Bob Dylan demonstrated again and again in the early part of his career that he could be extremely verbose within his songs. He often proved devastatingly effective when overstuffing his lines with lyrics to get his point across. When he recorded his 1969 album Nashville Skyline, however, Bob Dylan opted for a different approach, one that hewed to the tighter strictures of country music. On the ballad “I Threw It All Away”, he showed just how adept he could be in that scenario.
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Nashville or Bust
After his motorcycle accident in 1966, Bob Dylan’s priorities changed for a while. No longer was he churning out ultra-dynamic albums full of epic songs at a blistering pace. He also stopped touring and rarely made any kind of public appearance.
Just as he pulled back on the reins in his personal life, settling down to raise his family with wife Sara, so too did he seem to tap the brakes on his songwriting tendencies. When he did write and release music post-1966, the instrumental backing tended to be laid-back, and the lyrics were often quizzical and cryptic.
For Nashville Skyline, Dylan had to harness his writing style even further. After all, the album was intended as a country music record. He recorded it in Nashville and utilized arrangements that stuck to what was expected within the genre.
That also meant that Dylan would have to make accommodations for the tight lyrical lines, sticking to the meter as much as possible. He also needed to make sure that he was writing as clearly and directly as possible. Nashville Skyline was meant to honor the genre, not subvert it.
He certainly got it just right on “I Threw It All Away”, the album’s most moving song. It features a stellar main melody, which is embellished by the countermelody that starts the song and flows through it. On top of that, Dylan managed to deliver a weeper that’s understandable at first listen and then cuts deeper every time after.
Examining the Lyrics of “I Threw it All Away”
The song’s power starts with that title. By admitting “I Threw It All Away”, the narrator somehow makes himself more deserving of our pity. If he had lost it because of circumstances beyond his control, he wouldn’t have the guilt and regret piled up on top of all the sorrow.
Bob Dylan then spends the rest of the country song detailing just what it was this guy has lost and why he lost it. He bemoans his cruelty and then surveys his former empire: “Once I had mountains in the palm of my hand / And rivers that ran through every day.” He equates his mistake to a kind of madness.
The bridge features Dylan delivering some worn bromides about love and how you should never let it go. How does he know? “Take a tip from one who’s tried,” he confides.
In the final verse, wiser but sadder, he doles some advice to the listener: “For one thing that’s certain/You will surely be a-hurtin’ / If you throw it all away.”
Many folks overlook Nashville Skyline, if only because it lacks the ambition of previous (and subsequent) Dylan works. But there’s something to be said about making something special when you’re coloring within the lines. “I Threw It All Away” is a prime example of that.
Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
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