by Larry Fyffe
& who has a feeling for the lost pieces of frost
(Bob Dylan: Tarantula)
An obvious reference to Bob Dylan himself who regrets that Robert Frost and his poems are no longer celebrated nearly as much as they once were.
Dylan criticises the Romantic Transcendentalists for being too optimistic. So does Frost.
In his poetry, Robert Frost laments the fact that the beauty and solace of nature gets almost forgotten, lost even more so in the hustle and bustle of modern-day, fast-paced industrial assembly lines:
To stop without a farm house near Between the woods and frozen lake (Robert Frost: Stopping By The Woods On A Snowy Evening)
Beneath, a tribute’s paid to Frost:
Twilight on the frozen lake North wind about to break On footprints in the snow Silence down below (Bob Dylan: Never Say Goodye)
Another:
The evening sun is sinking low The woods are dark, the town is too They'll drag you down, they'll run the show Ain't no telling what they'll do (Bob Dylan: Tell Old Bill)
In the face of today’s work demands, an individual feels like a fox on the run, pursued by men on horseback, blowing horns, with dogs that are out to tear him or she into little pieces, like Osiris was!
Then there’s:
(T)he sight of george raft - richard nixon - liberace - d.h. lawrence & pablo casals (Bob Dylan: Tarantula)
Pablo Casals, a cellist, flees Franco fascism, opting for the ‘freedom’ of the US where the American Dream’ is still alive, at least for individuals willing to work hard enough to turn the dream into a reality.
In comparison to the Spain that he left, the choice was not a difficult one to make.
Pablo’s signature music piece – “The Carol Of The Birds” which celebrates the birth of Jesus:
When rose the eastern star The birds came from afar In that full might of glory With one melodious voice They sweetly did rejoice And sang the wonderous story (Joan Baez: The Carol Of The Birds ~ traditional/translated)
David Herbert Lawrence be English; his writings show the influence of Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution which focuses on the “survival of the fittest” animals and plants.
Lawrence isn’t a scientist like Darwin who examines the effects that the surrounding environment has on animals and plants living there. Lawrence’s writings include poems that require the use of creative imagination found within his own mind.
He examines the negative effects that modern industrialisation has on the inner ‘spirit’ of human beings.
Especially in America, asserts D.H., they become ‘the walking dead’:
They say the fit survive But I invoke the spirits of the lost Those that have not survived, the darkly lost (D. H. Lawrence: Cypresses)
In the song below, it’s Darwin who gets grouped in with “the darkly lost”:
They got Charles Darwin trapped out on Highway Five Judge says to te High Sheriff "I want him dead or alive Either one, I don't care" High water everywhere (Bob Dylan: High Water)
The lines beneath show the influence of D.H. Lawrence’s version of evolution:
& secretly wishes he was bing crosby but would settle for being a close relative of edgar bergen (Bob Dylan: Tarantula)
Bing Crosby be a crooner; he acted in a number of comedy movies with Bob Hope; Edgar Bergen, a ventriloquist, his dummy named Charlie McCarthy.
Crooner Bing’s signature song:
Moonlight and roses Bring wonderful memories of you In beautiful thoughts so true (Bing Crosby: Where The Blue Of The Night Meets The Gold Of The Day ~ B. Crosby/J. Young/F. Ahlert)
Bob Dylan croons the following song:
Well the moon gives light and shines at night And l scarcely feel the glow ............ Well I picked up a rose And pokqqed it in my clothes (Bob Dylan: When The Deal Goes Down)