
After a decade of borderline irrelevance, the lead track, “Not Dark Yet,” appealed to sentimentalists because it felt like Dylan was revealing a truth (“Sometimes my burden is more than I can bear/ It’s not dark yet but it’s gettin’ there”) and bearing down for arts’ sake, too. Forget truth—Dylan always has—and focus on the sly, world weary atmospherics of “Dirt Road Blues” and “Highlands,” Dylan’s funniest song since the 60s. (“She got a pretty face and long white shiny legs/ She says “what’ll it be”/ I say “I don’t know, you got any soft-boiled eggs.”‘) Despite winning a Grammy for Best Contemporary Folk Album, it was cover versions of “To Make You Feel My Love” by Garth Brooks and Billy Joel that generated the bulk of the cash Dylan made from Time Out of Mind.