Spirit on the Water

"Spirit on the Water" is a jazzy love ballad written and performed by the American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released in 2006 as the second track on his album Modern Times. The title is a reference to a passage in the Book of Genesis.[1] It is notable for being the only song on Modern Times to feature a harmonica solo.[2] As with much of Dylan's 21st-century output, he produced the song himself under the pseudonym Jack Frost.

"Spirit on the Water"
Song by Bob Dylan
from the album Modern Times
ReleasedAugust 29, 2006
RecordedFebruary 2006
GenreFolk, Jazz
Length7:41
LabelColumbia
Songwriter(s)Bob Dylan
Producer(s)Bob Dylan (as Jack Frost)

Critical reception

Patrick Doyle, writing in Rolling Stone, where the song placed 17th on a list of "The 25 Best Bob Dylan Songs of the 21st Century", calls it a "love song" imbued with a "trancelike feeling". He describes the song as being told from the point-of-view of a narrator who sings about "the joy his lover brings him" before revealing a "cruel and simple twist of fate at the end".[3] Dylan scholar Tony Attwood elaborates on the twist ending as "I love you but I can’t be with you in eternity because I killed a guy in the past" and notes that he can’t think of "any other song that uses that twist".[4]

In their book Bob Dylan All the Songs: The Story Behind Every Track, authors Philippe Margotin and Jean-Michel Guesdon discuss the song as exhibiting Dylan's "love for jazz", noting that "the atmosphere is light and bright" and that "Dylan sings with his crooner voice, which foreshadows his 2015 album Shadows in the Night".[5]

A USA Today article ranking "all of Bob Dylan's songs" placed "Spirit on the Water" 54th (out of 359).[6]

Cultural references

As with the title of the song, the line "Darkness on the face of the deep" is a reference to a passage in the Book of Genesis.[7]

The line "Can't believe these things would ever fade from your mind"[8] is a verbatim quote from Book 2, Section 4 from Black Sea Letters by the ancient Roman poet Ovid.[9]

The line "I'm wild about you, gal / You ought to be a fool about me" is a close paraphrase of a line in Sonny Boy Williamson's "Black Gal Blues".[10]

Live Performances

Between 2006 and 2018 Dylan performed the song 570 times in concert on the Never Ending Tour. This makes it the second most frequently performed song from Modern Times behind "Thunder on the Mountain".[11] During live performances, it has become commonplace for audience members to yell "No!" after the lines "You think I'm over the hill / You think I'm past my prime" in the final verse.[12][13][14]

Cover versions

The song was covered by Denny Freeman in an instrumental jazz version on his 2012 album Diggin' on Dylan.

Danish singer-songwriter Steffen Brandt translated the song into Danish and covered it (as "Mørke skygger over vandet") on his 2009 album Baby Blue.

Notes
  1. "Genesis 1:2 Now the earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters". biblehub.com. Retrieved 2021-01-10.
  2. "Harp Keys to Dylan Songs". dylanchords.info. Retrieved 2021-01-10.
  3. 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.
  4. "Spirit on the water: Dylan borrows from God, Sonny Boy Williamson, and Ovid. | Untold DylanUntold Dylan". 2016-11-24. Retrieved 2021-01-10.
  5. 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.
  6. "Ranking all of Bob Dylan's songs, from No. 1 to No. 359". For The Win. 2015-11-06. Retrieved 2021-01-02.
  7. "How God Made the World". W. A. Criswell Sermon Library. Retrieved 2021-01-10.
  8. "Spirit on the Water | The Official Bob Dylan Site". www.bobdylan.com. Retrieved 2021-01-10.
  9. "The Streets of Rome: The Classical Dylan". citeseerx.ist.psu.edu. Retrieved 2021-01-10.
  10. "Black Gal Blues Lyrics Sonny Boy Williamson( Williamson Sonny Boy ) ※ Mojim.com". mojim.com. Retrieved 2021-01-10.
  11. "Bob Dylan Tour Statistics | setlist.fm". www.setlist.fm. Retrieved 2021-01-02.
  12. CALL, John J. Moser, OF THE MORNING. "LV MUSIC: Bob Dylan gives Staber Arena a whopping good time". mcall.com. Retrieved 2021-01-10.
  13. Deluca, Dan. "Review: Bob Dylan opens three-night stand at the Academy of Music". www.inquirer.com. Retrieved 2021-01-10.
  14. Pareles, Jon (2007-07-02). "A Mythic Troubadour Visits Hallowed Ground (Published 2007)". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-01-10.
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