The lyrics and the music: Simple Twist of Fate

An index to the current series appearing on this website appears on the home page. A list of the previous articles in this series appears at the end.

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“The Lyrics and the Music” (or sometimes “the music and the lyrics) is a series by Tony Attwood which tries to find out what happens when one reviews a Dylan song not primarily as a set of lyrics, but as a piece of music which includes lyrics. An updated list of previous articles in the series is given at the end.

Back in August 2016 Jochen, commenting on “Simple Twist of Fate” noted that, ‘Just like her big sister, “Tangled Up In Blue”, Simple Twist is not only ambiguous, but constantly on the move, too. The words change per performance, Dylan swaps personal pronouns, sometimes pushes the text in one direction (and then suggests that the lady’s love is paid for: She raised her weary head and couldn’t help but hate / Cashing in on a simple twist of fate).’

“Ambiguity and movement” – I think that sums the song up perfectly. Just look at the opening verse….

They sat together in the park
As the evening sky grew dark
She looked at him and he felt a spark
Tingle to his bones
'Twas then he felt alone
And wished that he'd gone straight
And watched out for a simple twist of fate

What the music gives us here, is the picture of a the couple sitting together in a relaxed way – it is the bass that provides the accompaniment to the strummed acoustic guitar, which is very unusual indeed. Indeed it is the bass that gives us a sense of both stability and gentle movement, which fits exactly with the walk along by the old canal.

In fact for much of the time the bass is descending suggesting not so much that the life of the person portrayed in the song is in decline but rather that it is just progressing along in its own path. It is an approach that works beautifully – consider when he woke up in the bare room feeling emptiness inside – that bass gives us that feeling of time passing and things moving along.

But now listen again to the verse beginning around 3 minutes 20 wherein he still believes she was my kin, but we still have the feeling that it is inevitably over, because of the descending bass.

And yet this is not just a simple descent into sadness, because throughout the singer recognises that the loss of the lady was inevitable.

People tell me it's a sin
To know and feel too much within
I still believe she was my twin but I lost the ring
She was born in spring
But I was born too late
Blame it on a simple twist of fate

So yes there is both inevitability but also culpability on his part, and that descending bass line over and over tells us this – but also tells us that each time the bass gets to the bottom of the run, it will pick up and start at the top going down once again.

What I really wonder, listening to this original album version again, is who it was who came up with the notion of the rhythm guitar and the bass working together behind the melody, for that really was an inspired idea. It is that combination of the two instruments that allows Dylan suddenly to take us by surprise at the end of each verse with his dramatic rise of the voice.

It is in each verse the one line of protest both in the lyrics and in the singing; a line that stands out from every other line….

And wished that he'd gone straight

Hit him like a freight train

Another blind man at the gate

To which he just could not relate

How long must he wait?

But I was born too late

These are arresting lines in terms of the lyrics, and in terms of the music, and that brings a problem, because this penultimate line in each verse is out of context with the rest. That is expressed by the way the melody rises, but it does leave the problem: how then can the music come back down.

If each verse ended on that high point it would have left us expecting the song to move on, but the point is, the lyrics don’t move on. The singer is as bemused at the end of the piece as he is at the start.

This is only made possible by that penultimate line – almost a shout of protest in each case – which is then followed by the final line that itself always ends with the title.

The essence of the song is thus that she came along, they were together, she left, that final event being recorded in the wonderful fines

He told himself he didn't care
Pushed the window open wide
Felt an emptiness inside

And here more than anywhere the music helps us understand. The descending bass reveals his utter despondency, but we know at the end of the verse he is going to break down because he simply cannot understand why she has gone (“To which he just could not relate).

A lesser composer would have kept the music of that penultimate line in the same mood and style as the rest of the song, but no, Dylan will have none of that. Those penultimate lines express his grief both musically and lyrically.

And wished that he'd gone straight
Hit him like a freight train
Another blind man at the gate
To which he just could not relate
How long must he wait?
But I was born too late

These are the lines of pain – most especially in the final when the character stops being “he” and becomes “I” with that final cry on the top note, as all the while the bass plods along its predestined road.

A remarkable piece of music as well as a remarkable set of lyrics.

However because we now know the song so well, it is possible to perform it with far less emphasis on the penultimate line, and in that way the song still works, because in our memories we will always have Bob’s original version, although much of the drama is then lost.

The songs reviewed from the music plus lyrics viewpoint…

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