Murder Most Foul

Murder Most Foul is the 10th and final song from Bob Dylan's 39th studio album Rough and Rowdy Ways. It was released as the first single from the album, announced as an 'unreleased track recorded a while back.' It was followed by the releases of "I Contain Multitudes" on April 17, 2020 and "False Prophet" on May 8, 2020. It was Dylan's first original song released in 8 years. At 16:56, it is the longest song Dylan has ever released - surpassing "Highlands" (from Time Out of Mind) by 25 seconds.

Background
Bob Dylan's last original songs had been released in 2012's Tempest. After this, Dylan only released covers of Frank Sinatra songs on Shadows in the Night, Fallen Angels, and Triplicate in 2015, 2016, and 2017 respectively. This track was released without announcement on Dylan's YouTube channel at midnight (EST) on March 27, 2020. The song's lyrical content is about 35th President John F. Kennedy (as portrayed in the single cover art), and how American culture shifted around it. It references several actors, songs, and movies that make up American culture post-JFK assassination in mostly chronological order.

Music
Throughout the nearly 17 minutes, the song follows a basic chord progression in C: I–IV–I–IV–VI. The instruments in the song are piano, violin, organ, bass, percussion and a triplet of acoustic guitars played by Charlie Sexton, Robert Britt, and Dylan. Recurring members Donnie Herron plays violin and Benmont Tench playing the Hammond organ. Singer-songwriter Fiona Apple plays piano with Alan Pasqua, her second appearance.

Personnel

 * Bob Dylan – vocals, acoustic guitar
 * Alan Pasqua – piano
 * Fiona Apple – piano
 * Donnie Herron – violin
 * Benmont Tench – Hammond organ
 * Charlie Sexton – acoustic guitar
 * Robert Britt – acoustic guitar
 * Tony Garnier – bass
 * Matt Chamberlain – percussion