Bob Dylan / 9:05
Musicians: Bob Dylan: vocals, piano; Charlie Sexton: guitar; Stu Kimball: guitar; David Hidalgo: accordion, guitar, violin; Donnie Herron: banjo; Tony Garnier: upright bass; George G. Receli: drums / Recording Studio: Groove Masters, Santa Monica, California: January–March 2012 / Producer: Jack Frost (Bob Dylan) / Sound Engineer: Scott Litt
“Tin Angel” is a funny title for a song that doesn’t have those words in the lyrics. Dylan wrote “Tin Angel” in the verbal style of a mystery writer and with the sense of suspense of a Hollywood screenwriter. The song is a vaudeville-like tragic murder ballad, in which Dylan combines a classic lover’s triangle: woman, deceived husband, and lover. The drama crescendos at the end to a triple murder/suicide: the murder of the husband by his lover, who is then killed by the heroine, who in turn commits suicide.
“Tin Angel” gives the impression of having been constructed around a repeating loop for the entire nine-minute length of the song. Only a few accidental guitar phrases, starting at 6:24, counteract this assumption. Dylan wants to tell a story, and the music is not going to take over. The instruments are all mixed low, except for the upright bass and drum. Dylan’s vocal is embellished with a delay; he tells his story more than he sings it.