Dylan Song by Song: "What Was it You Wanted?" Quiz

Answer: Oh Mercy

Bob Dylan's 26th studio album, "Oh Mercy" was released in 1989, on the heels of "Dylan and the Dead," which also came out in 1989. A year later, he put out "Under the Red Sky." The rock magazine, "Rolling Stone," ranked the album number 44 on its list of "The 100 Greatest Albums of the 1980s."

Answer: show

In his book "Song and Dance Man III," Michael Gray argues that when the song opens with these verses, the listener does not yet know that it will "build so vituperative a pyramid of stony rebuffs." The song, he writes, contains "a withering coldness that [Dylan] turns on and off and on again as the song proceeds." Even in the next few lines of this first stanza, one can see the coldness mounting:

"What was it you wanted
Could you say it again?
I'll be back in a minute
You can get it together by then."

Answer: me

Tony Attwood, in "The Creativity of Bob Dylan" (on the blog "Untold Dylan"), suggests that this song describes a "situation of being lost, of knowing that the music he [Bob Dylan] had been releasing in recent years was nowhere up to his previous standard." In the context of that interpretation, the singer is addressing his audience, who seem to be expecting something from him he is either unwilling or unable to deliver.

Answer: shadows

Another possible interpretation of this song is that, rather than Dylan speaking to his listeners or fans, this song represents Jesus Christ speaking to Judas. Judas came by night to the garden where Jesus was praying and kissed him in order to reveal to the Roman soldiers which man to arrest.

The soldiers, in this interpretation, are the someone "in the shadows," waiting for this revelation.

Answer: skip

The song continues:

"What was it you wanted
I ain't keeping score
Are you the same person
That was here before?
Is it something important?
Maybe not
What was it you wanted?
Tell me again I forgot."

There is bitter tone to this song, but also an empty one, as it seems to describe two people who, as Tony Atwood puts it, "cannot communicate; there is nothing here the singer can be certain about. He can't even be sure that he is now with the same person as he had with him last time. Think mist, misunderstanding, two people by-passing each other, just missing each other, nothing is clear..."

Answer: song

Michael Gray points out that even as Dylan sings "is the scenery changing?", the song itself is "shifting ground." In answer to Dylan's question, "Is the whole thing going backwards?", Gray writes, "Yes: the whole song has been depicting a running backwards from any notion of intimacy."

This verse continues:

"Where were you when it started
Do you want it for free
What was it you wanted
Are you talking to me?"

The stand-offish tone in this song provides a sharp contrast to the humble tone in another song from the same album, "What Good Am I?"

Answer: Willie Nelson

"Red Headed Stranger" was a concept album released in 1975 that centers around a fugitive who is on the run after murdering his wife and her adulterous lover. It was Willie Nelson's 18th studio album. At "The 30th Anniversary Concert Celebration" at Madison Square Garden in New York in 1992, Willie Nelson performed a version of Bob Dylan's "What Was It You Wanted?" The concert honored thirty years of Bob Dylan music and featured numerous prominent musicians. Eric Clapton, Kris Kristofferson, Johnny Winter, Tracy Chapman, Neil Young, Tom Petty, the Band, Chrissie Hynde, and numerous other musicians were also present.

Answer: Cyril Neville

Willie Green played drums and American blues and rock guitarist Mason Ruffner played guitar for the song. Cyril Neville supplied percussion on "What Was It You Wanted?" as well as on "Political World" and "Most of the Time" for this album. He played with his brother, Art Neville, in The Meters and later in the Neville Brothers band. Cyril Neville has also played for Robbie Robertson, Dr. John, and Willie Nelson.

Answer: The Jamie Saft Trio

Jamie Saft is a keyboardist who has recorded with Iggy Pop, the Beastie Boys, the B-52s, and Bad Brains, among others. He is also a composer who has written scores for films such as "Murderball." The album "Trouble" was subtitled "The Jamie Saft Trio Plays Bob Dylan" and included covers of "Trouble," "Ballad of a Thin Man," "Disease of Conceit," and "Dignity," among other Bob Dylan songs. Greg Cohen and Ben Perowsky round out the trio.

Answer: "Hvad var det du ville?"

Steffen Brandt, who was born in Denmark, became the lead singer of TV-2 in 1981 and has been awarded for his contribution to music in the Danish language. "Hvad var det du ville?" is "What Was It You Wanted?" in Danish, and it was recorded on his album "Baby Blue - Bob Dylan gendigtet." Hugues Aufray recorded a French language version of "What Was It You Wanted?" titled "Mais qu'est-ce que tu voulais" on his album "Aufray trans Dylan." Totta & Wiehe recorded a Swedish language version called "Vad var det du ville" on the album "Dylan." The other two languages in the answer choices are Spanish and French, but they are not actual titles of Dylan covers.