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"Cold Irons Bound" is a
Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...
-winning song written by
Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan; born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Described as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture over his nearly 70-year ...
, recorded in January 1997 and released on September 30, 1997 as the eighth track on his album '' Time Out of Mind''. The song was produced by
Daniel Lanois Daniel Roland Lanois ( , ; born September 19, 1951) is a Canadian record producer and musician. He has produced albums by artists including Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Peter Gabriel, Robbie Robertson, Emmylou Harris, Willie Nelson, and Harold Budd ...
.


Background and composition

Dylan was inspired to write the song in the studio after hearing drummer
David Kemper David Law Kemper (born 1947/8 in Chicago, Illinois Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 Unit ...
, who had arrived early one day, playing an unusual beat. As Kemper explained in an interview with ''Uncut'': The song is performed in the key of
B-flat major B-flat major is a major scale based on B, with pitches B, C, D, E, F, G, and A. Its key signature has two flats. Its relative minor is G minor and its parallel minor is B-flat minor. The B-flat major scale is: Changes needed for ...
.


Critical reception

Oliver Trager describes "Cold Irons Bound" as "biting" with "ricocheting guitar licks,
rockabilly Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music. It dates back to the early 1950s in the United States, especially the Southern United States, South. As a genre, it blends the sound of Western music (North America), Western musi ...
drums, distorted organ, and voice floating in a blimp of its own echo", in which "one can still hear, to paraphrase " Visions of Johanna", the ghost of electricity howling from the bones of Dylan's face..."
Greil Marcus Greil Marcus (né Gerstley; born June 19, 1945) is an American author, music journalist and cultural critic. He is notable for producing scholarly and literary essays that place rock music in a broader framework of culture and politics. Biogra ...
of ''
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'' made note of the song's "whiplashed rhythm", while Mick Gold, in a retrospective piece for
Rock's Backpages Rock's Backpages is an online archive of music journalism, sourced from contributions to the music and mainstream press from the 1950s to the present day. The articles are full text and searchable, and all are reproduced with the permission of th ...
, highlighted the memorability of the track's "''
musique concrete Musique is the French word for music. Musique may also refer to: Music *Musique (disco band), a 1970s studio band produced by Patrick Adams *Musique, a British dance act consisting of Moussa Clarke and Nick Hanson best known for their 2001 song ...
'' bluesy clutter", saying "the musical noise is more memorable than the lyrics."
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's Jim Esch said: "Thanks to
Daniel Lanois Daniel Roland Lanois ( , ; born September 19, 1951) is a Canadian record producer and musician. He has produced albums by artists including Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Peter Gabriel, Robbie Robertson, Emmylou Harris, Willie Nelson, and Harold Budd ...
's muddy, echo drenched production, 'Cold Irons Bound' sounds like it was mailed in from another time, decades ago from the midnight blue ether. Dylan's voice is at times overmatched by the thick sonic soup, but all the same, the feel is there, and the feel is gnarly, bluesy. Nasty guitars and drums clatter and shuffle overtop a bass riff while Dylan whips off acerbic couplets". Michael Gray also describes this song in detail: ''Spectrum Culture'' included the song on a list of "Bob Dylan's 20 Best Songs of the '90s". In an article accompanying the list, critic Kevin Korber argued that the song is more interesting for the music, and Lanois' atmospheric production, than for Dylan's lyrics: "'Cold Irons Bound' is the ur-example of what
Daniel Lanois Daniel Roland Lanois ( , ; born September 19, 1951) is a Canadian record producer and musician. He has produced albums by artists including Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Peter Gabriel, Robbie Robertson, Emmylou Harris, Willie Nelson, and Harold Budd ...
could do with Dylan, a collaboration that started back with '' Oh Mercy'' but arrived in full form on ''Time Out of Mind''. In contrast to the clear, compressed sounds that Dylan began the decade with, 'Irons' is incredibly murky, an echo-laden blues jam that sounds completely disassociated from this plane of existence. Dylan’s voice, by this point weaker and thornier than it had been at his peak, could have been lost in the studio ether, but it instead sounds haunted, a spectral song from a realm beyond ours". A 2021 ''Consequence'' article ranking Dylan's top 15 albums placed ''Time Out of Mind'' seventh and cited "Cold Irons Bound" as the highlight. Critic Matt Melis wrote that it was "an agitated, pining, and paranoid album, and nowhere do those emotions register more tangible than on 'Cold Irons Bound'. Amid driving percussion and echoing dirt-road blues, Dylan fails to square a love and obsession that just can’t be reasoned with. This isn’t a tearful goodbye and gallop off into the sunset; this is a collision course that a desperate and broken man seems powerless to avoid. Like so much of Dylan’s turn-of-the-century work, there’s zero compromise to be found here. The wounds are deep, the pain is unbearable, and any possible consolation is blowin’ in the wind". ''
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'' placed the ''Masked and Anonymous'' version at #46 on a 2021 list of the "80 best Bob Dylan songs - that aren't the greatest hits". An article accompanying the list noted that the "bemusing film Dylan wrote and starred in...delivered some storming live performances, including this version of the ''Time Out of Mind'' track".


Other versions

Dylan performed the song in July 2002 for a concert sequence in the film '' Masked and Anonymous''. This version was released on the film's soundtrack album in July 2003. It also appears in video form on the bonus DVD included in the Limited Edition version of Dylan's 2006 album ''Modern Times''.
Charlie Sexton Charles Wayne Sexton (born August 11, 1968) is an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. Sexton is best known for his years as a guitarist in Bob Dylan's band, though also has become well known as a music producer. Sexton co-founded Arc A ...
, who played on this version of the song, called Dylan's re-arrangement of it "simply amazing". '' The Bootleg Series Vol. 17: Fragments – Time Out of Mind Sessions (1996–1997)'', released on January 27, 2023, contains a version of the original album track remixed by Michael Brauer as well as a studio outtake of the song and a live version from 2000.


Live performances

Bob Dylan performed "Cold Irons Bound" 423 times on the
Never Ending Tour The Never Ending Tour is the popular name for Bob Dylan's ongoing touring schedule which began on June 7, 1988. The tour amassed a huge fan base with some fans traveling from around the world to attend as many Dylan shows as possible. Dylan him ...
between 1997 and 2011. A concert version, recorded in Los Angeles on Dec. 16, 1997, appeared on various " Love Sick" single releases in 1998, as well as on the compilation '' Live 1961-2000: Thirty-Nine Years of Great Concert Performances'', released in Japan in 2001. A June 11, 2004 performance, from the
Bonnaroo Music Festival Bonnaroo (or Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival) is an American annual four-day music festival developed and founded by Superfly Presents and AC Entertainment. Bonnaroo has taken place at what is now Great Stage Park, a 700-acre (280 ha) fa ...
, in Manchester, Tennessee, is included on the Deluxe Edition of '' Tell Tale Signs: Rare and Unreleased 1989–2006'' (2008). Another live version, from May 19, 2000, performed in Oslo, Norway, is included on '' The Bootleg Series Vol. 17: Fragments - Time Out Of Mind Sessions (1996-1997)''. The live debut occurred at
Humphrey Coliseum Humphrey Coliseum is a 9,100-seat multi-purpose arena located on the campus of Mississippi State University, just outside Starkville, Mississippi, that opened for the 1975-76 basketball season. Nicknamed The Hump, it is home to the Mississippi St ...
in
Starkville, Mississippi Starkville is a city in and the county seat of Oktibbeha County, Mississippi, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, Starkville's population is 24,360, making it the 16th-most populated city in Mississippi. Starkville is the largest ...
on October 24, 1997 and the last performance (to date) took place at Braehead Arena in
Glasgow, Scotland Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...
on October 9, 2011.


In popular culture

Dylan's original studio version of the song, as well as a cover by
Television Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...
's
Tom Verlaine Thomas Joseph Miller (December 13, 1949 – January 28, 2023), known professionally as Tom Verlaine, was an American singer, guitarist, and songwriter, best known as the frontman of the New York City rock band Television. Biography Verlaine was ...
, are prominently featured in ''
I'm Not There ''I'm Not There'' is a 2007 musical drama film directed by Todd Haynes, who co-wrote the screenplay with Oren Moverman, based on a story by Haynes. An experimental biographical film, it is inspired by the life and music of American singer-so ...
'',
Todd Haynes Todd Haynes (; born January 2, 1961) is an American film director, screenwriter, and producer. His films span four decades with themes examining the personalities of well-known musicians, dysfunctional and dystopian societies, and blurred gender ...
's unconventional 2007 biopic of Dylan.


Awards

*
Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...
for
Best Male Rock Vocal Performance The Grammy Award for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance was a Grammy Award presented to male recording artists for works (songs or albums) containing quality vocal performances in the rock music genre. Originally called the Grammy Award for Best Ro ...
(1998)


Notable covers

"Cold Irons Bound" has been covered by: * Druha Trava &
Peter Rowan Peter Rowan (born July 4, 1942) is an American bluegrass musician and composer. He plays guitar, fiddle, dobro, banjo, bass, piano and mandolin. He has a wide vocal range and yodels. He was inducted into the International Bluegrass Music Hall o ...
: ''New Freedom Bell'' (1999) *
Tom Verlaine Thomas Joseph Miller (December 13, 1949 – January 28, 2023), known professionally as Tom Verlaine, was an American singer, guitarist, and songwriter, best known as the frontman of the New York City rock band Television. Biography Verlaine was ...
& The Million Dollar Bashers: ''
I'm Not There ''I'm Not There'' is a 2007 musical drama film directed by Todd Haynes, who co-wrote the screenplay with Oren Moverman, based on a story by Haynes. An experimental biographical film, it is inspired by the life and music of American singer-so ...
'' (2007)


References


External links

*
Lyrics
at Bob Dylan's official page
Chords
at Dylanchords {{authority control Songs written by Bob Dylan Bob Dylan songs 1997 songs Song recordings produced by Daniel Lanois Grammy Award for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance