A reintroduction to Bob Dylan’s themes

One of the great problems with having a website called Untold Dylan is that when those of us involved in getting the site going came to look at the issue, we found vast numbers of themes that could be explored.  In short, it confirmed what we already knew – that Bob had explored a vast number of themes through his song and indeed we had built an index of themes.   And so having look at those articles some of us wrote other articles to fit in the themes.

But I was wondering if we had missed anything out.  By which I mean, if we have done it all, we shouldn’t really be trying to keep publishing new articles just for the sake of doing it.  So I am going to present to you a list of some of the themes  and issues.

I am hoping this index might direct you to one or two ideas, which either you could suggest here, or (better from my point of view) you could write about, even if you have not written an article  yourself before and even if it is just one article.

But then again, even if you don’t find a theme you want to write about, maybe you’ll enjoy reading some of these articles on a theme that is of interest to you.

So here we go… this is the list we created and I am hoping you might want to do one of the following

a) create a new topic that can add to this series of themes – along with some examples

b) add one or more new songs to one of the themes that is already here.

c) read one or more of the articles here as you maybe missed it/them before.

Bob Dylan and Hank Snow

• Bob Dylan and Hank Snow (Part II)
• Bob Dylan and Hank Snow: Little Buddy, Drunkard’s Son, Moving On. (Dylan and Hank Snow Part 1)
• Thunder on the Mountain: it’s a cruel world in Bob Dylan’s song
• Bob Dylan and Geoffrey Chaucer: thunder on the mountain
• Bob Dylan’s Thunder on the Mountain: Heylin falls off a cliff, Bob keeps on keeping on
• Dylan deconstructed: He’s inside out, upside down, right side up

John Wesley Harding and the Drifters Escape

• John Wesley Harding (1967). The argument against.
• John Wesley Harding: the meaning of the music and the lyrics
• The Drifter’s Escape: the meanings and the re-interpretation
• Deadwood and Deadman: Bob Dylan and post-modernism

Bob Dylan and Alchemy

• Bob Dylan And The Symbols Of Alchemy: Birds Of Pray
• Bob Dylan and the songs of Alchemy
• Bob Dylan and the symbols of Alchemy: but is he a Gnostic?

BOB DYLAN’S RITA MAE

• Rita May by Bob Dylan (1975). The argument for and against.
• Rita May by Bob Dylan and Jacques Levy.  The antidote to Joey or once more misguided

Bob Dylan and Canada

• Exclusive Untold Interview: Bob Talks About Time Travelling In Canada
• Time Travel with Bob Dylan in Canada (Part II)
• Bob Dylan and the Red River Valley

Bob Dylan and Ezekiel

• Bob Dylan Disguises Himself As Ezekiel (Part I)
• Bob Dylan Disguises Himself As Ezekiel (Part II)
• Dylan Disguises Himself As Ezekiel (Part III)

BOB DYLAN, RASTAFARIANISM and “I and I”

• Bob Dylan and Rastafarianism
• Bob Dylan and Rastafarianism part 2: I and I
• I and I: God finds out Dylan thinks He maybe isn’t almighty after all.
• I and I: Bob Dylan: an alternative vision
• The stranger in Bob Dylan’s “I and I”

If you have never heard the versions by Solas and June Tabor I would urge you to read the “overwhelming punishment” article published today and play those two versions (if not all of the examples) as you read.