Throughout his career, Bob Dylan found extremely inventive, novel ways of evoking romantic turbulence. He really hit a high point in that respect with his 1975 album Blood On The Tracks, where many of the songs were devoted to that particular topic.
Videos by American Songwriter
“Simple Twist Of Fate”, one of the undeniable highlights of that album, pulls a little bit of a bait-and-switch technique on the listener. Dylan’s use of shifting perspectives keeps us on our toes and somehow deepens the sorrow running through the track.
“Fate” Intervenes
On the rare occasions that he’s spoken publicly about them, Bob Dylan has denied that the songs on Blood On The Tracks were inspired by problems within his marriage to his first wife Sara. What we can say for sure is that Dylan had never devoted so large a percentage of an album to the topic of romantic relationships.
In terms of the structure of the songs, Dylan explained that his tutelage in painting by Norman Raeben around that time had a profound effect on his writing. He imagined his songs as containing multiple focal points, much as a painting would.
As such, many of the songs rebuffed any adherence to linear narratives. For most of the song, “Simple Twist Of Fate” seemed like an exception to this new strategy. We seem to be listening to a single story about a one-night affair that leaves one of the parties deeply shaken when it doesn’t turn out to be anything more than that.
But the final verse surprises with a shift from the third person to the first person. The narrator, at first a passive observer to the proceedings, becomes a principal. This sudden switch makes it seem like there’s no escaping this type of romantic angst.
Diving into the Lyrics of “Simple Twist Of Fate”
Each verse in “Simple Twist Of Fate” ends with a reversion to the titular phrase. It suggests that these problems are beyond the control of the principals. That’s probably mere deflection, as the two broken men at the heart of the story can’t bear to admit the part they’ve played in their own sorrow.
For the first five verses, we hear the story of a man who meets a woman for a tryst. Their coupling only highlights his solitude. “’Twas then he felt alone,” Dylan sings of him. Even as they retire to a motel, he registers little comfort or happiness. “He felt the heat of the night/Hit him like a freight train,” the narrator explains.
The third verse finds them already separated, she already moving on (“And forgot about a simply twist of fate”), he just waking. When he discovers her absence, he craters. “Felt an emptiness inside/To which he just could not relate,” the narrator explains. Dylan hints that she was a prostitute in the fifth verse, as the man goes back to the docks “where the sailors all come in” to look for her. “Maybe she’ll pick him out again,” the narrator says, getting inside his head. “How long must he wait?”
Suddenly, the final verse introduces the pronouns “me” and “I.” The narrator no longer stands at a safe remove. “I still believe she was my twin,” he shrugs. “But I lost the ring/She was born in spring/But I was born too late.”
Is the narrator the same poor soul who was abandoned in the previous story? Or is he comparing that sad story to his own? Bob Dylan’s “Simple Twist Of Fate” offers no easy answers, even while it’s detailing bottomless heartbreak.
Photo by John Sunderland/The Denver Post via Getty Images
Leave a Reply
Only members can comment. Become a member. Already a member? Log in.