4th Time Around

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“4th Time Around”
Album cover
Album cover
Song by Bob Dylan
Album Blonde on Blonde
Released May 16, 1966
Recorded February 14, 1966
Genre Folk rock
Length 4:35
Label Columbia
Writer Bob Dylan
Blonde on Blonde track listing
"Absolutely Sweet Marie"
(11)
"4th Time Around"
(12)
"Obviously 5 Believers"
(13)

"4th Time Around" is a song by Bob Dylan on his 1966 album, Blonde on Blonde.

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[edit] Narrative

With lyrics that contrast the mundane with the absurd, "4th Time Around" is suggestive of a young romance. The song revolves around the actions and brief spoken phrases of a man and a woman, who are presumably in the midst of a lover's quarrel. It opens with what could be interpreted as the climax of an argument "When she said/ Don't waste your words, they're just lies/ I cried she was deaf." The narrator refers to the woman as "she" throughout the song, but in the last stanza begins to address someone directly, using the pronoun "you", i.e. "you took me in,/you loved me then". Musically speaking, the simple folk melody of the song contrasts with the more blues-rock oriented sound of most of Blonde on Blonde.

[edit] Comparisons to "Norwegian Wood"

"4th Time Around" was commonly speculated to be a response to The Beatles' song "Norwegian Wood" - written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney for their 1965 album Rubber Soul - as the two tracks share a reasonably similar melody and lyrical premise. "Norwegian Wood" was considered an artistic leap for Lennon, as it was his earliest story-song and showed an obvious Dylan-influence. "4th Time Around" has been seen as either a playful homage, or a satirical warning to Lennon about co-opting Dylan's well-known songwriting devices. Lennon himself felt it to be a somewhat pointed parody of "Norwegian Wood". Lennon later told his biographer that he considered Dylan's effort to be more a playful homage. Still, the last line of "4th Time Around" can be interpreted as more bitter than playful: "I never asked for your crutch./ Now don't ask for mine." In the context of the Dylan-Lennon rivalry, this line can be interpreted as Dylan warning Lennon not to use Dylan's songs as a "crutch" for Lennon's songwriting.

However, this line can also be read a comment aimed at Joan Baez. During his early career, Baez had championed Dylan as a rising talent and regularly called him on stage with her when touring. As Dylan became the more popular artist, she expected the same treatment, but Dylan was reluctant to share the spotlight. In "4th Time around", Dylan may have been commenting on their break-up and the feeling that he had never relied on her support (or "crutch"), while Baez was now leaning on her Dylan connection for credibility.

[edit] Also

A performance of "4th Time Around" from The Bootleg Series Vol. 4: Bob Dylan Live 1966, The "Royal Albert Hall" Concert appeared on the soundtrack for the film Vanilla Sky.

[edit] Covers

[edit] External links

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