3 Bob Dylan Songs About Young Love and the Pain of Distance

Bob Dylan once said his early songs were “magically written” and that he doesn’t truly know how exactly they came to him. “Magic,” they are indeed, as Dylan’s earliest music is the most lyrically nuanced of all his catalog. Was it that he was a young and hungry man with something to say? Or did some unknown divine songwriting saint gift him this “Magic”? Who knows, but “Magic” seems to be a fitting word for Dylan’s earliest songs.

Some of the songs testifying to his ambiguous explanation are the ones about love, loss, and the grave internal turmoil it entails. You could call them break-up anthems, heart-break songs, or simply love songs, but Dylan’s songs of this category do far more than just paint a picture of a romantically troubled soul. Instead, he uses evocative storytelling tactics to evoke the question “What could have been?” Dylan nor his fans know the answer, but these are three of his songs that try and tackle the age-old question.

“Girl From The North Country”

Released in 1963 on The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan, “Girl From The North Country” has become one of Dylan’s most romantically haunting songs. Both lyrically melancholic and detailed, Dylan takes listeners through a universal experience of lost love and the feelings that linger.

With lines such as I’m a-wondering if she remembers me at all / Many times I’ve often prayed and For She once was a true love of mine Dylan perfectly paints of picture of a love that used to be and a love that’s now lost. A layered story with poignant lyrics, when one listens to this Dylan song they seemingly can’t help but wonder about their own first true love.

“Boots of Spanish Leather”

Played with the same picking pattern and chords, Dylan’s 1964 “Boots of Spanish Leather” is a song of a similar nature. A couple, separated by the great Atlantic, wishes to stay in connection but they know the worldly forces at hand will surely make that impossible. Yet, they still try to voice their praises of love despite the known outcome.

A heartbreaking song about the passing of time, “Boots of Spanish Leather” articulates how feelings are lost amidst distance and time apart. A feeling that many have felt before, will feel again, and possibly one that people are feeling now. For that is the premier reason why this song hasn’t just stood the test of time but actually gained more relevance as it has passed.

“One Too Many Mornings”

Also released in 1964 on The Times They Are A-Changin’, all of these Bob Dylan songs seem to be a nod to his past life in Minnesota. Nonetheless, the song is another story about the inevitable romantic ending of a relationship once one leaves the home of it.

We’re both just one too many mornings / An’ a thousand miles behind is an exemplary line stating that no matter how hard one tries to rekindle a relationship, it simply won’t survive due to the individuals’ ever-changing lives. A grim truth that evokes feelings of sadness, but also feelings of personal liberation. As when one realizes this truth, there is nowhere to go but forward. And that is seemingly what Dylan tries to divulge with this one song.

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