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Why it matters
Produced by Don Was and David Was with guests including George Harrison, Elton John and Slash, it mixes nursery-rhyme simplicity with a rock band sound.
Dylan made Under the Red Sky quickly in Los Angeles in early 1990 with the brothers Don and David Was producing, the same year he recorded with the Traveling Wilburys. A long list of famous players dropped in, among them George Harrison, Elton John, Slash, David Crosby, Bruce Hornsby and the brothers Stevie Ray and Jimmie Vaughan. The music is straightforward rock and blues, often built on short, simple riffs, and many of the songs are written like nursery rhymes or fables, with riddling characters and plain, repeating forms. The album is dedicated to a young child, which some listeners take as a key to its tone. Coming after Oh Mercy, it puzzled critics, and the opening "Wiggle Wiggle" was widely mocked. Over time more listeners have come to hear the fairy-tale songs, and the title track in particular, as deliberate and even haunting rather than careless.
Track list · 10 songs
A childlike chant urges someone to wiggle through a series of absurd images.
Its page ›A narrator marvels at a world where greed and wrongdoing go unpunished and nothing makes sense anymore.
America · time
Its page ›At a London speakers' corner, a man rails against television until the crowd turns ugly and the scene ends up on the news.
America · protest
Its page ›An army of ten thousand men passes by in a series of strange, fable-like images.
war · time
Its page ›Pairs, then larger groups, march forward in a counting rhyme that hints at the flood and the end of things.
faith · time
Its page ›The singer finds comfort in the belief that God sees everything, including the troubles between people.
faith · love
Its page ›A portrait of a charming, careless man surrounded by admirers, whose easy life hides something hollow.
love · freedom
Its page ›A nursery-rhyme image of a cat in a well opens a vision of a world sliding toward ruin.
death · faith · time
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Where its songs lead
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