By Larry Fyffe
In his booklet, singer/songwriter Bob Dylan makes reference to a well-known actor, singer, and dancer:
& get out there to meet James Cagney
(Bob Dylan: Tarantula)
Cagney was famous for performing the following jingoistic, albeit humorous, song:
I'm a Yankee Doodle Dandy A Yankee Doodle do or die
(James Cagney: Yankee Doodle Dandy ~ G. Cohen)
Bob Dylan And The Oklahoma Kid
The British poem below, however, is patriotic but sorrowful:
Theirs is not to reason why Theirs but to do and die
(Alfred Lord Tennyson: The Charge Of The Light Brigade)
Dylan takes a more Frostian middle-of-the-road approach to what he regards as the fallen state of America:
Tell old Bill when he comes home That anything's worth a try Tell him that I'm not alone And that the hour has come at last to do or die (Bob Dylan: Tell Old Bill)
In the western movie “The Oklahoma Kid”, James Cagney plays a gunslinger out for revenge; he’s fast with the guns on his hips; faster still with bullets slung from his lips.
When the bad Bogie guy inquires of him, You want to talk to me, the Oklahoma Kid replies lightning fast, Go ahead and talk.
From a ‘noir’ movie, echoes:
We want to talk to you, Spade Bogart: Well, go ahead and talk. (The Maltese Falcon )
Worthy of borrowing:
You want to talk to me Go ahead and talk (Bob Dylan: Close Connection To My Heart)
The Oklahoma Kid sings:
I don't like you anymore You'll be sorry when you see me Sliding down our cellar door You can't holler down our rain barrel You can't climb our apple tree (James Cagney: I Don't Want To Play In Your Yard Anymore ~ Petrie & Wingate)
In the following-mentioned movie, a wandering guitar-playing cowboy becomes enchanted by an indentured servant girl who’s married to his friend.
The stranger hopes (in vain), that she’ll leave her husband who’s stand-offish; his first wife died, and he has a son to look after:
l'm leaving on my own accord, but not without Rachel
(Robert Mitchum: Rachel And The Stranger)
Akin to the retort in the western movie quoted below:
I don't mind leaving I'd just like it to be my idea (Allan Ladd : Shane)
A sentiment repeated in the song below:
Don't worry, baby, I don't mind leaving I'd just like it to be my idea. (Bob Dylan: Never Going To Be The Same Again)
Bringing it all back home:
I wonder if that old oak tree's still standing The one we used to climb
(Bob Dylan: Duquesne Whistle ~ Dylan/Hunter)