Black Rider

Black Rider is the 5th song off of Bob Dylan's 39th studio album Rough and Rowdy Ways. The song was inspired by the first poem in Stephen Crane's 1895 novel 'The Black Riders and Other Things', titled retrospectively "The Black Riders". The song has many Biblical references and also is a victim of extensive debate within Dylan circles, arguing about whether it's about America or just death itself. The song, like the rest of the album, was recorded in February 2020 in Sunset Sound Studio in Los Angeles, California.

Background
The term "black rider" refers to the mystical symbol of Death, with a long black coat riding on a white horse. It is based on the Stephen Crane poem "The Black Riders", a poem about evil warriors riding to invade and raid (or 'ride' as Crane calls it) a colony of peoples who don't have as advanced technology as the riders. Dylan uses this imagery of a black rider to paint his song. The listener is tasked to wonder who the Black Rider exactly is in this song throughout its verses. Is it Death, is it a friend? Dylan doesn't explicity state it. At 4:13, this track is the shortest on the album.

Music
The song is centered in the key of D minor, and changes chords slightly every verse. It also makes use of a descending chromatic bassline. A descending chromatic bassline uses this progression: 1–7–b7–6–b6–5. In this instance, it's D–Cb–C–Bb–B–A. It's not the only song on the album to use this chromatic scale, like in "My Own Version of You", the 3rd song on the record. It has sparse instrumentation, only Blake Mills' acoustic guitar and Dylan's voice fill most of the song. Occasionally it has mandolin from Donnie Herron, and at the end of every verse a faint rim shot from drummer Matt Chamberlain. But other than that, it doesn't have much.

Personnel

 * Bob Dylan – vocals
 * Blake Mills – acoustic guitar
 * Tony Garnier – bass guitar
 * Donnie Herron – mandolin
 * Matt Chamberlain – percussion