Bob Dylan - Boots of Spanish Leather (Lyrics) Carnegie Hall 1963

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Bob Dylan "Boots of Spanish Leather" Live at Carnegie Hall 1963

"Boots of Spanish Leather" is a ballad written and performed by Bob Dylan, recorded in New York City on August 7, 1963, and released in 1964 on his album The Times They Are a-Changin'. It features Dylan solo on the acoustic guitar, playing the song using fingerpicking.

It's most likely about Dylan’s girlfriend of the time, Suze Rotolo, who had left him and gone to Italy at the time the song was written.

Dylan scholar Michael Gray sees a strong parallel between this and the traditional folk song "Blackjack Davey," which Dylan arranged and recorded for his 1992 album Good as I Been to You, and in which footwear "of Spanish leather" also plays a significant role. However, comparisons are more often made between this song and the traditional ballad "Scarborough Fair" (from which Dylan's "Girl from the North Country" is also drawn), both regarding melody and lyrics, as it also consists of alternating male and female narrators.

Lyrically, "Boots of Spanish Leather" is unusual in that it uses the epistolary format. It has been described as a "restless, forlorn ballad for the ages and sages—a classic Dylan tale of two lovers, a crossroads, and the open sea". The song is written as a dialogue, with the first six stanzas alternating between the two lovers; however, the last two stanzas are both given by the lover who has been left behind. Within these nine stanzas, one of the lovers - a woman - goes across the sea. She writes, asking whether her lover would like any gift and he refuses, stating that he only wants her back. Towards the end, it becomes clear that she is not returning, and she finally writes saying she may never come back. Her lover comes to realize what has happened and finally gives her a material request: "Spanish boots of Spanish leather".

"Boots of Spanish Leather" ranked 19th in a Paste list of "The 42 Best Bob Dylan Songs". In an article accompanying the list, critic Cameron Wade notes that in "just four-and-a-half minutes, Dylan creates two richly layered and dynamic characters, each reckoning with the messy emotions of young love coming to an end" and calls it "Dylan at his most open and vulnerable—a rare sight for the notoriously introverted and private songwriter, but it proves he’s master of his craft, writing a heartbreaking ballad that measures up to the best of them".