Previously in this series:
- The Mythology Of Bob Dylan
- The Mythology of Bob Dylan part II
- Bob Dylan And His Mythology (Part III): Emily Dickinson And The Door
- The Mythology Of Bob Dylan (Part IV): Arthur Rimbaud
- Dylan and his mythology (Part V)
By Larry Fyffe
The Holy Bible verse below indicates that the God thereof has both male and female attributes:
So God created man in His own image In the image of God created He him Male and female created He them (Genesis 1:27)
The following song indicates that the God thereof has both a good (god) side, and an evil (devil) side; be the Creator of both Life and Death:
Already the fiesta has begun And in the streets, the face of God will appear With His serpent eyes of obsidian (Bob Dylan: Romance In Durango ~ Dylan/Levy)
The next lyrics create a figure that’s serpentine:
His eyes were two slits That would make a snake proud With the face any painter would paint As he walked through the the crowd (Bob Dylan: Angelina)
The Godlike creature is associated with Anubis, the male Embalmer – albeit the Egyptian deity described beneath is likened to a female:
Worshipping a God With the body of a woman Well endowed And the head of a hyena (Bob Dylan: Angelina)
In the jolly green valley below, the partner of the giant Goddess is painted as both heavenly and hellish, even Nazi-like:
I've tried my best to love you But I can't play this game Your best friend And my worst enemy Is one and the same (Bob Dylan: Angelina)
Referencing Genesis 1:27, and elsewhere in the Old Testament, Jewish biblical lore presents Lilith as Adam’s first wife; translated into to a ‘screech owl’ in the New Testament (akin to Egyptian mythology in which Ra, the Sun God, is depicted as a “falcon”); Lilith flies out of Eden to Babylon because her male partner is sexually domineering – she, her offspring, portrayed as night demons:
Therefore the wild beasts of the desert With the wild beasts of the islands Shall dwell there And the owls shall dwell therein And it shall be no more inhabited for ever Neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation (Jeremiah 50: 39)
The following lyrics, the songster, claws retracted, laments that America is modern Babylon:
The driver peeks out, trying to find one face In this concrete world full of souls The angels play on their horns all day The whole earth in progression seems to pass by But does anyone hear the music they play Does anybody even try (Bob Dylan: Three Angels)