Because of the uncompromising nature of his music, Bob Dylan didn’t court the pop charts with the regularity of many of his peers. But he certainly enjoyed some solid hits over the years. In the mid-60s, he did quite well, scoring three Top 10 hits and several other minor charting singles.
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But “One Of Us Must Know (Sooner Or Later)” pretty much belly-flopped as a single in 1966. Nonetheless, the song represents Dylan at his most dramatic and piercing in his examination of a spent love affair.
An Absolute “Must”
Consider Blonde On Blonde as Bob Dylan’s closure album. Released in 1966, it closed out an incendiary run of albums that were accompanied by frenetic tours. Dylan backed away from that blistering pace following a motorcycle accident in August of that same year.
Many of the songs included played into that theme of closure by taking bittersweet final looks at former lovers. Perhaps he needed to get those out of his system to start looking ahead. The final song on the record, “Sad Eyed Lady Of The Lowlands”, was an epic tribute to Sara Lownds, who became Dylan’s wife in 1965.
That event heralded a period of domesticity and relative tranquility in his life. But those qualities are nowhere to be found in the tortured romance depicted within “One Of Us Must Know (Sooner Or Later)”. Every effort made by the pair in this song to connect is thwarted by misunderstandings and frailties.
The song, which featured accompaniment from two future members of The Band (Robbie Robertson and Rick Danko) and session player Paul Griffin delivering a thrilling piano part, failed to even hit the Top 100 in the US. But it’s now recognized as a standout, one that combined Dylan’s strikingly honest lyrics with high-drama quiet-to-loud music.
Behind the Lyrics of “One Of Us Must Know (Sooner Or Later)”
The narrator’s blunt appraisal of his behavior to his ex begins the song. “I didn’t mean to treat you so bad,” he says. “You shouldn’t take it so personal.” There’s some dark humor involved here, especially when Dylan follows it up by suggesting the damage couldn’t be avoided. “You just happened to be there, that’s all.”
Regardless of his callousness, this guy’s genuine feelings become apparent when he shows hurt and surprise at her departure. “I didn’t know that you were sayin’ goodbye for good,” Dylan sings, drawing out the last syllable to accentuate the feeling. In the second verse, he suggests that he knew that they were a bad match, only for her to correct him: “But you said you knew me and I believed you did.”
In the final verse, a blizzard symbolically represents the obstacles in the way of their love. They blindly forge ahead without knowing if they’ll reach their destination. The last pre-chorus presents a myriad of crossed signals, leading to a devastating farewell. “An’ I told you as you clawed out my eyes,” Dylan sings. “That I never really meant to do you any harm.”
The chorus pushes into an unknown future, as the narrator believes deep in his heart that they’ll come to some sort of understanding, albeit too late to save the relationship. “But, sooner or later, one of us must know,” Dylan wails. “You just did what you’re supposed to do/Sooner or later, one of us must know/That I really did try to get close to you.”
You can argue that the emotional landscape of “One Of Us Must Know (Sooner Or Later)” was too complex and unwieldy for the song to hit home with a mass audience. (Although “Like A Rolling Stone”, similarly knotty, did just fine.) Maybe the public just missed the boat with this one. Luckily, it has a home in the hearts of Dylanologists everywhere.
Photo by Charlie Steiner – Highway 67/Getty Images
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