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Man in the Long Black Coat

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"Man in the Long Black Coat"
Song by Bob Dylan
from the album Oh Mercy
ReleasedSeptember 18, 1989
RecordedMarch/April 1989
StudioMobile studio at 1305 Soniat St., New Orleans
Genre
Length4:30
LabelColumbia
Songwriter(s)Bob Dylan
Producer(s)Daniel Lanois
Oh Mercy track listing
10 tracks
  1. "Political World"
  2. "Where Teardrops Fall"
  3. "Everything Is Broken"
  4. "Ring Them Bells"
  5. "Man in the Long Black Coat"
  6. "Most of the Time"
  7. "What Good Am I?"
  8. "Disease of Conceit"
  9. "What Was It You Wanted"
  10. "Shooting Star"

"Man in the Long Black Coat" is a song written and performed by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released in 1989 as the fifth track on his album Oh Mercy. It is a minor-key folk ballad, often described as "haunting" and frequently cited as a highlight of the album.[2][3][4] The song was produced by Daniel Lanois.

Composition and recording

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The song's lyric tells the story of a woman who leaves her partner to run away with the mysterious title character. It is often interpreted as a reworking of the ancient "daemon lover" motif, in which a woman leaves her husband for the devil.[5] Dylan explored this genre early in his career by performing the traditional folk song "House Carpenter", recordings of which can be found on The Bootleg Series Volumes 1–3 (Rare & Unreleased) 1961–1991 and The Bootleg Series Vol. 10: Another Self Portrait (1969–1971),[6] but the lyrics to "Man in the Long Black Coat" seem to be, by design, more ambiguous than that. In their book Bob Dylan All the Songs: The Story Behind Every Track, authors Philippe Margotin and Jean-Michel Guesdon muse about who the title character might be: "The incarnation of death, even the devil? But would Satan mention the Bible? More poetically, the mysterious man in a black coat could be the symbol of a journey, the loneliness of the pilgrim on the road seeking the truth. But Dylan does not want to reveal anything about the character's identity or even about his female companion. Perhaps she wanted to leave the world of corruption behind".[7] In his memoir Chronicles: Volume One, Dylan compared the song to one of Johnny Cash's biggest hits: "I thought of it as my 'I Walk the Line', a song I'd always considered to be up there at the top, one of the most mysterious and revolutionary of all time, a song that makes an attack on your most vulnerable spots, sharp words from a master".[8]

Like all of the songs on Oh Mercy, "Man in the Long Black Coat" was recorded in New Orleans, and Margotin and Guesdon see the "atmosphere of the Louisiana bayou [as] being immediately perceptible when listening" to the song. Lanois agreed, saying, "We spent a lot of time getting the ambience right, recording the neighborhood crickets - the genuine sound of the New Orleans night. It's a song that was directly inspired by the environment and mood of the city". Engineer Mark Howard also vividly remembers the recording session: "Malcolm [Burn] just jumped on the keyboards and started playing these crickets, and it made it really haunting, and y'know, we did a couple of takes and, bang, that was that: masterpiece done. That was the first time ever that hairs went up on my arm while I was recording music, it was magical".[9]

Critical reception

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Rolling Stone's Anthony DeCurtis called the song "a chilling narrative ballad suffused with a medieval sense of sin, death, illicit sexuality and satanic power...the spare musical background evokes a universe frighteningly devoid of absolute meaning".[10]

Dylan scholar Tony Attwood praised the song for both its lyrical ambiguity and clear-eyed sense of despair, claiming that "the brilliance of the song is that it meets all interpretations. The sense of continuing futility is overwhelming which ever way you look at it...Rarely has Dylan written more poignant, sad, desperate lines".[11]

A 2021 Consequence article ranking Dylan's top 15 albums (in which Oh Mercy placed 14th) cited it as the best song on the album and called it a "lament, which could be right out of a Nathaniel Hawthorne short story collection, with an air of dark mystery and a chill that hits bone. It’s difficult to imagine both Dylan’s modern live show and his late ’90s resurgence in the studio without first mastering this type of cryptic narrative, drip-and-drab phrasing, and murky production.[12]

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An instrumental portion of Dylan's original version is prominently featured in the Richard Gere-starring "Billy the Kid" segment of Todd Haynes' 2007 film I'm Not There. Mark Lanegan also recorded a version for the movie's official soundtrack but it is not heard in the film proper.[13]

Live performances

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Dylan played "Man in the Long Black Coat" live 287 times on the Never Ending Tour between 1989 and 2013.[14] A live version performed in Tampa, Florida on January 30, 1999 was made available to stream on Dylan's official website in April 1999.[15] The live debut occurred at the Beacon Theatre in New York City on October 13, 1989 and the last performance (to date) took place at Atlantico in Rome, Italy on November 7, 2013.[16]

Notable covers

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The song has been covered by over a dozen other artists.[17] Among the most notable versions:

References

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  1. ^ "Man in the Long Black Coat". 30 January 2006.
  2. ^ musicjen (2015-07-27). "My Favourite Songs: Bob Dylan – Man In the Long Black Coat |". www.50thirdand3rd.com. Retrieved 2021-02-28.
  3. ^ Kristobak, Ryan (13 October 2016). "11 Of Bob Dylan's Most Scathing Lyrics". Culture Trip. Retrieved 2021-02-28.
  4. ^ Clay (2010-07-04). "Song of the Day #714: 'Man in the Long Black Coat' – Bob Dylan". Meet Me In Montauk. Retrieved 2021-02-28.
  5. ^ "Man in the Long Black Coat, 1989". Retrieved 2021-02-28.
  6. ^ "House Carpenter | The Official Bob Dylan Site". www.bobdylan.com. Retrieved 2021-02-28.
  7. ^ Margotin, Philippe; Jean-Michel Guesdon (2015). Bob Dylan : all the songs : the story behind every track (First ed.). New York. ISBN 978-1-57912-985-9. OCLC 869908038.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  8. ^ Dylan, Bob, 1941- (2004). Chronicles. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-7432-2815-4. OCLC 56111894.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  9. ^ "Most of the time; the meaning of the music and the lyrics | Untold Dylan". 2015-02-10. Retrieved 2021-02-27.
  10. ^ DeCurtis, Anthony (1989-09-21). "Oh Mercy". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2021-02-28.
  11. ^ ""The Man in the Long Black Coat." Bob Dylan reaches the depths, and then descends some more. | Untold Dylan". 2013-02-18. Retrieved 2021-02-28.
  12. ^ "Bob Dylan's 15 Best Albums of All Time". Consequence. 2021-05-24. Retrieved 2021-06-17.
  13. ^ I'm Not There (2007) - IMDb, retrieved 2021-02-28
  14. ^ "Most of the Time | The Official Bob Dylan Site". www.bobdylan.com. Retrieved 2021-02-27.
  15. ^ "Online Performances (bobdylan.com)". searchingforagem.com. Retrieved 2021-03-06.
  16. ^ "Setlists | The Official Bob Dylan Site". www.bobdylan.com. Retrieved 2021-05-30.
  17. ^ "Cover versions of Man in the Long Black Coat written by Bob Dylan | SecondHandSongs". secondhandsongs.com. Retrieved 2021-02-28.
  18. ^ kruekutt (2017-08-05). "Rick's Retroarchy: Emerson, Lake and Palmer in the 1990s". Progarchy. Retrieved 2021-02-28.
  19. ^ "Cover versions of Man in the Long Black Coat by Joan Osborne | SecondHandSongs". secondhandsongs.com. Retrieved 2021-02-28.
  20. ^ "Cover versions of Man in the Long Black Coat by Mark Lanegan | SecondHandSongs". secondhandsongs.com. Retrieved 2021-02-28.
  21. ^ "Cover versions of Man in the Long Black Coat by Barb Jungr | SecondHandSongs". secondhandsongs.com. Retrieved 2021-02-28.
  22. ^ Smith, Patti (2024-06-12). "Happy trials". Patti Smith. Retrieved 2024-06-28.
[edit]
  • Lyrics at Bob Dylan's official site
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