Music / ↳ Congratulations

Congratulations

Written by: Bob Dylan Lead vocals: Bob Dylan Length: 3:30 Album: Vol. 1, track 6

If "Dirty World" is Dylan the goofball, "Congratulations" is Dylan doing what he's spent his whole career doing better than almost anyone: writing a devastating breakup song and delivering it with just enough weary humor that it never tips into self-pity. It's a tavern-style ballad, loose and blues-inflected, sitting comfortably next to his own solo work from the same period, right down to a short, sharp lead guitar flourish from George Harrison that closes the track out.

What separates it from a typical solo Dylan cut is the setting. Recorded fast, live, and without the layers of overproduction that had crept into some of his mid-'80s solo albums, "Congratulations" catches him relaxed in a way contemporary reviewers specifically singled out, his voice loose and free of the mannered edge that had marked some of his recent recorded work. Drummer Jim Keltner, who'd toured with Dylan through his born-again period years earlier, has said the Wilburys sessions gave him a rare chance to see a looser, funnier side of Dylan that rarely made it onto his own records.

It's a quietly excellent song hiding in the back half of an album full of louder attention-grabbers, and it rewards anyone willing to sit with a Wilburys track that isn't trying to make you laugh.

Previous track: Not Alone Any More. Next track: Heading for the Light. Or see the full Vol. 1 tracklist.