Gotta Serve Somebody

This article is about the Bob Dylan song. For the tribute album, see Gotta Serve Somebody: The Gospel Songs of Bob Dylan.
"Gotta Serve Somebody"
Single by Bob Dylan
from the album Slow Train Coming
B-side "Trouble in Mind"
Released August 20, 1979
Recorded May 4, 1979
Muscle Shoals Sound Studios
Genre Rock, gospel
Length 5:25
Label Columbia Records
Writer(s) Bob Dylan
Producer(s) Jerry Wexler
Barry Beckett
Bob Dylan singles chronology
"Changing of the Guards"
(1978)		 "Gotta Serve Somebody"
(1979)		 "Precious Angel"
(1979)

"Gotta Serve Somebody" is a song by Bob Dylan from his 1979 studio album Slow Train Coming. It won the Grammy Award for Best Rock Vocal Performance by a Male in 1979.[1] The song was recorded in May of that year at Muscle Shoals Sound Studios in Sheffield, Alabama. It stands as Dylan's last hit single, peaking at #24 on the Billboard Magazine Hot 100 singles chart.[2] The b-side, "Trouble in Mind" was a Dylan original that did not appear on the album.

In response to "Gotta Serve Somebody", John Lennon wrote and recorded the song "Serve Yourself," which was a parody that mocked the injection of religion into Dylan's songwriting.[2][3] In his diary, Lennon said of Dylan's song, "The backing was mediocre by Jerry Wexler, the singing was really pathetic, and the words were just embarrassing."[4]

Notwithstanding Lennon's opinion, as of 2015 the song still enjoys airplay, and has been covered by Mavis Staples, Etta James, Willie Nelson and various blues musicians.

The song was featured in the movie The Ultimate Gift.

References

  1. ↑ "1979 - The 22nd Annual Grammy Awards - Grammy.com". Grammy.com. Retrieved 2014-06-30.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Readers' Poll: The 10 Worst Bob Dylan Songs". rollingstone.com. Retrieved 2013-07-06.
  3. ↑ Turner, Steve. The Gospel According to the Beatles, Westminster John Knox Press (August 1, 2006), ISBN 978-0-664-22983-2
  4. ↑ Lennon's Lost Diary Tape (5th September 1979), The Complete Lost Lennon Tapes, Vol. 17