Murder Most Foul part 12: A rub dub, just relaxing in the tub

Posted on October 23, 2026 by Jochen Markhorst

by Jochen Markhorst

Previously is this series:

XII        A rub dub, just relaxing in the tub

Put your head out the window, let the good times roll
There’s a party going on behind the grassy knoll
Stack up the bricks and pour the cement
Don’t say Dallas don’t love you, Mr. President
Put your foot in the tank and step on the gas
Try to make it to the triple underpass
Black face singer - white face clown
Better not show your faces after the sun goes down

In “Key West”, the previous track on Rough And Rowdy Ways, we’ve already heard a fairly explicit reference to Bobby Darin, as Dylan incorporates the title of one of Darin’s biggest hits into the lyrics: beyond the sea. Which fits a pattern; in the twenty-first century, he makes a point of frequently and effusively paying tribute to Darin. At first in a rather matter-of-fact way, when the DJ plays Darin’s version of the beautiful song “Black Coffee” (the song that the Polish Nobel Prize winner Wisława Szymborska had played at her funeral in 2012, albeit in Ella Fitzgerald’s version). The DJ introduces the song with an apocryphal story;

“Walden Robert Cassoto. He changed his name when he saw a sign outside a Chinese restaurant that said ‘Mandarin Duck’. First three letters were burned out, so it just said ‘darin Duck’. And he said, ‘That seems like a good name – Darin Duck.’ Here’s Bobby Darin – Black Coffee.”

… concluding, after he played the song, with words that are just as neutral;

“That was Bobby Darin, singing about talking to the shadows from one till four, downing his past regrets in coffee and cigarettes, moonin’ all the mornin’ and moanin’ all the night. From his album This Is Darin. A song written by Sonny Burke and Paul Francis Webster.”

… remarkably neutral, in fact; both the song and the album should be close to Dylan’s heart. This Is Darin (1960) is Bobby Darin’s most Sinatra-esque album – perhaps not quite on a par with the sublime In The Wee Small Hours, but certainly on a level with Songs For Swingin’ Lovers!; brilliantly arranged by Richard Wess, with dazzling renditions of “Sinatra songs” such as “The Gal That Got Away”, “Guys and Dolls” and, above all, Darin’s very Sinatra-esque rendition of the classic that Ol’ Blue Eyes himself never dared to tackle: Duke Ellington’s “Caravan”.

In 2022, following the references in Rough And Rowdy Ways, Dylan finally makes his admiration for Darin absolutely explicit, devoting two entire chapters to Bobby Darin in his collection of essays The Philosophy Of Modern Song. Chapter 14 is devoted to Bobby’s biggest hit (and only number one hit), “Mack the Knife”, in which our philosopher uses a great many respectful words (691, to be precise) to argue that Bobby Darin is not Frank Sinatra. In the second chapter on Darin, Chapter 19 “Beyond The Sea”, Dylan seems to realise that he might perhaps as well mention who or what Bobby Darin actually is, rather than just pointing out who Darin is not. Revealing himself then to being a fan:

“Bobby Darin could sound like anybody and sing any style. He was more flexible than anyone of his time. He could be Harry Belafonte. He could be Elvis. He could be Dion, he could be a calypso singer, he could be a bluegrass singer or a folk singer. He was a rhythm and blues singer. The guy was everybody if anybody. […] Each of his guises he inhabited with verve and gusto and even in repose he just about vibrated with talent.”

Towards the end of the essay, the writer returns once more to that talent and goes on to elaborate on it. Making clear to the reader in what way Dylan feels an artistic kinship with Darin:

“His phrasing, especially on a pop ballad like this, is the driving wheel of the production. Time and time again he’ll slip the first few words of a line upstairs into the end of the previous line. He’s very subtle and you don’t realize he’s doing this. But if he sang songs like this straight, it probably wouldn’t reach you. He’s playful. He’s a playful melodist and he doesn’t need words. He keeps it simple even when he’s singing about nothing. The sea, the air, the mountains, the flowers. It all floats. It never touches the ground.”

… with Darin’s phrasing, then, which also happens to be a cornerstone of Dylan’s vocal artistry.

All in all, one might therefore be tempted to see there’s a party going on in “Murder Most Foul” as a reference to Darin’s first hit, “Splish Splash”;

Splish splash, I was takin’ a bath ‘long about a Saturday night
A rub dub, just relaxing in the tub, thinkin’ everything was all right
Well, I stepped out the tub, put my feet on the floor
I wrapped the towel around me and I opened the door
And then a splish splash, I jumped back in the bath
Well, how was I to know there was a party going on?

… a reference that wouldn’t be too jarring – “Splish Splash” is a big, catchy hit with a good story behind it (born out of a sort of bet with DJ Murray The K as to whether Darin could write a song that began with the childish Splish splash, I was takin’ a bath). The train of thought seems traceable. The chorus line with which Dylan concludes the first verse – and thus introduces this second verse – is Rub a dub dub – it’s murder most foul, and from there to A rub dub, just relaxing in the tub is only a very small leap. All the more so as Darin, just like Dylan, also chooses to pepper his lyrics with song references:

Bing bang, I saw the whole gang dancin’ on my livin’ room rug (yeah)
Flip flop, they were doin’ the bop, all the teens had the dancin’ bug
There was Lollipop with Peggy Sue
Good golly, Miss Molly was a even there too
A well a splish splash, I forgot about the bath
I went and put my dancing shoes on

…so, “Lollipop”, “Peggy Sue” and “Lollipop”. And if we’re being suspicious, Darin borrows doin’ the bop from Carl Perkins’ “All Mama’s Children”, takes bing bang from David Seville’s number-one hit “Witch Doctor” and copies flip flop from the classic “Ding Dong Daddy”, the song Dylan name-checks in “Early Roman Kings” in 2012. Perhaps a bit far-fetched, but it’s still clear that Darin weaves very Dylanesquely, avant la lettre, song titles into his lyrics.

And that last point – song titles – puts into perspective the likelihood that Dylan is giving Darin a nod with There’s a party going on – a reference to Wanda Jackson’s 1961 track “There’s A Party Going On” would be a far less convoluted tribute. And just as worthy: Wanda’s passionate rockabilly is a classic. The opening and title track of There’s A Party Going On, the album brimming with songs that are under Dylan’s skin (“Kansas City”, “Lonely Week-Ends”, “Tweedle Dee”).

Ah well, perhaps Dylan’s going for two for the price of one, for two birds one stone. A tip of the hat to both Bobby Darin and Wanda Jackson – there are worse combinations imaginable. Like a party on the grassy knoll, for example.

 

To be continued. Next up Murder Most Foul part 13:

 

Jochen is a regular reviewer of Dylan’s work on Untold. His books, in English, Dutch and German, are available via Amazon in both paperback and on Kindle:

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