Category Archives: Uncategorized

By Larry Fyffe In a poker game called ‘poetry’, French Symbolists card-holders turn the rules of the Romantic Transcendentalist players upside down: the Queen of Spades is topped by the Jack of Arts. In other words, the organic works of … Continue reading →

by Tony Attwood It seems to me there are two explanations here.  Either I don’t quite see the point of Bye and Bye beyond it being a chance to quote some Shakespeare, sing a bit of a Billie Holliday song, … Continue reading →

The Never-Ending Art Of Becoming: Bob Dylan And Paul Verlaine By Larry Fyffe Astounding the number of people, including critics of popular music, who listen to the lyrics of Bob Dylan’s songs, and then assert, and with pride of the … Continue reading →

Bob  Dylan And Arthur Rimbaud By Larry Fyffe In the sunlight, able to roam the organic countryside in his youth, Bob Dylan’s naturally drawn to the poetry of the Romantic nature poets, i.e., Robert Burns: “Well my heart’s in the … Continue reading →

By Tony Attwood This article was originally just about 1987 but on 13 May 2017 was re-written to take in 1988 as well, and answer the (very justifiable question) about the dating of songs around the time of Political World … Continue reading →

By Larry Fyffe The feeling of angst and loneliness wrought by a society of spectator-consumers, with its ‘hollow men’, and its culture of tiresome repetition, TS Eliot captures through the images he uses in his poetry: “In the room the … Continue reading →

by Tony Attwood Article updated 13 September 2019 This 12 bar blues variation comes from Love and Theft, and was played 159 times on stage between 2001 to 2016.  Clearly Bob enjoyed it, as he always does with these blues … Continue reading →

By Larry Fyffe An individual can peer through the windows of his or her house, as if these glassed constructions were its eyes, and observe outside natural forces, and people, from which one is sheltered. The structure of these man-made objects, … Continue reading →

By Larry Fyffe In the poems containing William Blake’s personal mythology, Air/Wind represents the breath of life within the individual, the vitalistic spirit, tangled up in an unbalanced state along with three other elements: Water (power), Fire (emotion), and Earth … Continue reading →

By Tony Attwood I have often talked with friends about the fact that none of us knows what goes on in the parts of the world around us which are out of our normal vision.  You might have an idea … Continue reading →

By Larry Fyffe As far as PreRomantic poet William Blake was concerned, the essential elements composing the Universe  (earth, air, water, and fire), poetically speaking, are unbalanced within the human psyche: “Does the spring hide its joy When buds and blossoms … Continue reading →

By Tony Attwood Going back over the songs of 1986 and re-reading my reviews has been very frustrating, as the links I provided to the two highlights of the year are now broken.  The songs in question are Rock em Dead and To … Continue reading →

By Larry Fyffe Poet William Blake transforms the ‘element’ of fire into metaphor, into a symbol, for the physical sexual urge, and for the mental drive of the artistic imagination that is derived therefrom: “Tyger, tyger, burning bright In the … Continue reading →

by Tony Attwood Given that in the months before writing Dreamin of you Dylan wrote Mississippi and in the months after wrote Not Dark Yet there is a good reason to listen to this song. It comes from a period when Bob was … Continue reading →

By Larry Fyffe The influence of so-called ‘highbrow’ poetry on the mainline music industry’s production of popular music, including rock ‘n roll, significantly increases with the emergence of Bob Dylan on the scene. The quality of song lyrics offered to … Continue reading →

By Tony Attwood This article is written about the version of Johanna by Old Crowe that appears on their album “50 years of Blonde on Blonde”.   If you want to hear it, it is available free on Spotify at this … Continue reading →

Bob Dylan: Water As A Symbol For Power By Larry Fyffe The quest for knowledge that leads to wisdom through the artistic imaginative process puts Bob Dylan in the historical mixing bowl with the likes of  Gnostic thinkers and the … Continue reading →

You might also like The Line Forms On The Right: Bobby’s Back In Town. Dylan & the Threepenny Opera And now… Part II: The Three Penny Opera: Bob Dylan And WH Auden By Larry Fyffe Says the Bible: “So God created … Continue reading →

By Tony Attwood 1985 was a strange year for Bob.  He seemed to be struggling to find songs to put on his albums, and wrote some strange pieces with Gerry Goffin, but in the midst of it all he came … Continue reading →

Bob Dylan And Gnosticism By Larry Fyffe A major theme in Bob Dylan’s song lyrics is the employment of religion by authority figures to cover up serreptitious behaviour: “Big time negotiators, false healers, and women haters Masters of the bluff, … Continue reading →