Bob Dylan And The Eye Of Horus (Part III)

Bob Dylan And The Eye Of Horus

Bob Dylan And The Eye Of Horus (Part II)

 

By Larry Fyffe

The falcon of Horus flies at twilight:

Far away in a stormy night
Far away, and over the wall
You are there in the flickering light
Where teardrops fall
(Bob Dylan: Where Teardrops Fall)

The  mythology of Isis, Osiris, and Horus be long known to the Hebrews:

And remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt
And that the Lord brought thee out thence through a mighty hand
And by a stretched out arm
(Deuteronomy 5: 15)

The restorative power of symbolic Horus exemplified in the following song lyrics:

Every empire that's enslaved him is gone
Egypt, Rome, even the great Babylon
He made a garden of paradise in the desert sand
In bed with nobody, and under no one's command
(Bob Dylan: Neighbourhood Bully)

The ancient Egyptian symbol of the “Eye Of Horus” is adopted as a Christian symbol – the “Eye of Providence” represents the all-seeing eye of a trinitified, protective God.

The Christian adaptation of the image, like the Judaic one, lacks the stylised teardrop below the eye, and is featured on both the American one dollar bill, and on the Great Seal of the United States; the Eye atop a yet-completed pyramid.

On the back cover of the “Blood On The Tracks” record album is an abstract image of an unfinished pyramid that apparently  represents a Promised Land desecrated; above the pyramid, a very small Eye of Providence can be discerned.

The songs on the Bob Dylan album mentioned above are sorrowful in mood.

The lyrics concern the social/economic/political state of modern America on a macro-, and on a micro-level, and said it can be that the teardrop under the Eye of Horus figuratively re-appears:

We had a falling out, like lovers often will
And to think of how she left that night, it still brings me a chill
And though our separation, it pierced me to the heart
She still lives inside of me, we've never been apart
(Bob Dylan: If You See Her Say Hello)

Let the teardrops fall:

Don't know how it all got started
I don't know what they doing with their lives
But me I'm still on the road
Heading for another joint
We always did feel the same
We just saw it from a different point
Of view
(Bob Dylan: Tangled Up In Blue)

 

Publisher’s note…

You can read more about all our regular writers here

If you would like to read more commentaries, Untold Dylan also has a very active Facebook group: Untold Dylan.

If you would like to see some of our series they are listed under the picture at the top of the page, and the most recent entries can be found on the home page.

If you would like to contribute an article please drop a line to Tony@schools.co.uk

 

 

One comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *