I have to confess I was put off Slow Train Coming at the time of its release in 1979, largely on account of Dylan’s born-again Christian proselytising.

Today, after nearly 50 years and in the clear light of day, I realise I did him a disservice. Especially when it comes to this never-more-topical critique of America.

While the album boasts some cringey evangelising like the earnest sermon of Gotta Serve Somebody, and Man Gave Names To All The Animals is like a nursery rhyme about Noah’s Ark, there are sublime moments.

This, the (semi-) title track, with the glorious guitar of Mark Knopfler, is one of them.

I have to confess I was converted not by a ray of light but by a cover version by Brooklyn hipsters Bodega. I like their version a lot – but it send me back to the original. And I’m glad it did.

The Dylan album’s overall sound, produced by the veteran Jerry Wexler and Barry Beckett at Muscle Shoals Sound Studio, is impeccable as you would expect from the architects of that country-soul sound, with a CV stretching from Ray Charles and Aretha Franklin to Wilson Pickett, Willie Nelson and Dusty Springfield.

The musicians are as impeccable as the production: Knopfler and drummer Pick Withers from Dire Streets are augmented by veteran session men, including the legendary Muscle Shoals horns, the funky grooves and gospel vocals complemented by horns and tight grooves.

Best of all, this is the least openly religious song on the album, with just a solitary reference to Satan – and a more-topical-than-ever reference (in the third verse) to foreign oil controlling the United States.

You could even see some of the lines as prophetic: “In the home of the brave, Jefferson’s turning over in his grave / Fools glorifying themselves, trying to manipulate Satan.”

The song has featured in various iterations of Dylan’s live show, including his collaboration with The Grateful Dead but for me this is the best live version, from 1979, with Fred Tackett of Little Feat on guitar.