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1981 song written by Bob Dylan

"Angelina" is a song by American singer songwriter Bob Dylan, recorded on March 26, 1981, for his album Shot of Love but not included on the record. The song was written by Dylan and produced by Jimmy Iovine. A version was released on The Bootleg Series Volumes 1 3 (Rare & Unreleased) 1961 1991 on March 26, 1991, exactly ten years later. A different take was issued on The Bootleg Series Vol. 16: Springtime in New York 1980–1985 in 2021. Critics have expressed their lack of understanding of the lyrics, whilst generally affording the song a positive reception. Dylan's rhyming of the name in the title of the song with "concertina", "hyena", "subpoena", "Argentina" and "arena" has attracted commentary, with scholar Nicholas Birns calling the rhymes "bravura and provocative".

"Angelina" was written by Bob Dylan after the end of his Gospel Tour, which concluded in May 1980. In October 1980, he recorded a version at Rundown Studios, Santa Monica, with himself on vocals and guitar, Fred Tackett (guitar and mandolin), Willie Smith (keyboards), Tim Drummond (bass), Jim Keltner (drums), and Clydie King, Carolyn Dennis and Regina McCrary (background vocals) Two takes were recorded on March 26, 1981, at Rundown Studios, with Jimmy Iovine as producer, during the sessions for Dylan's 21st studio album, Shot of Love. The 1981 sessions featured Dylan singing and playing piano, Drummond, Keltner, Dennis, McCrary and King in the same roles as on the 1980 version, Steve Ripley on guitar and Carl Pickhardt on keyboards.

Several commentators have expressed their inability to conclusively determine the mood or subject of the song. Scholar Nicholas Birns suggests that "one cannot quite know whether its mode is rapture, tribute, elegy, or rage." Heylin noted that other rhyming words used are "hyena" and "arena", and has called the song "a collection of lines bound together by a rhyming dictionary". Critic Paul Williams opined that "the 'feeling' of the Book of Revelation" invoked by Dylan's use of biblical imagery, rather than an understanding of each element, was important to appreciate the song. The second verse opens with "Blood dryin' in my yellow hair as I go from shore to shore", which Gray proposes shows that the narrator is not Dylan. In one version, Angelina is described as having eyes that "were two slits, make any snake proud", and "With a face any painter would paint", and "well endowed". In a 1981 interview, Dylan compared the musical feel of the song to his own "Visions of Johanna", and said that "it seems to be very sensitive and gentle on one level, then on another level the lyrics aren't sensitive or gentle at all." Williams argued that "the lyrics are brilliant, but they only take on meaning as [Dylan] sings them", and that "to know the most private secrets of Dylan's relationship with God, with Woman, with his art and his audience, listen to the sound of his voice during this performance." According to Dylan's official website, he has never played the song in concert.

Trager wrote that Dylan's performance "is striking as he combines the passion and intrigue of his best work of the mid 1960s." Gray opined that it was one of five 1980s tracks on the album that "it was "madness to have left unissued", although he suggested that the song's impenetrability made it a "compelling, grand failure". In The Guardian, Adam Sweeting wrote that "the phantasmagoric 'Angelina' could only have improved several of [Dylan's] dire eighties records." Beviglia included the track in 71st place in his ranking of Dylan's 100 best songs.

Allen Jones wrote for Uncut that the first take "feels already like something shaping up to be astonishing". Williams describes the track as one of Dylan's "most disturbing and rewarding performances".