| "Highlands" | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Song by Bob Dylan from the album Time Out of Mind | |||||||
| Released | September 30, 1997 | ||||||
| Recorded | January 1997 | ||||||
| Genre | Blues rock | ||||||
| Length | 16:31 | ||||||
| Label | Columbia | ||||||
| Writer | Bob Dylan | ||||||
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"Highlands" is a song by Bob Dylan, released on his 30th studio album Time Out of Mind in 1997. It is Dylan's longest known studio recording at sixteen minutes and thirty one seconds. The song's title is borrowed from the poem "My Heart's in the Highlands" by Scottish poet Robert Burns. In the song's lyrics, Dylan makes a humorous reference to fellow musician and songwriter Neil Young, as well as author Erica Jong.
"Highlands" is the longest song of Dylan's 50-year career; it is one of five Dylan songs longer than 10 minutes, the other four being "Desolation Row" (1965), "Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands" (1966), "Joey" (1976), and "Brownsville Girl" (1986).
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The song is based on a simple (E blues) riff, inspired, according to Dylan, by an unnamed Charley Patton record that has yet to be identified.[1] The riff is played the whole way through the song, creating a hypnotic effect, and as such was compared with "Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands" which featured on Dylan's 1966 album Blonde On Blonde. The song has no traditional chorus or bridge.[2]
A live version of the song was included on the limited edition version of The Best of Bob Dylan, Vol. 2. The recording came from the performance in Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium, Santa Cruz, California, on March 16, 2000.