She Belongs to Me

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. (The song was also recorded with just guitars and bass on the evening of January 14, an uncirculated version.) The title of the song was initially listed as "Worse Than Money" at the January 13, 1965 sessions, and then was listed as "My Girl" briefly at the January 14 sessions. ==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." Additionally, the line "She takes the dark out of the nighttime / And paints the daytime black," resembles a verse of the Old Testament book of Job, verse 5:14 stating: "They meet with darkness in the daytime, / and grope in the noonday as in the night." 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. 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. ==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. 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 time signature of a waltz but rather a time signature. ==Critical reception==

In its contemporary review of the single release, Cash Box described it as a "feelingful blue shuffler." 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. ==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, The Bootleg Series Vol. 7: No Direction Home: The Soundtrack, 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, in which Dylan sings in his country-crooner voice similar to the Nashville Skyline album, and the backing band plays in a country style. The song opened the famous May 17, 1966 concert in Manchester's Free Trade Hall, England (popularly but mistakenly known as the "Royal Albert Hall" concert), released on The Bootleg Series Vol. 4: Bob Dylan Live 1966, The "Royal Albert Hall" Concert 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 Real Royal Albert Hall 1966 Concert. ==Cover versions==

The song has been covered by various artists, including Barry McGuire, The Grateful Dead (from the 1985 Tour featured on Dick's Picks Volume 21), The Flying Burrito Brothers, Tom Tom Club, Alain Bashung, Leon Russell, The Nice, Richard Shindell, Billy Preston, Buddy Greene, Lloyd Cole, Ricky Nelson, Neil Finn and Pajama Club, Buffalo Tom, Ane Brun, Ólöf Arnalds, Trish Murphy, The Masterminds, Augie Meyers, Carol Connors The Rose Garden and Tina Turner. It has also been translated into a French version by Francis Cabrel, titled "Elle m'appartient (C'est une artiste)" on his 2008 album Des roses et des orties. Nelson's 1969 country rock version with the Stone Canyon Band was his first Top 40 hit in five years. Though it was never included on an album (barring the free downloads of a recording of a concert at Bilston's (near Wolverhampton, UK) Robin 2 Music Hall in November 2016 on Harley's website), Steve Harley included the song in his 9-show November 2016 3-man acoustic tour, as well as the 11 full rock band shows in 2017, as a mark of respect to Dylan. In addition, Dylan's track "Love Minus Zero/No Limit" was included in Harley's 1996 album Poetic Justice, and was occasionally played live. ==References==