Isis (song)


"Isis" is a ballad written by Bob Dylan in collaboration with Jacques Levy, in July 1975. The song is the second track in Dylan's 1976 album Desire. The song, which features allusions to ancient Egypt, including sharing its title with an Egyptian goddess, has been characterized by Dylan as a song "about marriage".

Description

This song is in a moderately fast 3/4 time, in the key of B-flat major. The arrangement is based on rhythm chords played on acoustic piano, accompanied by bass guitar, drums, and violin. The harmonic progression consists of an ostinato using the following chords throughout:
Ⅰ–ⅤⅠⅠ♭–Ⅳ–Ⅰ

B♭–A♭–E♭–B♭
The lyrics are all verses; there is no chorus. The melody is in the style of a modal folk song, emphasizing the tonic and dominant notes in the scale, with leaps of a fifth in between them. The mode is Mixolydian with a major third in the harmony, but Dylan's delivery of the melody and Rivera's violin accompaniment use a flatted third as in the blues. Dylan ends the performance with a brief upward glissando on the piano.

Song narrative

"Isis" tells the tale of a man who married an enigmatic woman named Isis. The story covers his separation from her, his subsequent adventure and, ultimately, his return. The marriage took place "on the fifth day of May,". After the wedding, he "could not hold on to her very long", so he "cut off his hair and rode straight away for the wild unknown country..." He reaches a "high place" divided by a line "through the center of town" into "darkness and light." He hitches his pony and enters a laundry, as though to wash himself of his past. He meets and falls in with a shady character who promises "something easy to catch." They ride "to the pyramids all embedded in ice". They carry on in freezing conditions until the bounty-hunting companion dies. The narrator breaks into the empty tomb, finds no treasure, and realizes the adventure had been a fool's errand. He leaves his dead companion in the tomb, says a quick prayer, and rides back to Isis, whom he still loves. He sees Isis in a meadow and when she asks him if he is going to stay this time, he replies, "If you want me to, yes!"

Writing

The song was written and recorded during a time of separation and reunion in Dylan's own marriage; consequently, for fans and critics the temptation to interpret it as an allegory of Dylan's own marital difficulties is irresistible, especially since the Desire album contains the song "Sara" which is openly about their marriage and separation. Dylan was known to include autobiographical hints in his previous songs. "Isis" draws upon mythological themes of a male hero separating from his wife, going on adventures, and returning to the marriage, going back to the Odyssey.

Personnel

Dylan did an up-tempo live version of the song with the Rolling Thunder Revue in 1975. A performance taped on this tour on December 4, 1975 was included in the 1978 film Renaldo and Clara, and released in video form in 2002 on a bonus DVD accompanying the initial release of '. The audio recording of this performance had been released on the 1978 promotional EP 4 Songs from "Renaldo and Clara" and the 1985 compilation album Biograph. Dylan is heard introducing the piece as "a song about marriage," and adds "This one's for Leonard, if you're still here!" referring to Leonard Cohen. Another live version of the song, recorded on a tour date the previous month, appeared in audio format only on The Bootleg Series Vol. 5. In 2019, these two performances and four other live renditions of the song from the 1975 tour were released on the box set ', along with two full-length rehearsals.
According to Dylan's official website, Dylan has played "Isis" live 46 times, as of July 2019.