She Belongs to Me (1965) – Bob Dylan

She Belongs to Me is a gentle song, sung with Dylan’s relaxed phrasing and a lightly swaying accompaniment that feels easy. On the surface, it sounds warm and affectionate, almost carefree. The woman he sings about is an “artist” too, though the praise feels deliberately over the top and slightly possessive. She can paint, she can “take the dark out of the nighttime,” and she can do no wrong – at least in his version of the story. Whether this admiration is sincere, ironic, or gently poking fun at ideas of love and ownership is never made clear. Coming from Bringing It All Back Home (1965), the song perhaps gives hints of his mid-60s move toward irony and a more playful edge.

The closest song to She Belongs To Me around this time for Dylan is arguably Love Minus Zero / No Limit (1965) – a kind of emotional sibling which also appears on side 1 of Bringing It All Back Home. It has the same calm delivery, similar melodic flow and ease, and a woman portrayed as enigmatic rather than romanticized. In fact both songs had been recorded on January 13, 1965, in acoustic versions. The original title of She Belongs To Me was initially listed as “Worse Than Money” at the January 13, 1965 sessions, and then was listed as “My Girl” briefly at the January 14 sessions.

The following was abridged from the Wikipedia article below:

It’s not clear who the song is about. The lyrics may refer to Suze Rotolo, Dylan’s girlfriend from July 1961 to early 1964. Or they could refer to Dylan’s former lover, folk singer Joan Baez, particularly the line about the woman wearing an “Egyptian ring”, since Dylan had given Baez such a ring. Also the line describing her as “an artist” and a reference to being a “walking antique“, which may be a reference to Baez’ desire to keep Dylan writing protest songs but could easily be a compliment.

The woman as described in the song perhaps belongs to no one, as suggested by the lyric “She’s nobody’s child, the law can’t touch her at all.”

The line “She takes the dark out of the nighttime / And paints the daytime black,” resembles a verse of the Old Testament book of Job, verse 5:14 stating: “They meet with darkness in the daytime, / and grope in the noonday as in the night.”

John Cale of the Velvet Underground has stated that he believes the song to be about Nico, with whom Dylan spent some time around the time of the song’s composition.

A live performance from Dylan’s 1969 Isle of Wight Festival performance (Live with the band) was released on Self Portrait in 1970, in which Dylan sings in his country-crooner voice similar to the Nashville Skyline album, and the backing band plays in a country style.

She’s got everything she needs
She’s an artist, she don’t look back
She’s got everything she needs
She’s an artist, she don’t look back
She can take the dark out of the nighttime
And paint the daytime black

[Verse 2]
You will start out standing
Proud to steal her anything she sees
You will start out standing
Proud to steal her anything she sees
But you will wind up peeking through her keyhole
Down upon your knees

[Verse 3]
She never stumbles
She’s got no place to fall
She never stumbles
She’s got no place to fall
She’s nobody’s child
The law can’t touch her at all

[Verse 4]
She wears an Egyptian ring
It sparkles before she speaks
She wears an Egyptian ring
It sparkles before she speaks
She’s a hypnotist collector
You are a walking antique

[Verse 5]
Bow down to her on Sunday
Salute her when her birthday comes
Bow down to her on Sunday
Salute her when her birthday comes
For Halloween, buy her a trumpet
And for Christmas, get her a drum

References:
1. She Belongs to Me – Wikipedia