RMR

What Bob Dylan song is more emotionally moving?
“Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands” from “Blonde on Blonde” (1966)
“Sara” from “Desire” (1975)

Dylan spent a great deal of time writing "Sad Eyed Lady" as a love song for his new wife Sara Lownds in 1966. Many fans and critics call it his masterpiece, but I tend to disagree. I like the song, and I think the vivid imagery that Dylan uses to describe Sara is astounding; however, the song lacks a certain emotional resonance that Dylan is certainly capable of creating, and that I would expect from him, especially on his magnum opus love song, which he wrote during the mid-sixties, which was his most creative and poetic period. However, even with the song’s extended run time, beautiful poetic lyrics, and theme of love written specifically for his new wife, the song just doesn’t strike an emotional chord with me.

However, in 1975 Dylan released the song “Sara” for his same wife (now of 10-years), but after they had been separated and their marriage was deteriorating. So, if “Say Eyed Lady” was Dylan’s ode to the love for his new wife, then the song “Sara” is its counterpart, as it is his song of heartbreak and memories of their failed marriage.

So, here’s the ultimate irony: “Sara” resonates with me on an emotional level much more than “Sad Eyed Lady” does. I’ve listened to “Sara” countless times, and its emotional resonance is so strong that I still get chills every time I hear it. You can just hear Dylan’s heartbreak in every line, especially when he references the time he spent writing “Say Eyed Lady” in the 4th verse when he sings that he was “Staying up for days in the Chelsea Hotel/ writing ‘Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands’ for you.” That line just gets me every time, as does the line where he pleads to his estranged bride… “Sara, Sara/ you must forgive me my unworthiness.”

So, my question is which song is more moving. By all logic, “Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands” should win, but my vote goes to “Sara.”

This poll would be much better for those of you who aren’t familiar with the two songs, but Sony monitors the internet like a hawk for Dylan clips and removes them, so they are extremely hard to find, even on YouTube, so no dice on the audio clips.

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RMR
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Salami

I see exactly what you mean: pretty much everything I found on youtube for "Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands" was a cover.

RMR

Yea, I don't know why, but there are rarely any Dylan videos-- even live one's. I've heard Sony has a whole staff to look for Dylan postings on the internet and remove them. I'm sure that's somewhat exaggerated, but it's somewhat true as well, as there are never any Dylan clips posted anywhere, and when they do pop up, they are taken down immediately.

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RMR
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Salami

This is a shame. I'll go on LastFM tonight and refresh my memory... I've forgotten most of his stuff apart from "Like A Rolling Stone".

Howard the Duck

Sara, I quess

Sad-Eyed Lady's lyrics are so oblique that some people take them to be about Jacqueline Kennedy (Jackie O.)

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blastingas10

I see how "Sara" is more emotional, but i definitely choose "Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands"; it does strike an emotional chord with me.

What about "If you see her say hello"?

I think the song is about Sara. Dylan has denied that the songs are autobiographical, but his son Jakob stated: "The songs are my parents talking."

It's an amazing song. I rank it higher than "Sara" and possibly even higher than "Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands".

Howard the Duck

i much prefer "You're a Big Girl Now" as far as his divorce songs go

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The Monkey

They're both pretty bad.

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Gage_Winters

Sara

ThePhanastasio

I personally don't even really like "Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands". I thought it was a major weak point on the album. Lyrically, all of the emotional impact is, for me, completely lost because he goes out of his way to be unnecessarily wordy...ultimately to the detriment of the song. For me, this makes it lack sincerity and relatability, all of the feelings masked by easy rhymes and adjectives for adjectives' sake. This isn't the case for me with all songs that use more flowery description at all: It's just in this case, it feels...contrived.

"Sara" feels much more sincere and emotive. Less emotion masked by word vomit, more emotion seeping into words.

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