Released September 30, 1997 Genre Blues rock Label Columbia | Recorded January 1997 Length 16:31 Writer(s) Bob Dylan | |
"Highlands" is a song by Bob Dylan, released on his 30th studio album Time Out of Mind in 1997. It is Dylan's longest known studio recording at sixteen minutes and thirty-one seconds. The song's title is borrowed from the poem "My Heart's in the Highlands" by Scottish poet Robert Burns. In the song's lyrics, Dylan makes references to musician Neil Young and author Erica Jong.
Contents
Structure
The song is based on a simple (E blues) riff, inspired, according to Dylan, by an unnamed Charley Patton record that has yet to be identified. The riff is played the whole way through the song. The song has no traditional chorus or bridge.
Other versions
A live version of the song was included on the limited edition version of The Best of Bob Dylan, Vol. 2 (2000) and on a Japanese edition of the "Things Have Changed" single. The recording came from a performance in the Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium in Santa Cruz, California on March 16, 2000.