Nettie Moore (song)
"Nettie Moore" is a folk love song written and performed by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released in 2006 as the eighth track on his album Modern Times. It is characterized by unusually spare (for late-period Dylan) musical backing and a memorable vocal melody that sees Dylan's voice rise and fall with the delivery of each line in the verse. As with much of Dylan's 21st-century output, he produced the song himself under the pseudonym Jack Frost.
| "Nettie Moore" | |
|---|---|
| Song by Bob Dylan | |
| from the album Modern Times | |
| Released | August 29, 2006 |
| Recorded | February 2006 |
| Genre | Folk |
| Length | 6:53 |
| Label | Columbia |
| Songwriter(s) | Bob Dylan |
| Producer(s) | Bob Dylan (as Jack Frost) |
Critical reception
Jon Dolan, writing in Rolling Stone, where the song placed eighth on a list of "The 25 Best Bob Dylan Songs of the 21st Century", noted that, although it has lyrical roots in "Gentle Nettie Moore" and other pre-20th century folk songs, Dylan's "Nettie Moore" nonetheless "feels so personal" to the songwriter because of the way he sings of wandering the earth and being "in a cowboy band".[1]
In their book Bob Dylan All the Songs: The Story Behind Every Track, authors Philippe Margotin and Jean-Michel Guesdon praise the song's "very creative arrangement, including a highly streamlined rhythm section...and cello playing pizzicato as well as with the bow" and call it "one of the best songs on Modern Times".[2]
Singer/songwriter Patti Smith included it on a playlist of her "16 favorite Bob Dylan love songs."[3] On the opposite end of the spectrum, historian Sean Wilentz, seeing darker implications in the line "No knife could ever cut our love apart", interprets the song as a hidden Murder ballad in his book Bob Dylan's America.[4]
A USA Today article ranking "all of Bob Dylan's songs" placed "Nettie Moore" 24th (out of 359).[5]
Cultural references
The line "Blues this mornin' fallin' down like a hail"[6] paraphrases a line from Robert Johnson's "Hellhound on My Trail".[7]
The line "They say whisky'll kill you, but I don't think it will" is a reference to the traditional folk song "Moonshiner".[8]
The line "Albert's in the graveyard, Frankie's raising hell" is a reference to the traditional folk song "Frankie and Albert".[9]
Live Performances
Between 2006 and 2012 Dylan performed the song 142 times in concert on the Never Ending Tour.[10]
Other versions
The song was covered by Born 53 on their 2012 album Thieving in the Alley and Muscle & Bone on their 2013 album Masterpieces of Bob Dylan.[11]
Notes
- Vozick-Levinson, Jon Dolan,Patrick Doyle,Andy Greene,Brian Hiatt,Angie Martoccio,Rob Sheffield,Hank Shteamer,Simon; Dolan, Jon; Doyle, Patrick; Greene, Andy; Hiatt, Brian; Martoccio, Angie; Sheffield, Rob; Shteamer, Hank; Vozick-Levinson, Simon (2020-06-18). "The 25 Best Bob Dylan Songs of the 21st Century". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2020-12-18.
- Margotin, Philippe (27 October 2015). Bob Dylan : all the songs : the story behind every track. Guesdon, Jean-Michel (First ed.). New York. ISBN 978-1-57912-985-9. OCLC 869908038.
- Staff·July 1, Far Out; 2020. "Patti Smith names her 16 favourite Bob Dylan love songs". Far Out Magazine. Retrieved 2020-12-18.CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
- Wilentz, Sean (2011). Bob Dylan in America (First Anchor Books ed.). New York. ISBN 978-0-7679-3179-3. OCLC 697261610.
- "Ranking all of Bob Dylan's songs, from No. 1 to No. 359". For The Win. 2015-11-06. Retrieved 2021-01-02.
- "Nettie Moore | The Official Bob Dylan Site". www.bobdylan.com. Retrieved 2021-01-02.
- "Hellhound on My Trail Lyrics". www.lyrics.com. Retrieved 2021-01-02.
- "Folk Song Lyrics Archive". songbat.com. Retrieved 2021-01-02.
- "Frankie & Albert | The Official Bob Dylan Site". www.bobdylan.com. Retrieved 2021-01-02.
- "Bob Dylan Tour Statistics | setlist.fm". www.setlist.fm. Retrieved 2021-01-02.
- "Tune Doctor : DYLAN COVERS # 165 Born 53/Muscle and Bone - Nettie Moore". Tune Doctor. Retrieved 2020-12-18.