Bob Dylan and the Dylavinci code part XXVI

Links to past episodes and to all the cover versions used within this series are both given at the end of the article.

by Larry Fyffe

Clear as a bell, the breaking of the Dylavinci Code reveals that Christ, while brushing the dusty ashes off His nose, is not at all fond of Maggie Magdalene’s father who’s had an affair with Mother Mary.

Cyrus Magdala puts his cigar out in the face of his “stepson” just for kicks.

In the song lyrics below, Bob Dylan, transfigured as Jesus, let’s it be known that He does not like His daddy-o “stepfather” very much.

Pieced together from fragments in the Holy Grail, the authentic goblet stored in the Untold Archives Department:

You mistreat me, baby
I can't see no reason why
You know that I'd kill for you
And that I'm not afraid to die
But you treat me like a stepchild
Oh no, am I your stepchild
(Bob Dylan: Stepchild)

Jesus gets His own back by running off with His “half-sister” Maggie Magdalene.

Note that Jesus says He’s “not afraid to die”, suggesting either that He can’t be killed or that He’s an escape artist.

Ominous sounding is the rather ambiguous, perhaps hyperbolic, line “You know I’d kill for you”.

More to the point, an elongated ‘murder ballad” may be blowing in the wind. Could be that Christ’s already had a Libyan die on the cross in His place.

The only thing we know sure about the narrator is that his name’s not Bob Dylan, and he’s now protecting his child, given birth to by Magdalene.

Jesus could even be the Devil, a man who says He comes in peace while wearing a long, but oddly colourful black coat, the dark angel responsible for humankind becoming mortal:

He looked into her eyes when she stopped him to ask
If he wanted to dance, he had a face like a mask
Somebody said from the Bible he'd quote
There was dust on the man in the long black coat
(Bob Dylan: Man In The Long Black Coat)

Meanwhile, back at the ranch in Utah, daughter Sophia Sarah tells her daddy that God is not a unit composed of three parts, but there exists three separate Gods – besides Jesus Christ, there’s the Hobogod, and she’s the Holy Ghost.

No wonder Dylan as Jesus gets a headache:

Well,  early in the morning
To late at night
I got a poison headache
But I feel alright
I'm pledging my time to you
Hoping you'll come through too
(Bob Dylan: Pledging My Time)

The story goes on and on, round and round in circles – just like the mysterious-travelling Hobogod.

Fragments pasted back together tell us that originally the song quoted below is entitled “Stuck Inside Of Utah With The Memphis Egyptian Blues Again”:

And the ragman draws circles
Up and down the block
I'd ask him what the matter is
But I know he don't talk
(Bob Dylan: Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again)

Cover versions in this series

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Bob Dylan and the Dylavinci code part XXVI

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