Recently on this site
- Bob Dylan – the greatest song of 1961: five versions of “I was young when I left home”
- Bob Dylan’s Theme Time Radio Hour: Father
There is an index to our current series on the home page. and a full index to the articles in this series at the end of this article.
By Tony Attwood
In the last episode of the series, “No Nobel Prize for Music,” I looked at “You’re a Big Girl Now” and “Shelter from the Storm”. “Shelter” is a particularly interesting song in that musically and lyrically it is extremely simple, which is the exact opposite of “Tangled up in Blue”. and “Lilly Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts.”
Of course, Bob doesn’t tell us such things, and I have no idea why Bob deliberately moved from complexity to simplicity, or if the songs just happened to form in his head, but there is no doubt that in 1974, he was exploring all the musical and lyrical options he could find.
And here musically and lyrically, Dylan has explored just how far he can take the standard approaches of popular song without breaking the boundaries so greatly that he alienates his fans. The form is simply strophic: verse, verse, verse. The key is clearly C major, but there is the sudden, unexpected appearance of the unrelated chord of Bb at the end of the second line. Whether you are a musician or not, you feel that sudden change.
And there is also an instrumental coda at the end of the recording, which emphasises the final line of “Tell her she can look me up if she’s got the time”… the chords rotate, telling us that he is still there, still waiting, still hoping, offering her all the time in the world.
Ideas such as this seem incredibly simple, but they are very easy to misplace or even forget entirely – yet here, as so often, musically Dylan gets it absolutely right. And it really is worth looking at the list of songs he wrote in this amazing year, because each one has its unique moment, if not its own unique construction.
Yet overall, it is hard to think of a more poignant song, and indeed if we return to the opening lines, the depth of the sadness of the singer is overwhelming, while the uncertainty of where the lady is is utterly emphasised by the change of Bb to G over the word “hear”.
The fact is that the singer is desperate about the lady, but manages to control himself in the lyrics, such as the almost throwaway “is living there I hear,” while the music reflects this perfectly. For by using the unexpected chord of B flat at the word “living” and then resolving it onto the chord of G (which is part of the key of C major that he is performing in) we have that contradiction within the singer. He is desperate to find her, but utterly anxious not to come across to her as one who is trying tell her how and where to live.
To many commentators, this is simply a sad “lost love” song (with “lost love” being one of the three main approaches to lyrics in popular music, the others being “love” and “dance”). But Dylan, through the musical change, particularly with that gentle resolution of B flat to G, gives us that sense of desperation. A desperation that means he dares not go to her and beg for her return, perhaps out of fear that she will say no, but in so doing, is hurting himself more and more each day.
I explored the song on this site some 13 years ago, and I am not sure I agree with that earlier commentary these days – maybe I’ve had too many difficult experiences and life goes on. But if you are interested in reading a different perspective from the same writer, it is still on the site.
And maybe that is part of the genius of Bob’s writing – we can appreciate it in different ways at different times in our lives, depending on our emotional state each time we listen.
But what we do notice here is that the songs of this year vary in their approach to the person at the heart of the lyrics and in musical content. There is no constant theme but rather a changing perspective. We started with an observation of Lily, Rosemary etc, then the tale of a complex entangled relationship (justly named “Tangled”), followed by a direct talk to a single woman (“Big Girl”). After that, here is the lady welcoming the singer into her home and heart, before moving on, (Shelter) and now the singer’s sadness that the lady is no longer there (“If you see her”).
And in each case Bob is not just changing the perspective of the song, but also the way the music is written, which explores the emotions inherent within the lyrics.
So what on earth could Bob write next? For we are asking thisquestion both musically and lyrically. In fact, he returned to that old favourite, the 12 bar blues. Call Letter Blues.
The lyrics are here but to save you working your way through the whole article or song, let me, if I may, direct you to something near the end
Call girls in the doorway All giving me the eye Call girls in the doorway All giving me the eye But my heart’s just not in it I might as well pass right on by
And a most bizarre twist at the end…
My ears are ringing Ringing like empty shells My ears are ringing Ringing like empty shells Well, it can’t be no guitar player It must be convent bells
What is Bob doing at this point? If you think through the songs written immediately before this (Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts, Tangled up in blue, You’re a big girl now, Shelter from the storm, If you see her say hello) this really is hard to make sense of. We can take it that Bob just sketched it out for a laugh, except that he’s got the band there playing through a four and a half minute piece clearly recorded in a studio.
And I really do have to pause here, think back to the songs Bob had already written in this year, and ask why? I can understand writing it for a bit of fun. I can understand playing it for a bit of fun. But these lyrics have been worked out and written down. OK the band don’t have to learn anything because it is a 12-bar blues, and every pop and rock musician worthy of the name can play a 12-bar blues in any key blindfold. But Bob wrote out all these verses, and as I said in my original review, “This is pure atmosphere”. But still, what I now want to ask is, “Why at this moment in such a highly creative period of his life, did Bob need atmosphere?”
Perhaps the very last verse tells us something we’ve never noticed….
My ears are ringing Ringing like empty shells My ears are ringing Ringing like empty shells Well, it can’t be no guitar player It must be convent bells
He is, perhaps, still asking, how could she leave him? And if that old question still is THE question, then what better than a 12 bar blues to express his sorrow?
Previously in this series….
- We might have noted the musical innovations more
- From Hattie Carroll to the incoming ship
- From Times to Percy’s song
- Combining musical traditions in unique ways
- Using music to take us to a world of hope
- Chimes of Freedom and Tambourine Man
- Bending the form to its very limits
- From Denise to Mama
- Balled in Plain D
- Black Crow to “All I really want to do”
- I’ll keep it with mine
- Dylan does gothic and the world ends
- The Gates of Eden
- After the Revolution – another revolution
- Returning to the roots (but with new chords)
- From “It’s all right” to “Angelina”. What appened?
- How strophic became something new: Love is just a four letter word
- Bob reaches the subterranean
- The conundrum of the song that gets worse
- Add one chord, keep it simple, sing of love
- It’s over. Start anew. It’s the end
- Desolation Row: perhaps the most amazing piece of popular music ever written
- Can you please crawl out your window
- Positively Fourth Street
- Where the lyrics find new lands, keep the music simple
- Tom Thumb’s journey. It wasn’t that bad, was it?
- From Queen Jane to the Thin Man
- The song that revolutionised what popular music could do
- Taking the music to a completely new territory
- Sooner or Later the committee will realise its error
- The best ever version of “Where are you tonight sweet Marie?”
- Just like a woman
- Most likely you go your way
- Everybody must get stoned
- Obviously 5 Believers
- I Want You. Creativity dries up
- Creativity dries up – the descent towards the basement.
- One musical line sung 12 times to 130 words
- Bob invents a totally new musical form
- There is a change we can see and a change we can’t see
- A sign on the window tells us that change is here
- One more weekend and New Morning: pastures new
- Three Angels, an experiment that leads nowhere
- An honorary degree, nevertheless. But why was Bob not pleased?
- When Bob said I will show you I am more than three chords
- Moving out of the darkness
- The music returns, but with uncertainty
- Heaven’s Door, Never Say Goodbye, and a thought that didn’t work…
- Going going gone
- Bob goes for love songs
- On a night like this and Tough Mama
- I hate myself for loving you
- Lily Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts
- Imagine you had just written a masterpiece. What then?
- After “Lily” and “Tangled” what on earth could Bob compose next?