After an eight-year hiatus from releasing original music, Bob Dylan has dropped two new songs within a month of each other. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member and 2016 Nobel Prize in Literature recipient showcased his poetry in “Murder Most Foul” and “I Contain Multitudes.”

“Murder Most Foul,” which came out in late March, is centered around the 1963 assasination of President John F. Kennedy (JFK). The almost 17-minute track radiates suffering. As Dylan puts it, “the soul of a nation been torn away.” Although it seems the length of the song would be excessive, it felt much shorter when I was fully invested into its sorrowful mood. In a letter written on his website, Dylan wrote, “This is an unreleased song we recorded a while back that you might find interesting.” “Murder Most Foul” has already gained recognition, becoming Dylan’s first Billboard chart number one song, topping the Rock Digital Song Sales chart.

The devastation JFK’s death inflicted upon the United States can be felt within the song. This image of a fractured nation is very meaningful right now, and I could feel the healing in Dylan’s music — our nation has overcome past struggles and we can persevere now. Adding to the mourning, there are a couple moments where the instrumental reaches an emotional peak with beautiful violin notes.

The roughly 17 minute long song is full of pop culture references, many of which are well before my time. In fact, roughly the last two minutes of “Murder Most Foul” are allusions. I recommend checking out the Genius page for this song to see interesting notes and theories about his lyrics.

The shorter, four-minute long song “I Contain Multitudes” shows emotion of a different kind — affection. Love can be heard through the beautiful slow tempo instrumental and the lyrics “Tell me, what’s next?/What shall we do?/Half my soul, baby, belongs to you.” The song reminded me of Louis Armstrong’s iconic “What a Wonderful World.” As the title reveals, Dylan displays his own complex personality, singing “I’m a man of contradictions, I’m a man of many moods/I contain multitudes.” I interpreted this as a message of self-appreciation and acknowledgement of personal traits, good or bad. The Minnesota-born artist’s voice is not amazing, but Dylan has never been known for an amazing singing voice. Rather, as “I Contain Multitudes” displays, it is Dylan’s lyricism that makes him special.

“Murder Most Foul:” ★★★★☆
“I Contain Multitudes:” ★★★★☆