blowin in the wrench

Bob Dylan Throws a Wrench Into ‘Desolation Row’

By , a copy editor at New York who writes about culture and politics.
Bob in 2023, sans wrench. Photo: Gary Miller/Getty

Bob Dylan isn’t one to rest on his creative laurels. Where other artists his age have long ago decided to shut up and play the hits, the mercurial 83-year-old is using his recent tour dates to cover songs from the ’50s and play tracks off his middling 2012 album Tempest, with only the occasional scrap of red meat thrown to audiences. (Curiously, some of his song choices seem to be in response to recent pop-culture developments, like performing “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall” for the first time in six years, two weeks after Timmy Chalamet sang it in the trailer for A Complete Unknown.) Anyway, the guy remains as predictably unpredictable as ever — a quality reflected in his recent choice of instrument.

Toward the end of his set in Darien Center, New York, on Tuesday, Dylan broke out 1965’s “Desolation Row” for the first time since 2019, with the help of … a miniature wrench.

Now, this raises a few questions: Did some roadie just leave the wrench there and accidentally inspire the singer to improvise, or did Dylan dispatch someone to Home Depot before the show to acquire it? If so, what specifications did he offer them, and were they nervous about picking out the right one? (Wrench Guy, if you’re reading this, I just want to talk!) Did Dylan, impish as ever, troll his own band by literally throwing a wrench in their plans? As is often the case with the singer’s inscrutable choices, we’ll likely never know. In fact, he might already be plotting how to incorporate more household tools into his sets. If so, a few humble suggestions, for Mr. Zimmerman:

  • “Rainy Day Women #12 & 35” with a hammer: Given the song’s circus vibe, why not make it a comically large one?
  • “Mr. Tambourine Man” with a set of janitor’s keys: Because what jingle-jangles more than those?
  • “Highway 61 Revisited” with an empty beer bottle: To be clear, this would not work well (and a beer bottle isn’t a tool, by most people’s definition), but it would be a noble failure.
  • “You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere” with whatever you can find: Any item is well suited to a song from the shaggy, homespun Basement Tapes recordings. Tap a couple screwdrivers against the neck of your guitar! Bang a whisk against an overturned mixing bowl!

Tags:

Bob Dylan Throws a Wrench Into ‘Desolation Row’