The 80s were a strange time for Bob Dylan, as it was for many other artists of his generation. Many aging stars found themselves adopting the ’80s sound in a way that wasn’t received super well or reflected what made them so special in the first place. Dylan wasn’t an exception this, with his ’80s output being his most critically reviled period.
Maybe the apex of this period of poor reception is “Knocked Out Loaded,” which released 40 years ago today. The album opened to pretty poor reviews, being overwhelming described as a boring and uninspired record. This period of Dylan’s career would later be largely written off by the man himself, admitting he was making “bad” albums on purpose.
I’m of the opinion however that no Dylan album has nothing good on it, and this is absolutely true with “Knocked Out Loaded,” which features one of Dylan’s greatest epics, “Brownsville Girl.”
The song is a hilarious, absurd saga following Dylan reminiscing about a former lover and the escapades they got into together, including Dylan almost being gunned down in the street. This is occasionally interrupted by Dylan trying to remember a Gregory Peck movie he saw about him as a gunslinger.
The song features some of Dylan’s funniest lines, a great vocal performance, and the least dated instrumentation and production on the record. It’s very much in line with the classic Dylan epics that we find ourselves used to throughout his discography. Just to highlight the song’s tone, here are some of my favorite lines:
She said, “Welcome to the land of the living dead”
You could tell she was so broken hearted
She said, “Even the swap meets around here are getting pretty corrupt”
Well, you saw my picture in the Corpus Christi Tribune. Underneath it,
it said, “A man with no alibi”
You went out on a limb to testify for me, you said I was with you
Then when I saw you break down in front of the judge and cry real tears
It was the best acting I saw anybody do
You know, it’s funny how things never turn out the way you had ’em planned
The only thing we knew for sure about Henry Porter
is that his name wasn’t Henry Porter
While “Knocked Out Loaded” was far from a success for Dylan, he did create one of his greatest songwriting efforts with “Brownsville Girl,” so happy 40th birthday to one of Dylan’s most absurd songs.
Related: Bob Dylan, 85, Shocks Fans with Out of Character Behavior at Concert – ‘This Is Such a Rare Capture on Video’
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