Bob Dylan doesn’t usually do "simple." This is the guy who gave us "Desolation Row" and "Murder Most Foul," songs that feel like reading a dense Russian novel while tripping on caffeine. But then there’s "Everything Is Broken." It’s a list. Literally.
Broken bottles. Broken plates. Broken switches. Broken gates.
It sounds almost like a nursery rhyme gone horribly wrong. Or maybe just a Tuesday in a house with a toddler and a bad WiFi connection. But when it dropped on the 1989 album Oh Mercy, it wasn't just a catchy tune. It was a vibe. A total, crushing, "the world is falling apart" vibe that somehow felt... fun?
The New Orleans Magic Behind the Song
To understand why the everything is broken lyrics work, you have to look at where they came from. Dylan was in a rut. A big one. The '80s hadn't been kind to him. He was putting out records that even his hardcore fans were kind of "meh" about. Then he met Daniel Lanois.
Lanois took Dylan down to New Orleans. They set up in a house on Soniat Street. No fancy recording booths. Just a mobile rig, some vintage motorcycles, and a lot of humidity. You can hear that humidity in the track. It’s got this swampy, thick groove that feels like it’s sticking to your skin.
Lanois actually played the dobro on this track. If you listen closely, that metallic, sliding sound is what gives the song its "swamp blues" teeth. It’s rhythmic and nonchalant, but there’s an edge to it. Dylan himself is on guitar and harmonica, blowing with an intensity he hadn't shown in years.
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From "Broken Days" to a Global Collapse
The song didn't start out this way. Dylan originally called it "Broken Days" when he first started messing with it in March 1989. By April, he’d scrapped most of it and rebuilt it into the "Everything Is Broken" we know.
Daniel Lanois has talked about how Dylan writes. He says Bob "overwrites." He’ll have pages and pages of couplets. He treats them like LEGO bricks. He’ll take a line from one song and snap it into another. For "Everything Is Broken," he settled on a structure that feels like a cascading failure.
It starts with the domestic stuff—plates and dishes. Then it moves to the infrastructure—switches and gates. Finally, it hits the soul. Broken hearts. Broken words. Broken treaties. It’s a slow-motion car crash of a song.
What the Lyrics Actually Mean (Kinda)
Honestly, people try to over-intellectualize Dylan. Sometimes he’s just describing a feeling. But with everything is broken lyrics, there’s a clear sense of social decay.
He’s looking at a world where the "center cannot hold," to borrow a phrase from Yeats.
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- The Personal: "Streets are filled with broken hearts." This is the stuff we all feel. Breakups, loneliness, the general hum of human misery.
- The Political: "Broken treaties, broken vows." This was 1989. The Berlin Wall was coming down, but the world felt chaotic. Dylan has always been a "news" junkie in his own weird way.
- The Spiritual: There’s a line about "broken idols." Dylan had come out of his intense "born-again" phase a few years prior, but he never really left those themes behind. He’s looking at a world that has lost its moral compass.
It’s a "list song." But unlike a grocery list, this one is cumulative. By the time he gets to "every time you leave and every time you come," you realize he isn't just talking about a broken toaster. He’s talking about a fundamental glitch in the universe.
The Personnel: Who Made That Sound?
You can't talk about the lyrics without the sound. It’s a collective effort from some heavy hitters:
- Tony Hall: Bass (that driving, walking line that keeps the song from collapsing).
- Willie Green: Drums (keeping it simple and steady).
- Brian Stoltz: Guitar.
- Daryl Johnson: Percussion.
- Malcolm Burn: Tambourine (and he was also the recording engineer).
It’s a tight group. They weren't overplaying. They were just creating a floor for Dylan to stomp around on.
Why We Are Still Obsessed With It
Why does this song still show up in movies and TV shows? Why did Sheryl Crow and Jason Isbell cover it so recently?
Because it’s timeless.
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We live in an era of "planned obsolescence." Your phone breaks in two years. Your car’s computer glitches. The news is a constant stream of "everything is broken." Dylan captured that feeling before the internet even existed. He saw the cracks in the sidewalk and knew the whole road was going to go eventually.
Interestingly, the song is almost cheerful in its nihilism. It’s a "jive along as the world ends" type of track. It’s blues, sure, but it’s the kind of blues you can dance to. There’s a certain relief in admitting that nothing works. It takes the pressure off.
Actionable Insights for Dylan Fans
If you want to really "get" this era of Dylan, don't just stop at this one song.
- Listen to the full Oh Mercy album. It’s arguably his best work of the '80s. Songs like "Most of the Time" and "Man in the Long Black Coat" provide the darker, moodier context that "Everything Is Broken" punctuates.
- Read "Chronicles: Volume One." Dylan’s memoir has a whole chapter dedicated to the making of this album. He talks about his frustration with his own talent and how New Orleans (and Lanois) saved him.
- Check out the "Tell Tale Signs" Bootleg Series. There are alternate versions of these tracks that show how much Dylan tinkered with the lyrics. It’s like watching a painter try fourteen different shades of blue before settling on one.
- Compare it to "Political World." That’s the opening track of the same album. They are thematic twins. One looks at the macro (the world), the other looks at the micro (the stuff in your house).
The everything is broken lyrics aren't a prophecy, they're an observation. Things break. People break. Promises break. And as Dylan suggests with that wild harmonica solo at the end, sometimes the only thing left to do is keep playing anyway.
To fully appreciate the craftsmanship, find a high-quality vinyl pressing of Oh Mercy. The "Lanois sound"—that deep, atmospheric swampiness—is often flattened on cheap streaming speakers. Hearing the separation between the dobro and Dylan's raspy, revitalized vocal is the best way to experience the beautiful wreck he was describing.