"What Was It You Wanted" is a song written and performed by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released in 1989 as the ninth and penultimate track (or fourth song on Side 2 of the vinyl) on his album Oh Mercy. It was produced by Daniel Lanois.
Composition and recording
In his book Bob Dylan, Performing Artist: 1986-1990 and Beyond, Paul Williams characterizes "What Was It You Wanted" as a "special song" in which Dylan attempts to sketch "a picture of what goes on" in his own life. Williams specifically sees the song as "an expansion" of two lines from Dylan's 1973 song "Nobody 'Cept You" ("Everybody wants my attention / Everybody's got something to sell"[1]): Williams notes that there is "always someone who wants something more from [Dylan] more complicated and urgent than an autograph" and that it has been the singer/songwriter's fate to "receive more such entreaties than most celebrities, even Presidents of the United States".[2]
Dylan seemingly agreed with Williams' interpretation when writing about the song in his 2004 memoir Chronicles: Volume One: "If you've ever been the object of curiosity, then you know what this song is about. It doesn't need much explanation". Dylan also cited "What Was It You Wanted" as a song where he "heard the lyric and melody together in my head" when composing it.[3]
Dylan scholar Tony Attwood observes that the song is "in a minor key packed with minor chords", which he claims is fitting since it is narrated by a "lost and bemused individual".[4] The song is also notable for Mason Ruffner's electric guitar part, which Stephen Pate has described as "the main groove of the song with the strong tremolo C#5, F#, A5, progression".[5]
Critical reception
Like Paul Williams, Tony Attwood discusses the song as personal to Dylan but in the sense that it uses "the uncertainty of an artist who has to some degree lost his way, as a theme in his writing". Attwood sees this as part of a larger, successful strategy on Dylan's part "to get his creativity working again" through the "darker times" of the late 1980s when he was writing the songs for Oh Mercy.[6]
In their book Bob Dylan All the Songs: The Story Behind Every Track, authors Philippe Margotin and Jean-Michel Guesdon positively appraise the song as "penetrating and hypnotic" and note that it possesses a "throbbing groove".[7]AllMusic rated the song 3-and-a-half out of five stars.[8]
In her book A Freewhweelin' Time: A Memoir of Greenwich Village in the Sixties, Suze Rotolo cites it as one of her favorite Dylan songs. She writes that she considers it to be "the essence of Bob Dylan", and notes that "only he could have written it" and that it "showcases his acerbic wit and his ability to twist multiple meanings around his finger".[9]
Dylan performed the song in his 2021 concert film Shadow Kingdom: The Early Songs of Bob Dylan. Kitty Empire, writing in The Guardian, cited Dylan's "poignant drawl" on this performance as the high point of the show.[12]Consequence's Katie Moulton likewise considered "What Was It You Wanted" as a "major highlight" of Shadow Kingdom, noting that "[i]n the shifting chiaroscuro, and sung by an octogenarian, the song is simultaneously a plea, an accusation, and a long dark reflection".[13]
This 2021 live version appears on the film’s soundtrack album, Shadow Kingdom (2023).
Cultural references
The narrator asks "What was it you wanted / When you were kissing my cheek?" at the end of the second verse.[14] This has been interpreted as a reference to the Biblical Kiss of Judas.[15][16]
^Margotin, Philippe; Jean-Michel Guesdon (2015). Bob Dylan : all the songs : the story behind every track (First ed.). New York. ISBN978-1-57912-985-9. OCLC869908038.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
