Dylan is said to pay tribute to a work by Ó Raifteirí in his latest track

Fans and biographers of Bob Dylan say they have solved the mystery of why the musician refers to a small village in Co Longford in his new song.

I Contain Multitudes, only the second new track Dylan has released in eight years, mentions Ballinalee alongside other cultural references, including Edgar Allen Poe, Anne Frank and the Rolling Stones.

Ballinalee was referred to in a poem by Ó Raifteirí BARRY CRONIN

In the first verse Dylan sings: “Follow me close, I’m going to Ballinalee/I’ll lose my mind if you don’t come with me.” It is thought this is a reference to The Lass from Ballynalee by Antoine Ó Raifteirí, aka Anthony Raftery, a blind Irish-language poet who lived from 1779 to 1835.

The theme of the Irish bard runs “throughout the song and throughout Dylan’s whole songbook”,