It was recorded at Columbia studio A in New York on January 25, 1966, with Dylan and other musicians developing the song through over twenty takes during the session.

Reviewers at the time of the single's release afforded it a largely negative reception, with Dylan's vocal performance a particular focus of disapproval.

The song was included on The Original Mono Recordings (2010) and alternate versions appeared on The Bootleg Series Vol.

[1] On October 5, Dylan and members of the Hawks, who had played several recent live concerts with him, held the first of the recording sessions for his next album at Columbia Studio A, New York, with Bob Johnston as producer.

[12][21] Journalist and author Mike Marqusee commented in Wicked Messenger: Bob Dylan and the 1960s that although the narrator says that "I really did try to get close to you", "much of the song explains how he really always meant to keep her at a distance".

[22] Dylan's biographer Robert Shelton felt that although the song might contain more than one meaning: "On one level, it's the story of a man talking to a girl about the difficulties of intimacy.

"[25] In contrast to this interpretation, musicologist Wilfrid Mellers suggested that "the music attests that he is sad to have caused pain, that he really did 'try to get close to you'".

"[30] Dave Marsh, who listed the single as among the 1001 greatest ever made, wrote in 1999 that it was difficult to understand how it could "flop so badly".

[33] The Liverpool Echo commented on Dylan's "curiously exaggerated vocal delivery ... [and] sarcastic voice" and concluded that he was not a capable vocalist.

"[35] The Bucks Examiner found that the song "sounds pretty involved at a first hearing" and was inferior to its B-Side, but improved with repeated listenings.

[38] It was described as "a grand, stately number, propelled by some wonderful piano-organ interplay" by author John Nogowski, who rated the song as "A".

[39] Music historians Philippe Margotin and Jean-Michel Guesdon, although describing it as "a very good song", wrote that the performance "lacks rhythmic rigor" and was somewhat careless, and suggest that Dylan and Robertson's guitars were not properly tuned.

[19] He first performed it on May 19, 1976, in Wichita, Kansas during the second part of the Rolling Thunder Revue, and next played it live during his 1978 World Tour.