Bob Dylan And Jezebel (PartVII)

• Bob Dylan And Jezebel (Parts I and II)
• Bob Dylan And Jezebel (Parts III & IV)
• Bob Dylan And Jezebel (Part V and VI)

by Larry Fyffe

Biblical Queen Jezebel gets eaten by dogs because she stood up against the One Almighty God Who in the Garden of Eden takes Eve out of Adam’s rib, and orders her to be under her husband’s command (it’s said that his first wife left Adam because she wanted to be his equal).

In the song lyrics below, the narrator thereof claims nobody says they know who he’s talking about, but if it’s Jezebel, a similar love conflict apparently arises. To give the narrator, let’s call him Elijah, the benefit of the doubt, he leaves in a black whirlwind;  takes off from the bloodied shores of the Kishon River in a Cadillac car:

Well, I been to the east, and I been to the west
And I been out where the black winds roar
Somehow, though, I never did get that far
With the girl from the Red River Shore
(Bob Dylan: Red River Shore)

Admittedly, the biblical Elijah puts on a better show:

[B]ehold there appeared a chariot of fire
And horses of fire ...
And Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven
(II Kings 2:11)

Claimed it could be that an updated Jezebel appears in the following song lyrics as well.

Elijah says unto her:

I got no place left to turn
I got nothing left to burn
Don' know if I saw you
If I would kiss or kill you
It probably wouldn't matter to you anyhow
You left me standing in the doorway
I got nothing to go back to now
(Bob Dylan: Standing In The Doorway)

Jezebel of yore puts on a good performance herself – she reappears in the New Testament after Christ is taken up into heaven.

The Son of God, like His Father,  bad-mouths her too:

[T]hou sufferest that woman Jezebel
Which calleth herself a prophetess
To teach and seduce my servants to commit fornication
And to eat things sacrificed unto idols
(Revelations 2:20)

Dylanized Elijah tries to get into a sex-filled heaven down on Earth before he dies:

There's  rumbling in the skies
I've been wading through the high muddy water
With the heat rising in my eyes
Every day your memory grows dimmer
It doesn't haunt me like it did before
I've been walking through the middle of nowhere
Trying to get to heaven before they close the door
(Bob Dylan: Trying To Get To Heaven)

Referencing an old gospel song:

Trying to get to heaven in a due time
Before those heaven doors close
(Wake Me, Shake Me ~ traditional)