Mama, You Been on My Mind

Bob Dylan (born Robert Allen Zimmerman) is one of the most widely loved musicians of the century. Having won a multitude of awards (43, to be exact), and even a Nobel Prize Award in Literature in 2016 for his music, Dylan is one of the most talented and respected musicians in the music world. A poet, singer, songwriter and an incredibly talented musician, Bob Dylan has remained consistently relevant since the late 1950’s.

“Mama, You Been on My Mind” is a song heard more by other artists who have covered it than by Bob Dylan himself, (like Johnny Cash and Jeff Buckley) tells a heartfelt story of a lover thinking about their ex-partner. In true Bob Dylan style, the lyrics are more focused on telling a story rather than whether they rhyme. The track was released 1991, on “The Bootleg Series, Vol 1-3: Rare & Unreleased 1961-1991”

“Perhaps it’s the colour of the sun cut flat/And covering the crossroads I’m standing at/Or maybe it’s the weather or something like that/But mama you been on my mind” Dylan opens the song with this verse, wondering why he’s thinking about his ex-lover, maybe thinking it might be the weather. “I don’t mean trouble please don’t put me down or get upset/ I am not pleading, or saying I can’t forget you/ I do not pace the floor bowed down and bent, but yet/ Mama you been on my mind” – the second verse focuses on Dylan saying that despite his strong feelings he’s not been obsessing over her or getting down. The remaining three verses consists of Dylan coming to terms with how he feels, and how he doesn’t mind if his ex-lover has been with other people, and whether the ex thinks of him too.

Release Date: 26th March 1991

Songwriter/s: Bob Dylan

Album: The Bootleg Series, Vol 1-3: Rare & Unreleased 1961-1991 (1991)

Genre: Folk, blues, rock, country

Label/s: Columbia, Asylum

Music Video: N/A