Ninety Miles an Hour (Down a Dead End Street) – Bob Dylan

Ninety Miles an Hour (Down a Dead End Street) is a song from Bob Dylan’s 25th studio album Down in the Groove in 1988. The album is one of Dylan’s most unfavourably received albums amongst critics and fans. It was Dylan’s second consecutive album (after Knocked Out Loaded) to receive almost unanimously negative reviews. Released during a period when his recording career was experiencing a slump, sales were disappointing. In 2007, even Rolling Stone labeled Down in the Groove as Bob Dylan’s worst album. Ouch.
I could think of a couple worse, but any-hows I like the following five songs from the record:

• Let’s Stick Together
• When Did You Leave Heaven?
• Silvio
• Ninety Miles an Hour (Down a Dead End Street)
• Shenandoah

Ninety Miles an Hour (Down a Dead End Street) is the second song presented here from the album Down in the Groove after the previous entry Let’s Stick Together. The remaining three songs will be presented here when we get to them in the alphabetical listing.

Ninety Miles has fantastic lyrics. It was written by Don Robertson and Hal Blair, recorded by Hank Snow. In October 1963, it reached No. 2 on the country charts, and spent 22 weeks on the charts. Dylan’s gospel-oriented version of Ninety Miles couldn’t be more contrasting from the Hank Snow country version.

[Verse 1]
I took you home from a party and we kissed in fun
A few stolen kisses and no harm was done
Instead of stopping when we could we went right on
Till suddenly we found that the brakes were gone

[Verse 2]
You belong to someone else, and I do too
It’s just crazy bein’ here with you
As a bad motorcycle with the devil in the seat
Going ninety miles an hour down a dead end street
Ninety miles an hour down a dead end street

[Verse 3]
I didn’t want to want you, but now I have no choice
It’s too late to listen to that warning voice
All I hear is thunder of two hearts beat
Going ninety miles an hour down a dead end street
Ninety miles an hour down a dead end street

[Verse 4]
You’re not free to belong to me
And you know I could never be your own
Your lips on mine are like a sweet, sweet wine
But we’re heading for a wall of stone

The album features several guest appearances for the first time. Most prominent was the appearance of The Grateful Dead, who provided the album with one of its enduring tracks with the single Silvio.

References:
1. Ninety Miles and Hour (Down at a Dead End Street) – Wikipedia
2. Down in the Groove – Wikipedia

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“The more I live, the more I learn. The more I learn, the more I realize, the less I know.”- Michel Legrand