Bob Dylan – at midnight – unexpectedly released a previously unheard near-seventeen-minute new track, “Murder Most Foul”.
There is no clue to when it was recorded but the delicacy of his vocals sound like straight out of his live shoes over the last two years with hints of It’s Not Dark Yet …
He was equally as mysterious about the song’s origins in the note he sent out with it: “Greetings to my fans and followers with gratitude for all your support and loyalty over the years. This is an unreleased song we recorded a while back that you might find interesting. Stay safe, stay observant, and may God be with you.”
It begins like a recounting of the assassination of John F. Kennedy, but becomes a dystopian journey through the 1960s and across the last century of America, backed by piano, violin, and gentle percussion.
“The day they killed him, someone said to me, son, the age of the Antichrist has just only begun,” Dylan sings. “The soul of a nation’s been torn away, and it’s beginning to go into a slow decay… It’s 36 hours past judgement day.”
In its prayer-like final passages Dylan brings in DJ Wolfman Jack, John Lee Hooker, Guitar Slim, Bud Powell, Stevie Nicks, Don Henley and Thelonious Monk.
Is this the heralding of a new album?
Bob Dylan at his best
The guy never fails to amaze me,
This really is a stunner … i think it is an outtake from Tempest – probaby dropped because of the voice and sound being different to the rest! And it was another long song!