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Why it matters
A 1970 double album made mostly of covers, traditional songs and a few live tracks, it baffled critics and fans expecting new Dylan songs. Later reissues of its sessions earned it a kinder reassessment.
Self Portrait was assembled from sessions in Nashville and New York in 1969 and 1970, produced by Bob Johnston, along with a handful of performances from the Isle of Wight Festival in 1969, where Dylan played with the Band. It is a sprawling double album of folk standards, pop and country covers, a few instrumentals and only a handful of originals. He sings songs by Paul Simon and Gordon Lightfoot, old ballads and pop standards, often in his Nashville croon, and some tracks carry orchestral strings and backing singers added later. Many critics took it as careless or even a deliberate joke, and Greil Marcus's long review in Rolling Stone became famous for its scorn. Dylan later suggested he had partly wanted to shake off his image as a generational prophet. In 2013 the Bootleg Series released the sessions in plainer, unadorned form as Another Self Portrait, and many listeners heard the music with fresh ears.
Track list · 24 songs
A man calls out to a woman named Alberta, longing for her and wondering where she has gone.
love · the road
Its page ›A jilted lover tells the new partner of his former sweetheart that he knows her far better than they ever will.
love · loss
Its page ›An old prospector looks back on the wild days of the gold rush and the rough companions now long gone.
America · time · loss
Its page ›A broke, stranded man at an airport watches a plane take off toward home, unable to follow it.
the road · loss
Its page ›A man shoots a woman named Sadie, flees across the country, and is caught and brought to trial.
death · the road
Its page ›A tender plea from a lover who asks to be the one person their beloved always turns to.
love
Its page ›The killer of a woman named Sadie tells of his crime, his flight and his capture and sentence.
death · the road
Its page ›A brisk, good-time boogie-woogie romp led by rolling piano and a bright, bouncing band.
freedom
Its page ›A returning young man tests his sweetheart's faithfulness while in disguise, then reveals himself when she stays true.
love · faith
Its page ›A man left behind by his love confesses that he has been sinking into sadness ever since she went away.
love · loss
Its page ›A sneering address to a once-privileged woman who has fallen and must now fend for herself.
loss · freedom
Its page ›An old-timer praises brewing whiskey in the hills, far from tax collectors.
America · freedom
Its page ›A restless man feels the pull of the road and knows he must leave town and keep moving.
the road · freedom
Its page ›A lonely singer sees his life changed when the moon that watched over his solitude suddenly brings him love.
love
Its page ›A poor young man who came to the city looking for work tells of hard times while a fighter keeps going despite every blow.
the road · loss
Its page ›Everyone is restless and stuck until the mysterious Quinn arrives, and then the whole crowd comes joyfully alive.
freedom
Its page ›A man locked away for his crimes asks a friend to hide the truth from the woman he loved.
love · loss · freedom
Its page ›A man watches the woman he loves suffer at the hands of another, and feels her pain as his own.
love · loss
Its page ›A worn-out travelling minstrel keeps rolling on, and the song asks whether anyone will help or reward him.
the road · time
Its page ›A portrait of a self-possessed artist woman who belongs to no one, watched by a man half in awe.
love · freedom
Its page ›A lazy, hummed melody drifts over brass, a song without words that feels like a half-remembered tune.
time
Its page ›A man calls out to a woman named Alberta, longing for her and wondering where she has gone.
love · the road
Its page ›
Where its songs lead
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