"Restless Farewell" has an interesting back story.
Dylan wrote this song very quickly as a response (nay, a reaction, really) to a story in NEWSWEEK. The tune is based on an Irish song called "The Parting Glass", a song for singing at the end of an evening's drinking. Some say it, in turn, is based on a Scottish song collected and then revised by Robert Burns.
On 20 October 1963, the DULUTH NEWS TRIBUNE printed a story about Dylan as remembered by those who knew him in Duluth, where he was born, and in Hibbing, where he grew up. In essence, the Dylan described was very different from his public image. I cannot say for sure that Dylan read this story but NEWSWEEK had apparently been seeking an interview with him for some time and it was a few days after this report that Dylan was interviewed by a NEWSWEEK reporter. In the event, the story she posted was even worse, from Dylan's point of view, than the one published in Duluth - and NEWSWEEK got national (even international) circulation. It even repeated the rumour that Dylan had not written "Blowin' In The Wind", which had been a major hit for Peter, Paul & Mary earlier in the year.
The NEWSWEEK issue had a cover date of 4 November 1963 but was actually available on newsstands several days earlier than this. I have a photocopy of a telegram sent to NEWSWEEK (not by Dylan but someone else in the New York folk music scene) complaining about the article and the telegram is dated 29 October. It seems likely, therefore, that Dylan saw the NEWSWEEK on or about 29 October 1963. He recorded "Restless Farewell" on 31 October 1963 and the "dust of rumours" phrase in the final verse is a comment on his treatment by the press.
"Restless Farewell" is the last song on THE TIMES THEY ARE A-CHANGIN' album and, in the liner notes, Dylan makes further comment on this treatment. After this, he became more wary of the press. He also fell out with his record company press relations guy, who had been very much a supporter in the early days. Dylan himself disappeared from New York for a short while afterwards, going off to California.
With its Scottish/Irish forebears, "Restless Farewell" is much fitted to Mark Knopfler's current band line-up. It is also a sound that I quite like. If I were to criticise his vocal (and it is more a comment than a criticism), I always hear the last few lines of the last verse as a defiant statement. Mark sings them more with a tone of regret than defiance. There is nothing inherently wrong with this. It is not the way the lyric strikes me but it is a perfectly valid approach that produces a quite affecting rendering of the song, in my opinion. Quiet, slightly understated and, in consequence, rather effective.
For those who don't know them, here are the lyrics, which Mark follows closely:
Restless Farewell
Oh all the money that in my whole life I did spend
Be it mine right or wrongfully
I let it slip gladly past the hands of my friends
To tie up the time most forcefully
But the bottles are done
We
