The song most often mentioned by people who obtained advance-listens to Bob Dylan’s Tell Tale Signs: The Bootleg Series Volume 8 has been Red River Shore, which is said to be an unreleased track from the Time Out Of Mind sessions in 1997.

What the advance-listeners failed to mention, as far as I noticed, is that Red River Shore is not only a highlight of this set, but is, just maybe, the greatest thing this Bob Dylan guy has ever done.

It’s difficult to find words, as it ought to be for something of this nature. Suffice it to say, I think, that if it doesn’t make you sink to the ground and bawl like a baby, then you may be just a little too stoic for your own good.

If you haven’t heard it on NPR or somewhere else yet, you can hear it at least in low resolution via the homemade YouTube thing below.

For visuals, there are still shots of some movie posters for the great film “Red River,” starring John Wayne and directed by Howard Hawks, from 1948. I know of no literal relationship between the song and the film, but, y’know, everything’s connected, right?

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In some way, this single song and performance seems to me to encompass and encapsulate just about everything — Dylan’s entire body of work, for starters, but more than that. Bob Dylan has often come up with songs which seem so mysteriously to broaden in scope every time you hear them. This new set has several of them, in fact. But Red River Shore is on a plateau of its own.

Note: I see there is a movie from 1953 actually called “Red River Shore,” but I’m not familiar with that film.

There is also an old song called Red River Shore, which has been recorded by the Kingston Trio and others. It’s beyond question that Dylan had it in mind, but his is a very different song.

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[Update: See my later and more extensive post on this song at the following link: Who's that girl (from the Red River shore)?]

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Addendum: My take on the lyric below:

Some of us turn off the lights and we laugh
In the moonlight shooting by
Some of us scare ourselves to death in the dark
To be where the angels fly
Pretty maids all in a row lined up
Outside my cabin door
I never wanted any of ‘em wantin’ me
‘Cept the girl from the Red River shore

Now I heard of a guy who lived a long time ago
A man full of sorrow and strife
That if someone around him died and was dead
He knew how to bring him on back to life
Well I don’t know what kind of language he used
Or if they do that kind of thing anymore
Sometimes I think nobody ever saw me here at all
‘Cept the girl from the Red River shore

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Posts which might be related to this one based on a mysterious algorithm:

• Who’s that girl (from the Red River shore)?
• A review of Bob Dylan’s “Tell Tale Signs: The Bootleg Series Volume 8″
• The same but different