My Wife's Home Town

Album: Together Through Life (2009)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • This slow blues number refers to the wife literally from hell and it concludes with a demonic cackle from Dylan. The singer-songwriter legend can also be heard laughing on "Bob Dylan's 115th Dream," a track on his 1965 album Bringing It All Back Home.
  • Chicago blues has always been a huge influence on Dylan, and on this song he borrows from Willie Dixon's "I Just Want to Make Love to You."
  • Dylan borrowed the line "I'm pretty sure she'll make me kill someone," from Geoffrey Chaucer's medieval masterpiece Canterbury Tales. The quote appears in a translation of the prologue to The Monk's Tale.
  • In an interview published on Dylan's website, he was asked if he really believed the line in this song: "Dreams never did work for me anyway." Dylan replied: "Well, yeah. Dreams can lead us up a blind alley. Everybody has dreams. We go to sleep and we dream. I've always thought of them as coming out of the subconscious. I guess you can interpret them. Dreams can tell us a lot about ourselves, if we can remember them. We can see what's coming around the corner sometimes without actually going to the corner."

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Sarah Brightman

Sarah BrightmanSongwriter Interviews

One of the most popular classical vocalists in the land is lining up a trip to space, which is the inspiration for many of her songs.

Al Kooper

Al KooperSongwriter Interviews

Kooper produced Lynyrd Skynyrd, played with Dylan and the Stones, and formed BS&T.

Reverend Horton Heat

Reverend Horton HeatSongwriter Interviews

The Reverend rants on psychobilly and the egghead academics he bashes in one of his more popular songs.

90210 to Buffy to Glee: How Songs Transformed TV

90210 to Buffy to Glee: How Songs Transformed TVSong Writing

Shows like Dawson's Creek, Grey's Anatomy and Buffy the Vampire Slayer changed the way songs were heard on TV, and produced some hits in the process.

Van Dyke Parks

Van Dyke ParksSongwriter Interviews

U2, Carly Simon, Joanna Newsom, Brian Wilson and Fiona Apple have all gone to Van Dyke Parks to make their songs exceptional.

Richard Marx

Richard MarxSongwriter Interviews

Richard explains how Joe Walsh kickstarted his career, and why he chose Hazard, Nebraska for a hit.