The Bob Dylan Twist Continued

By Larry Fyffe

A list of earlier articles in this series on the subject of Dylan’s rhymes appears at the end of this article.

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In the poem beneath, the end-rhyme be ~ ”someone’/’run’:

I'm petty sure she'll make me kill someone
Then I'll be on the run
For I'm a dangerous man
When I have a knife in my hand
(Geoffrey Chaucer: Monk's Tale ~ modernized)

In the likewise dark lyrics below, the rhyme twist be ~ ‘run’/ ‘someone’:

One of these days, I'll end up on the run
I'm pretty sure she'll make me kill someone
I'm going inside, roll the shutters down
I just wanna say, "Hell's my wife's home town"
(Bob Dylan: My Wife's Home Town)

https://youtu.be/hrgXpz7e-Uw

A motif akin to the one expressed in the following song – the double negative idiomatic:

You mistreat me, baby, I can't see no reason why
You know that I'd kill for you, and I'm not afraid to die
You treat me like a stepchild
(Bob Dylan: Stepchild~ Dylan/Springs)

 

The end-rhyme in the love lyrics below ~ ‘me’/’see’/’Marie’:

Come to me, Sweet Marie, Sweet Marie, come to me
Not because your face is fair, love to see
But your soul, so pure and sweet, makes my happiness complete
Makes me falter at your feet, Sweet Marie
(Ada Jones: Sweet Marie~ Moore/Warman)

The end-rhyme in the euphemistic song lyrics beneath ~ ‘see’/’me’/’Marie’:

Sometimes it gets so hard, you see
I'm just sitting here, beating on my trumpet
With all these promises you left for me
But where are you tonight, Sweet Marie

(Bob Dylan: Absolutely Sweet Marie)

 

The end-rhyme in the baroque poem following ~ ‘dim’/’swim’/’within’:

You want clear spectacles, your eyes are dim
Turn inside out, and turn your eyes within
Your sins like motes in the sun do swim
(Edward Taylor: The Accusation Of The Inward Man)

The end-rhyme in the unrequited love lyrics below ~ ‘dims’/’swims’/’hymns’ – a ‘match-book song’ being one of which some lyrics are quickly scribbled on matchbook cover lest they be forgotten:

With your silhouette when the sunlight dims
Into your eyes where the moonlight swims
And your match-book songs, and your gypsy hymns
(Bob Dylan: Sad-Eyed Lady Of The Lowlands)

A final example of a similar, but twisted, rhyme that’s drawn from another piece of writing, in this case a Gothic poem, that’s quite likely the inspirational source.

With the end-rhyme ~ ‘by’/’sky’:

From the lightning in the sky
As it passed me flying by
From the thunder and the storm
And the cloud that took the form ...
Of a demon in my view
(Edgar Allan Poe: Alone)

Then the song lyrics of unrequited love with the end-rhyme ~ ‘by’/’fly’:

Some of us turn off the lights, and we live
In the moonlight shooting by
Some of us scare ourselves to death in the dark
To be where the angels fly
(Bob Dylan: Red River Shore)

Earlier articles in the series on rhyme…

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