- Mixing-Up The Fluids: Red Crimson And Yellow Dylan
- King Crimson And Yellow Dylan (Part II)
- The Crimson King And The Yellow Jester (Part III)
- King Crimson and the Yellow Jester (Part IV)
By Larry Fyffe
In the Gnostic-like Book of Revelations of the New Testament, Satan is depicted as a red dragon with seven heads. In the Old Testament, as a smooth-talking serpent whereby humans end up mortal:
Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field Which the Lord had made (Genesis 3:1)
Whether by flies or by fires, death consumes us all – the biblical winged Baalzebub and red Satan symbolic thereof.
As in the Gospels of the Holy Bible, the recordings of the musical band known as ‘King Crimson’ merge the two demons – Beelzebub with Satan.
Inspired no doubt by the Blakean-tiger-pounching song lyrics below written by Bob Dylan:
Crimson flames tied through my ears Rolling high and mighty traps Pounced with fire on flaming roads Using ideas as my maps (Bob Dylan: My Back Pages)
In the New Testament of the Holy Bible, Jesus (who gets raised to God’s level in the Christian religion) is accused of being a follower of Satan, not of God:
And the scribes which came down from Jerusalem said "He hath Beelzebub, and by the prince of the devils Casteth he out devils" (Mark 3:22)
To which Jesus, the Christian Messiah-to-be, replies:
" ...How can Satan cast out Satan? And if a kingdom be divided against itself That kingdom cannot stand" (Mark 3: 23, 24 )
In a number of his songs, BeelzeBob Dylan tries to reconcile good (God) and evil (the Devil) both of whom the singer/songwriter takes as haunting the souls of us all; he attempts to marry Heaven and Hell [please click on the link after the four lines from the song to hear a cover version].
I been double-crossed now For the very last time, and now I'm finally free I kissed goodbye to the howling beast On the borderline which separated you from me (Bob Dylan: Idiot Wind)
However, Satan, the beastly side of the Almighty One, hangs around; isn’t that easy to get rid of:
I dreamt a monstrous dream Something came up out of the sea Swept through the land of the rich and the free (Bob Dylan: 'Cross The Green Mountain)