When Did You Leave Heaven? – Bob Dylan

When Did You Leave Heaven? is a very quaint and tender song from Bob. It comes from one of his most scorned records, the 1988 Down In The Groove. It was Dylan’s second consecutive album, after Knocked Out Loaded, to receive almost unanimously negative reviews. In 2007, even Rolling Stone labelled Down In The Groove as Bob Dylan’s worst album.

The word going around didn’t deter me from buying the cassette as a fourteen-year-old. It’s got some good stuff on it, including today’s featured track, When Did You Leave Heaven? I have enjoyed listening to these tracks so much over the years, which tells me it was money very well spent. Also, because the album was so widely dished, many, including Dylan ‘fans’, have not given anything from it the time of day, which is a shame.

From the very outset, with the solemn and reflective keyboard sound, I like the mood and texture of this song and the mind space it puts me in. To me, it feels like something I might hear in church – a hymn-like feel. Despite its restraint, it has a mellow spiritual undertone, with its sparse drums, wandering guitar and Dylan’s fragile but affectionate voice.

When Did You Leave Heaven? is not a Dylan original; it is a cover of a classic big band-era standard written by Walter Bullock and Richard A. Whiting for the 1936 film Sing, Baby, Sing. The song was recorded by a number of artists in the 1930s, while Big Bill Broonzy later gave it a blues treatment. You can watch his stirring version here.

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The following was abridged from Wikipedia below:

Clinton Heylin stated about the style and layout of the album’s tracks on Down In The Groove: “As it is, Dylan’s intent all along may have been to show the rich vein of music he listened to when growing up in Hibbing.”

The album was recorded over a period of five years, spanning the sessions for Infidels (1983) to recordings made specifically for the album in 1987. The record features multiple guest musicians including Ronnie Wood, hip-hop group Full Force, and members of the Grateful Dead.

After the album’s release, Dylan went live incorporating an endless variety of traditional cover songs during his acoustic set; a marked departure from previous shows. It would be a prelude of where he ventured in the early 1990’s on the Good as I Been to You and World Gone Wrong albums.

The tour schedule was also surprising for a man of Dylan’s age, as Dylan was spending most of his time on the road. Just as one leg of the tour would end, Dylan would schedule another leg soon after, and this would continue for many years to come. As a result, Dylan’s shows are now often referred to as the “Never Ending Tour“. Though the supporting personnel would undergo a number of changes for years to come, the basic format begun in the summer of 1988 would continue to this day.

[Verse 1]
When did you leave heaven?
How could they let you go?
How’s every thing in heaven?
I’d like to know

[Verse 2]
Why did you trade heaven?
For all these earthly things?
Where on earth you hide your halo?
Where did you lose your wings?

[Verse 3]
Have they missed you?
Can you get back in?
If I kiss you would it be a sin?
I am only human but you are so divine
When did you leave heaven angel mine?

References:
1. Down in the Groove – Wikipedia