Three weeks after unexpectedly coming out of the woodwork and sharing the previously unreleased 17-minute epic Murder Most Foul, Bob Dylan has released another song entitled I Contain Multitudes.
The four-minute, 37-second song dropped on Friday morning, and unlike its predecessor, features no piano or percussion, but instead, is carried by the ambient sounds of an acoustic and steel guitar.
Rather than singing about the grim nature of the assassination of John F. Kennedy again, a cheery Dylan jokingly brags about his seemingly endless list of “multitudes” and talents.
“I paint landscapes / and I paint nudes / I contain multitudes,” he sings in the first chorus.
In the first few verses, the musician compares himself to the likes of Anne Frank, Indiana Jones, Edgar Allen Poe and “them British bad boys, the Rolling Stones.”
Naming other iconic historical figures, Dylan later mentions William Blake’s Songs of Innocence and of Experience poems, Ludwig van Beethoven’s infamous sonatas and David Bowie’s more recent, 1972-written hit All the Young Dudes.
While it’s unclear if I Contain Multitudes is a brand new track or another previously unreleased cut, the single artwork depicts a much younger looking version of the folk rock legend — who is now 78.
Regardless of that, the rather mischievous tune — along with Murder Most Foul — is Dylan’s first original release in nearly eight years.
As of this writing, it’s unclear if Dylan is working on a follow-up to his 35th and most recent studio album, 2012’s Tempest.
Though he’s spent the last decade touring sporadically, Dylan was forced to cancel the entirety of his April tour across Japan on March 12 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Currently, he has no scheduled Canadian tour dates, however, his U.S. summer tour dates are still set to proceed in June/July.
I Contain Multitudes is now available through all major streaming platforms.
For additional information, updates and tour date listings, you can visit the official Bob Dylan website.