Music / Time Out of Mind

It doesn’t matter where I go anymore; I just go.

Time Out of Mind is the thirtieth studio album by Bob Dylan, released in 1997. Upon release it was met with huge commercial and critical praise. Many named it one of his best albums. It was certainly the best-received Dylan album since Blood on the Tracks from 1975 and his first with original material since Under the Red Sky from 1990, which had been a critical and commercial disappointment. It won the 1998 Grammy Award for Album of the Year, Dylan's only album to do so.

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Tracklist:

1. "Love Sick" (5:21)
2. "Dirt Road Blues" (3:36)
3. "Standing in the Doorway" (7:43)
4. "Million Miles" (5:52)
5. "Tryin' to Get to Heaven" (5:21)
6. "'Til I Fell in Love with You" (5:17)
7. "Not Dark Yet" (6:29)
8. "Cold Irons Bound" (7:15)
9. "Make You Feel My Love" (3:32)
10. "Can't Wait" (5:47)
11. "Highlands" (16:31)

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Tropes Out of Mind:

• Alliterative Title: "Million Miles".
• Always Night: Subverted by "Not Dark Yet".
• Anti-Love Song: "Love Sick", "Till I Fell in Love with You"
  I was alright, 'til I fell in love with you
• Break Up Song: "Can't Wait"
  Oh, honey, after all these years you're still the one
  Well, I'm strollin' through the lonely graveyard of my mind
  I left my life with you somewhere back there along the line
  I thought somehow that I would be spared this fate
  I don't know how much longer I can wait
• Distinct Double Album: Dylan's first since Self Portrait (1970). It's a single CD, though.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: "Tryin' to Get to Heaven".
  I've been all around the world, boys
  And I'm tryin' to get to heaven before they close the door.
• Epic Rocking: "Highlands" (16:31) was the longest song he'd released up to that point, and remained his longest studio recording until "Murder Most Foul" exceeded it by 23 seconds in 2020. "Standing in the Doorway" (7:43), "Not Dark Yet" (6:29), and "Cold Irons Bound" (7:15) are also long enough to qualify for the trope.
• Face on the Cover: Bob Dylan playing guitar.
• Gay Paree: Mentioned in "Not Dark Yet".
  Well, I've been to London and I've been to gay Paris
• Have a Gay Old Time: "Standing in the Doorway"—"I'm strumming on my gay guitar." But since it was written and recorded in 1997 it's a case of Dylan purposely using the old meaning to convey anachronism.
• Longest Song Goes Last: "Highlands", which is almost as long as the three previous songs combined
• Record Producer: Dylan hired Daniel Lanois to produce, just as he had with Oh Mercy eight years earlier.
• Shout-Out:
  • "Highlands"
  I'm listening to Neil Young, I gotta turn up the sound
  Someone's always yellin': "Turn him down"
  (...) I say: "I've read Erica Jong."
  • The album having the same title as a Steely Dan song might be a coincidence, but remember that their debut album (Can't Buy a Thrill) was named after a line in a Dylan song.^note "It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry"
• Silly Love Songs: "Make You Feel My Love", which not coincidentally has become one of Dylan's most covered songs of the last 40 years. (In fact, Billy Joel's version was released before Dylan's).
• Something Blues: "Dirt Road Blues".
• Walk the Earth: "Dirt Road Blues"
  Gonna walk down that dirt road
  'Til someone lets me ride
  If I can't find my baby
  I'm gonna run away and hide

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