Not Dark Yet II: Lucy

Not Dark Yet part 1: But Shadows Are Falling appears here.

By Jochen Markhorst

Well, my sense of humanity has gone down the drain
Behind every beautiful thing there’s been some kind of pain
She wrote me a letter and she wrote it so kind
She put down in writing what was in her mind
I just don’t see why I should even care
It’s not dark yet, but it’s getting there

It is an ineradicable but fertile myth, the myth that we only use a small percentage of our brains. It does inspire often amusing advertisements, books, comics and films – in which, incidentally, usually thanks to a drug, the “other brain areas” are unlocked, after which the protagonist acquires extreme perception and intelligence (Limitless, 2011) or superhero powers, usually psychokinesis.

The most successful, and perhaps the most philosophical adaptation of the subject is released in 2014: the film Lucy by the French filmmaker Luc Besson. Lucy (Scarlett Johansson) accidentally is exposed to an absurd dose of a new synthetic drug, gradually unlocking larger and larger parts of her brain. In addition to all kinds of more and less spectacular abilities, this also leads to what we, with our limited insight, would call “inhumanity”; for example, Lucy realises that we never “really” die – and can, therefore, kill completely insensitively. Besson, through Lucy, defines it as a loss of humanity:

Lucy:
I don’t feel pain, fear, desire. It’s like all things that make us human are fading away.

Dylan’s protagonist in “Not Dark Yet” has reached a similar state of detachment, and Dylan suggests that this is due to advancing insight as well. Fortunately, not by something as childish as a fictional, brain-unlocking drug, but by life experience.

The narrator begins with his conclusion, my sense of humanity has gone down the drain, followed by the brilliant, melancholy aphorism behind every beautiful thing there’s been some kind of pain – a poetic variant of the ancient wisdom that an unhappy childhood is the artist’s goldmine, that behind every great work of art there is a Great Suffering.

The examples of artists giving witness to this are numerous. Frida Kahlo, Vincent Van Gogh, Kafka, W.H. Auden… all of them are artists who claim with some right to a say that only suffering can produce Art. From The Kinks’ Ray Davies is the quote “I call it suffering and pain, they call it entertainment” and that is practically the same as Dylan’s own observation, in the radio interview with Mary Travers, 26 April 1975.

MT: And one of the things I enjoyed about Blood On The Tracks, as an album, was that it was very simple.
BD: Hm, hm. Well that’s, you know, that’s the way things are really, they are basically very simple. A lot of people tell me they enjoy that album. It’s hard for me to relate to that. I mean, you know, people enjoying the type of pain, you know.

Yes, indeed – behind every beautiful thing there’s been some kind of pain. Granted, the message is not too earth-shattering, but is beautifully, poetically expressed.

However, the true brilliance of the song poet Dylan only begins to shine now, in the next line: she wrote me a letter – and suddenly the song is tilted.

Until this ninth verse line we listened to the farewell words of a reflective, resigned narrator on the threshold to death. The choice of “one day” as a metaphor for the whole of life, although old-fashioned, remains moving. These first eight lines also neatly follow the classical composition from personal (I’ve been here all day) to universal (behind every beautiful thing), so that the very intimate, very personal outpouring in verse 9 contrasts all the more sharply: the narrator has apparently just received a so-called Dear John letter, the letter in which his lover puts an end to the relationship.

The tone of the letter is well chosen. He is “kindly“, lovingly, dumped – the Dylan fan involuntarily thinks back to the tone of “If You See Her, Say Hello”. It may soften the blow, but it remains crushing; with the loss of her, the narrator loses all zest for life (I just don’t see why I should even care) and, as we understand now, the light of his life – it is getting dark when she disappears from his life.

It is a classic stylistic tool to which Dylan often resorts, contrasting the private with the universal. Usually very successful, such as in “The Groom’s Still Waiting At The Altar”, “Slow Train”, “Changing Of The Guards”, but rarely as crushing as in the exceptional masterpiece “Not Dark Yet”.

The prop letter to force a plot twist is not new either. In “Boots Of Spanish Leather” the narrator receives such a Dear John Letter, but there, the attentive listener had already seen it coming. In “When The Night Comes Falling From The Sky” and “Where Are You Tonight?” the letters are indeed not much more than props, they don’t tilt the plot, but in “Desolation Row” we see a similar impact and a similar change of perspective as here in “Not Dark Yet” – although in Desolation it doesn’t seem to be a farewell letter.

Here it is. The blow robs the narrator of his sense of humanity, time runs away from him, his “soul turns into steel”, he can’t sleep and just sits there staring, the poor soul.
I don’t feel pain, fear, desire. It’s like all things that make us human are fading away.

Untold Dylan: who we are what we do

Untold Dylan is written by people who want to write for Untold Dylan.  It is simply a forum for those interested in the work of the most famous, influential and recognised popular musician and poet of our era, to read about, listen to and express their thoughts on, his lyrics and music.

We welcome articles, contributions and ideas from all our readers.  Sadly no one gets paid, but if you are published here, your work will be read by a fairly large number of people across the world, ranging from fans to academics who teach English literature.  If you have an idea, or a finished piece send it as a Word file to Tony@schools.co.uk with a note saying that it is for publication on Untold Dylan.

We also have a very lively discussion group “Untold Dylan” on Facebook with approaching 5000 active members. Just type the phrase “Untold Dylan” in, on your Facebook page or follow this link 

You’ll find some notes about our latest posts arranged by themes and subjects on the home page of this site.  You can also see details of our main sections on this site at the top of this page under the picture.  Not every index is complete but I do my best.

But what is complete is our index to all the 604 Dylan compositions and co-compositions that we have found, on the A to Z page.  I’m proud of that; no one else has found that many songs with that much information.  Elsewhere the songs are indexed by theme and by the date of composition. See for example Bob Dylan year by year.