Song · Bob Dylan
“Simple Twist of Fate” by Bob Dylan
From the album Blood on the Tracks (1975)
“Simple Twist of Fate” by Bob Dylan appears on 11 radio countdowns from 5 stations between 2004 and 2024. It was first released in 1975 on the album Blood on the Tracks. Its best result is #197 on the 90.9 The Bridge Top 909 Songs of the '70s. In the combined RockLists rankings it is #705 indie & aaa song of all time and #196 of the '70s.
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"Simple Twist of Fate" is the second song on Blood on the Tracks, Bob Dylan's 15th studio album, released in 1975; he cut it on September 19, 1974. It tells the story of a romance doomed from the start, and it plays a sly trick in the telling, opening in the third person before sliding into the first. Listeners have tied it to Suze Rotolo, Joan Baez and Sara Dylan, and Dylan has kept rewriting the words on stage for decades.
Phil Ramone produced and engineered, and the arrangement stays spare: Dylan on acoustic guitar and harmonica, Tony Brown on bass, Buddy Cage's steel guitar sighing around the edges. Under it runs a falling melody over chords that almost mirror the verses of Frankie Valli's "Can't Take My Eyes Off You".
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
RockLists rankings
Indie & Adult Alternative
All Rock Formats
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | 301 | WXPN | WXPN 885 All-Time Greatest Songs (2004) | 885 |
| 2007 | 592 | WTMD | WTMD Top 897 Songs of All Time | 897 |
| 2009 | 769 | WYEP | WYEP 913 Essential Songs | 913 |
| 2009 | 646 | WXPN | WXPN 885 Desert Island Songs (2009) | 885 |
| 2012 | 378 | WYEP | WYEP Top 500 Songs Countdown | 500 |
| 2014 | 518 | WXPN | WXPN 885 All-Time Greatest Songs (2014) | 885 |
| 2016 | 725 | WYEP | WYEP 913 Countdown 2016 | 913 |
| 2018 | 464 | The Current | The Current's 893 Essential Songs | 892 |
| 2020 | 868 | WXPN | WXPN 2020 Greatest Songs of All Time | 2020 |
| 2022 | 197 | 90.9 The Bridge | 90.9 The Bridge Top 909 Songs of the '70s | 908 |
| 2024 | 277 | WYEP | WYEP Best Songs of the Past 50 Years | 1049 |
Also listed as: Simple Twist Of Fate.
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