"Most of the Time" is a song written and performed by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released as the sixth track (or the first song on Side Two of the vinyl) of his 1989 album Oh Mercy. The song was written by Dylan and produced by Daniel Lanois. The album version of "Most of the Time" was recorded on March 12, 1989, in a mobile studio at 1305 Soniat St., New Orleans, and released on Oh Mercy in September of that year. Two studio out-takes from the same set of recording sessions were released on The Bootleg Series Vol. 8: Tell Tale Signs: Rare and Unreleased 1989–2006 in 2008, and a new version recorded on March 16, 1990, was issued as a promotional single and video in 1990.
The recordings for Oh Mercy were influenced by The Neville Brothers album Yellow Moon, which was produced by Lanois and included two covers of Dylan's songs. "Most of the Time" is a love ballad that has been described as a fan favorite. Its popularity was aided by its being featured in the 2000 film High Fidelity.
Recording and composition
After his involvement with the Traveling Wilburys, Dylan had started constructing what he referred to as "stream-of consciousness songs". Following a recommendation by Bono, Dylan arranged to meet producer Daniel Lanois in September 1988, and attended recording sessions for The Neville Brothers album Yellow Moon, which included two covers of Dylan's songs. The pair agreed to meet again the following year and in March 1989, Dylan went back to New Orleans to meet Lanois, having asked him to produce an album using the same techniques utilised for Yellow Moon. The tracks for Dylan's 1989 album Oh Mercy were recorded over the next four months, with musicians selected by Lanois. After the initial session, Lanois changed the musicians involved, inviting Yellow Moon contributors Tony Hall, Brian Stoltz and "Mean" Willie Green III. Lanois would set up a mobile studio at a location convenient to the artist or group he was working with. For the sessions with Dylan, he rented a house at 1305 Soniat Street, New Orleans, and set up the studio on the ground floor with the musicians arranged in a semi-circle around the soundboard. Dylan later called the setup "comfortable" and said that he appreciated the flexibility of being able to record at any time, and without having to experience the people and distractions associated with going into a typical recording studio.
The lyrics of "Most of the Time" were written before the music. In his memoir Chronicles: Volume One, Dylan describes not having a melody for the song when he first went into the studio to record it and trying to find one while strumming an acoustic guitar in front of Lanois: "Dan thought he heard something. Something that turned into a slow melancholy song". Lanois's recollection differs from Dylan's, as he told an interviewer in 2014 that he first heard the song at Dylan's house, with Dylan playing piano. In the same interview, Lanois said that the song "It stood out to me as a very powerful expression of love. I was determined to frame that song the best I could." In their book Bob Dylan All the Songs: The Story Behind Every Track, authors Philippe Margotin and Jean-Michel Guesdon praise Lanois's production for "putting magic into the essence of the song" and creating "an amazingly dreamlike and haunting atmosphere. Very deep reverb, omnipresent delays, saturated guitar sounds (with or without vibrato), a Roland TR-808 drum machine set in a loop, percussion, a sonic blanket, bass and acoustic guitar give the song one of the strongest vibes on the album. Dylan provided a superb vocal performance". Lanois played bass on the track, and overdubbed four Les Paul parts to produce a "string quartet effect". Dylan said that Lanois was able capture his "stage voice" during the Oh Mercy recordings, and that he appreciated Lanois's willingness to make suggestions, stating "You need help to make a record ... People expect me to bring in a Bob Dylan song, sing it, and then they record it. Other people don't work that way. There's more feedback".