Bob Dylan / 2:48
Musicians
Bob Dylan: vocals, guitar, harmonica
Bruce Langhorne: guitar Al Gorgoni: guitar (?)
Kenny Rankin: guitar (?)
John Hammond Jr.: guitar (?) William E. Lee: bass (?)
Bobby Gregg: battery
Recording Studio
Columbia Recording Studios / Studio A, New York: January 14, 1965
Technical Team
Producer: Tom Wilson
Sound Engineers: Roy Halee and Pete Dauria
“She Belongs to Me” is the first of two anti-love songs released on Bringing It All Back Home. The songs may be about folk singer Joan Baez, Nico, or Sara Lownds. Several hypotheses have been made. John Cale of the Velvet Underground stated that Dylan was thinking of Nico when he wrote “She Belongs to Me,” just as when he wrote “I’ll Keep It with Mine,” which Nico recorded for the album Chelsea Girls, released in 1967. In Paris in May 1964, Dylan first met Nico, an actress, singer, and German supermodel who had a part in Federico Fellini’s La Dolce Vita (a film that Dylan cited in “Motorpsycho Nightmare” on his fourth studio album, Another Side of Bob Dylan). Her real name was Christa Päffgen. Nico accompanied Dylan on his journey across Europe, passing through Germany and ending in Greece.
According to other sources, the artist described in “She Belongs to Me” (“She’s got everything she needs /… She don’t look back”) is Caroline Coon, an avant-garde painter and feminist icon of the sixties underground movement in London (and future mastermind of the 1970 punk scene). Others suggest Joan Baez, since some of the lyrics refer to an Egyptian ring (“She wears an Egyptian ring / That sparkles before she speaks”), and Dylan had indeed given Joan such a ring. The lines “She never stumbles / She’s got no place to fall” alludes to the strong political beliefs of the “queen of folk.” Some argue that the song is only Dylan’s paean to his muse, even on a more symbolic level, before which America should “Bow down to her on Sunday.” It is also possible that Dylan wrote the song in honor of his future wife, Sara, whom he had met a few months earlier. But according to Robert Shelton, Dylan could have simply invented the anti-love song.
The title of the song is ironic, for the heroine belongs to no one. It’s just the opposite: she is a willful and determined woman, as suggested by these lines: “She can take the dark out of the nighttime / And paint the daytime black”; “she’s nobody’s child” and “the law can’t touch her at all.”
Bob Dylan recorded several takes for “She Belongs to Me.” The first two date from January 13, 1965. He played solo acoustic guitar and harmonica. The following day, accompanied by a full rock band that he had worked with before, he recorded three takes. The second of these is the version that appears on the album Bringing It All Back Home.
After the electric and energetic “Subterranean Homesick Blues,” the second title on the album contrasts with its gentleness and style flirting with country music. This ballad in 4/4 time with a classical harmonic style permits Dylan to subtly bring out the irony of his words. This time, he strums on his Gibson Nick Lucas, supported by Bruce Langhorne’s inspired solo phrases. It seems that a third guitarist provides rhythm on the electric guitar. Unfortunately, this is too unclear in the mix to be confirmed. It is surely William E. Lee on the bass—or rather contrabass, for the distinctive sound recalls that of “Corrina, Corrina,” released in 1962. Finally, Bobby Gregg provides the drum part with brush and rim shots conferring the necessary groove. Tom Wilson brings a light rockabilly touch by adding a slight echo “slap back” on Dylan’s vocals and guitar solo, but also on the drum part, which has the effect of bringing out the rim shot and giving a country tone to the tune. Ricky Nelson made a highly successful adaptation in 1969. Dylan adapted this song in concert, performing with a pedal steel guitar, an iconic instrument for this musical style. He performed “She Belongs to Me” for the first time on March 27, 1965, at the Civic Auditorium in Santa Monica, California.