Simple Twist of Fate performer Bob Dylan
"Simple Twist of Fate", a song by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, was recorded on September 19, 1974, and was released in 1975 as the second song on his 15th studio album Blood on the Tracks.Background and composition
"Simple Twist of Fate" is a narrative song about a romantic relationship destined not to work out. It is unusual in that it begins in the third person before shifting into the first. The song has been interpreted variously as being inspired by Suze Rotolo, Joan Baez and Sara Dylan. Dylan has continually revised the lyrics in live performance over the decades (through to its most recent outing in 2021 on the Rough and Rowdy Ways World Wide Tour).The song was written in the key of E major and features a descending melody line, with a chord structure almost identical to the verses of "Can't Take My Eyes Off You", Frankie Valli's 1967 hit by Bob Crewe and Bob Gaudio. Dylan scholar Jochen Markhorst has described as "brilliant" the purposeful way Dylan fused the music to the lyrics: "It gives a magical sparkle to the rhyme scheme that on paper almost looks like an everyday rhyme (a a a b b c c). The sparse use of the minor chord is masterful too. Everyone else would, given the melancholic lyrics, play the entire song in minor. Song Maestro Dylan senses that he adds to the fascination when he plays in the major, briefly slipping to minor in every fourth line – when the main character feels alone, when he gets hit by the heat of the night, when he feels empty inside, when he is despairing if she would ever pick him again".
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