Under The Red Sky (1990) – Bob Dylan

Under the Red Sky is the title track of one of Bob Dylan’s most scorned albums. I admit it’s not high on my pecking order either, but it does contain some good songs, including today’s featured track. Dylan certainly raised the bar with the critically acclaimed Oh Mercy (1989), but this follow-up album was met with disappointment.

Dylan later echoed critics’ complaints, saying the recording felt rushed, due in part to his commitments with the Traveling Wilburys. Speaking of which – George Harrison contributes a sweet slide guitar part on today’s song, which you can hear at 2:09 in the studio version below.

Other notable contributors on the record included Jimmie Vaughan, Slash, Elton John, David Crosby, Stevie Ray Vaughan, and Bruce Hornsby. It’s a star-studded line-up, though Dylan himself later suggested there may have been too many people involved.

Much of the criticism focused on the production, as well as songs that seem rooted in children’s nursery rhymes. The album is dedicated to “Gabby Goo Goo,” now widely believed to refer to Desiree Gabrielle Dennis-Dylan, his daughter with Carolyn Dennis born on January 31, 1986.

When I first heard the album in my mid-teens, apart from Born in Time, I didn’t care much for the other songs. But over time, my appreciation has grown for tracks like the title song, 2 x 2, Cat’s in the Well and Handy Dandy.

I enjoy the groove and texture of “Under the Red Sky” – it somehow matches the reddish, grainy feel of the album cover. It’s a pleasurable listen in its quaintness and charm, but don’t be fooled. It drifts through nursery rhyme themes into something more menacing – as if we’re now sitting under a warning sky. As the old mariner’s saying goes: “Red sky at morning, sailors take warning.”

So it may sound like a simple children’s song, but it carries a quiet sense that the world isn’t always safe or clear. Its strange, almost nonsensical imagery gives it a timeless quality, like something older than when it was written.

Critic Clinton Heylin has called it an “important song,” noting that it has remained in Dylan’s live repertoire for years. I even caught a version of it online recently at last year’s Outlaw Music Festival, and it sounded good – driven by that jangly, saloon-style piano sound and a strong vocal delivery.

[Verse 1]
There was a little boy and there was a little girl
And they lived in an alley under the red sky
There was a little boy and there was a little girl
And they lived in an alley under the red sky

[Verse 2]
There was an old man and he lived in the moon
One summer’s day he came passing by
There was an old man and he lived in the moon
And one day he came passing by

[Bridge]
Someday little girl, everything for you is gonna be new
Someday little girl, you’ll have a diamond as big as your shoe

[Verse 3]
Let the wind blow low, let the wind blow high
One day the little boy and the little girl were both baked in a pie
Let the wind blow low, let the wind blow high
One day the little boy and the little girl were baked in a pie

[Bridge]
This is the key to the kingdom and this is the town
This is the blind horse that leads you around

[Verse 4]
Let the bird sing, let the bird fly
One day the man in the moon went home and the river went dry
Let the bird sing, let the bird fly
The man in the moon went home and the river went dry

References:
1. Under The Red Sky – 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