Bob Dylan And American History VI

• Bob Dylan and US History Part 1
• Bob Dylan and American History II 
• Bob Dylan and American History III
• Bob Dylan and US History IV
• Bob Dylan and US History V

By Larry Fyffe

Below, a spoof of a newspaper ad that’s supposedly inserted by someone who’s looking for a relationship based on true love:

(D)o people tell you to your face youve changed? do you feel offended?
are you seeking companionship? are you plump? 4 ft. 5? if you fit
& are a full blooded alcololic catholic, please call UH2-6969 ask for OOmpa

(Bob Dylan: Tarantula)

The stories of  “Charlie And The Chocolate Factory” feature Oompas who are little people; one gets mentioned in the humorous piece above. An Oompa attempts to turn the tables and do some exploiting of his own.

That people less well off in America are taken advantage of by those with more money, and even get killed by them, is a theme seriously expressed by the persona of the singer/songwriter/musician:

Hattie Carroll was a maid of the kitchen
She was fifty-one years old, and gave birth to ten children
She cleaned up the dishes, hauled out the garbage
(Bob Dylan: The Lonesome Death Of Hattie Carroll)

Dylan is more aware of literature books written in English than he lets on.

Beneath, a quote that’s found in a fictionalised work authored by a dark-hearted Neo-Romantic writer who searches for peace and  justice:

(T)he slight indentation which for a time was known officially as Black Diamond Bay

(Joseph Conrad ~ Victory: An Island Tale)

Therein, mankind faces an all-powerful and hostile environment. The Dylan/Levy story changes the location; the characters are changed too. But the influence of the fragmented style of Conrad’s writing is obvious.

A small picture of the Modernist Conrad is included with the “Desire” album akin to comedian Lord Buckley’s picture, which is placed on the mantelpiece on the front cover of the “Bringing It All Back Home” album.

Irony abounds:

Seems like every time you turn around
There's another hard-luck story you're gonna hear
And there's really nothing anyone can say
And I never did plan to go anyway
To Black Diamond Bay

(Bob Dylan: Black Diamond Bay ~ Bob Dylan and Jacques Levy)

Below, is a narrative in which there’s a mixture of the once-supposed prime elements ~ water, fire, earth, and air.

And America gets transformed into New Egypt; ie, Isis being the goddess of the Moon; she’s a daughter of the Earth god; she’s given birth to by the Sky goddess:

The wind it was howling, and the snow was outrageous
We chopped through the night, and we chopped through the dawn
When he died I was hoping it wasn't contageous
But I made up my mind that I had to go on
(Bob Dylan: Isis ~ Bob Dylan and Jacques Levy)

In Egyptain mythology, incest abounds. Jealous Set/Seth, desires his sister Isis.

She, fathered by the Earth god, is the Goddess-Queen of Egypt. Osiris, her nonidentical twin, is the mighty Sun-King. Wanting that position for himself, Set hacks up Osiris, the husband of Isis; then puts him in a coffin.

Magical and motherly Isis finds him and reassembles enough of what is left of Osiris that she’s able to give birth to a son, falcon-headed Horus. Their son is born with one of his eyes larger than the other. After trials, tribulations and chaos, Horus is appointed the rightful God-King of Egypt.

Argued it can be that the song “Oh, Sister” contains a united meaning, even though the Egyptian mythology gets mixed in with Swedenborgian gnosticism (ie, the twins die but both of them come from the same cradle down on Earth, then are “reborn”, and “mysteriously saved”; one supposes in Swedenborg’s Realm of Spirits).

Interpreted it can be, however, that the song is mostly about Set. His father’s the Egyptian Earth god, and so of course that makes Set a brother to the twins.

Anyway, to this reader/listener, the song from “Desire” bespeaks of Set’s devilish ambitions:

Oh, sister when I come to lie in your arms
You should not treat me like a stranger
Our father would not like the way that you act
And you must realize the danger
(Bob Dylan: Oh Sister ~ Bob Dylan and Jacques Levy)

There’s no question that the lyrics of the song directly above are deliberately ambiguous.