Everything Is Broken

"Everything is Broken" is an uptempo rock song written and recorded by American musician Bob Dylan, and released on his 1989 album Oh Mercy. It is a "list song" in which the narrator describes a world where everything seems to be broken.[1] The song spent eight weeks on Billboard's "Mainstream Rock Songs" chart, peaking at number eight on October 27, 1989.[2]

This article is about Bob Dylan song. For The Age of Information EP, see Everything Is Broken (EP). For the Defiance episode, see Everything is Broken (Defiance).
"Everything is Broken"
Cover of the American promotional single.
Single by Bob Dylan
from the album Oh Mercy
B-side"Death is Not the End"
ReleasedOctober 1989
RecordedMarch 14 or 15, 1989 (original),
April 3, 1989 (album version)[1]
StudioNew Orleans, Louisiana
GenreBlues, folk rock
Length3:13
LabelColumbia
Songwriter(s)Bob Dylan
Producer(s)Daniel Lanois
Bob Dylan singles chronology
"Silvio"
(1988)		 "Everything is Broken"
(1989)		 "Political World"
(1990)

Composition

Originally recorded as "Broken Days" in March 1989, Dylan had rewritten the song entirely by April, giving it its current name. In an interview with Nigel Williamson (the author of The Rough Guide to Bob Dylan), Oh Mercy's producer, Daniel Lanois, described how Dylan would rework his songs over and over again:

"I sat next to him for two months while he wrote [Oh Mercy] and it was extraordinary. Bob overwrites. He keeps chipping away at his verses. He has a place for all his favorite couplets, and those couplets can be interchangeable. I've seen the same lyrics show up in two or three different songs as he cuts and pastes them around, so it's not quite as sacred ground as you might think.[1]

Critical reception

In their book Bob Dylan All the Songs: The Story Behind Every Track, authors Philippe Margotin and Jean-Michel Guesdon characterize "Everything is Broken" as a "Louisiana, or swamp blues, song" in the vein of Slim Harpo. They describe the recording as "both nonchalant and rhythmic, punctuated by guitars with very pronounced vibrato" and praise Dylan's harmonica solo as "exquisite".[3]

Live performances

From 1989 to 2003, Dylan played the song 285 times on the Never Ending Tour.[4]

Other versions

One of the original takes, recorded by Dylan in mid-March 1989 in New Orleans, was included on the 2008 compilation album The Bootleg Series Vol. 8: Tell Tale Signs: Rare and Unreleased 1989–2006.[5]

Notable cover versions

References
  1. Williamson, N. The Rough Guide to Bob Dylan (1st ed, 2004), p. 296, ISBN 978-1843531395
  2. "Bob Dylan". Billboard. Retrieved 2021-01-03.
  3. Margotin, Philippe; Guesdon, Jean-Michel. Bob Dylan: all the songs: the story behind every track (First ed.). New York. ISBN 1-57912-985-4. OCLC 869908038.
  4. "Bob Dylan Tour Statistics". www.setlist.fm. Retrieved 2021-01-03.
  5. "The Bootleg Series, Vol 8: Tell Tale Signs | The Official Bob Dylan Site". www.bobdylan.com. Retrieved 2021-01-03.
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