Mississippi (Bob Dylan song)


"Mississippi" is the second song on Bob Dylan's 2001 album Love and Theft. The song was originally recorded during the Time Out of Mind sessions, but it was ultimately left off the album. Dylan rerecorded the song for Love and Theft in May 2001. Described as having beauty and gravitas, the song features a pop chord progression and with a riff and lyrical theme similar to "Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again".

Other versions

Three outtakes of the song from the Time Out Of Mind sessions were included in Dylan's 2008 "official" bootleg album .
Dylan offered the song to Sheryl Crow, who recorded it for her The Globe Sessions, released in 1998, before Dylan revisited it for Love and Theft. Crow's version reworked the song's melody, phrasing, and arrangement, and has been described contrastingly as "remarkable" and as "forgettable, head-bopping pop".
Subsequently, the Dixie Chicks would make it a mainstay of their Top of the World, Vote for Change, and Accidents & Accusations Tours, in an approach that substantially followed Crow's.

Reception

In 2009, Rolling Stone named "Mississippi" the 17th best song of the decade, calling it "A drifter's love song that seems to sum up Dylan's entire career, and a rambling classic that ranks up there with 'Tangled Up in Blue'."
Rolling Stone also listed the song at #260 on its list of 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. The magazine also listed "Mississippi" at number 21 on its list of the "100 Greatest Bob Dylan Songs". American Songwriter included it at #25 on its list of "the 30 Greatest Bob Dylan Songs."