"Changing of the Guards"
Single by Bob Dylan
from the album Street-Legal
B-side"Señor (Tales of Yankee Power)"
Released24 October 1978
RecordedApril 1978
GenreRock, gospel
Length6:41 (1978 original); 7:04 (1999 remix)
LabelColumbia
Songwriter(s)Bob Dylan
Producer(s)Don DeVito
Bob Dylan singles chronology
"Baby, Stop Crying"
(1978)		 "Changing of the Guards"
(1978)		 "Gotta Serve Somebody"
(1979)

"Changing of the Guards" is a song written by Bob Dylan, released in 1978 as a single and as the first track on his album Street-Legal. As a single it failed to reach the Billboard Top 100. However, the song has been included on compilation albums: Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits Volume 3, released in 1994, and the Deluxe Edition of Dylan, released in 2007.

A slightly longer version of "Changing of the Guards", including an extended ending, was included on remixed/remastered editions of Street-Legal released in 1999 and 2003.[1]

Critical reception and legacy

The song has prompted much criticism, both positive and negative. According to Oliver Trager author of Keys to the Rain: The Definitive Bob Dylan Encyclopedia, "Changing of the Guards" has been criticized as a "song in which Dylan unsuccessfully and cynically parodies his anthemic self".[2]

Cash Box said that the "kick turns, rolling beat and fine background vocals supporting Dylan's vocals make this one of the strongest tracks" on Street Legal.[3] Record World said it has only "a touch of the customary Dylan sound" and that "the beat is decidedly rock" and it has "big background vocals."[4]

Dylan expert Michael Gray, author of The Bob Dylan Encyclopedia, commented that "Changing of the Guards" is a thorough description of Dylan's personal journey, from the beginning of his musical career, about sixteen years prior (the opening line is "Sixteen years"), through his marriage to and divorce from Sara Dylan, up to his conversion to Christianity, which was announced soon after the song's release, although Gray also accused some passages of being "opaque".[5]

Critic Paul Williams praised both the music ("The rhythm and melody are original and powerful; and Dylan’s use of the back-up singers to echo his words at strategic moments throughout each verse is a marvelous device, effective and haunting") as well as the lyrics ("the storytelling structure of the song, mixing political and romantic intrigue, rich imagery, and fascinating setting, singer slipping neatly between first and third person narrative, seems more than adequate to deliver on the promise").[6]

Dylan acknowledged the lyrical ambiguity in a 1978 interview, commenting: "It means something different every time I sing it. 'Changing of the Guards' is a thousand years old'".[2]

U.S. Girls' Meghan Remy cited it as her favourite Dylan song precisely because of the "mistakes": "It’s like the backing singers have never heard the song before. They aren’t on time, the second voice is always late but that’s the charm and spirit of the recording. The lyrics are like a fantasy – you’d think they’re impossible to sing but he somehow cuts the syllables up so they fit in. It’s an insane skill to have, and meanwhile the hooks just keep on coming".[7]

A 2021 Guardian article included it on a list of "80 Bob Dylan songs everyone should know".[8]

Hip hop group Public Enemy referenced the song's title in their 2007 Dylan tribute song "Long and Whining Road": "From basement tapes, beyond them dollars and cents / Changing of the guards spent, now where the hell the majors went?"[9]

Live performance history

Dylan performed "Changing of the Guards" 68 times in concert. All performances were in 1978.[10]

Covers

"Changing of the Guards" has been covered by:

References

  1. ↑ "Revisit: Bob Dylan: Street Legal". Spectrum Culture. 2016-08-23. Retrieved 2021-01-03.
  2. 1 2 Trager, Oliver (2004). Keys to the Rain: The Definitive Bob Dylan Encyclopedia. Billboard Books. pp. 104. ISBN 978-0823079742.
  3. ↑ "CashBox Singles Reviews" (PDF). Cash Box. November 4, 1978. p. 26. Retrieved 2022-01-01.
  4. ↑ "Single Picks" (PDF). Record World. November 11, 1978. p. 44. Retrieved 2023-02-13.
  5. ↑ Gray, Michael (2006). The Bob Dylan Encyclopedia. Continuum Books. pp. 220–223. ISBN 0-8264-6933-7.
  6. ↑ Williams, Paul, 1948-2013. (1994). Bob Dylan : performing artist. [London]: Omnibus. ISBN 0-7119-3555-6. OCLC 30111642.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  7. ↑ "My favourite Dylan song – by Mick Jagger, Marianne Faithfull, Tom Jones, Judy Collins and more". the Guardian. 2021-05-24. Retrieved 2021-05-30.
  8. ↑ "Beyond Mr Tambourine Man: 80 Bob Dylan songs everyone should know". the Guardian. 2021-05-22. Retrieved 2021-05-22.
  9. ↑ Public Enemy – The Long and Whining Road, retrieved 2021-04-10
  10. ↑ "Setlists - The Official Bob Dylan Site". Bobdylan.com. Retrieved 21 May 2019.
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