[2][4] The song's lyric "Please don't put a price on my soul" has been interpreted as a plea to his manager Albert Grossman, who was also his landlord at the time, or perhaps to his audience.
"[2] Music academic Mike Jones regards the song as a "warning to Grossman from Dylan that he should not be underestimated".
[7] In Crawdaddy (May 1968), Jon Landau praised the song, although its target was unclear, for having "No reliance on exaggerated mannerisms but a simple and direct statement", and noted that the "melodic structure of the song is one of the most sophisticated Dylan has ever devised".
[3]: 130 Paul Williams described the song as Dylan's "most heartfelt performance" on the album,[8]: 243 and wrote positively of the contributions of all three musicians, calling Dylan's piano-playing "fiery" and opining that bass player Charlie McCoy and drummer Kenneth Buttrey "pick up on the energy of the song and run with it", without being concerned that the music does not fit any particular musical idiom.
[9] A 2009 list by American Songwriter rated the song as Dylan's 30th best,[4] but it was ranked only 186th by Jim Beviglia.