Music / ↳ Dirty World

Dirty World

Written by: Bob Dylan (credited), with the full band contributing lines Lead vocals: Bob Dylan, with the group trading lines in the outro Length: 3:30 Album: Vol. 1, track 2

If "Handle With Care" shows what this band could do when they were being sincere, "Dirty World" shows what happened the moment they stopped bothering to be. Built around a single running joke of a lyric that each member took turns completing, the song is credited to Dylan but functions almost like a party game set to a bright, horn-flecked acoustic arrangement, with each Wilbury getting a chance to top the last one's punchline.

The vibe has been compared, only half-jokingly, to the Wilburys doing their own version of the winking innuendo that defined Prince's more playful mid-'80s singles, filtered through a much more Americana, front-porch arrangement than anything you'd hear on a Minneapolis record. It's not subtle, and it isn't supposed to be. By the extended outro, the whole band is essentially trading verses in a round, visibly enjoying themselves in a way that comes through even on record.

Dylan's lead vocal here is looser and more playful than almost anything on his own albums from the same stretch, a tone critics have specifically pointed to as evidence of how well the Wilburys' fast, low-pressure sessions suited him. It's the sound of a notoriously guarded artist having, by every account, a genuinely good time.

Previous track: Handle With Care. Next track: Rattled. Or see the full Vol. 1 tracklist.