'All the Tired Horses'
It’s one of rock criticism’s most famous lines: “What is this s—?” So began Greil Marcus’ review of Bob Dylan’s 1970 album Self Portrait. The same could be asked of the record’s opening track, which consists of two lines — “All the tired horses in the sun/ How’m I supposed to get any ridin’ done? Hmm” — repeated over and over again by a group of female singers for just about three minutes. The singing is hypnotic enough to lure sailors to their deaths, and the instrumentation is pleasant enough. But Dylan’s nowhere to be seen, obviously. So forget this song.
