| "Chimes of Freedom" | |
|---|---|
| Song by Bob Dylan | |
| from the album Another Side of Bob Dylan | |
| Released | August 8, 1964 |
| Recorded | June 9, 1964 |
| Studio | CBS 30th Street, New York City |
| Genre | Folk |
| Length | 7:10 |
| Label | Columbia |
| Songwriter(s) | Bob Dylan |
| Producer(s) | Tom Wilson |
| Audio sample | |
"Chimes of Freedom" is a song written and performed by Bob Dylan and featured on his Tom Wilson produced 1964 album Another Side of Bob Dylan. The song depicts the thoughts and feelings of the singer and his companion as they shelter from a lightning storm under a doorway after sunset. The singer expresses his solidarity with the downtrodden and oppressed, believing that the thunder is tolling in sympathy for them.
Initially, critics described the song as showing the influence of the symbolist poetry of Arthur Rimbaud, but more recent biographers of Dylan have linked the origins of the song to verses the songwriter had written as a response to the assassination of President Kennedy in 1963. Some commentators and Dylan biographers have assessed the song as one of Dylan's most significant compositions, and critic Paul Williams has described it as Dylan's Sermon on the Mount.
The song has been covered many times by different artists, including the Byrds, Jefferson Starship, Youssou N'Dour, Bruce Springsteen, and U2.