22/12/2008 by Tony Attwood.

This is one of Dylan’s unsung masterpieces – an extraordinary piece of music to the accompaniment of lyrics about a visit to a fortune teller / possible lover.   (She’s one or the other, or both, possibly at the same time).

The guitar playing takes us into unknown structures – we can resolve what Dylan plays in the original into recognizable chords, but that’s not what Dylan plays.  The melody likewise flows in a most unDylan-like manner.  The way the second half of the melody in each of the three verses changes so dramatically from the first half is unexpected – almost shocking, certainly surprising – especially because he is so demonstrative.  There is no uncertainty here.

This is the hobo out on the streets, saying “here I am babe looking for direction” in terms of the fortune teller’s palm reading.  It’s hardly unusual in terms of the history of songwriting but there are such unexpected lines that we are forced to sit up and take notice.  Where else is Dylan saying things such as

“I am homeless, come and take me to the reach of your rattling drums.”

Or

“The night is pitch black, come an’ make my pale face fit into place, oh, please!”

Or

“You have slayed me, you have made me, I got to laugh halfways off my heels.
I got to know, babe, will you surround me?  So I can tell if I’m really real.”

What is so remarkable is the context – for this comes from the album that starts with “All I really want to do,” and ends with “It Ain’t Me Babe” – two songs that define Dylan’s obsession with not being trapped by a woman who wants to wrap him up and define his being.   It is an obsession which starts on Freewheeling and continues way into the rock era – and yet here in Spanish Harlem he is proclaiming that this woman can take him and make him into a person – through her he can discover who is really is.

It is this utter reversal of a constant Dylan theme – the laughter and sneering at those around who are defined by others rather than who define themselves, and yet here he is asking the fortune telling lover to do exactly that: to define him, make him, create him.

The fact that the defining words come in the second half of each verse, where the music itself comes alive in such an extraordinary lyrical and chordal fashion shouts out that this is a unique moment in Dylan’s songwriting.  It is a moment to cherish.

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04/11/2008 by Tony Attwood.

Coming back to the songs from the early albums after 40 years or more it is interesting to see how beautifully constructed they are. It is as if Dylan spent far more time on these early pieces, crafting and considering each word, melody line and chord change in a way that was lost once electrification came along.

It Ain’t Me Babe is a perfect example. The message is simple: you can’t rely on me, we can’t have a long-term relationship.

The song’s construction reflects this – the standard strophic approach, with the briefest of harmonica led interludes.

But the song takes a harsher turn than might have been expected when we get to the heart made of stone in the third verse. The woman’s demands have become excessive – “to come each time you call”. And there is no mutual exchange – she’s just looking for a “lover for your life and nothing more”.

It’s just three simple verses, and yet so immensely powerful in its timeless message. But perhaps above all else it is the fact that there is that harsh third verse that makes it clear that the failure to have the relationship is not the singer’s fault, but the woman’s. It’s not that he can’t give love, it is that she can’t. She wants a trophy, not a relationship. The song ends.

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