A song that “overtook” the mind of Bob Dylan left the legendary songwriter calling himself a “schmuck” for writing it.
The veteran performer is not without his hits, though a handful of songs penned by Dylan fall short of his usual standard. One of the songs he has openly commented on featured on Another Side of Bob Dylan, which was released just a year before his monumental Bringing It All Back Home. Decades on from the release of his classic albums and Dylan says he regrets writing one song in particular. A firm favourite of fans from the r/BobDylan subreddit, the track was hailed by some fans for featuring one of his all-time great lyrics. Despite the praise from modern-day listeners, it appears Dylan is still not a fan of the song, having never performed it live.
Praise for the song saw users call it a “masterfully written” piece from the legendary songwriter. The user added: “Isn’t it brilliant how modern the line about nailing her in the ruins of her pettiness feels? That sounds like a line that could find its place in a hip-hop song from the current age.”
Sharing their love for Ballad in Plain D, the user added: “It’s unashamedly acerbic, yet not quite to the level of avoiding introspection about his role in the situation. What do you guys think of this line and Ballad in Plain D as a whole?”
Though some remain a fan of the Another Side of Bob Dylan track, others have been keen to point out Dylan is no fan of the piece at all. He told Bill Flanagan: “Oh yeah, that one! I look back and say, ‘I must have been a real schmuck to write that.’ I look back at that particular one and say, ‘of all the songs I’ve written, maybe I could have left that alone.’
“I wouldn’t really exploit a relationship with somebody. Whereas in Ballad in Plain D I did. Not knowing that I did it. At that time my audience was very small. It overtook my mind so I wrote it. Maybe I shouldn’t have used that.”
Fans have since agreed with Dylan’s take on the song but believe there is still value in the performance and the depths of the song. One user suggested: “Of course it was a schmuck move for him to directly refer to his ex’s sister as a parasite on a record, but that only adds to the depth of the song on an analytical level.
“It reveals insecurity on Dylan’s part, an insecurity that he wasn’t admitting to very often in his songs of the time. We’re talking about the guy who was writing songs like Restless Farewell and Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right.
This song is in competition with My Back Pages for being one of the two songs from this album that truly live up to the name and present “another side of Bob Dylan.”
Suze Rotolo, who is referenced in the song, eventually forgave Dylan for writing of her sister. She said: “People have asked how I felt about those songs that were bitter, like Ballad in Plain D, since I inspired some of those too; yet I never felt hurt by them.
“I understood what he was doing. It was the end of something, and we both were hurt and bitter. His art was his outlet, his exorcism. It was healthy. That was the way he wrote out his life, the loving songs, the cynical songs, the political songs, they are all part of the way he saw his world and lived his life, period.”
I once took the words of this song and altered them only a little to express my own position in a relationship at that time. Doing that was like my own personal “chime of freedom flashing”
Beautiful song — not a shmuck!