The Man in the Long Black Coat

Of all the songs on Oh Mercy, which I would rate as one of Dylan's ten best studio albums, there is a certain quality about "The Man in the Long Black Coat" that isn't replicated anywhere else on the album.  Dylan calls the album itself "haunting," and it is--"Ring them Bells," "Most of the Time," "What Was it You Wanted?," they all have a sense of ethereal, otherworldliness, one crafted out of a reality not quite in line with our world.  But "The Man in the Long Black Coat" surpasses them all; it's that the lyrics match the arrangement best, that this character that Dylan creates is perfectly suited to the murky, reverb-soaked, slow-pounding sound.

This is the kind of song a reviewer might key on, might recognize as the best of the album, but without knowing exactly why.  Here, Dylan's insight do a lot to explain why the song stands out.  First, it was written in closest chronological proximity to its arrangement, and that certainly does a lot for the song.  But more importantly, there's a consistency in Dylan's state of mind between writing it and performing it.  "The Man in the Long Black Coat," given some of the evidence Dylan provides, is a representation of session saxophonist, John Hart..  The parallels are obvious; Hart wears a long black coat, as well as dark glasses, which mesh with Dylan's lyric, "he had a face like a mask."  Sun Pie appears in the song as a preacher; Dylan echoes his sentiment with the lyric "Preacher was a-talkin/ There's a sermon he gave/ He said every man's conscience/ Is vile and depraved."

The song stands out because from the time Dylan left New Orleans, he seemed to find a groove that he stayed in until the album was finished.  Dylan's best work was done this way, but he had an easier time remaining static earlier in his career, when he could write a song on tour, then settle in and record it with exactly the same mindset about the song--1966's Blonde on Blonde might be his best record, and it's the best example of this phenomenon.