Bob Dylan And Tom Lehrer

Bob Dylan And Tom Lehrer

By Larry Fyffe

Robert Allen Zimmerman, the RAZ, for short, be no stranger to the Jungian Sea upon which floats many a satirical song.

About a bullfight:

The moment had come
I swallowed my gum
We knew there'd be blood on the sand pretty soon
The crowd held its breath
Hoping that death
Would brighten an otherwise dull afternoon
(Tom Lehrer: Old Mexico)

The following song lyrics hints at a fictionalized murder:

Her Jamaican rum
And when she did come
I asked her for some
She said, "No dear"
I said, "Your words aren't clear
You better spit out your gum"
(Bob Dylan: Fourth Time Round)

Not so foul as the killing that takes place in the satirical baking song beneath:

Down by the old maelstrom
There'll be a storm before the calm
And we will all bake together when we bake
There'll be nobody present at the wake
(Tom Lehrer: We Will Go Together When We Go)

A satirical sentiment expressed nursery-rhyme-like in the following lyrics:

Let the wind blow low
Let the wind blow high
One day the little boy, and the little girl
Were both baked in a pie
(Bob Dylan: Under The Red Sky)

https://youtu.be/QVI1zn5ko6I

Obliquely albeit, another fictionalized murder ballad is suggested in the song below:

Left Jamaica this morning
On a boat Bonnie Lou
Born in Liz Texas timber
Up where the eagles fly
Then makes him tell'im never
But she don't cry
(Bob Dylan: Patty Gone To Laredo)

The eagle, a bird of prey, often employed as a symbol of death:

The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls
He watches from his mountain walls
And like a thunderbolt he falls
(Alfred Tennyson: The Eagle)

Black-humoured satire is expressed again in the lyrics  beneath:

Oh the Protestants hate the Catholics
And the Catholics hate the Protestants
And the Hindus hate the Muslims
And everybody hates the Jews
(Tom Lehrer: National Brotherhood Week)

Serious razzing grates in the song lyrics beneath:

Well, he got no allies to really speak of
What he gets he must pay for, he doesn't get it out of love
He buys obsolete weapons, and won't be denied
But no one sends flesh and blood to fight by his side
(Bob Dylan: Neighbourhood Bully)

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