"She Belongs to Me" is a song by Bob Dylan, and was first released as the second track on his 1965 album Bringing It All Back Home. The song may be about a former girlfriend, Suze Rotolo, or fellow folk singerJoan Baez, contemporary siren Nico, or Sara Lownds, the woman that Dylan would wed in November 1965.
Recording
The version of the song that appears on Bringing It All Back Home was recorded on the afternoon of January 14, 1965, and produced by Tom Wilson. Dylan performed it with the rock band that accompanied him on the songs on side one of the album, with Bruce Langhorne playing the electric guitar. Different versions of the song were recorded during the January 1965 sessions for Bringing It All Back Home. Like the other love song on side one, "Love Minus Zero/No Limit", "She Belongs to Me" had been recorded on January 13, 1965, in acoustic versions. An outtake featuring Dylan, Langhorne, and bassist Bill Lee—stated in the liner notes to have been recorded on January 14, but which Dylan scholar Clinton Heylin dates to January 13—was released in 2005 on '. The January 13 recordings and a first take from January 14 were released on the 6-disc and 18-disc versions of ' in 2015.
Meaning
The title of the song is perhaps ironic. The woman described in the song perhaps belongs to no one, as suggested by the lyric "She's nobody's child, the law can't touch her at all." However that is open to interpretation. The lyrics describe how the singer "bow down to her on Sunday" and "salute her when her birthday comes." Other lines celebrate the woman's assertiveness and moral conviction. The lyrics may refer to Suze Rotolo, Dylan's girlfriend from July 1961 to early 1964. Some of the lyrics of "She Belongs to Me" could refer to Dylan's former lover, folk singer Joan Baez, particularly the line about the woman wearing an "Egyptian ring", since Dylan had given Baez such a ring. Other lines that may refer to Baez are a line describing her as "an artist" and a reference to being a "walking antique", which may be a reference to Baez' desire to keep Dylan writing protest songs but could easily be a compliment. John Cale of the Velvet Underground has stated that he believes the song to be about Nico, with whom Dylan spent some time around the time of the song's composition. British artist Caroline Coon claims the song is about her on her website. An alternative interpretation of the song is that it is a paean to Dylan's muse, depicting it as unapproachable but domineering. The song She Belongs To Me was written in 1965, the year Bob Dylan married Shirley Noznisky . The song could be about any of these women. Most people see it as a positive and complimentary song, given the lyrics and the tender way Dylan sings it.
Musical style
Any perceived or imagined bitterness in the lyrics is offset by the gentleness of Dylan's singing and the delicacy of the accompaniment. Most people would not see any bitterness in these lyrics. The song is in a symmetrical 12-bar blues form. Music critic Robert Shelton has described the song as having a melody that is gentle, with relaxed phrasing and a swaying, waltz-like rhythm, although it does not use the 3/4 time signature of a waltz but rather a 4/4 time signature.
Critical reception
In a 2005 reader's poll reported in Mojo, She Belongs to Me was listed as the #98 all time Bob Dylan song, and a similar poll of artists ranked the song #53. In 2002, Uncut listed it as the #14 all time Bob Dylan song. According to Acclaimed Music, it is the 9,467th most celebrated song in popular music history.
Other releases
The song, first released on Bringing It All Back Home in 1965, has been subsequently released on several Dylan compilation and live albums, including Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits Vol. II in 1971. It was also included in Martin Scorsese's film No Direction Home and released on its soundtrack album, ', in 2005, in the form of an outtake from the original recording sessions. A live performance from Dylan's 1969 Isle of Wight Festival performance was released on Self Portrait in 1970. The song opened the famous May 17, 1966 concert in Manchester's Free Trade Hall, England, released on ' in 1998. A May 10, 1965 performance of the song at the Royal Albert Hall was released in 2018 on Live 1962-1966: Rare Performances From The Copyright Collections. In November 2016, all Dylan's recorded live performances of the song from 1966 were released in the boxed set The 1966 Live Recordings, with the May 26, 1966 performance released separately on the album The RealRoyal Albert Hall 1966 Concert.
