by Larry Fyffe
(I) was unable to do anything about the fire –
(Bob Dylan: Tarantula)
The fiery tension created by the conflict between spiritualistic teachings and the inherent nature of humankind flares up in a number of songs by Bob Dylan:
Well, the nature of man is to beg and to steal
I do it myself, it’s not so unreal
(Bob Dylan: You Changed My Life)
A warning whistles in the wind about the bad consequences that such behaviour can bring:
Seen the arrow in the doorpost
Saying, “This land is condemned
All the way from New Orleans to Jerusalem”
(Bob Dylan: Blind Willie McTell)
By association – William Tell, not blind, be forced by a tyrant to shoot an arrow into an apple that’s placed on his son’s head. Nobody can shoot a crossbow like the Swiss master can.
In these songs, the ‘humours’ of days gone by – derived from the ancient elements of earth, fire, wind, water – swirl around within and without the individual human being.
Below, Dylan’s song persona is likened to William Tell, the spiritual side shining through the darkness:
And the dust of rumours covers me
But if the arrow is straight
And the point is slick
It can pierce through the dust
No matter how thick
(Bob Dylan: Restless Farewell)
Erroll Flynn gets depicted as a souless person:
You came in like the wind, like Errol Flynn
You changed my life
(Bob Dylan: You Changed My Life)
The irony of course is that Erroll Flynn was in real life a womanizer – love them and leave them.
“The Adventures Of Robin Hood”, a movie that stars Flynn as the straight-shooting outlaw Robin Hood, demonstrates the two-way tension:
Robin Hood: I think we’re even now, Friar
Friar Tuck: Nay, you’re still ahead of me by half a leg of mutton
The conflicting sentiment is there in the following song:
I didn’t know that you’d be leaving
Or who you thought you were talking to
I figure we’re even
Or maybe I’m one up on you
(Bob Dylan: Drifting Too Far From Shore)
Within the western movie starring James Stewart as Glyn McLyntock (the good guy), and Arthur Kennedy as Emerson Cole (the bad guy), there’s tension for sure:
Emerson to Glyn: “I figure we’re even.
Maybe I’m one up on you.”
(‘Bend Of The River’)