[3] Highway 61 runs from Duluth, Minnesota, where Bob Dylan was born, down to New Orleans, Louisiana.

It was a major transit route out of the Deep South particularly for African Americans traveling north to Chicago, St Louis and Memphis, following the Mississippi River valley for most of its 1,400 miles (2,300 km).

This stanza refers to Genesis 22, in which God commands Abraham to kill one of his two sons, Isaac.

[4] In the third verse, "Mack the Finger" has the problem of getting rid of particular absurd things: "I got forty red white and blue shoe strings / And a thousand telephones that don't ring".

Winter's rendition is regarded as "a career-defining track," and the song continued as a staple of his live performances.

[11][12] Ex-Dr Feelgood guitarist Wilko Johnson included "Highway 61 Revisited" in his concert sets in the late 1970s and released a live recording of the song on an EP given away with his 1978 album Solid Senders.

[13] In 1987, Dr Feelgood also covered the song for their album Classic, a track AllMusic describes as "utterly inspired.