“The Philosophy of Modern Song”  Why did Bob choose THIS song

From an idea by Jochen Markhorst; commentary by Tony Attwood

Prelude: Some two years ago Jochen wrote the article “I’ve Made Up My Mind To Give Myself To You: 7. The Philosophy Of Modern Song”.  And more recently Jochen suggested that Untold Dylan should have a look at “The Philosophy of Modern Song” and maybe we should publish a commentary on the book, or perhaps a commentary or two on individual songs that Dylan highlighted.

I must admit I was unsure, but Jochen’s work has played such a major part in making Untold Dylan what it is, I always take note of what he says.  And so when he declined the opportunity to write further on the subject I went and listened to the first song highlighted in the “Philosophy” book: “Detroit City”.

Being English, and being old, I actually can recall the song from the 1960s, and most probably what I heard was the Tom Jones version which was a hit in the UK.

And I must admit I did listen to that song with a touch of reluctance – I never felt there was anything in Tom Jones’ music for me, and I certainly don’t own any of his records.  But I must confess I also have a thorough (irrational) dislike of any recording in which the singer stops singing and then drops into speaking over the music.   Not for me!

So I am biased from the start, although I note that the book contains Dylan’s commentary on 66 songs by other artists so maybe it gets better.   And it was the first book Dylan published after getting the Nobel Prize for Literature, which really makes me think I ought to study this book further.  Not just because the author just had received that supreme award but also because the University of Northampton have recently suggested I might like to do a PhD with them on the subject of Bob Dylan.   We are in discussions.

Thus, I listened, but at once I had to admit I became stuck.  The book notes say it all – it is a song of a loser, someone who expects that by being in one place rather than another everything will be all right, instead of thinking, “here I am, it is all down to me, I am going to make this work.”

In fact it was interesting in that regard, in that I have come across many people who have the “if only this changed” syndrome.   As in “if only I could get a job,” or “If only I could get a different job” or “if only my wife was less of a flirt,” or “if only he didn’t drink so much,” or….

I suspect most of us have come across such people – the people who seriously believe that all their worries and woes come from this one thing they can do nothing about.   And of course, I know that analysing one’s own viewpoint is a really dodgy thing to do, not least because many of us mislead ourselves much of the time.  But honestly, I don’t think I’ve ever had these sorts of feeling.  Yes I wanted to be a pop star.  Or a songwriter.   Or maybe a book writer.  Or maybe a writer of adverts.   And in the end I was, not because of any massive talent, but because I just kept trying.   And indeed enough to earn a decent living.

And then, to stop myself from being trapped sitting at my desk typing on the computer all day every day, I have nurtured several hobbies which are as far from writing as one might imagine.  One of them I’ve mentioned a few times: dancing modern jive.  I dance four or five nights a week.  Football and rural walks are also in the mix.

My friends know this is what I do, and of course, I occasionally encourage them to try dancing, but rather than give it a go (even if they have nothing particular to do of an evening) they refuse, giving the same old excuses about being genetically incapable of dancing (“two left feet” is the expression used in England – maybe in other parts of the world too).

In short, we live in a world in which many people limit their own ability to do things, by having fixed negative views.  Views that might be that “I can’t dance” or as in this song, everything will be fine if only I can go back to my old home town.  I was happy there.

And of course, we all know this is nonsense.  It’s just an excuse.   Like saying “I would have passed that exam if only I’d had a better teacher.”  Or “I only failed my car driving test because I had a rubbish car to practice driving in.”   Or anything.

We all of us make excuses, but (and I think this is the big point) some people make a lot more excuses than others, and some simply never get up and try.  And so their lives become a sort of mono-vision in which they do the same thing day after day expressing the same regrets and negative thoughts, day after day.

You might have experienced that with people’s reactions to Dylan too.   “I just can’t stand his voice,” some say, after listening to maybe just one or two songs sung by Dylan, while calming a crying child, feeding the cat or working out where that last $100 went.

In short, I see the individual with the viewpoint that, “if only I could go home everything would be fine” as a person who is a failure.  Of course, there are many things each of us can’t do – I can’t paint a picture with any chance of it looking anything other than an utterly embarrassing work done by a seven-year-old, for example.  But at least I have tried, and then subsequently instead I found other things I can do.

But in this song, the singer is getting drunk in bars – he’s not even trying!   And he’s making me very annoyed!!  Indeed even the sickly-sweet music can’t distract me from that message.

Of course, our views of ourselves are never really accurate, but for what it is worth, my self-vision is that I really do try different things, rather than just reject them.   I suspect Bob Dylan has that same self-vision (although in his case combined of course with an infinitely larger dose of sheer talent than I could ever muster).

So why does Bob pick this song?   I wish someone would tell me.   For what it makes me want to do is write a song that says the opposite.   That I am here, I have a problem, I am going to deal with it and make the best of everything I can.  So I guess my questions at this point are not only “Why does Dylan focus on this song?” but also “What can be said about it?”

I really don’t like the way the song changes key, just jumping from one key to the next without any attempt at modulation – that goes against all my musical feelings (and indeed all that I was taught as a young musician).  It is also something Bob never does.   And I don’t like self-pity – which again Bob never puts into his songs.   I find it sweet to the point of being sickly.   And finally, I hate songs where the singing stops and the singer delivers what is meant to be a deep and meaningful spoken interlude.  For to me that is neither deep nor meaningful.

I spent yesterday playing “It’s alright ma” as I wrote my article about it and now after a lot of listening to “It’s alright ma” I find “Detroit City” is the antithesis of “It’s alright ma”.   At the end of “Its aright”, Dylan says, “It’s life and life only” which I have always taken to mean, no matter what happens, get up and get on with things.  If you don’t like it, change it.  Or put in the colloquial form in my country, “Shit happens, deal with it”.

All of which leaves me asking, what can one say about a song like “Detroit City”?  How can one write about it apart from saying that instead of wanting to face reality and make something happen, the person in the song wants to run away and go back home?  Which is the exact opposite of what Dylan has done.   Is that maybe Dylan’s point?   Have I simply been very stupid, and failed to grasp the issue all along?