By Larry Fyffe
Songs Linked To Tarantula
(D)ictator wires for more candy - US sending in marines & arnold stang (Bob Dylan: Tarantula)
Arnold Stang plays “Peewee”, a US soldier, in the movie “Dondi” (based on a newspaper cartoon). Features David Janssen and Patti Page.
An orphaned Italian boy stows away on a ship returning American troops to New York City.
The following lyrics sung in that film:
There's a meadow in the sky Where breezes spin the silver willow tree Where you and I can leave our worldly cares And wander anywhere we please (Patti Page: Meadow In The Sky ~ Garson/Shuman)
Similar to the Edenic theme in a previously mentioned song:
I was just rambling through Through the streets of Laredo Just another stranger that day On my way to anywhere
(Patti Page: Streets Of Laredo ~ Evans/Livingston)
Brings to mind by association the following improvised song lyrics:
Patty gone to Laredo But she be back soon Left Jamaica this morning On a boat Bonnie Lou (Bob Dylan: Patty Gone To Laredo)
The “Tarantula” informs us that all’s not well here, there, and everywhere:
& Lord Randall playing with a quart of beer - Fanny Blair dragging a judge - Willie Moore, a shoemaker, who counts his thumbs with a switchblade ... (Bob Dylan: Tarantula)
The following ballad from the Old Country – about a poisoning:
Oh, where have you been, Lord Randall, my son Oh, where have you been, my bonnie young man I've been to the wild wood; mother, make my bed soon For I'm weary of hunting, and I fain would lie down (Ewan MacColl: Lord Randall ~ traditional)
This one from there too – about a false accusation:
It was last Monday morning, I lay in my bed A young friend came to me, and unto me said Rise up, Henry Higgins, and flee you elsewhere For they're bound out against you by young Fanny Blair (A.L. Lloyd: Fanny Blair ~ traditional)
Bob Dylan meets ‘Bert’ Lloyd and MacColl way back at the Singers Club in London, England.
Another death song – the one below, an American Appalachia song, about Anna who drowns herself because her parents would not consent to her marrying the man she loves:
Willie Moore was a king, age twenty-one Courted a lady fair Her eyes were like two diamonds bright Raven black was her hair (Joan Baez: Willie Moore ~ Baez/traditional)
The Talking Mule
More suggestions for song and dance numbers in Untold’s production of “Tarantula: The Musical” by Bob Dylan.
Charles Starkweather (later executed for his deadly deeds), and his younger girlfriend Caril Fugate go on a killing rampage in Nebraska and Wyoming.
All makes for good entertainment as far as those in the media industry are concerned:
(T)hese people consider themselves gourmets for not attending charlie starkweather's funeral ye gads the champagne being appropriate pagan (Bob Dylan: Tarantula )
The lyrics below, from the soundtrack of ‘Natural Born Killers”, a movie inspired by Starkweather and Fugate’s bloody spree:
See the pyramids along the Nile Watch the sun rise from a tropic isle Just remember, darling, all the while You belong to me (Bob Dylan: You Belong To Me)
Let’s not forget that senators and businessmen have their troubles too:
He is on a prune diet & secretly wishes he was bing crosby (Bob Dylan: Tarantula)
Crooning:
She sailed at the dawning All day I've been blue Red sails in the sunset I'm trusting on you (Bing Crosby: Red Sails In The Sunset ~ Kennedy/Grosz)
Bringing it all back home – lyrics beneath with same tune as above:
I'm touched with desire What don't I do Through the flame and fire I'll build my world around you (Bob Dylan: Beyond The Horizon ~ Dylan/Kennedy/Grosz)
There be other musicians and singers in the Tarantula pilgrimage from which to choose:
& it sounds like john lee (!!!!!!) coming & oh Lord louder like a train (Bob Dylan: Tarantula)
That is, guitar-player and blues-singer John Lee Hooker.
Not to be confused with the rockabilly piano-player:
... (I) shall have to recommend that you place jerry lee lewis first and foremost (Bob Dylan: Tarantula)
There’s Jose the piano player from “The Tonight Show”, hosted by Jack Paar; and then there’s Don the dancer with Francis, the talking mule.
Someone shouts out that freedom’s great:
(I)s it possible that jose melis could have said it? perhaps donald o'connor? i happen to be a library janitor, so could you please clarify things a little for me, thank you (Bob Dylan: Tarantula)
Likely, it was the mule.
- 1: Tarantula
- 2: The Tarantula Crawls Across The Circus Floor and 3: Arachnida Is Dead
- 4: The Bride and 5: The Return of Tarantula
- 6: Everybody loves a critic and 7: Hopalong Bob
- 8: Mad, Bad, And A Stranger To Know and 9: Miss Lucy And Mr. Jinx
- 10: A Madder Piece From Ginsberg Street and 11: The Long Dark Stranger
- 12: More Mixed Up Confusion and 13: Oval Faubus
- 14: A tattletale Heart; and 15: Tarzantula
- 16: Tarantula: “Shake that Spear” and 17: “Hopalong Bob”
- 18: The Tale Of Dale And Debbie and 19: The Golden Gate
- 20: Your Harmless Fate and 21: Thelonius
- 22: the Egotist and 23: The Lord of the Spiders
- 24: Cream Cheese and 25 Davy Crocker
- 26: The Lumberjacks Are Coming
- 27: Lem the Clam; 28: An Untold Production: Tyrantula, The Motion Picture
- 29: The Tarantula Files continued
- Tarantula 30: Oh Pancho Oh Cisco
- 31 & 32 “Too hot to handle” and “Lucien’s Tarantula”
- 33: The ‘Untold’ Movie Musical Extravaganza “Tarantula” (with liner notes)
- Tarantulazarus and Clytia (Tarantula 34 & 35)
- Nadine and the Censor (Tarantula 36 & 37)
- Claudette and Peoria: The Tarantula Files (38 & 39)
- Oedipus and Agnes (40 & 41)
- Zevon and Rip van Winkle (42 & 43)
- Tom Tom & Phaedra (The Tarantula Files 44 & 45)
- Maldoror and The Good World
- The Tarantula Files: Nothing to it and White Swan
- The Tarantula Files: Cowboy Angel and Who Wrote Tarantula?
Fanny Blair is on UTube – marked ‘unavailable’ in some places