The first of two versions of the traditional murder ballad on Self Portrait, its tempo and key lurching unpredictably from verse to verse.
The words
A man shoots a woman named Sadie, flees across the country, and is caught and brought to trial.
This old American ballad is narrated by the killer himself, who tells plainly how he shot Sadie, ran away and was finally arrested and sentenced. Dylan treats the song as an experiment, with the guitar and rhythm shifting abruptly so that the story seems to stagger and restart. The effect is disorienting, almost like a sketch of the song being worked out. Its companion, Little Sadie, follows later with a steadier take.
A traditional song
Lyrics on bobdylan.com ↗Listen and watch
The words
A man shoots a woman named Sadie, flees across the country, and is caught and brought to trial.
This old American ballad is narrated by the killer himself, who tells plainly how he shot Sadie, ran away and was finally arrested and sentenced. Dylan treats the song as an experiment, with the guitar and rhythm shifting abruptly so that the story seems to stagger and restart. The effect is disorienting, almost like a sketch of the song being worked out. Its companion, Little Sadie, follows later with a steadier take.
A traditional song
Lyrics on bobdylan.com ↗The same year · 1970
Read onMusicBrainz ↗