Bob Dylan / 4:10
Musicians: Bob Dylan: vocals, guitar, accordion; George Harrison: slide guitar; Waddy Wachtel: guitar; Al Kooper: keyboards; Don Was: bass; Kenny Aronoff: drums / Recording Studios: The Complex Studios (?) / The Record Plant (?), Los Angeles: April 1990; Ocean Way Recording, Hollywood, California (Overdubs May 1, 3–4, 1990) / Producers: Don Was, David Was, and Jack Frost (Bob Dylan) / Sound Engineer: Ed Cherney
“Under the Red Sky” gave the album its title and shows one of the most exciting facets of Dylan’s songwriting. At first glance, it is a nursery rhyme that seems to draw its message from the Bible. The heroes are “a little boy” and “a little girl” who “[live] in an alley under the red sky,” which evokes a sign from heaven referred to in the Gospel according to Matthew (16:1–3): “It will be stormy today, the sky is red and lowering.” “Under the Red Sky” may possibly be the last long night before the apocalypse—in this case, due to the pollution of the earth. Dylan told Don Was that the song did not have an ecological theme, but “it’s about people who got trapped in [my] home town.”112 Still, the town may well be Hibbing, where the iron ore mines tinted the sky red.
“Under the Red Sky” seems to have been influenced by the Beatles in the harmony. This is probably not a coincidence, as Dylan’s friend George Harrison played a slide guitar solo. Don Was remembers the cooperation between them: “Before George had even gotten a sound on his guitar or heard the song, Bob sat down behind the board in the engineer’s seat, hit the record button and said, ‘Play!’” Harrison played, and “it was a respectable solo, but the guitar was way out of tune.” At the end, Dylan “indicated that that the solo was perfect, and we were done.” George, incredulous, turned to Was to ask, “What do YOU think, Don?” Embarrassed, the producer, after a few seconds, told him, “It was really good, but let’s see if you can do an even better one.” Harrison thanked him, Bob laughed, and George redid his solo, this time impeccably.143