Bob Dylan posts ‘Full Moon & Empty Arms’ track from new album

Just as Neil Young is poised to release an album full of songs written by other artists including Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson and Gordon Lightfoot, Dylan has just released his rendition of “Full Moon & Empty Arms,” a standard popularized in Frank Sinatra’s 1946 hit recording.

Dylan posted the track on his website, employing a surprisingly delicate vocal on the hyper-romantic ballad based on a central musical motif from Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Second Piano Concerto.

Where Sinatra’s version was reliant on orchestral backing, Dylan’s version emphasizes gentle electric guitar and steel guitars that hover between country and Hawaiian music. His voice almost entirely avoids the gruffness typical of his singing in recent years.

A square image of Dylan along with the text “Bob Dylan Shadows in the Night” appears on the home page of his website, but a spokesman for the singer-songwriter told Rolling Stone that there’s no word yet whether that might be the title of the album.

Listen to Dylan’s version on his website. And here’s Sinatra’s version for comparison.