By Larry Fyffe
A quick review. It’s a deep artistic well from which singer/songwriter/musician Bob Dylan draws, Jungian or deliberately, in a number of his song lyrics.
From a Romantic poem, darkly hopeful:
Column, tower, and dome, and spire Shine like obelisks of fire Pointing with inconstant motion From the altar of dark ocean To the sapphire-tinted skies (Percy Shelley: Euganean Hills)
Echoed is the sentiment in the ominous song lyrics below:
There's a woman on my lap, and she's drinking champagne Got white skin, got assassin's eyes I'm looking up at sapphire-tinted skies (Bob Dylan: Things Have Changed)
From a song in which there be sparks of hope in an otherwise dark world:
I saw, I saw the light from heaven Shining all around I saw the light come shining I saw the light come down (Bascom Lunsford: Dry Bones)
In death for sure if not before:
I saw my light come shining From the west down to the east Any day now, any day now I shall be released (Bob Dylan: I Shall Be Released)
From a poem featuring “Blake-light” tragedy; without darkness, there’d be no light:
It is right it should be so Man was made for joy and woe And when this we rightly know Safely through the world we go (William Blake: Auguries Of Innocence/Joy)
Below, a darker talking song that sinks much deeper into Gnostic gloom:
Millions of babies in pain Millions of mothers in rain Millions of brothers in woe Millions of children no where to go (September On Jessore Road ~ Ginsberg/Dylan)
From an over-the-top Romantic light opera/movie,”Rose-Marie”:
But if when you hear my love call ringing clear And I hear you answering echo so clear Then I know our love will become true You will belong to me, and I'll belong to you (Nelson Eddy/Jeanette MacDonald: Indian Love Call ~ Firml et. al.)
The sorrowful song lyrics quoted beneath express a longing for love unfulfilled:
Sadly I look out my window Where I can see the raindrops fall My heart is many thousand miles away Where I can hear my true love call (Bob Dylan: California Brown-Eyed Girl)
From a ‘film noir” movie:
"I'll have some rotten nights after I've sent you over but that'll pass" (Private detective Sam Spade: The Maltese Falcon)
Following be cynical song lyrics concerning relationships that turn sour:
Well I have had some rotten nights Didn't think that they would pass I'm just thankful and grateful To be seeing the real you at last (Bob Dylan: Seeing The Real You At Last)
Observed it is that Bob Dylan pays tribute to artists who shatter the glass of mirrors that reflect an illusion of the existence of a perfect world.
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.
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