's long account of the sessions in his memoir made it one of his most closely studied records.

Track list · 10 songs

Where its songs lead

Man in the Long Black Coat · Covered byMan in the Long Black CoatJoan Osborne · 1995Joan Osborne included the Oh Mercy song on her hit 1995 album Relish.Political World · Same theme asSlow Train1979Both survey a society corrupted by money and power.Everything Is Broken · Same theme asWorld Gone Wrong1993Both survey a world falling apart, the old Mississippi Sheiks song echoing his own Oh Mercy track.Ring Them Bells · Same theme asEvery Grain of Sand1981Both are hymn-like prayers, one closing the gospel years and one after them.Ring Them Bells · Same theme asChimes of Freedom1964Both use ringing bells as a call on behalf of the suffering, a quarter century apart.

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