I Contain Multitudes

This article is about the song. For the Whitman poem containing this phrase, seeSong of Myself.For the book about microbiology, seeEd Yong.

"I Contain Multitudes"
SinglebyBob Dylan
from the albumRough and Rowdy Ways
Released	April 17, 2020
Recorded	January and February 2020
Studio	Sound City(Los Angeles)
Genre	Folk
Length	4:36
Label	Columbia
Songwriter(s)	Bob Dylan
Producer(s)	None listed
Bob Dylansingles chronology
"Murder Most Foul" (2020) "I Contain Multitudes" (2020) "False Prophet" (2020)
Rough and Rowdy Waystrack listing
10 tracks "I Contain Multitudes" "False Prophet" "My Own Version of You" "I've Made Up My Mind to Give Myself to You" "Black Rider" "Goodbye Jimmy Reed" "Mother of Muses" "Crossing the Rubicon" "Key West (Philosopher Pirate)" "Murder Most Foul"

"I Contain Multitudes"is a song by the American singer-songwriterBob Dylan,the opening track on his 39th studio album,Rough and Rowdy Ways(2020). It was released as the album's second single on April 17, 2020, throughColumbia Records.The title of the song is taken from Section 51 of the poem "Song of Myself"byWalt Whitman.

The song was released, unannounced, less than a month after Dylan's previous single, "Murder Most Foul".The two singles were the first original material released by Dylan since his 2012 albumTempest."I Contain Multitudes" reached number 5 onBillboard's Rock Digital Song Sales chart.

Background and themes

Dylan has long been fascinated by the concept of the multiplicity of the self, evident in everything from his fondness forArthur Rimbaud's phrase "Je est un autre" ( "I is another" ), which he said caused bells to go off when he first read it in the 1960s,to the lyrics of hisRastafari-influenced 1983 song "I and I".In an interview to promoteTime Out of Mindin 1997, Dylan said, "I change during the course of a day. I wake and I'm one person, and when I go to sleep I know for certain I'm somebody else. I don't know who I am most of the time. It doesn't even matter to me".

A paraphrase of this last quote is spoken byRichard Gere'sBilly the Kidcharacter via voice-over narration inTodd Haynes' unconventional 2007 biopicI'm Not There(which features the subtitle "Inspired by the music and many lives of Bob Dylan" and takes Dylan's constantly-changing persona explicitly as its subject).Dylan's chameleon-like nature had caused critics to useWalt Whitman's line "I contain multitudes" in relation to him long before he ever wrote a song by that title.Dylan himself quoted the line in an interview for the 2019 documentaryRolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese.

Lyrics

When asked about writing the song by historianDouglas Brinkleyfor an interview inThe New York Timesto promote the release ofRough and Rowdy Ways,Dylan noted that he "didn't really have to grapple much. It's the kind of thing where you pile up stream-of-consciousness verses and then leave it alone and come pull things out. In that particular song, the last few verses came first. So that's where the song was going all along. Obviously, the catalyst for the song is the title line. It's one of those where you write it on instinct. Kind of in a trance state. Most of my recent songs are like that. The lyrics are the real thing, tangible, they're not metaphors".

Brinkley also asked Dylan about the surprising inclusion ofAnne Frank's name in the song, to which Dylan responded that Frank's story was "profound" before adding: "You could just as well ask, 'What made you decide to includeIndiana Jonesor theRolling Stones'. The names themselves are not solitary. It's the combination of them that adds up to something more than their singular parts. To go too much into detail is irrelevant. The song is like a painting, you can't see it all at once if you're standing too close. The individual pieces are just part of a whole...Somewhere in the universe those three names must have paid a price for what they represent and they're locked together. And I can hardly explain that. Why or where or how, but those are the facts ".

Music

"I Contain Multitudes" is performed in the key of C major.Critics noted upon release of the single that there is a certain continuity when it is listened to alongside Dylan's previous single, "Murder Most Foul",which is performed in the same key (and thatRough and Rowdy Wayshas a circular structure when listened to on repeat since they are the first and last tracks on the album, respectively).In all, there are six verses and two bridges, the latter of which are, according to Robert Dye inAmerican Songwriter,"sung over a descending six-minor walkdown, contrasting with the dreamy feel of the verses and creating tension".

The song has a slow tempo and a sparse arrangement featuring multiple acoustic guitars, a pedal steel guitar and an upright bass played with a bow. It is notable for being the only song onRough and Rowdy Waysto feature no percussion.Also similar to "Murder Most Foul" is Dylan's vocal performance, which Tony Attwood describes as "[walking] a fine line between talking and singing".When Dylan playedLotte Lenya's version ofKurt WeillandBertolt Brecht's "Alabama Song"on the" Whiskey "episode ofTheme Time Radio Hour,first broadcast in September 2020, he characterized her vocal technique as "sprechstimme",meaning half-spoken/half-sung, before humorously adding," I use that sometimes myself ".

Release

The song was released unexpectedly on Dylan'sYouTubechannel on April 17, 2020, three weeks to the day after the stealth release of Dylan's previous single "Murder Most Foul".The YouTube video consists of the song accompanied by a still photograph of Dylan playing live inSalzburg,Austriathat had been taken by Italian Dylan fan Andrea Orlandi in 1996(a photograph that was also later included in one of the inner sleeves of theRough and Rowdy Waysvinyl release). The single's release had been teased several hours before the song's premiere by a status update on Dylan's officialTwitteraccount that featured the song title as a hashtag: #IContainMultitudes.

Critical reception

While reviewingRough and Rowdy Waysin hisSubstack-published "Consumer Guide" column,Robert Christgausaid the track "provides exactly the right thematic sendoff" within the context of the album's "elegiac retrospective".Mark Beaumont ofNMEcalled it a "sanguine personal exposé" and "a kind of literary folk 'My Way', a porch chair portrait of a life fully lived ", in which Dylan" peels away the details of his journey with the grace and conciliation of a master making his peace ".

Several critics have commented on Dylan's surprising use of humor in the song, includingNPR's Lauren Onkey who noted that the lyrics contain "a list of sometimes funny (we often forget that Dylan is funny) and preposterous brags of the singer's power and prowess that evoke the blues",andUSA Today's Patrick Ryan who, in an article about the "Best Songs of 2020", referred to it as both "cheeky" and "quietly heartbreaking".

Simon Vozick-Levinson, writing in aRolling Stonearticle where the song placed 13th on a list of "The 25 Best Bob Dylan songs of the 21st Century", noted that it functions as a "bookend of sorts" to "Murder Most Foul"in that, in both," Dylan seems to be considering his place in the constellation of great musicians and artists through the ages ".

TheSydney Morning Heraldnamed "I Contain Multitudes" one of the "Top five Bob Dylan songs" in a 2021 article, calling it a "paean to unassailable self-knowledge [that] is sung like a man at peace with every detail".Spectrum Cultureincluded the song on a list of "Bob Dylan's 20 Best Songs of the '10s and Beyond".

The Pretenders' lead singerChrissie HyndetoldRolling Stonethat she found the song "fucking devastating" and that its release, along with theCOVID-19 pandemiclockdown, inspired her to finally realize her ambition of recording a Dylan covers album.Robert Plantclaimed that, upon first hearing it, he "just went, 'This is the story of all of our lives! Except he's taken the bends in a totally different way, the curves'", and claimed that being able to "voice somebody else's condition" in a similar fashion was more than he could imagine as a lyricist.Actress/singerRita Wilsonincluded the song on aSpotifyplaylist of her favorite romantic Bob Dylan songs when promoting her 2020 single "I Wanna Kiss Bob Dylan".

Cultural references

As with "Murder Most Foul","I Contain Multitudes "contains many references to other artists and works of art over the past few centuries. The line" I rollick and I frolic with all the young dudes...I contain multitudes ",for example, is a reference toDavid Bowie's song "All the Young Dudes",which became a hit forMott the Hooplein 1972. In an article about "I Contain Multitudes" atForward,Seth Rogovoy suggested this particular line "could be read as a similar nod toward queerness contained in the Bowie-penned original".

The song also contains numerous references toIrish poetryand songs, in particular the work ofW. B. Yeats,Antoine Ó Raifteiriand the song "Danny Boy".Although allusions to Irish poetry and song are nothing new in Dylan's work, some have speculated that these particular references may have been inspired by an evening Dylan spent in the company of fellow songwriterShane MacGowanin Dublin while on tour in 2017.

The line "I live on a boulevard of crime" is a reference to the setting ofMarcel Carne's 1945 filmChildren of Paradise,one of Dylan's all-time favorite movies.Children of Paradisewas an influence on Dylan'sRolling Thunder Revuetour in 1975 and his 1978 filmRenaldo and Clara,and he previously quoted a line from it ( "Love is so simple" ) in theBlood on the Trackssong "You're a Big Girl Now".

The line "I carry four pistols and two large knives" is a reference to Ward Will Lamon, an overarmed bodyguard who accompaniedAbraham Lincolnto his inauguration, as described inShelby Foote'sThe Civil War: A Narrative.This is the first of six references toU.S. PresidentsonRough and Rowdy Ways(the other five of which come in the album's final two songs: "Key West (Philosopher Pirate)"and" Murder Most Foul ").

Live performances

"I Contain Multitudes" received its live debut at theRiverside TheaterinMilwaukee, Wisconsinon November 2, 2021, the first concert of Dylan'sRough and Rowdy Ways World Wide Tour.He played it at all 202 shows of the tour through its conclusion in Austin, Texas on April 6, 2024.

Charts

Chart performance for "I Contain Multitudes"

Chart (2020)	Peak position
US Rock Digital Song Sales (Billboard)	5

Accolades

Accolades for "I Contain Multitudes"

Publication	Accolade	Rank
The Sydney Morning Herald	Top Five Bob Dylan Songs	N/A
USA Today	10 Best Songs of 2020	7
Rolling Stone	The 25 Best Bob Dylan Songs of the 21st Century	13
Slate	20 Best Songs of 2020	N/A
Spectrum Culture	Bob Dylan's 20 Best Songs of the '10s and Beyond	N/A
The Los Angeles Times	50 Best Songs of 2020	N/A
Inside of Knoxville	25 Best Dylan Songs of the Last 25 Years	N/A
Spin	50 Best Songs of 2020 (So Far)	49

Cover versions

The song was covered by Australian singer/songwriterEmma Swifton her 2020 albumBlonde on the Tracks.Swift also played the song at a show inNashville, Tennesseethat was live streamed onYouTubein the summer of 2020.

Norwegian pop singerSondre Lerchereleased a cover as a Christmas single on December 20, 2020, viaStereogum.

External links

• VideoonYouTube
• Lyricsat Bob Dylan's official site
• Chordsat Dylanchords