He sometimes messes with the end-rhyme he carries over from the song that he pays tribute to – ‘dry’/’cry’:
(Wilf Carter: Rye Whiskey ~ traditional)
In the lyrics below, Dylan introduce a syllabic end-rhyme: – ‘dry’/’cryin’:
(Bob Dylan: Standing In The Doorway)
In the following lines, there’s a selfsame rhyme – ‘alone’/’alone’:
(The Carter Family: The Prisoner’s Song ~ traditional)
Below a reworked end-rhyme that is a true one – ‘alone’/’tone’:
The two songs following Dylan obviously links, and he marks this fact by dropping an odd rhyme twist on the song he sources – ‘upon/pawn’:
(The Carter Family: Gold Watch And Chain ~ by Thomas Westendorf)
Westendorf resonates ‘upon’ with ‘pawn’ within his own song, but Dylan comes up with an unaccompanied cross-over twister – ‘upon it’/’pawn it’:
(Bob Dylan: Like A Rolling Stone)
i.e., ‘La Belle Dame Sans Merci’ – ‘brow’/’now’:
(Edgar Allan Poe: A Dream Within A Dream)
The song below repeats the selfsame rhyme as in the above poetic work by Poe – ‘brow’/’now’:
Bob Dylan messes with the following song lyrics -‘man’/’x’:
(The Carter Family: John Hardy ~ traditional)
To go with the end-word in the first line of the traditional song above, Dylan, in the verse below, conjures up an off-rhyme to resonate with it – ‘man’/’hand:
It seems that, unlike John Hardy, John Harding has more than two guns, and more than two hands to hold them in.
- Blake, Keats, And Spots Of Ink: Spinning Reels Of Rhyme
- Dylan’s Tell Ol Bill: roots in a blues ballad and rhymes from the Romantic poets
What else is on the site
You’ll find an index to our latest posts arranged by themes and subjects on the home page. You can also see details of our main sections on this site at the top of this page under the picture.
The index to the 500+ Dylan compositions reviewed is now on a new page of its own. You will find it here. It contains reviews of every Dylan composition that we can find a recording of – if you know of anything we have missed please do write in.
We also have a discussion group “Untold Dylan” on Facebook. Just type the phrase “Untold Dylan” in, on your Facebook page or follow this link
And please do note The Bob Dylan Project, which lists every Dylan song in alphabetical order, and has links to licensed recordings and performances by Dylan and by other artists, is starting to link back to our reviews
*repeats the same rhyme as in the above