By Larry Fyffe
“Tarantula”, a small book by Bob Dylan, bears the marks of Kerouac, Burroughs, Ginsberg, James Joyce, and other somewhat obscure postmodernists. But a good knowledge in reference to the history of the United States of America helps garner the real facts that are found mixed in with its pages.
From a letter therein by a talking “Mouse” to “Fang” {a cat?}):
(D)ear fang, how goes it old buddy? long time no see. guess what? was gonna vote for goldwater cause you know he was the underdog but then i found out about this jenkins thing, & i figger it aint much but it’s the only thing he does have going for him so i’m changing my vote to johnson
(Bob Dylan: Tarantula).
At the time, a Republican politician, conservative Barry Goldwater, runs aganist Democratic President Lyndon B. Johnson; Walter Jenkins, an aide to the President, is caught in a sex act with a man which the skittery mouse believes could well be turned against Johnson by the moralistic Goldwater:
Now I'm liberal to a degree I want everybody to be free But if you think I'll let Barry Goldwater Move in next door and marry my daughter You must think I'm crazy (Bob Dylan: I Shall Be Free, no. 10)
On the other hand, President John F. Kennedy gets presented in a humorous light:
Well, my telephone rang, it would not stop
It’s President Kennedy calling me up
He said, ” My friend, Bob, what do we need to make the country grow?”
I said, “My friend, John, Brigitte Bardot”
(Bob Dylan: I Shall Be Free)
Air Force One coming in through the gate Johnson sworn in at two thirty-eight Let me know when you decide to throw in the towel (Bob Dylan: Murder Most Foul)