Can Bob Dylan Be Saved (Part VIII): The Raft Of The Medusa

Text by Larry Fyffe, recordings selected by Tony (with a plea that you please listen to this cover of Duquesne while reading Larry’s commentary)

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If one were inclined to do so, many of the rhymes for ‘door’ employed by Bob Dylan might be considered to come from his unconscious ‘collective’ memory. That is to say: once upon a door in the deep blue Jungian Sea, five poets float – all influences on singer/singer. They are by name: Edward Taylor, Ralph Emerson, Henry Longfellow, Edgar Poe, and Emily Dickinson.

Ancient Rhymers they be ~

And while my puzzled thoughts about it pore
I find the the bread of life in it at my door
(Edward Taylor: A Kenning Through Astronomy Divine)

Complete evaporation to the core
Though I tried, and failed to find the door
(Bob Dylan: Love Is Just A Four Letter Word)

Turn the key, and bolt the door
Sweet is death forevermore
(Ralph Emerson: The Past)

From behind the curtain, the boss crossed the floor
He moved his feet, and he bolted the door
(Bob Dylan: Tin Angel)

Barefooted Dervish is not poor
If fate unlock his bosom’s door
(Ralph Emerson: Saadi)

Was a friend to the poor ….
He opened many a door
(Bob Dylan: John Wesley Harding)

Behold, he watches at the door
Behold his shadow on the floor
(Ralph Emerson: Saadi)

Babe, I couldn’t even find the door
Couldn’t even see the floor
Bob Dylan: If Not For You)

 

While thou sittest at thy door
On desert’s yellow floor
(Ralph Emerson: Saadi)

Forever at my door …
While being chained to the floor
(Bob Dylan: You Changed may Life)

https://vimeo.com/255722971

Out of an unseen quarry evermore …
Round every windward stake, or tree, or door
(Ralph Emerson: The Snowstorm)

Then he fines you every time you slam the door
I ain’t gonna work for Maggie’s brother no more
(Bob Dylan: Maggie’s Farm)

And next the deacon issued from his door …
A suit of sable bombazine he wore
(Henry Longfellow: The Birds OF Killingworth)

Smoke pouring out of a boxcar door …
In the final end, he won the war
(Bob Dylan: Idiot Wind)

Drag home the stingy harvest, and no more
The feathered gleaners follow to your door
(Henry Longfellow: The Birds Of Killingworth)

Open the door, Richard ….
But I ain’t gonna hear it said no more
(Bob Dylan: Open The Door, Homer)

Oft have I seen at some cathedral door …
Enter, and cross himself, and on the floor
(Henry Longfellow: Divine Commedia)

Lean against your velvet door …
Who crawls across your circus floor
(Bob Dylan: Temporary Like Achilles)

At the end, an open door
Squares of sunshine on the floor
(Henry Longfellow: The Ropewalk)

Your lover who just walked out the door …
Has taken his blankets from the floor
(Bob Dylan: It’s All Over Now Baby Blue)

Through the pale door …
And laugh –  but smile no more
(Edgar Poe: Haunted Door)

I can’t shoot them anymore …
I feel I’m knocking on Heaven’s door
(Bob Dylan: Knocking On Heaven’s Door

Then shuts the door …
Present no more
(Emily Dickinson: The Soul Selects Her Own Society)

I can’t use it anymore …
Feel I’m knocking on Heaven’s door
(Bob Dylan: Knocking On Heaven’s Door)

That I could fear a door …
And never winced before
(Emily Dickinson: I Laughed A Crumbling Laugh)

Blowing like she never blowed before …
Blowing like she’s at my chamber door
(Bob Dylan: Duquesne Whistle)

Out of the foxglove’s door …
I shall but drink the more
(Emily Dickinson: I Taste A Liquor Never Brewed)

Throw my troubles out the door
I don’t need them anymore
(Bob Dylan: Tonight I’ll Be Staying Here With You)

Finally, the assonant ‘rhyme’ ~ ‘door’/’Lord’:

But Thou, sweet Lord, has with the golden key
Unlocked the door, and made a golden day
(Edward Taylor: Reflection)

Closed the door behind him …
Lord, Lord, they cut George Jackson down
(Bob Dylan: George Jackson)

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