Music / ↳ Tweeter and the Monkey Man

Tweeter and the Monkey Man

Written by: Bob Dylan Lead vocals: Bob Dylan Length: 5:30 Album: Vol. 1, track 9

Ask a longtime Wilburys fan to name the album's single best deep cut, and there's a good chance they'll say this one. "Tweeter and the Monkey Man" is Dylan's sprawling, narrative-driven epic, built as an affectionate, cheeky homage to Bruce Springsteen's own early, verbose story-songs, packed with the kind of stolen cars, hilltop mansions, and New Jersey highway imagery that anyone who grew up on Springsteen's mid-'70s records will recognize instantly.

Rolling Stone's original review put it best, calling the track Dylan's wonderfully bitchy way of asserting who's really the Boss, a knowing wink at Springsteen's own famous nickname that Dylan delivers with a completely straight face throughout. The song plays like Dylan quietly demonstrating, over five and a half unhurried minutes, that he can write circles around the genre Springsteen made his name in, without ever once raising his voice or breaking character.

It's a genuinely strange thing for two of the biggest names in American songwriting to have this kind of conversation entirely through a supergroup side project, but that's exactly what makes "Tweeter and the Monkey Man" such a beloved deep cut. It rewards close listening in a way most of the rest of Vol. 1 deliberately doesn't ask for, and it's the track most likely to make a first-time listener stop and rewind.

Previous track: Margarita. Next track: End of the Line. Or see the full Vol. 1 tracklist.