Idiot Wind

"Idiot Wind" boasts some of Dylan's most malicious lyrics: I can't feel you anymore I can't even touch the books you've read Every time I crawl past your door I been wishin' I was somebody else instead This song was written in the summer of 1974, when Bob was separating from his then-wife, Sara. Although Dylan has reportedly since denied this song is about his former wife, Bob and Sara's son, Jakob, claims this, and many other songs on Blood on the Tracks, are "his parents talking."

On one level, this is another of Dylan's angry songs of moral condemnation, in the same category as "Positively 4th Street" or "Masters Of War." This time, however, the song is more reflective, as the narrator turns the dissecting knife on himself in the final verse, with the lines: And I'll never know the same about you Your holiness or your kind of love And it makes me feel so sorry By the final chorus, the "you" has become "we": We're idiots, babe It's a wonder we can even feed ourselves This lyrical twist elevates the song, causing it to transcend a work of condemnatory catharsis and become a song about the universality of human foolishness.

Dylan re-recorded this in Minnesota while visiting his brother, David. Local musicians were brought in to play with Dylan, while David helped out with production. Dylan liked the results and decided to redo four other songs on the album, including "Tangled Up In Blue." Of the songs Dylan reworked, this one changed the most. Dylan gave it different lyrics and a faster pace than the version he first recorded in New York.