Untold Dylan

An index to the series thus far is published at the foot of this article.

By Mike Johnson (Kiwipoet)

We finished Part 1 of this tour through some of Dylan’s 1992 performances by considering some of the songs from Under the Red Sky (1990) on his setlist that year. Now we turn to his previous album, Oh Mercy (1989), and catch up with some of those performances.

The four Oh Mercy songs Dylan presents this year were all first performed in 1990 and 1991. Two of these songs, ‘Man in the Long Black Coat’ and ‘What good am I?’ would stick around, and would be further developed, whereas ‘Most of the Time’ and ‘Everything is Broken’ would fade away.

That makes the performances of the latter two songs all the more precious, especially ‘Most of the Time’, as it is a masterpiece of ironical undercutting. In 1990 we heard a passionate presentation of the song which was anything but reconciled to the song’s contradictions.

This 1992 version creates a mixed impression. The sound is richer and more laid back, with Bucky Baxter again creating some fine musical textures. It all sounds pretty good. Then Dylan starts to sing and the whole thing becomes a lot more fraught. It’s a strange, almost strangled performance, full of odd timing, moments of bitterness – and maybe he’s not quite remembering the lyrics, the order of the verses. It’s all pretty hair-raising, and far from the triumphant 1990 performance.

It’s a pity that the harp break at the end is not better articulated. It strikes me that Dylan is just not able to find his way into this song in terms of performance, and it is perhaps not surprising that he drops it from his setlists.

Most of the time

‘Everything is Broken’ fares much better. The band sounds good and strong with a rocking beat. Dylan sounds a little diffident at the beginning but soon warms to the vocals. Like a lot of Dylan’s protest songs, this one is couched in terms which manage to be both specific and general.

Broken cutters, broken saws,
Broken buckles, broken laws,
Broken bodies, broken bones,
Broken voices on broken phones
Take a deep breath, feel like you're chokin',
Everything is broken

I quote these particular lines because they could have been written yesterday – or tomorrow. That ‘feel like you’re chokin’ reminds me of ‘I can’t breathe’ which has become the rallying cry of the Black Lives Matter movement. By these mysterious means Dylan songs stay relevant. When I hear ‘broken laws/ broken bodies, broken bones’ I see scenes of police violence in the streets of American cities right now.

Everything is broken

‘What good am I?’  is a song full of self doubt, often performed with Dylan on the piano. Not in this case, however. A soft easy rhythm is established against which Dylan delivers a passionate, quivering vocal. As I suggested when looking at the 1990 performance, I find this song seems to gain in contemporary relevance as the years roll on, and all those things we might turn a blind eye to have just grown worse. The question ‘what good am I?’ confronts us in the face of growing injustices, social and environmental.

What good am I?

Arguably ‘Man in the Long Black Coat’ is the jewel in the Oh Mercy crown, and Dylan worked hard at developing the song over the years. The direction of that development is towards great grandiosity, as the drama enacted in the song evolves from the swampy horror story of Lanois’ album production into a cosmic tragedy – the seduction of innocence on a grand scale. Moral doubt and self-reflection play a large part in the album, including, ‘What Good am I?’, ‘The Disease of Conceit’, ‘What was it you wanted?’, and ‘Shooting Star’. This shows up in ‘…Black Coat’, in lines that cast doubt on the function of our consciences:

Preacher was talking there's a sermon he gave
He said every man's conscience is vile and depraved
You cannot depend on it to be your guide
When it's you who must keep it satisfied

This is the human paradox; morally, we can’t trust ourselves. This is a shot across the bows of anybody who appeals to their own conscience alone as justification for their actions. That twisted sanctimoniousness that would take the word of scripture and turn it to evil purposes.

Somebody said from the bible he’d quote
There was dust on the man in the long black coat

Perhaps what makes this song special in the Dylan canon is that the devil himself puts in an appearance, sinister and dramatic. I can’t think of any other Dylan song, even from his gospel period (1979 -1981), that so vividly personifies the seductive power of the devil.

This 1992 performance is certainly the best so far, with a sharp, telling harp break at the end, doing what Dylan’s harp does best, elaborating and exploring the emotional valences made possible by the song. It’s a wonderful performance, and a stepping stone to even greater performances in 1995

 Man in the long black coat

We move the clock back now to Blood on the Tracks (1974), and catch up with how Dylan has been working with those songs. We heard a scintillating performance of ‘Tangled Up in Blue’ in Part 1, 1992, and we now turn to those other perennials, ‘Simple Twist of Fate’ and ‘You’re a Big Girl Now’, songs Dylan has been cultivating since they were written.

‘Simple Twist of Fate’, with its famously shifting pronouns is a quiet reflective song, and the effectiveness of Bucky Baxter’s dobro in creating long sustained sounds behind the verses is evident. I nearly dropped this song out because of the rowdy audience. The background noise is frustrating, especially at the beginning when a quiet, melancholy mood is being set, but things quieten down somewhat after a while and Dylan delivers a moody, if scratchy vocal. The expression ‘ships that pass in the night’ is what passes through my mind when I think about this song. A connection made, but only just. A one night stand that turns sad with the dawn. A memory that will never fade. The one that got away will always haunt.

He woke up, the room was bare
He didn't see her anywhere
He told himself he didn't care
Pushed the window open wide
Felt an emptiness inside

Except in this variation Dylan sings:

He told himself he didn’t care
But he pushed back the blinds
Found a note she’d left behind
To which he just could not relate
Any more than that simple twist of fate

 A simple twist of fate

There is a gorgeous harmonica break, sweet and sensitive, against the rolling thunder of the drums, but audience noise once more distracts us from the beautiful quiet ending.

More darkly driven than ‘Simple Twist of Fate’, ‘You’re a Big Girl Now’ registers the anguish we might all feel when someone grows away from us, grows out of us as if we were clothes that had grown too small. The one that got away is the one most bitterly regretted.

Oh, I know where I can find you, oh
In somebody's room
It's a price I have to pay
You're a big girl all the way

Dylan’s in fine voice for this performance, and once again we hear how this band can create quiet, more intimate music without having to be acoustic. Baxter again creating a rich, ‘orchestral’ texture. Dylan can go softly with the voice or hard; give it a harsh edge, or sound thin and vulnerable.

You’re a big girl now

As far as I know, 1992 was the last year Dylan attempted to perform that great splenetic masterpiece ‘Idiot Wind’ on stage. It must be a hell of a song to sustain, all that outrage and anger, over so many verses.

And it’s not the kind of song that offers alternatives in terms of musical interpretation or reworking. It flashes like fire or not at all. It can’t be tamed. There is no sweetening the bitter pill. It is an aggrieved beast. I think the 1976 Rolling Thunder versions are probably the best in performance terms, but Dylan gives this 1992 performance his all, using ‘upsinging’ (raising his voice at the end of every line) to keep it rolling. The harp break keeps up the brittle edge of the song, but, perhaps in the final analysis, Dylan’s voice, although he’s trying hard, just isn’t quite up to it – it’s your call.

I’m going to finish this post with a song that doesn’t quite fit anywhere else, ‘Seeing the Real You at Last’. Off the 1985 album, Empire Burlesque, it’s one of the new songs from that album that Dylan keeps coming back to from time to time. In one performance he had the stage lights directed at the audience when he hit the chorus line, suggesting that it might be us he’s singing about. We, the audience, lurk behind the figure of the girl, but eventually we are exposed for what we are. Or again, the woman in the song could be a personification of America, the promised land which doesn’t turn out to be quite what was promised but just a set of filmic projections.

I'm hungry and irritable
And I'm tired of this bag of tricks
At one time there was nothing wrong with me
That you could not fix.

Well, I sailed through the storm
Strapped to the mast
Oh, but our time has come
And I'm seeing the real you at last.

The strapped to the mast reference is to Odysseus, who straps himself to the mast so he can hear the song of the sirens and not be lured to his death, as the travellers pass that island.

But there is no escaping paradox:

From now on I'll be busy
Ain't going nowhere fast

When I take a look around me, I see a whole world busy going nowhere fast. Maybe we are all seeing the ‘real you’ at long last – and it’s not a pleasant sight.

Seeing the real you at last

Take care and stay wise. I’ll be back soon to look at some of Dylan’s acoustic performances in 1992

Kia Ora

• The Never-Ending Tour: 1987 – Farewell to all that
• NET 1988: Desperate stratagems, Part 1: Heroes and Villains
• 1988 Part 2: The 60s revisited
• 1988 Part 3: Absolutely still on the road
• 1989 Part 1: A sharper edge
• Never Ending Tour 1989 Part 2 – A fire in the sun
• 1989 Part 3: Blown out on the trail
• 1990 Part 1: Vomiting Fire
• 1990 Part 1: Vomiting Fire
• 1990 Part 2 – Songs of love, songs of betrayal
• 1991: Part 1 Hidden Gems in a Train Wreck – The Undesirables
• The Never Ending Tour 1991 Part 2 – Feet walking by themselves
• NET 1991 Part 3: King of the unsteady
• 1992: Heading for the promised land

By Tony Attwood

As you may know one of the more unusual things we have done here is to invite readers of Untold Dylan to look at Dylan lyrics which have never been put to music.

The most recent that we have had completed is Song to Bonny and there are details of other such songs below.

Recently I announced another song we’d found: Tioga Pass.    Thus far no one has ventured to add any music to that song, and unless someone does I am going to be adding my own music and I am not sure you want that.  So that offer is still there.

But if you don’t fancy Tioga Pass, we now have one more.  Here’s the original

This was discovered by Aaron and is Bowling Alley Blues.   Aaron says of this, “I tried to work out the lyrics from the typed up sheet and left out some bits from the top of the page which seemed incongruous with the rest, like he was trying something out before moving on to the real work of the day.

“It turned up in Writings and Drawings, and here’s what I came up with”

I got your letter today
And I’m glad to hear you’re doing fine
I see you still got your habit
And I’m so happy to hear it isn’t mine

I read your name in the paper again
Going out with Mr So and So
So the news is out and you can’t pretend
That you did not know

Maybe tomorrow morning
When you wake up and find
That your dear sweet daddy’s got fed up
And has left everything behind

Or why wait for tomorrow
When you can find this out today
So just be good and do like you should
And don’t spend your time throwing it away!

I love a switchboard operator
She’s the only one for me
I love a switchboard operator
She’s the only one I wanna see

Anytime I need some money
I just call her on her line
And she always tells me looky honey
Everything will soon be fine

I love a switchboard operator
And she’s the one that I desire
And of course I’m bound to see her later
And we’ll go dancing on the wire

On the wire
Sing something safe
Is it right to think about what one can do
Or is it right to think about what one has done

So there we are – you now have two songs to play with, through which you can achieve immortality by writing your own version of the music.

When you have done your work, just send me a music file to Tony@schools.co.uk   An MP3 or MP4 will be fine, and we’ll publish the result here and add the song to our list of 616 compositions by Dylan already covered on this site.

Here are some of the songs we have had completed so far…

• Don’t let anyone write your story – original renditions
• Don’t let anyone write your story, Rob Beretta
• Don’t let anyone write your story, Paul Robert Thomas
• Don’t let anyone write your story, fourth edition
• Listen Robert Moses: Chris Sheriden
• Song to Bonny Paul Robert Thomas
• Don’t Let Anyone write your story: Claudio Diarni
• Dope Fiend Robber Nick Juno.

Untold Dylan: who we are what we do

Untold Dylan is written by people who want to write for Untold Dylan.  It is simply a forum for those interested in the work of the most famous, influential and recognised popular musician and poet of our era, to read about, listen to and express their thoughts on, his lyrics and music.

We welcome articles, contributions and ideas from all our readers.  Sadly no one gets paid, but if you are published here, your work will be read by a fairly large number of people across the world, ranging from fans to academics.  If you have an idea, or a finished piece send it as a Word file to Tony@schools.co.uk with a note saying that it is for publication on Untold Dylan.

You’ll find some notes about our latest posts arranged by themes and subjects on the home page of this site.  You can also see details of our main sections on this site at the top of this page under the picture.  Not every index is complete but I do my best.

Tony Attwood

We also have a very lively discussion group “Untold Dylan” on Facebook with around 7000 active members. Just type the phrase “Untold Dylan” in, on your Facebook page or follow this link 

Selection and introduction by Aaron, other comments by Tony

Aaron: Now those of us from the British Isles will recognize the Julie Driscoll & Brian Auger cover of This Wheel’s On Fire used as the theme song to the “Absolutely Fabulous” TV show. How many of us would then know that for the Ab Fab movie national treasure Kylie Minogue sang the same track!? I’m not even sure if I like what she does here, but I do love that fact that Kylie has a Dylan cover in her back catalogue!

https://youtu.be/8GEl78He2Kg

If that recording doesn’t work in your part of the world try this link.

Tony: I don’t know if I came to like this version through watching the series on TV, but this version still gives me goose pimples.   I think maybe it is the harmonies in the chorus – indeed the only thing that I don’t like is the backing vocals of “oooooo”.

The solid beat seems to me to work perfectly with the notion of the song – it is after a wheel that is travelling and on fire.  It just keeps rolling on and burning all the way through.

Next,  Barbara Dickson doing Tears Of Rage and again two links depending on where you are in the world

and the alternative: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PA3xdpV-oP0

This song gives me a lot of problems – and I am sure they are just mine.  The song is so desperately emotional (what could possibly be more emotional than having a child turn away from a parent) and perhaps because I actually have two friends to whom this has happened, I feel the issue very strongly.   I’m incredibly lucky in that my three daughters have grown up to be my closest friends and allies, but I think of my friends and their lives without contact with their siblings and grandchildren, and I feel so much for them.

And that’s the issue with songs about deep emotions – if one is at all emotional, then one can be touched by events, even when they happen to others – and remembrances of such events are not always welcome.

I can take Dylan’s version because, I guess, I can focus on the music not on the lyrics.  But here Barbara Dickson makes the lyrics to be of prime importance, and so it is not for me.  But of course that is just me – and that is why I am so enjoying this series of “Play Lady Play” articles.  If I was selecting the songs as well as writing these commentaries, I’d never have put this track in the selection – but the deal is that Aaron selects and I comment, and I’m not breaking the contract!

Barbara Dickson was described by The Scotsman newspaper  as Scotland’s best-selling female singer in terms of the numbers of hit chart singles and albums she has achieved in the UK since 1976 and she is also a two-time Olivier Award-winning actress.  Hard to argue with that.

Aaron: Next up, with possibly the best track from The New Basement Tapes, Kansas City, it’s Jessica Paige

Tony: My review of the original release of this track opened with, “May I say from the start I utterly love this song and since discovering it, have played it over and over, time and time again.”

Jessica Paige is not an artist I know, so I had to go searching for her online and found her own site which opens “I spent most of my childhood  running around our Kansas Farm.”

For me Ms Paige’s version doesn’t add anything to the New Basement version of Kansas City which is one of those real standout pieces of music for me from that collection, but she has an excellent voice and the arrangement is very well done.   But that is the problem with covers of Dylan songs – I think the singer and arranger really has to go somewhere else to make the new version something that stops one in one’s tracks.

However, to be fair, the lady is from Kansas, so her recording it makes sense, and she really does have a good voice.

Now Peter, Paul & Mary with Too Much Of Nothing

I doubt that there are many people, in fact I doubt that there are any people, who have been following my ramblings on this site since the days when I wrote a negative review of this song on the original Basement Tapes without realising that there was this second version (which turned up on the complete Basement Tapes) recorded by PPM.  A silly mistake on my part.

I’ve updated my commentary and this site also has a very different take on the song: that of Jochen.  As so often if the case, we take the same song and go our different ways.

Next, The Roches – Clothes Line Saga

This is all about the harmonies, and oh they work perfectly, giving us a clear link back to the original.   And I have to say hearing this version is the first time ever I have really enjoyed this song as a piece of music.   It is also the first time I’ve felt that something really good could be made out of an opening that reads

After a while we took in the clothes
Nobody said very much

Absolutely love it – not least because the music keeps changing to reflect the words.  If you don’t know this, do listen, or if you are familiar with Bob’s version and the original never did anything for you, do try it.   It is wonderful.

Big Mama Thornton with I shall be Released

Now if you have been with us through this series over a period of time, you might have realised that I don’t really have too much time for lady singers who use Dylan compositions as an excuse to show off their extensive vocal range and ability to shout.  I leave this one with you.  Which brings us to…

“Last up today it’s the amazing Sandy Denny (with the equally amazing Richard Thompson on guitar and duet vocals) – Down In The Flood”

That comment was written by Aaron, and I (Tony) looked forward to this as the final track …

… but oh, it is so… ordinary.  Like a track filler.  I love the music of these two and had the honour of meeting them both in the early days.

And so I am going to cheat here.  Earlier this week I offered up a little article on “Why does Dylan like ‘Black Jack Davy’?”  Here’s Sandy Denny and her band with a version of that ancient song.

https://youtu.be/00hpupoh4eU

Sandy died tragically young in April 1978, after a very troubled life, but having known her briefly I have always felt there was such natural talent in her, and still love to come back to her music, even after all this time.

• Play Lady Play in the 21st century
• From “me me me” to exquisite interpretations
• Play Lady Play: the joyful remembrance of staggering performances
• Play lady play: Bettye LaVette – and a kiss on the mouth
• When a woman sings Just like a woman and beats the bass issue
• Play lady play: I believe in you.
• The strange the eccentric and the beautiful
• Play Lady Play: A simple twist of fate
• Play lady play: the strange ones, the eccentric, and the beautiful
• Knocking the pony with the sisterhood

Untold Dylan: who we are what we do

Untold Dylan is written by people who want to write for Untold Dylan.  It is simply a forum for those interested in the work of the most famous, influential and recognised popular musician and poet of our era, to read about, listen to and express their thoughts on, his lyrics and music.

We welcome articles, contributions and ideas from all our readers.  Sadly no one gets paid, but if you are published here, your work will be read by a fairly large number of people across the world, ranging from fans to academics.  If you have an idea, or a finished piece send it as a Word file to Tony@schools.co.uk with a note saying that it is for publication on Untold Dylan.

You’ll find some notes about our latest posts arranged by themes and subjects on the home page of this site.  You can also see details of our main sections on this site at the top of this page under the picture.  Not every index is complete but I do my best.   Tony Attwood

We also have a very lively discussion group “Untold Dylan” on Facebook with around 7000 active members. Just type the phrase “Untold Dylan” in, on your Facebook page or follow this link 

By Larry Fyffe

The narrator in the poem quoted below compares himself to William Shakespeare’s character Hamlet and finds that it is the Prince who is lacking in fortitude:

No! I am not Prince Hamlet, nor was I meant to be
Politic, cautious, and meticulous
Full of high sentence, but a bit obtuse
At times almost ridiculous

(TS Eliot: The Love Song Of J. Alfred Prufrock)

The narrator in the following song lyrics asserts that, unlike the Danish Prince, neither is he cowardly:

You don't know me, darling, you never would guess
I'm nothing like my ghostly appearance would suggest
I ain't no false prophet, I just said what I said
I'm just here to bring vengeance on somebody's head

(Bob Dylan: False Prophet)

As we shall see, Bob Dylan intends to have his revenge on TS Eliot for the poet’s critique of Shakespeare’s Danish play.

The persona of the poet and of the singer/songwriter are both well aware of their mortality:

Though I have seen my head (grown slightly bald) brought to me on a platter
I am no prophet - and here's no great matter
I have seen the moment of of my greatness flicker
And I have seen the eternal Footman hold my coat, and snicker

(TS Eliot: The Love Song Of J. Alfred Prufrock)

Below, a metonymic piano serves to express the same sentiment:

You can bring it to St. Peter, you can bring it to St. Jerome
You can bring it all the way over, bring it all the way home
Bring it to the corner where the children play
You can bring it to me on a silver tray

(Bob Dylan: My Own Version Of You)

Personification in the following lyrics summons a yawn:

And the afternoon, the evening, sleeps so peacefully!
Smoothed by long fingers
Asleep  - tired - or it malingers
Stretched on the floor, here beside you and me

(TS Eliot: The Love Song Of J. Alfred Prufrock)

Diction rather similar appears in the song lyrics below:

Deepening shadows gather splendour as day is done
Fingers of light will soon surrender the setting sun
I count the moments darling 'till you're here with me
Together at last at twilight time

(The Platters: Twilight Time ~ Ram/Dunn/A&M Nevins)

TS Eliot claims that the Shakespeare’s Danish play fails to capture the disdain that the Prince has for his mother’s marriage to Hamlet’s uncle; there are no adequate ‘objective correlatives’ therein to invoke the mood of her son, says Eliot; the play is not so much about Hamlet’s revenge for his father’s death as it is about his emotional struggle due to Gertrude’s lascivious behaviour.

Bob Dylan is not anxious to make the same mistake; the song “Murder Most Foul” centres on the assassination of President John Kennedy – it draws on Shakespeare’s play:

Murder most foul, as in the best it is
But this most foul, strange and unnatural

(William Shakespeare: Hamlet, Act I, sc. 5)

The music surrounding those days, and after, that Dylan listens to, including the Platter’s song quoted above, the singer/songwriter tells his listeners to play in order to catch the mood of the times when the murder happens.

Some of the musical ‘objective correlatives’ listed are:

• Cry Me A River
• Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood
• Saint James Infirmary
• Driving Wheel
• Memphis In June
• Lonely At The Top
• Love Me Or Leave Me
• Nature Boy

Untold Dylan: who we are what we do

Untold Dylan is written by people who want to write for Untold Dylan.  It is simply a forum for those interested in the work of the most famous, influential and recognised popular musician and poet of our era, to read about, listen to and express their thoughts on, his lyrics and music.

We welcome articles, contributions and ideas from all our readers.  Sadly no one gets paid, but if you are published here, your work will be read by a fairly large number of people across the world, ranging from fans to academics.  If you have an idea, or a finished piece send it as a Word file to Tony@schools.co.uk with a note saying that it is for publication on Untold Dylan.

You’ll find some notes about our latest posts arranged by themes and subjects on the home page of this site.  You can also see details of our main sections on this site at the top of this page under the picture.  Not every index is complete but I do my best.   Tony Attwood

We also have a very lively discussion group “Untold Dylan” on Facebook with around 7000 active members. Just type the phrase “Untold Dylan” in, on your Facebook page or follow this link 

The Mississippi-series, part 12

by Jochen Markhorst

Like earlier “Desolation Row” and “Where Are You Tonight?”, “Mississippi” can’t really be dealt with in one article. Too grand, too majestic, too monumental. And, of course, such an extraordinary masterpiece deserves more than one paltry article. As the master says (not about “Mississippi”, but about bluegrass, in the New York Times interview of June 2020): Its’s mysterious and deep rooted and you almost have to be born playing it. […] It’s harmonic and meditative, but it’s out for blood.

XII        Roses Of Yesterday

Well my ship’s been split to splinters and it’s sinkin’ fast
I’m drownin’ in the poison, got no future, got no past
But my heart is not weary, it’s light and it’s free
I’ve got nothin’ but affection for all those who’ve sailed with me

For many fans of the song, the favourite quatrain. The opening accumulatio indeed has a crushing, pleasantly archaic and terrifying visual power (plus a cheap, yet irresistible alliteration in split to splinters) – but the exceptional beauty of these four lines is due to the contrast, to the completely unexpected and beautifully poetic change to gentleness and bonhomie in the third line.

“Willkommen und Abschied” (Welcome and Farewell) is the best known of Goethe’s so-called Sesenheimer Lieder, a collection of poems to which Goethe contributes around the age of twenty-one. The young law student then lives in Strasbourg and befriends the theologian and art theorist Herder. Johann Gottfried Herder is only five years older, but he becomes Goethe’s literary mentor, teaches him Rousseau, Shakespeare and Homer and opens his eyes to the beauty of Volkslieder, of folk songs. Goethe already had some literary ambition – and now it’s taking shape. The inspiration, lastly, lives forty kilometres away, in the Alsace village of Sessenheim: the eighteen-year-old minister’s daughter Friederike Brion.

The two portraits that exist of Friederike do not really reveal her attraction, but apparently there is something about her – after Goethe has left Friederike, the young poet Jakob Lenz, who is just as madly in love, reports for duty. Lenz will write the remaining Sesenheimer Lieder.

Goethe’s genius awakes here and now, in the poems he writes being in love with Friederike. In “Willkommen und Abschied“, the young Sturm & Drang poet lyrically recounts how he does not think, but rather acts, on a whim, jumping on his horse late at night and galloping out of town, through the dark forest, the forty kilometres to Friederike. The second verse reveals his affinity with the narrator of “Mississippi”:

From out a hill of clouds the moon
Mournful gaze through the mist:
The winds their soft wings flutter’d soon,
And in my ear horribly hissed;
The night a thousand ghouls had made,
Yet fresh and joyous was my mind;
What fire within my veins then play’d!
What glow was in my heart shrin’d!

Darkness and horror, yet fresh and joyous was my mind. The secret of this untouched, uncluttered mind is clear: the narrator is in love, is wearing his rose-coloured glasses, is on his way to his lover – by whom he is indeed welcomed “with tenderness” in the next verse.

At Dylan’s protagonist, the source of his “light and free heart” is less unambiguous. If this verse had stood alone, it would unmistakably be a death scene. “My ship’s been split to splinters and it’s sinkin’ fast” would then be something like “my life is done” or “my mind is leaving me”, just as the Dantesque “drowning in the poison” evokes a life farewell rather than an “ordinary” gloomy, pessimistic state of mind.

Appropriate then is the closing line, in which the narrator speaks mild, resigned and summarizing deathbed words: “I’ve got nothin’ but affection for all those who’ve sailed with me”.

Only the beautiful, aphoristic got no future, got no past fits less supple in such an interpretation. It seems to derive from that corny inspirational quote, which gets new life thanks to Kung Fu Panda (2008). It is the aphorism the old Master Oogway, the guru-like turtle, shares with Panda Po in the face of his approaching death:

Yesterday is history,
Tomorrow is a mystery,
Today is a gift –
That’s why we call it the present

Corny enough to brighten up kitchen tiles, calligraphed wall posters and Facebook statuses of unimaginative house mothers, and does indeed approximate something like no future, no past. By the way, it is attributed rather stubbornly to Alice Morse Earle, the American historian and writer, and would then have come from her fascinating study Sun-Dials and Roses of Yesterday (1902), but really cannot be found therein.

More obvious is that the poet Dylan incorporates an echo of his Bible studies, the same notion he already incorporated in “Born In Time”: that God and Jesus were always there, “outside of time”, and Jesus is born in time only for those few earthly years. God, as Dylan learned at the Bible study, is an Eternal Being – He has no past and no future, being “outside of time”.

However, to extend the impact of these words to “Mississippi” goes far too far; it would imply that the I-person, who with these words places himself outside of Time, imagines himself divine. No, this verse fragment is probably another example of “words that just come up”, as Dylan often says about his own song writing. Like in the conversation with Happy Traum:

“There are times you just pick up an instrument – something will come, like a tune or some kind of wild line will come into your head and you’ll develop that. If it’s a tune on a piano or guitar – you’ll just uuuuuuhhhh [humming] whatever it brings out in the voice, you’ll write those words down. And they might not mean anything to you at all, and you just go on, and that will be what happens.”

That’s what Dylan says in 1968, and almost half a century later he repeats it in slightly different words in his Nobel Prize acceptance speech:

“I don’t have to know what a song means. I’ve written all kinds of things into my songs. And I’m not going to worry about it – what it all means.”

And somewhere in between, between 1968 and 2016, he records “Mississippi”, in which he also writes all kinds of things. Like got no future, got no past.

“I don’t know what it means, either. But it sounds good. And you want your songs to sound good.”

To be continued. Next up: Mississippi part XIII: Down In The Groove

The Mississippi series

• The Mississippi-series, part 1; no polyrhythm here please
• The Mississippi-series, part 2: the line that never was.
• The Mississippi- series, part 3: Belshazzar on the steppe
• The Mississippi-series, part 4: Bertolt, Bobby, Blind & Boy
• The Mississippi-series, part 5: Frost in the room, fire in the sky
• The Mississippi-series, part 6: Charades
• The Mississippi series: part 7 : Dorsey Dixon
• The Mississippi-series, part 8: Pretty Maids All In A Row
• The Mississippi-series, part 9: Abandon all hope
• The Mississippi-series, part 10: Eyesight To The Blind
• The Mississippi-series part 11: Bonnie Blue

Jochen is a regular reviewer of Dylan’s work on Untold.  His books are available via Amazon both in paperback and on Kindle:

• Blood on the Tracks: Dylan’s Masterpiece in Blue
• Blonde On Blonde: Bob Dylan’s mercurial masterpiece
• Where Are You Tonight? Bob Dylan’s hushed-up classic from 1978
• Desolation Row: Bob Dylan’s poetic letter from 1965
• Basement Tapes: Bob Dylan’s Summer of 1967

Untold Dylan: who we are what we do

Untold Dylan is written by people who want to write for Untold Dylan.  It is simply a forum for those interested in the work of the most famous, influential and recognised popular musician and poet of our era, to read about, listen to and express their thoughts on, his lyrics and music.

We welcome articles, contributions and ideas from all our readers.  Sadly no one gets paid, but if you are published here, your work will be read by a fairly large number of people across the world, ranging from fans to academics.  If you have an idea, or a finished piece send it as a Word file to Tony@schools.co.uk with a note saying that it is for publication on Untold Dylan.

You’ll find some notes about our latest posts arranged by themes and subjects on the home page of this site.  You can also see details of our main sections on this site at the top of this page under the picture.  Not every index is complete but I do my best.   Tony Attwood

By Tony Attwood

The full index to this series which considers how the subject matter of Bob Dylan’s songs changed over time, can be found here.

The essence of this series is simple: to take each song written by Dylan in a single year, and try to express the meaning of the lyrics of each song in a word or simple phrase, such as “love”, “lost love”, “protest”, or “faith.”

This worked perfectly well up to 1978 for during that period Dylan not only offered up a variety of songs topics, but it turned out to be fairly easy to put each song into a classification.

By 1977 we could see clearly what Dylan’s favourite topics were.  Since the 1950s Dylan had written over 10 songs on each of these ten topics or themes…

• Being trapped/escaping from being trapped (being world-weary): 12
• Blues: 11
• Environment: 17
• Humour, satire, talking blues: 13
• Lost love / moving on: 43
• Love, desire: 56
• Moving on: 16
• Randomness: 11
• Surrealism, Dada: 15
• Travelling on, leaving, farewell, moving on: 16

1978 however seems to be a troubled year for Bob as the topics in his songs as they were virtually all about negative subjects:

• Moving on: 4
• Love: 3
• Blues: 3
• Lost love: 3
• Treating me badly: 1
• Come back to me: 1
• Legionnaires Disease: 1
• Let me be me: 1

Bob was clearly a troubled man, and as we all know that he resolved his dilemma very clearly in 1979, writing 19 songs in that year all of which were about his new found faith.  It was the only year when he wrote over ten songs with all of them on just one topic.

In 1980 Bob opened the year by continuing to write about fundamental Christianity and the thought that salvation was assured.  But then after asserting that God made the world in Every grain of sand, everything changed.  Dylan now wrote a series of five songs starting with Caribbean Wind and its theme of the end of relationships and indeed pretty much everything else, concluding with Making a liar out of me which appears to reject all of his faith and commitment that has gone before.   As a set of songs it is an amazing journey from utter faith, to the rejection of faith.

So Bob was now back writing on a variety of topics, and in 1981 three themes dominated Bob’s writing:

• Love: 9
• Religion / Christianity: 3
• Uncertainty / doubts / don’t believe: 5

But then in 1982/3 Bob seemed to turn away from most of his previous themes as he began to explore what he could say in songs in a new way.  If there is a central theme to 1982/3 it is that nothing is what it seems – which is as big a rejection of a previously held religious faith as it is possible to imagine.

Nothing symbolised this contradiction more completely than Blind Willie McTell, a song seemingly about a famous blues singer, saying that the blues can describe the world, but with that message encapsulated in a piece of music that has nothing to do with the work of Blind Willie.  Although it was not a consistent theme, the notion that nothing is really as it might seem and that life is chaos became a dominant thought expressed by Bob in such songs as Man of Peace, and Someone’s got a hold of my heart / Tight connection to my heart.

As the year progressed so did the notion that not only is nothing what it seems, but also that there is no going back which occurs in Neighbourhood Bully (a song on which I had to stop accepting comments from readers, so angry did the debate become), Tell Me, Foot of Pride, Julius and Ethel and even Death is not the end (in which Bob seems to conclude that yes there is an afterlife, but there still ain’t no going back).

In 1984 Bob seemed to resolve some of these problems as he returned to some more traditional themes, and my article on that year defined the subject matter of the songs as:

• Blues/moving on: 2
• Love: 4
• Lost love: 4
• Moving on: 1
• Tedium, the bad life: 1

which looked much more liked a Bob Dylan year from earlier days.  But if love and lost love could be balanced in 1984 it was only a temporary reprieve from the troubles, and by 1985 there was no chance of this, for that was the year in which lost love, and just being lost, dominated his thoughts.  The analysis of the most common topics of the songs that year gives us

• Lost love: 12
• Love: 6
• Chaos / criminals escaping / life is a mess / being lost: 6

So what would Bob offer in 1986? My first article on this year was called  Experiment, experiment, experiment, genius, ignore which was the only way I could find of summarising a year in which Bob ended up creating To fall in love with you – a song that many of us consider one of his most incredible pieces, but then ignoring it.

Indeed he didn’t just abandon it, he did so to work on two songs Silvio and Ugliest girl in the world in which he didn’t write the words.  Indeed I would suspect many Dylan fans would find it hard to remember the songs that preceded the Robert Hunter co-compositions other than “To fall in love with you”, but the only one I have found myself singling out repeatedly is Rock em Dead – and that is a song which owes a lot to “Uranium Rock” by Warren Smith.

So we are left puzzled – the great masterpiece of “To fall in love” is abandoned while other songs from the era and either nowhere near that standard or are derivative.

And yet then, suddenly, we get what I have noted as Possibly the greatest trilogy of compositions in Dylan’s career:

• Political world
• What good am I
• Dignity 

These songs, written one after the other, tell us the world’s gone wrong, the man’s gone wrong, but if we work at it we can as individuals, try and pull ourselves together.

Because Dignity was not released at the time of its writing, the three songs are not normally seen as a trilogy,  Yet playing Dylan’s compositions in the order of composition (especially if we play the early, shorter, acoustic version of Dignity) certainly give us that feeling.

Thereafter Bob handed himself over the the Travelling Wilburys before going on tour – and not just any tour, for 7 June 1988 was the start of what we now call the Never Ending Tour.

In my review I called 1989 the year in which The menace emerges  meaning that Dylan in his songs of that year recognised that we are often fooling ours, that the old certainties are gone (What was it you wanted, Everything is Broken) while out there in the darkness a menace emerges (Man in a Long Black Coat.)

This now is a completely different Dylan in terms of his songwriting, a Dylan with a message about the world falling apart.  This is not “Times they are a changing” (which suggests whether we do anything or not things are going to be different, and probably better) but much more following up on that other early theme of “Darkness at the break of noon”.  Except that now this is most certainly not all right ma.  For here we have songs of contradictions, songs which tell us there is no way out (such as Cat’s in the Well) , songs which tell us all it not as it seems (such as 10,000 men), songs which tell us that we are all being fed a pack of lies (Unbelievable), songs that tell us our childhood has been obliterated (Under the red sky)  and songs that suggest that capitalism is destroying us (such as Heartland written with Willie Nelson).  It was, The re-birth of protest, before the end of all songs.

And yet, looking back, it wasn’t the rebirth of protest, at least not in the purest sense, for this was more the announcement of the end, and in a very real sense it was the end of Dylan the songwriter, for after his time with the Willburys (in which he probably only wrote one song – the magnificent lost love piece Where were you last night) Bob stopped writing.   The man who had just gone on and on writing year after year with only the occasional pause, simply stopped.

True there are four songs that some commentators have as being written in 1995 but it appears these were actually originally put together in 1984.  It really was the first time since the launch of his career in the late 1950s that Bob Dylan stopped writing.

As to when he did start writing again in 1996 what we got were some of the darkest songs Bob had ever written:

• Dirt Road Blues (Blues, lost love, moving on)
• Can’t Wait (Emptiness, loss, desperation)
• Mississippi (Lost love)
• Highlands (Beyond death)
• Dreamin of you (Love disconnected from the world)
• Marchin to the City (Doing alright)
• Million Miles (Drifting, thinking)
• Not Dark Yet – (Dying)
• Red River Shore (Love is a hopeless myth)
• Standing in the doorway (The darkness)

Just look at the concepts within these songs – and if this does not convince you that Bob’s vision of the world had gone extremely dark, just stop everything you are doing, close your eyes and listen to this video.

https://youtu.be/9IyDZab3_Wc

I’m walking through the summer nights
Jukebox playing low
Yesterday everything was going too fast
Today, it’s moving too slow
I got no place left to turn
I got nothing left to burn
Don’t know if I saw you, if I would kiss you or kill you
It probably wouldn’t matter to you anyhow
You left me standing in the doorway crying
I got nothing to go back to now

The light in this place is so bad
Making me sick in the head
All the laughter is just making me sad
The stars have turned cherry red
I’m strumming on my gay guitar
Smoking a cheap cigar
The ghost of our old love has not gone away
Don’t look like it will anytime soon
You left me standing in the doorway crying
Under the midnight moon

Maybe they’ll get me and maybe they won’t
But not tonight and it won’t be here
There are things I could say but I don’t
I know the mercy of God must be near
I’ve been riding the midnight train
Got ice water in my veins
I would be crazy if I took you back
It would go up against every rule
You left me standing in the doorway crying
Suffering like a fool

When the last rays of daylight go down
Buddy, you’ll roll no more
I can hear the church bells ringing in the yard
I wonder who they’re ringing for
I know I can’t win
But my heart just won’t give in
Last night I danced with a stranger
But she just reminded me you were the one
You left me standing in the doorway crying
In the dark land of the sun

I’ll eat when I’m hungry, drink when I’m dry
And live my life on the square
And even if the flesh falls off of my face
I know someone will be there to care
It always means so much
Even the softest touch
I see nothing to be gained by any explanation
There are no words that need to be said
You left me standing in the doorway crying
Blues wrapped around my head

Bob had found religion, lost religion, looked around once more and found that the world really was a place he didn’t like.  He walked away from his old occupation of giving us insights into that world, and then, after five years out, he found the words and music to explain it all to us.

And pretty grim it was.

Untold Dylan: who we are what we do

Untold Dylan is written by people who want to write for Untold Dylan.  It is simply a forum for those interested in the work of the most famous, influential and recognised popular musician and poet of our era, to read about, listen to and express their thoughts on, his lyrics and music.

We welcome articles, contributions and ideas from all our readers.  Sadly no one gets paid, but if you are published here, your work will be read by a fairly large number of people across the world, ranging from fans to academics.  If you have an idea, or a finished piece send it as a Word file to Tony@schools.co.uk with a note saying that it is for publication on Untold Dylan.

We also have a very lively discussion group “Untold Dylan” on Facebook with around 7000 active members. Just type the phrase “Untold Dylan” in, on your Facebook page or follow this link 

You’ll find some notes about our latest posts arranged by themes and subjects on the home page of this site.  You can also see details of our main sections on this site at the top of this page under the picture.  Not every index is complete but I do my best.   Tony Attwood

By Tony Attwood

In Greek mythology, the original gods were thought to have been born out of the void – the gap created by the separation of heaven and earth.  These were the primordial deities Gaia (Mother Earth) and Uranus (Father Sky) and they created the Titans.

There were six male Titans, Oceanus, Crius, Hyperion, Iapetus, and Cronus, and six female Titans, Theia, Rhea, Themis, Mnemosyne, Phoebe and Tethys.

Mnemosyne became the goddess of memory and remembrance and the mother of the nine Muses. And of course memory was of central importance the oral culture of the Greeks as much as it is to a performer of pop, rock and folk music today.

Zeus, the sky and thunder god appeared in the form of a shepherd, and stayed with Mnemosyne for nine consecutive nights, and as a result she conceived the nine Muses: Calliope (the muse of epic poetry), Clio (history), Euterpe (music), Erato (lyric poetry), Melpomene (tragedy), Polyhymnia (hymns), Terpsichore (dance), Thalia (comedy) and Urania (astronomy).

Mnemosyne, the mother of Muses, is subsequently called upon by poets who seek her help so that they may correctly remember the lines that they are to recite – this occurs both in the Iliad and the Odyssey.

Mnemosyne was thus worshipped in Ancient Greece and statues were erected to her while in drawings she is often shown alongside her daughters.   Thus in “Mother of Muses” Dylan, now aged 79, can be seen to be asking for a little help in remembering his lines.  Or he may just be reflecting upon the ancient Greek traditions.  Or both.

The Odyssey begins, “Sing for me, O muse, of that ingenious hero who travelled far and wide after he had sacked the famous town of Troy.”

Dylan then cites five generals from America, Russia and Britain, who created the modern world into which Bob’s heroes could create the world.

Mother of Muses sing for me
Sing of the mountains and the deep dark sea
Sing of the lakes and the nymphs in the forest
Sing your hearts out - all you women of the chorus
Sing of honor and fame and of glory be
Mother of Muses, sing for me

Mother of Muses sing for my heart
Sing for a love too soon to depart
Sing of the Heroes who stood alone
Whose names are engraved on tablets of stone
Who struggled with pain so the world could go free
Mother of Muses, sing for me

Sing of Sherman - Montgomery and Scott
Sing of Zhukov and Patton and the battles they fought
Who cleared the path for Presley to sing
Who carved out the path for Martin Luther King
Who did what they did and then went on their way
Man, I could tell their stories all day

Bob then focuses on one of the muses – Calliope, the Muse who presides over eloquence and epic poetry who taught Orpheus verses that he could sing.  According to some tellings she was the wisest of the Muses, and the most assertive.

I’m falling in love with Calliope
She doesn’t belong to anybody - why not give her to me
She’s speaking to me, speaking with her eyes
I’ve grown so tired of chasing lies
Mother of Muses wherever you are
I’ve already outlived my life by far

Mother of Muses unleash your wrath
Things I can’t see - they’re blocking my path
Show me your wisdom - tell me my fate
Put me upright - make me walk straight
Forge my identity from the inside out
You know what I’m talking about

Take me to the river and release your charms
Let me lay down in your sweet lovin’ arms
Wake me - shake me - free me from sin
Make me invisible like the wind
Got a mind to ramble - got a mind to roam
I’m travelin’ light and I’m slow coming home

In this final verse Dylan refers to some of his favourite songs as he reviews his travels on the Never Ending Tour, and gives me a rare chance to include a Talking Heads recording.

“Traveling Light”, “Slow,” and “Going Home” are from Leonard Cohen.  Here’s just one of those…

Rough and Rowdy Ways

• My own version of you: Bob’s revenge; Bob’s desire
• I contain multitudes; where do we start, where do we end?
• False Prophet: the meaning of life
• Why Murder Most Foul?
• The Black Rider
• I’ve Made Up My Mind to Give Myself to You. And Offenbach and Johnny Cash.
• Goodbye Jimmy Reed: Bob Dylan and the random-abstract song.

Untold Dylan: who we are what we do

Untold Dylan is written by people who want to write for Untold Dylan.  It is simply a forum for those interested in the work of the most famous, influential and recognised popular musician and poet of our era, to read about, listen to and express their thoughts on, his lyrics and music.

We welcome articles, contributions and ideas from all our readers.  Sadly no one gets paid, but if you are published here, your work will be read by a fairly large number of people across the world, ranging from fans to academics.  If you have an idea, or a finished piece send it as a Word file to Tony@schools.co.uk with a note saying that it is for publication on Untold Dylan.

We also have a very lively discussion group “Untold Dylan” on Facebook with around 7000 active members. Just type the phrase “Untold Dylan” in, on your Facebook page or follow this link 

You’ll find some notes about our latest posts arranged by themes and subjects on the home page of this site.  You can also see details of our main sections on this site at the top of this page under the picture.  Not every index is complete but I do my best.   Tony Attwood

The Mississippi-series, part 11

by Jochen Markhorst

Like earlier “Desolation Row” and “Where Are You Tonight?”, “Mississippi” can’t really be dealt with in one article. Too grand, too majestic, too monumental. And, of course, such an extraordinary masterpiece deserves more than one paltry article. As the master says (not about “Mississippi”, but about bluegrass, in the New York Times interview of June 2020): Its’s mysterious and deep rooted and you almost have to be born playing it. […] It’s harmonic and meditative, but it’s out for blood.

XI         Bonnie Blue

Well I got here followin’ the southern star
I crossed that river just to be where you are
Only one thing I did wrong
Stayed in Mississippi a day too long

One of the few successful songs on one of Dylan’s weakest albums, Down In The Groove (1988) is his version of the old folk song “Shenandoah”. It is, of course, a beautiful nineteenth century song by itself – almost impossible to ruin.

The origin of “Shenandoah” is unclear. Alan Lomax guesses it’s a sea-shanty, an old sailor’s song of French-Canadian origin, probably originated around 1810. Given the lyrics, other musicologists conclude, it might be a “river-shanty”, deriving its name from the Shenandoah River in Virginia. Why then the protagonist repeatedly sings he has to cross the Missouri River is unexplained, though – that particular river is almost a thousand miles away. “Shenandoah” is a singing, melodious name, that’s probably the best explanation.

Oh Shenandoah, I love your daughter
Look away, you rollin' river
It was for her I'd cross the water.
Look away, we're bound away
Across the wide Missouri

Dylan sings the version in which the narrator so desperately seeks to reach “Sally”, across the wide Missouri, and she is the “daughter of Shenandoah”. Which could indicate an Indian tribe, or the name of the river where she lives, or, in the literal interpretation, the name of his future father-in-law. “Oh Shenandoah, I love your daughter,” after all.

The Indian tribe-option is by far the most attractive to lay a line to “Mississippi”. The Senedos, a tribe along the Shenandoah River, are the obvious candidates – all the more so since Shenandoah in their language means “daughter of the stars”. Following the star, I crossed the river. Coincidence, of course, but certainly a nice coincidence.

The real link, however, is that ancient image of “crossing a river”, the metaphor to represent the effort the man makes to reach the woman of his dreams. We sang that already in the Middle Ages:

Het waren twee koninghs kindren,
Sy hadden malkander soo lief;
Sy konden by malkander niet komen,
Het water was veel te diep.

There were two royal children,
Their love was turned to grief.
They could not come together
The water was too deep.

 The “Song of the Two Royal Children”, about the regal kids who are not allowed to see each other. One king puts his daughter in the monastery, on the banks of the wide river. She puts a candle on the balustrade at night so that the king’s son on the other bank can orient himself as he swims towards her, in pitch darkness. An “evil nun” blows out the candle when he is halfway, the king’s son drowns, and when his beloved finds the body the next morning, she commits suicide out of desperation.

A familiar story which, of course, goes back to the age-old Greek myth Hero and Leander, the story that inspired hundreds of artists from Antiquity to the twenty-first century – it’s an ancient, popular and ineradicable image, the river separating lovers. Or as a metaphor for every figurative meaning of “border” at all; it is not a coincidence that watershed is synonymous with milestone, radical event, turning point. Which is how the poet Dylan uses river throughout his entire oeuvre. From “Watching The River Flow” to “Baby, Stop Crying” and from “Man In The Long Black Coat” to “Moonlight” and “Crossing The Rubicon”; the rivers symbolize turning points.

In “Mississippi” Dylan gives it an extra, mythical touch; the narrator follows the southern star that leads him to that turning point. Mythical, as a Southern star does not exist – unlike a North Star, Polaris, there is no fixed star in the southern sky. A less romantically inclined astronomer might argue that the Sun is “the star in the south”, but in the arts it’s usually a nickname (for a special diamond, for example, as in the film The Southern Star with Orson Welles and an Ursula Andress at her most beautiful, 1969).   It’s not really a household name, though.

Presumably the poet wants to avoid digressing – after all, the star in any other wind direction has additional meanings or associative consequences. The Star in the East leads to the Child Jesus, the aforementioned North Star, which is shining too in one of Joni Mitchell’s breath-taking songs, “This Flight Tonight”,

"Look out the left," the captain said
"The lights down there, that's where we'll land"
Saw a falling star burning
High above the Las Vegas sand

It wasn't the one that you gave to me
That night down south between the trailers
Not the early one that you wish upon
Not the northern one that guides in the sailors

…is an age-old orientation point. And a Western Star conjures up completely different images, obviously. So, all that’s left is a “safe”, a neutral southern star. At most it pushes the associations, especially in the light of Dylan’s enigmatic statement that the song is about “the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights”, towards the Civil War, to the Bonnie Blue Flag hoisted on the Capitol Dome of Mississippi in 1861.

That flag consists of a single, large, “Southern” star on a blue field. In the South it is popular, a hastily written song perpetuates its popularity and promotes the flag to become the first unofficial flag of the Confederate States of America:

We are a band of brothers, and native to the soil,
Fighting for our liberty with treasure, blood, and toil;
And when our rights were threatened, the cry rose near and far,
Hurrah! for the Bonnie Blue Flag, that bears a single star.

The song is sung in Gods And Generals (2003), the film for which Dylan writes the brilliant “Cross The Green Mountain” (well after “Mississippi”) and the cinephile Dylan will have noticed the song earlier in Gone With The Wind – Rhett Butler lovingly calls his daughter Bonnie “Bonnie Blue”, Melanie (Olivia de Havilland) says her eyes are “blue as the Bonnie Blue Flag”.

Too bad the movie’s in Georgia. And not in Mississippi.

The Bonnie Blue Flag – Gods and Generals

To be continued. Next up: Mississippi part XII: Roses Of Yesterday

Jochen is a regular reviewer of Dylan’s work on Untold.  His books are available via Amazon both in paperback and on Kindle:

• Blood on the Tracks: Dylan’s Masterpiece in Blue
• Blonde On Blonde: Bob Dylan’s mercurial masterpiece
• Where Are You Tonight? Bob Dylan’s hushed-up classic from 1978
• Desolation Row: Bob Dylan’s poetic letter from 1965
• Basement Tapes: Bob Dylan’s Summer of 1967

Untold Dylan: who we are what we do

Untold Dylan is written by people who want to write for Untold Dylan.  It is simply a forum for those interested in the work of the most famous, influential and recognised popular musician and poet of our era, to read about, listen to and express their thoughts on, his lyrics and music.

We welcome articles, contributions and ideas from all our readers.  Sadly no one gets paid, but if you are published here, your work will be read by a fairly large number of people across the world, ranging from fans to academics.  If you have an idea, or a finished piece send it as a Word file to Tony@schools.co.uk with a note saying that it is for publication on Untold Dylan.

We also have a very lively discussion group “Untold Dylan” on Facebook with around 7000 active members. Just type the phrase “Untold Dylan” in, on your Facebook page or follow this link 

You’ll find some notes about our latest posts arranged by themes and subjects on the home page of this site.  You can also see details of our main sections on this site at the top of this page under the picture.  Not every index is complete but I do my best.   Tony Attwood

Bob Dylan: The Symbolism Of The Pine Tree
by Larry Fyffe

In Roman/Greek mythology, the One Great God is hermaphroditic; the Olympians, out of fear, castrate her/him, and she becomes the Great Mother Goddess, Earth. The detached male organ becomes a deciduous almond tree that falls on the lap of a river goddess, and she gives birth to Attis; so beautiful is Attis that the Mother Goddess falls in love with him; he goes mad, and cuts off his genitals; out of remorse, the Mother Goddess turns Attis into the long-needled, and sweet-smelling pine tree, forever green.

As previously noted, Dionysus is sired by the chief Olympian god Zeus; the mother of Dionysus is the human princess Semele who is tricked by Hera, the wife of Zeus, into getting herself  killed by Zeus’ thunder bolts; the vine-generating son of Zeus is condemned by Hera to spend half of his life in the Underworld; he returns to the ground above for the spring and the summer; frenzied and dancing female Maenads, befriended by Dionysus, carry pine-cone-tipped wands, and keep him company.

As a literary symbol, pine trees represent regeneration, longevity, peace, and security.
According to the Holy Bible, such trees will stand in Jerusalem:

The glory of Lebanon shall come unto thee
The fir tree, the pine tree, and the box together
To beautify the place of my sanctuary
And I will make the place of my feet glorious
(Isaiah 60: 13)

The symbolism of conifer trees is not lost on the singer/songwriter in the following lyrics, whether they be considered addressed to a former girlfriend or, as others like the Transcendentalist Romantics or Orthodox Christians might suggest, to the crucified Jesus – a Dionysian archetype:

I'll remember you
When the wind blows through the piney wood
It was you who cut right through
It was you who understood
Though I'd never say
That I did it the way
That you'd have liked me to
(Bob Dylan: I'll Remember You)

The leaves of the ‘Semi-God” Dionysus tree be not permanently present:

The rocks are bleak, the trees are bare
Iron clouds go floating by
Snowflakes are falling in my hair
Beneath the gray and stormy sky
(Bob Dylan: Tell Old Bill)

Unlike the always-evergreen Mother Goddess tree that provides refuge though not necessarily warmth:

Little girl, little girl, where you been so long
Not even your mama know
In the pine, in the pine
Where the sun never shine
I shivered the whole night long
(Bob Dylan: In The Pines ~ traditional/various)

Indeed, the coniferous cypress tree symbolizes sadness:

The boulevards of cypress trees
The masquerades of birds and bees
The petals, pink and white, the winds have blown
Won't you meet me in the moonlight all alone?
(Bob Dylan: Moonlight)

And this:

I waited for you on the running boards
Near the cypress trees, while the springtime turned
Slowly into autumn
(Bob Dylan: Idiot Wind)

Untold Dylan: who we are what we do

Untold Dylan is written by people who want to write for Untold Dylan.  It is simply a forum for those interested in the work of the most famous, influential and recognised popular musician and poet of our era, to read about, listen to and express their thoughts on, his lyrics and music.

We welcome articles, contributions and ideas from all our readers.  Sadly no one gets paid, but if you are published here, your work will be read by a fairly large number of people across the world, ranging from fans to academics.  If you have an idea, or a finished piece send it as a Word file to Tony@schools.co.uk with a note saying that it is for publication on Untold Dylan.

We also have a very lively discussion group “Untold Dylan” on Facebook with around 7000 active members. Just type the phrase “Untold Dylan” in, on your Facebook page or follow this link 

You’ll find some notes about our latest posts arranged by themes and subjects on the home page of this site.  You can also see details of our main sections on this site at the top of this page under the picture.  Not every index is complete but I do my best.   Tony Attwood

By Tony Attwood

I think we last met Black Jack Davey in Bob Dylan and Cowboy Jesus (part V) and it’s no surprise that we’ve come across this song before because it is a fundamental of the English and Scottish folk song tradition upon which Bob has lavished so much interest over the years.

Bob first played the song in September 1993, before its 18th and final outing the following month.  It was released on “Good as I been to you.”

The song has been through many mutations and has multiple names from Gypsy Davy through to the “Raggle Taggle Gypsies O” throughout reflecting the notion that the gypsies were somehow different and separate from the rest of society, not just by their style of living and dress, but through some deeper power that they could exert.

Perhaps because it tapped into a mystery and to a degree a fear, the song was incredibly popular across the English speaking world, along with “Barbara Allen”.  Throughout all versions, the gypsies’ power enables them to entrap the lady against all her normal judgement and rationality.

Robert Burns quoted the song in his “critical observations on Scottish songs” at the start of the 19th century, and Cecil Sharp who was the prime collector of music of the English folk song tradition also noted and recorded it.  The sanitised version of “Wraggle Taggle Gypsies O” became part of the singing lessons in English schools through the first half of the 20th century.

Woody Gutherie, the Carter Family and many many others all recorded the song – and throughout the lady (sometimes identified as the wife of a nobleman) is charmed away from her life of luxury to be with the gypsies.  When she is found she is asked, “Would you forsake your husband and child?” and the answer is yes – often with her saying, “What care I for your fine feather sheets?”

Nick Tosches suggests the song is based on the story of John Faa, the outlaw, and Lady Jane Hamilton, wife of The Earl of Cassilis.  In that telling pretty much everyone (the wife and the gypsies) are caught and either die or are imprisoned.

https://youtu.be/SUL-VcSoERo

Here are the lyrics – although of course they vary from version to version

Black Jack Davey come a-riden’ on back,
A-whistlin’ loud and merry.
Made the woods around him ring,
And he charmed the heart of a lady,
Charmed the heart of a lady.

“How old are you, my pretty little miss,
How old are you, my honey”
She answered to him with a lovin’ smile
“I’ll be sixteen come Sunday,
Be sixteen come Sunday.”

“Come and go with me, my pretty little miss,
Come and go with me, my honey,
Take you where the grass grows green,
You never will want for money
You never will want for money

“Pull off, pull off them high-heeled shoes
All made of Spanish leather.
Get behind me on my horse
And we’ll ride off together,
We’ll both go off together.”

Well, she pulled off them high-heeled shoes
Made of Spanish leather.
Got behind him on his horse
And they rode off together.
They rode off together.

At night the boss came home
Inquiring about this lady.
The servant spoke before she thought,
“She’s been with Black Jack Dave,
Rode off with Black Jack Davey.”

“Well, saddle for me my coal black stud,
He’s speedier than the gray.
I rode all day and I’ll ride all night,
And I’ll overtake my lady.
I’ll bring back my lady.”

Well, he rode all night till the broad daylight,
Till he came to a river ragin’,
And there he spied his darlin’ bride
In the arms of Black Jack Davey.
Wrapped up with Black Jack Davey.

“Pull off, pull off them long blue gloves
All made of the finest leather.
Give to me your lily-white hand
And we’ll both go home together.
We’ll both go home together.”

Well, she pulled off them long blue gloves
All made of the finest leather.
Gave to him her lily-white hand
And said good-bye forever.
Bid farewell forever.

“Would you forsake your house and home,
Would you forsake your baby?
Would you forsake your husband, too,
To go with Black Jack Davey.
Rode off with Black Jack Davey?”

“Well, I’ll forsake my house and home,
And I’ll forsake my baby.
I’ll forsake my husband, too,
For the love of Black Jack Davey.
Ride off with Black Jack Davey.”

“Last night I slept in a feather bed
Between my husband and baby.
Tonight I lay on the river banks
In the arms of Black Jack Davey,
Love my Black Jack Davey.”

Thus it is an incredibly popular Scottish / English folk song which has travelled across to America, and it taps at the centre of the fear of the unknown, the power of  the outsider to override rationality, of love, desire, lust….  It is all there.

And it can be re-worked as often as anyone wishes in every way imaginable.   Here are my two personal favourites of all time.  First, the slow version

And now all hell breaks loose..

https://youtu.be/dSyaYxxQl3U

Why does Dylan like it?  It is a fundamental song within our folk tradition, with a vibrant story and really engaging melody.  What else would you need?

Why does Dylan like (the series)

Untold Dylan: who we are what we do

Untold Dylan is written by people who want to write for Untold Dylan.  It is simply a forum for those interested in the work of the most famous, influential and recognised popular musician and poet of our era, to read about, listen to and express their thoughts on, his lyrics and music.

We welcome articles, contributions and ideas from all our readers.  Sadly no one gets paid, but if you are published here, your work will be read by a fairly large number of people across the world, ranging from fans to academics.  If you have an idea, or a finished piece send it as a Word file to Tony@schools.co.uk with a note saying that it is for publication on Untold Dylan.

We also have a very lively discussion group “Untold Dylan” on Facebook with around 7000 active members. Just type the phrase “Untold Dylan” in, on your Facebook page or follow this link 

You’ll find some notes about our latest posts arranged by themes and subjects on the home page of this site.  You can also see details of our main sections on this site at the top of this page under the picture.  Not every index is complete but I do my best.   Tony Attwood

By Aaron Galbraith and Tony Attwood

Introduction by Aaron…

You might have noticed that usually for this series I’ve tried to maintain a theme for each episode…a particular song, artist, genre or some other theme linking the selections together. Well, for this one, I thought I’d throw all that out the window and just give you a fairly random selection of tracks which I like (or at least found interesting) but I was unable to fit into another episode for one reason or another.

First up, a couple of Knockin On Heaven’s Door covers. Proving that the song is a boon for soundtrack compilers, both of these were used on the soundtrack for TV shows…so along with the original from Pat Garrett, the Angela Aki cover (which was actually commissioned for a Japanese movie called Heaven’s Door) we now have two more to add to that list.

Raign – from the series finale of The 100.

Tony:  This is certainly atmospheric, although I am not sure it is the sort of atmosphere I associate with the song.

And having established the bass drum effect from the start for the knocking, I felt I wanted the arrangement to move on.  Not least because if I came to play this again I would know exactly what it was all about – it was about the bass drum.

The sudden stop of the drum was unexpected and from there on bringing it in and out, I was somewhat lost.  Just how many times do you have to knock on that door in order to get in?

In all I got the feeling that the arranger had lost contact with the music and the lyrics.

Anthony & The Johnson’s from Sense8

Now this was a relief to get out of the drum knocks – but it also shows it certainly is worth hearing these versions next to each other.  But somehow, that couple of sections of the introduction is never lived up to by the rest of the performance, entrancing though it is.

The harmonies however are magnificent, as is the accompaniment.  Maybe it is the voice that simply isn’t right for me.  Somehow, because I know the song so well, I wonder if I am going to be taken anywhere else, or shown anything else.

I appreciate that when knocking on heaven’s door nothing more is going to happen, but musically it still feels like there is a need for more to be there.   Maybe if I was listening late at night in a darkened room it would help.  The end is simple and gorgeous, but that’s still not enough.

Aaron: Next up, and to help you recover your emotions a bit from the previous selections…it’s The Dead Weather with New Pony

Tony: OK, I love Jack White, and loved the Dead Weather.  And this record shows why.

It is a simple 12 bar but they manage to squeeze every single element out of it, plus then some more.  There is Jack doing his amazing stuff, a drummer who sounds like he has two assistants working with him, and a superbly simple idea (calling “How much?” over and over) which just works as simplicity does when handled correctly.    Over and over and over, and we are thinking, where is that next word, how much…. longer???

Best of all the band never rest – the arrangement changes throughout so even though it is a 12 bar song it isn’t anything like that.   If I ever have guests at a dinner party who just won’t go home at 3am, I’m putting this on.  Twice.

I wonder what Bob thought.

The Sisterhood Of The Traveling Wilburys

Aaron:  Now The Sisterhood Of The Traveling Wilburys (Love the name!) with their cover of Handle With Care. Seems like this is a one off collaboration between five of LAs female singer songwriters…very interesting to hear this done by woman, as I always thought this was very much a “guys” song and it’s a fairly straight cover but it works, at least for me!

Tony: Strangely, I was writing about the original just the other day as part of my series going through Bob’s writing year by year in terms of the subject matter of each song, and this was one of the songs I lingered over.  (It really is a hell of an experience working through Dylan’s composition in the order  they were written, rather than any other order.  I can recommend it).

Anyway, yes I love this, but not the instrumental breaks – the lead guitar is far too thin for my taste given the warmth and depth of the vocals.  But that doesn’t make it a poor recording, the actual singing and the accompaniment is superb and very much worth a listen.

Madeleine Peyroux – You’re Going To Make Me Lonesome When You Go

Tony: Jochen’s piece on this song is something to read – he does the insights far better than I can, which is a bit worrying given he’s not writing in his mother tongue while I am.  But leaving that aside, he chose this version as one of his selection of covers, and I recall listening to it over and over when I first got hold of the article ready for publication.

It’s memorable, and stands the test of time.  A beautiful rendition of lightness and elegance.

Bonnie Raitt – It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue..

It is a real shame that I can’t get the cover to copy here as a way of playing the song, but that happens sometimes.  Here is the link – take a click and then look at the cover and listen.

Everything here is perfect – even the way the bass guitar enters the affair in the second verse.  And that’s without mentioning the lady’s voice, plus the exquisite arrangement.  It just shows you don’t to go overboard with an all encompassing array of instruments – this is simple and exquisite because the arranger and/or band knows where they are going, and they go there.  And stay there.

In short: songs don’t have to grow and explode.  By the time we got to “your lover who just walked out the door” I was moved beyond words and had to stop typing.

Even the next verse which is spoken not sung in the first two lines (which I normally hate) is a piece of perfection.

Anthony and The Johnson’s: Pressing On

Aaron: Last up I thought I’d include another Anthony and The Johnson’s cover, this time of Pressing On, I know you didn’t like the Alicia Keys Version, so see how you get on with this one!

Tony: Oh, I am so sorry, but no.  And I promise I really closed out the lyrics and listened to the sounds, but no, I can make no sense of this at all.

Dear Reader, if you would like to write a proper review of this version of this song, please send it to me at Tony@schools.co.uk and I will publish it here.  Or if it is a substantial review, I’ll publish it as a piece in its own right.

Aaron: PS on a side note, if you do like the Antony tracks might I recommend her album I Am A Bird Now, whenever someone asks me for a recommendation for an album that’s my go-to answer (besides Dylan, Beatles etc obviously!)

Play Lady Play: some earlier editions

• Play Lady Play in the 21st century
• From “me me me” to exquisite interpretations
• Play Lady Play: the joyful remembrance of staggering performances
• Play lady play: Bettye LaVette – and a kiss on the mouth
• When a woman sings Just like a woman and beats the bass issue
• Play lady play: I believe in you.
• The strange the eccentric and the beautiful
• Play Lady Play: A simple twist of fate
• Play lady play: the strange ones, the eccentric, and the beautiful

Untold Dylan: who we are what we do

Untold Dylan is written by people who want to write for Untold Dylan.  It is simply a forum for those interested in the work of the most famous, influential and recognised popular musician and poet of our era, to read about, listen to and express their thoughts on, his lyrics and music.

We welcome articles, contributions and ideas from all our readers.  Sadly no one gets paid, but if you are published here, your work will be read by a fairly large number of people across the world, ranging from fans to academics.  If you have an idea, or a finished piece send it as a Word file to Tony@schools.co.uk with a note saying that it is for publication on Untold Dylan.

We also have a very lively discussion group “Untold Dylan” on Facebook with around 7000 active members. Just type the phrase “Untold Dylan” in, on your Facebook page or follow this link 

You’ll find some notes about our latest posts arranged by themes and subjects on the home page of this site.  You can also see details of our main sections on this site at the top of this page under the picture.  Not every index is complete but I do my best.   Tony Attwood

Previously in this series

• The Mississippi-series, part 1; no polyrhythm here please
• The Mississippi-series, part 2: the line that never was.
• The Mississippi- series, part 3: Belshazzar on the steppe
• The Mississippi-series, part 4: Bertolt, Bobby, Blind & Boy
• The Mississippi-series, part 5: Frost in the room, fire in the sky
• The Mississippi-series, part 6: Charades
• The Mississippi series: part 7: Dorsey Dixon
• The Mississippi-series, part 8: Pretty Maids All In A Row
• The Mississippi-series, part 9: Abandon all hope

by Jochen Markhorst

Like earlier “Desolation Row” and “Where Are You Tonight?”, “Mississippi” can’t really be dealt with in one article. Too grand, too majestic, too monumental. And, of course, such an extraordinary masterpiece deserves more than one paltry article. As the master says (not about “Mississippi”, but about bluegrass, in the New York Times interview of June 2020): Its’s mysterious and deep rooted and you almost have to be born playing it. […] It’s harmonic and meditative, but it’s out for blood.

X          Eyesight To The Blind

Some people will offer you their hand and some won’t
Last night I knew you, tonight I don’t
I need somethin’ strong to distract my mind
I’m gonna look at you ’til my eyes go blind

More than halfway the song and it gets harder and harder to follow Dylan’s claim from that Rolling Stone interview, about the song touching on the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. And it’s increasingly understandable that producer Lanois argues for “sexy and more sexy”.

The narrator is emotional and at the very least suggests that his current feelings of regret and loss are due to a recent break-up. In the blues jargon of Howlin’ Wolf and Willie Dixon, the mule in the stall is a love rival, the man with whom your wife has just deceived you. The narrator worries about the things “Rosie” said and dreams of lying in “Rosie’s” bed again. And now he’s wandering around like a stranger, dazed and confused, regretting the things that can’t be undone, and presuming that “you” have regrets too… no, it’s quite easy to follow how Lanois hears a sultry love drama between the lines.

That doesn’t get any less in this verse.

Genesis 38 is a somewhat lust-filled, ruthless, and farcical intermezzo in the Bible’s first book. The book tries to bring some order to the chaotic family history of Judah, the fourth Founding Father of the Tribes. Judah’s first son Er is “wicked”, so God has to kill him, unfortunately. Brother Onan then has to fulfill his obligations and impregnate Er’s widow, but he prefers to spill his seed on the rocks. Beep beep, Jack, you’re dead (“And the thing which he did displeased the Lord: wherefore he slew him also”). Which means, subsequently: another widow to take care of. All right, says Judah to this fresh widow, his daughter-in-law Tamar, when my third son will be old enough, you shall be his wife.

But Judah forgets, or changes his mind. Thamar works all these years in his household but does not get a husband – not even that third son, who is old enough by now. Then comes the farcical element: Tamar “covered her with a vail” and, masked and anonymous, stands whorishly “by the way to Timnath”, where her father-in-law passes by a little later. He thinks he sees an attractive harlot and wants to “come in unto her”. He can’t pay now, but gives his signet ring, cord and staff as pledge. When Judah returns to pay, Tamar and his pledge are gone.

A few months later his daughter-in-law Tamar turns out to be pregnant. So obviously, she has to die, because that’s how it’s supposed to be. But then Tamar shows the things of the man who has impregnated her: signet ring, cord and staff. This puts Judah in his place. “She hath been more righteous than I.” And he knew her again no more.

It is the fourth time in Genesis that knew is used in the sense of having intercourse. That’s how Daniel Lanois hears Dylan using it in “Mississippi”: “Last night I knew you, tonight I don’t” – and in that case it may indeed sound sexy and more sexy.

Hardly “Constitutional” or “Bill Of Rights”, but equally erotic, or at least amorous, is the desperate follow-up. Word choice now seems to be inspired by the blues canon again, although the well-versed may also think of Samson – who remained in love with Delilah, after all, until his eyes were gouged out. More obvious, however, is Aleck “Rice” Miller, better known as Sonny Boy Williamson II.

Sonny Boy Williamson comes from Mississippi, which may be a trigger, but the harmonica virtuoso is a constant in Dylan’s oeuvre anyway. The bard quotes Williamson in songs like “Outlaw Blues”, copies “Don’t Start Me Talkin” for the throwaway “Stop Now” (of which he then literally takes the chorus from Williamson’s “Stop Now Baby”), and Dylan plays the same “Don’t Start Me Talkin’” with The Plugz in the David Letterman Show, 1984.

In Chronicles, the autobiographer dreams up the story how Sonny Boy gave him a harmonica lesson once (“Boy, you play too fast”); in Theme Time Radio Hour, radio maker Dylan plays no less than eight of his songs and his later songs are stuffed with references too; “Your Funeral And My Trial” in “Cry A While”, for example, and in “Spirit On The Water” the Nobel Prize winner quotes both from “Black Gal Blues” and “Sugar Mama Blues”.

Here, in “Mississippi”, Dylan chooses a reversal of Sonny Boy’s immortal classic “Eyesight To The Blind”:

You're talking about your woman, 
I wish to God, man, that you could see mine
You're talking about your woman, 
I wish to God that you could see mine
Every time the little girl start to loving, 
She bring eyesight to the blind 

It seems to be some sort of a personal matter for Williamson, by the way. “Born Blind”, “Don’t Lose Your Eye”, “Unseeing Eye”… quite a few songs from his catalogue lack the light in the eyes.

His most famous in that category, “Eyesight To The Blind”, he does record a few times himself (among others, with Willie Dixon and with Elmore James), and appears on the records and setlists of big guns like B.B. King, Eric Clapton, Mose Allison, Gary Moore and Aerosmith. Officially promoted to rock history, the song is in 1969, by Pete Townshend for Tommy, of course. Though the biggest hit with it was scored by The Larks in 1951 (Top 10 in the R&B charts), which is perhaps one of the best arrangements indeed.

But Dylan’s reversal is the most clever variant; Sonny Boy’s blind can see again when she “starts to loving”, with Dylan the seeing “therefore” become blind when she stops loving again, when the love is over.

To be continued. Next up: Mississippi part XI: Bonnie Blue

Jochen is a regular reviewer of Dylan’s work on Untold.  His books are available via Amazon both in paperback and on Kindle:

• Blood on the Tracks: Dylan’s Masterpiece in Blue
• Blonde On Blonde: Bob Dylan’s mercurial masterpiece
• Where Are You Tonight? Bob Dylan’s hushed-up classic from 1978
• Desolation Row: Bob Dylan’s poetic letter from 1965
• Basement Tapes: Bob Dylan’s Summer of 1967

Untold Dylan: who we are what we do

Untold Dylan is written by people who want to write for Untold Dylan.  It is simply a forum for those interested in the work of the most famous, influential and recognised popular musician and poet of our era, to read about, listen to and express their thoughts on, his lyrics and music.

We welcome articles, contributions and ideas from all our readers.  Sadly no one gets paid, but if you are published here, your work will be read by a fairly large number of people across the world, ranging from fans to academics who teach English literature.  If you have an idea, or a finished piece send it as a Word file to Tony@schools.co.uk with a subject line saying that it is for publication on Untold Dylan.

We also have a very lively discussion group “Untold Dylan” on Facebook with around 7000 active members. Just type the phrase “Untold Dylan” in, on your Facebook page or follow this link 

You’ll find some notes about our latest posts arranged by themes and subjects on the home page of this site.  You can also see details of our main sections on this site at the top of this page under the picture.  Not every index is complete but I do my best.

by Larry Fyffe

Bob Dylan, singer/songwriter/musician, as previously noted, draws inspiration from the poetry of John Keats, Edgar Allan Poe, and Robert Frost for his song “Key West”; he also mixes in the poetry of Geoffrey Chaucer with lyrics from a  a blues singer:

"Love you daddy, real good daddy
Soothe me baby, move me baby"
Yes, I heard it all
Another mule is kicking in my stall
(Dave Bartholomew: Another Mule)

In the song verse below, there’s the ‘Dylanesque rhyme twist” ~ ‘all’/’stall’; ~’wall’/’all’:

McKinley hollered, McKinley squalled
Doctor said, "McKinley, death is on the wall
Say it to me, if you got something to confess"
I heard it all  -  the wireless radio
(Bob Dylan: Key West)

And from the famous ‘Canterbury Tales’:

But show me your complete confession
"No", said the sick man, "By St. Simon
I have been shivered today by my curate
I have told him of my condition
There is no further need to confess again"
(Geoffrey Chaucer: The Summoner's Tale ~ modernized)

But most noticeably, mixed in is the tale of the Aeneas heading off to found Rome, a story told by the Roman poet Virgil. Therein, the Trojan hero descends into the Underworld with his buddy, and a Sibyl prophetess as their guide, to visit Aeneas’ father to ask him for advice; Aphrodite sends doves to guide her son to the ‘golden bough’ that he breaks off to serve as a pass to Hades:

At last they reached the spot where the road divided. From the left came horrid sounds and the  clanking of chains. Aeneas halted in terror. The Sibyl, however, bade him to have no fear, but fasten boldly the golden bough on the wall that faced the crossroads. The regions to the left … punished the wicked for their misdeeds. But the the road to the right led to the Elysian Fields where Aeneas would find his father (Edith Hamilton: Mythology:Timeless Tales Of Gods  And Heroes).

In the song lyrics below, the island of Key West, at the bottom of Florida, is figuratively transformed into the Underworld of Greek/Roman mythology, and the singer/songwriter takes on the persona of Virgil’s Aeneas:

Key West is under the sun, under the radar, under the gun
You stay to the left, and then you lean to the right
Feel the sun on your skin, and the healing virtues of the wind
Key West, Key West, is the land of light
(Bob Dylan: Key West)

So interpreted, the road to the Elysian Fields lies there in Key West:

There when they arrived everything was delightful, soft green meadows, lovely groves, a delicious life-giving air, sunlight that glowed softly purple, an abode of peace and blessedness. Here dwelt the great and the good dead, heroes, poets, priests, and all who had made men remember them by helping others (Edith Hamilton: Mythology).

In the following lyrics, the Elysian Fields of the Floridian island are depicted as real, as supposed to be by the Ancients; it’s no imaginary Land of Oz:

People tell me that I'm truly blessed
Bougainvillea blooming everywhere in the spring, in the summer
Winter here is an unknown thing
Down in the flat lands, way down in Key West
(Bob Dylan: Key West)

As goes Virgil’s mythological tale, in order to leave Hades to re-enter the Upper World, Aeneas and his companions must drink the Waters Of Oblivion from the River of Forgetfulness.

So apparently it be in the underworld of Key West:

Fly away, my pretty little Miss
I don't love nobody, give me a kiss
Down in the bottom, way down in Key West
(Bob Dylan: Key West)

Dylan reworks another song of his:

Well, I went back to see about her once
Went back to straighten it out
Everybody that I talked to had seen us there
Said they didn't know who I was talking about
Well, the sun went down on me a long time ago
I've had to pull back from the door
I wish I could have spent every hour of my life
With the girl from the Red River Shore
(Bob Dylan: Red River Shore)

Untold Dylan: who we are what we do

Untold Dylan is written by people who want to write for Untold Dylan.  It is simply a forum for those interested in the work of the most famous, influential and recognised popular musician and poet of our era, to read about, listen to and express their thoughts on, his lyrics and music.

We welcome articles, contributions and ideas from all our readers.  Sadly no one gets paid, but if you are published here, your work will be read by a fairly large number of people across the world, ranging from fans to academics who teach English literature.  If you have an idea, or a finished piece send it as a Word file to Tony@schools.co.uk with a subject line saying that it is for publication on Untold Dylan.

We also have a very lively discussion group “Untold Dylan” on Facebook with around 6500 active members. Just type the phrase “Untold Dylan” in, on your Facebook page or follow this link 

You’ll find some notes about our latest posts arranged by themes and subjects on the home page of this site.  You can also see details of our main sections on this site at the top of this page under the picture.  Not every index is complete but I do my best.

By Tony Attwood

From our 2015 review of “If you ever go to Houston”

David Hildago, who played accordion on the album, is quoted in Uncut magazine as saying of this song that, “It started out like a Jimmy Reed tune and it ended up… Bob was playing organ, he started this riff, and it went from this completely other thing, to what it is now. It was fun to be in the room when it happened.”

From Jimmy Reed to “Houston” is really quite a journey.  Here’s Jimmy in 1961…

https://youtu.be/l9xXchxodYg

It is a classic “lost love” song – and as we’ve seen on this site, “lost love” is Bob Dylan’s second favourite topic for lyrics (beaten only by love itself).

Bright lights big city, gone to my baby’s head
I’d tried to tell the woman, but she don’t believe a word I said …

So this is a 12 bar blues, which not only got into the R&B charts but the pop charts too.  Every band that ever played R&B through the 60s and 70s played this song.   It is included in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame list of “500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll”.

OK so far so good – we know Jimmy Reed.  But Jimmy Reed died on 29 August 1976, so isn’t it a bit late to say goodbye?

And isn’t it a bit odd to write a song called “Goodbye Jimmy Reed” which has musical constructions that would never ever come from a Jimmy Reed song?  I don’t mean that if Bob wants to do this he can’t – of course he can – but it’s just unexpected, not least because Bob himself has written so many classic 12 bar blues.

Take the opening guitar solo which then has a couple of drum beats behind it before the song proper begins – and it sounds like it is going to be a 12 bar blues of  the type Jimmy Reed wrote.  BUT that opening guitar solo is three beats long – something you will never find in R&B.

And we do find the three beat bar happening again before each verse – it really trips us up and would make it impossible to jive to, unless one knew it was coming and with one’s partner worked out how to jive a three beat bar.  Of course Dylan has played with unexpected length bars before – Jochen and I had great fun disentangling a similar trick in Not Dark Yet (although with a different number of beats) so Dylan knows what he is up to and has form here.  But in a song called Goodbye Jimmy Reed????

And then there is the opening verse.

I live on a street named after a Saint
Women in the churches wear powder and paint
Where the Jews and the Catholics and the Muslims all pray
I can tell a Proddy from a mile away
Goodbye Jimmy Reed - Jimmy Reed indeed
Give me that old time religion, it’s just what I need

So we are getting a lot of religion here – but I am sure that’s not connected with the Jimmy Reed whose music I know (and in my own limited way, played in R&B bands in my youth).  Jimmy and religion?  No, not a thing.  The man was a drinker not a Christian.

For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory
Go tell it on the Mountain, go tell the real story
Tell it in that straight forward puritanical tone
In the mystic hours when a person’s alone
Goodbye Jimmy Reed - Godspeed
Thump on the bible - proclaim the creed

And so it goes on – and now I am getting really worried because I simply don’t get the connection between Jimmy Reed and religion.   Unless, rhythm and blues is the bible, (Matthew 6:31, I got that) and come to that the creed.

You won’t amount to much the people all said
‘Cause I didn’t play guitar behind my head
Never pandered never acted proud
Never took off my shoes and threw them into the crowd
Goodbye Jimmy Reed - goodbye and goodnight
I’ll put a jewel in your crown - I’ll put out the light

OK I am sinking fast here, because Bob has never played the guitar behind his head and nor did Jimmy Reed, at least not in the films I have seen.  Charley Patton did, and we’ve had a song about him, but not Jimmy Reed.  The Jimmy Reed guitar did have a jewel in the crown illustration on it though.  Confusing isn’t it?

Now the lyrics I am quoting here come directly from the official Bob Dylan site (I’m hoping they don’t mind) and what is interesting is that the final verse is written…

G-d be with you, brother dear
If you don’t mind me asking, what brings you here?
Oh, nothing much, I’m just looking for the man
I came to see where he’s lying in this lost land
Goodbye Jimmy Reed and with everything within ya
Can’t you hear me calling from down in Virginia

Now that “G-d” is a bit odd isn’t it?  Jimmy Reed died aged 50, in 1976, and is interred in the Lincoln Cemetery, in Worth, Illinois.  And I say again with all the certainty I can muster, he was not a religious man.

By Tony Attwood

If we look at the lyrics of Dylan’s songs in the second half of the 1980s we see a very troubled writer, as the titles of the recent articles in this series suggest…

• 1984: Back to the old ways (again)
• 1985: Bob Dylan slips back into negativity
• 1986: The year Dylan slowly turned himself all around
• 1987/8: Possibly the greatest trilogy of compositions in Dylan’s career
• 1989: The menace emerges

And what’s more the trilogy of compositions that I rate so highly in 1987 consisted of three songs that reflected Bob’s clearly troubled mind: Political world, What good am I, Dignity.

I have also contributed to this site an earlier article on 1989: Bob Dylan stalked by the darkness in which I try to express my feeling that while the writing that year was, to my mind, brilliant, Bob was looking into very dark places to find his muse.

Of course this doesn’t apply to every song, but if we consider works such as Disease of Conceit, What was it you wanted, Everything is Broken, Most of the Time and Man in a Long Black Coat it is hard to think of a time when Bob has been so persistently dark.

There had to be a response to this – a lighter touch perhaps – for his own psychological well-being.  And indeed that is what Bob moved into in 1990, with a totally different sort of song.

Within this search for a different mode of expression Bob was at least partially helped by the diversion of creating another Willbury’s album – an album which included Where were you last night which I would class as the best straight pop song Dylan has ever written.

Meanwhile the protest songs of the classic variety found a new outlet on the Never Ending Tour which had begun in 1987 and which is being cover in Mike Johnson’s brilliant series  on this site.  In addition Bob found a new type of protest song to write for his new recordings.

Now this thought keeps hammering at me not just because that’s how it sounded to me as I first started sketching out this series, but also because of what Mike Johnson wrote on this site as he started his three part review of the Never Ending Tour in 1990.  He writes

“The performance I keep coming back to is that protest song to end all protest songs ‘It’s all right Ma.’ Not only the best of 1990, but maybe the best performance of this song since the flat, hard-driving 1964 performances. We have the swirling performances from the Rolling Thunder Tour, and the fast and furious versions from the Tom Petty years. Dylan stayed with this fast and furious version through the early years of the NET, and you won’t find a better performance of it than this one (02-07)…”

Now I must stress at this point that Mike and I don’t collaborate on these Never Ending Tour articles – they are all his work, not least because we live (literally) on opposite sides of the globe, and also because I don’t have any words to offer that could improve what Mike does one iota.  So to set the scene, here, once again, is the performance from 1990 that Mike selected.   As the saying goes, ‘I am the enemy of the unlived meaningless life.’

It’s all right Ma

By 1990, Bob’s classic protest songs had long since been written, and of course could be varied and re-presented on tour.  But Dylan clearly also wanted to present the message again, and he needed a new way to do this. And what he did was utterly revolutionary.  For Bob Dylan approached his theme not by returning to the style and approach of “Hollis Brown” and “It’s alright Ma” but by going in the opposite direction, taking  childhood themes to point out the destruction of the past.  Where there is a look back to Hollis Brown, it is via an expansion of the cause embedded in that song.

Also notable is that fact that many songs around this time had changing lyrics – as did Wiggle Wiggle from whence come the lines…

‘Wiggle till you’re high
Wiggle till you’re higher
Wiggle till you vomit fire’

This all seems fairly clear to me.  In the aftermath of his Christian period Bob had slipped into a vision of doom, something which (as I have oft hinted up to this point) took as its starting point Making a liar out of me

I have noted at the start of this piece the articles that trace this period of darkness in Bob’s writing.  Now, he had one more bash at trying to find a new way to express his horror of the world around him and amplify the message he expressed in “Making a liar”.  Here is  the list of songs from 1990 including the songs from the second Wilburys set which appear to contain a strong level of input from Bob.   The songs near the end with the asterisks are Wilburys pieces which credit Dylan as co-composer, but which in my view are not songs to which he actively contributed much.

I am no longer trying to fit the songs into the subject titles that I have used before, since Bob had now moved on.  Everything had changed.

• Handy Dandy (Contradictions)
• Cat’s in the Well (It’s all over, there’s no way out)
• 10,000 men (All is not as it seems)
• Unbelievable (We are being fed a pack of lies)
• Under the red sky (Our childhood has been obliterated)
• Heartland with Willie Nelson (Capitalism is destroying us)
• Wiggle wiggle (You have to learn to protest, and you need to do it in new ways)
• 2 x 2 (We have to change)
• The Devil’s been busy.  (Everything is bad)
• If you belonged to me (Disconnected snapshots of life gone wrong)
• Inside Out (Environmental degradation)
• Seven Deadly Sins (Lost love)
• She’s my baby (50s style love song, a tribute to the genre)
• Where were you last night (lost love)
• New blue moon *
• Wilbury Twist *
• Poor House *
• Cool Dry Place *
• You took my breath away (Lost love? Tribute to Roy Orbison?)

In the earlier part of this series I contented myself by giving one or two word descriptions of the songs’ subject matter but by this period of Dylan’s life this had changed.  Thus taking all the songs written up to 1977 the lead subjects were love and desire (56 songs), and lost love (43 songs).  There were 17 songs about the environment and specific places and 11 blues songs.  Now we were travelling in a very different direction.

If you have read my comments elsewhere you will know that to my mind the masterpiece in the Wilburys collection is “Where were you last night?”  Yes it is a straight lost love pop song, a bit of male angst over a woman breaking a date.  Hardly revolutionary stuff for Bob to get his teeth into, but compared with Disease of Conceit this is positively a lighthearted romp and I suspect exactly what he wanted, and what the Wilburys band wanted at this time.  (Other members of the band have been reported as saying that they were all pretty much out of ideas at this time).

In short it was exactly the release Bob needed before shooting off with the 1990 round of the touring dates.   Except that this time the tour didn’t end.  It just kept going, perhaps in part because Bob, after his burst of creativity with the Wilburys, had stopped writing.  Perhaps the darkness of the Black Coats was too dark, the notion of an alternative type of protest through the Red Sky was not welcomed by critics, and now he felt he had had enough.

Bob is quoted as saying around this time that he had “had it” with songwriting, and hence, the tour.  He didn’t want to sit around doing not much as the rest of the Wilburys, he couldn’t produce new songs to record which would be highly regarded.

And this shows us the problem with people like Patrick Humphries, who wrote The Complete Guide to the Music of Bob Dylan in which he spoke of “sloppily written songs, lazily performed and unimaginatively produced.”  Or as I might say of his work “sloppily written reviews, lazily produced reviews and unimaginatively considered background.”

It’s easy to criticise.  It’s quite a lot harder to create.

If we put together this period of Bob’s life from 1985 to the end of the decade it is not that hard to see that Bob had gone through hard times creatively, but had emerged from that to make an album of songs that in many ways looked back to childhood, and then enjoyed himself with some excellent pop work only to find his mate George Harrison not only easing out his vocals on many tracks, but also still refusing to include “Like a Ship” on the Wilburys album, while putting in silly nonsense like New blue moon and Wilbury Twist.

It was enough to make any self-respecting artist weep.

But Bob Dylan didn’t weep (as far as I know)– for he had the perfect alternative, the Never Ending, and so it carried on carrying on.  Yes there were a couple of new albums, but they were not of his compositions, they were very much his choice of music throughout.

So the Wilburys got some of the darkness of the previous year out of Bob’s soul, but he felt no ownership of the album, never mentioned it, never played any of the songs – and that is a real shame, because “Where were you last night” would be a great song to use on stage.

And thus began the gap years, in which writing was occasional but performance was regular.

The series continues.

Untold Dylan: who we are what we do

Untold Dylan is written by people who want to write for Untold Dylan.  It is simply a forum for those interested in the work of the most famous, influential and recognised popular musician and poet of our era, to read about, listen to and express their thoughts on, his lyrics and music.

We welcome articles, contributions and ideas from all our readers.  Sadly no one gets paid, but if you are published here, your work will be read by a fairly large number of people across the world, ranging from fans to academics who teach English literature.  If you have an idea, or a finished piece send it as a Word file to Tony@schools.co.uk with a subject line saying that it is for publication on Untold Dylan.

We also have a very lively discussion group “Untold Dylan” on Facebook with approaching 6000 active members. Just type the phrase “Untold Dylan” in, on your Facebook page or follow this link 

You’ll find some notes about our latest posts arranged by themes and subjects on the home page of this site.  You can also see details of our main sections on this site at the top of this page under the picture.  Not every index is complete but I do my best.

But what is complete is our index to all the 604 Dylan compositions and co-compositions that we have found, on the A to Z page.  I’m proud of that; no one else has found that many songs with that much information.  Elsewhere the songs are indexed by theme and by the date of composition. See for example Bob Dylan year by year.

by Larry Fyffe

In the song “Key West (Philosopher Pirate)”, Bob Dylan pirates the ‘negative capability’ philosophy of John Keats, written on the wall. In the poem ‘Ode On A Grecian Urn’,  Keats looks upon a painting of a desirable women frozen in time; she’s on an urn that carries the ashes of the dead; on sensuous earth, however, like summer turns to winter, the warmth of youthful beauty fades away:

Bold lover, never, never canst thou kiss
Though winning near the goal yet, do not grieve
She cannot fade, though thou has not thy bliss
Forever wilt thou love, and she be fair
(John Keats: Ode On A Grecian Urn)

In the song lyrics below, Key West, in the southern climes seemingly betwixt heaven and earth, is a place of permanent sunshine where aging people go to live out their lives:

Key West is the place to be
If you are looking for immortality
Key West is paradise divine
Key West is fine and fair
Key West is on the horizon line
(Bob Dylan: Key West)

Key West always remains the same like the flat painting on Keats’ urn:

Ah, happy, happy boughs! that cannot shed
Your leaves, nor ever bid spring adieu
And, happy melodies, wearied
Forever piping forever anew
More happy love! more happy, happy love!
For ever panting, and for ever young
(John Keats: Ode To A Grecian Urn)

Quite happy in security retirees be; of the Grecian urn, the poet writes;

When old age this generation waste
Thou shalt remain, in midst of other woe
(John Keats: Ode On A Grecian Urn)

When growing up there’s something that doth not love the thought of a retaining wall that encloses the permanent:

I'm searching for love, for inspiration
On that private radio station
Coming out of Luxembourg and Budapest
Radio signal clear as can be
I'm so in love that I can hardly see
Down on the flatlands, way down in Key West
(Bob Dylan: Key West)

Struggling with forces both ‘dark’ and ‘light’ is what growing up is all about; wandering Odysseus and Aeneas we all be before we settle down. So says another of Bob Dylan’s favorite poets, much influenced by the philosophy of John Keats:

On desperate seas long wont to roam
The hyacinth hair, thy classic face have brought me home
To the glory that was Greece
And the grandeur that was Rome
(Edgar Allan Poe: To Helen)

So says Bob:

Such is life, such is happiness
Hibiscus flowers grow everywhere here
If you wear one, put it behind your ear
Down on the bottom, way down in Key West
((Bob Dylan: Key West)

The smaller western bougainvillea flower looks similar to the hibiscus flower that symbolizes the Hindu Mother Goddess who has a bloody, raging side to her that’s tamed by her husband, the God of Time and Change; at him, she sticks out her tongue:

I know all the Hindu rituals
People tell me I'm truly blessed
Bougainvillea blooming in the summer, in the spring
Winter here is an unknown thing
Down in the flatlands, way down in Key West
(Bob Dylan: Key West)

Apparently, all is not quite as bright as it’s made out to be, hidden in the darkness there:

Key West is under the sun, under the radar, under the gun
You stay to the left, and then you lean to the right
Feel the sunlight on your skin, and the healing virtues of the wind
Key West, Key West is the land of light
(Bob Dylan: Key West)

Untold Dylan: who we are what we do

Untold Dylan is written by people who want to write for Untold Dylan.  It is simply a forum for those interested in the work of the most famous, influential and recognised popular musician and poet of our era, to read about, listen to and express their thoughts on, his lyrics and music.

We welcome articles, contributions and ideas from all our readers.  Sadly no one gets paid, but if you are published here, your work will be read by a fairly large number of people across the world, ranging from fans to academics.  If you have an idea, or a finished piece send it as a Word file to Tony@schools.co.uk with a note saying that it is for publication on Untold Dylan.

We also have a very lively discussion group “Untold Dylan” on Facebook with around 7000 active members. Just type the phrase “Untold Dylan” in, on your Facebook page or follow this link 

You’ll find some notes about our latest posts arranged by themes and subjects on the home page of this site.  You can also see details of our main sections on this site at the top of this page under the picture.  Not every index is complete but I do my best.   Tony Attwood

by Jochen Markhorst

Like the earlier compositions such as “Desolation Row” and “Where Are You Tonight?”, “Mississippi” can’t really be dealt with in one article. Too grand, too majestic, too monumental. And, of course, such an extraordinary masterpiece deserves more than one paltry article. As the master says (not about “Mississippi”, but about bluegrass, in the New York Times interview of June 2020): Its’s mysterious and deep rooted and you almost have to be born playing it. […] It’s harmonic and meditative, but it’s out for blood.

IX         Abandon all hope

Walkin’ through the leaves, falling from the trees
Feelin’ like a stranger nobody sees
So many things that we never will undo
I know you’re sorry, I’m sorry too

The opening line of this quatrain is deceptive. At first sight, the setting looks like a clichéd film scene. A melancholy protagonist, strolling in an autumnal forest over the rustling leaf. It is only at second glance one is struck by this atypical falling.

The narrator does not walk through fallen leaves, fallen from the trees, but through leaves, falling from the trees. Participium praesens, a present participle: the leaves are falling, while the protagonist walks through them – the protagonist who does feel like an invisible stranger here… suddenly this is very reminiscent of Dante.

“Canto III” from Dante’s Inferno is probably one of the best known. It is the song that tells how Dante and Virgil arrive at the Gates of Hell, at the cheerful welcome sign Lasciate ogni speranza, voi ch’intrate – “Abandon all hope, ye who enter here” – the closing words which will be re-used by Dylan in 2020 for “Crossing The Rubicon” (I painted my wagon, abandoned all hope and I crossed the Rubicon), just as further verses seem inspired by that same excerpt from the Divina Commedia:

You won’t find any happiness here
‪No happiness or joy 

Hell’s vestibule already is an ordeal to Dante. And here are still only the souls of those who have been neither good nor bad – but their screams, the “languages divers, orribili favelle, horrible words” and the “words of agony” frighten Dante. They have to make their way through though, to the “the dismal shore of the Acheron”, the muddy, black, bitter River of Suffering, where ferryman Charon will sail them to the other side, to the underworld.

Dante’s description of Charon, especially Charon’s eyes, suggests that Dylan has browsed the Inferno more than once and more than fleetingly. The first time the ferryman is described is in this song, in verse 82-99. The introduction ends with the remarks that the skipper has “wheels of fire around the eyes”, the title of one of Dylan’s Basement songs from 1967.

The second time is ten lines down:

The dæmon, with eyes like burning coal,
- Charon – enrols them, for the passage bound
And with his oar goads on each lingering soul

“Eyes like burning coal”, as Wordsworth translates con occhi di bragia seems to echo in “Tangled Up In Blue”:

Then she opened up a book of poems
And handed it to me
Written by an Italian poet
From the thirteenth century
And every one of them words rang true
And glowed like burnin’ coal

Probably one of the most discussed verses in Dylan’s oeuvre, but on which a kind of consensus has gradually emerged. The obvious candidates for this “Italian poet from the thirteenth century” are the fourteenth-century poets Petrarch, Boccaccio and Dante, and the scales tip towards to Dante (although in ’78 Dylan clouded the waters by answering when asked: “Plutarch. Was that his name?”). However, the ease with which Dylan, in live performances, changes the reference in question to Baudelaire or to Jeremiah does give ground to the theory that the bard has no particular poet in mind at all, but in this verse line, as is often the case, chooses the sound.

Inferno, the first part of the Divine Comedy, then seems to provide decor, imagery and colour for this quatrain in “Mississippi”. In Chronicles, Dylan in any case parades his memory that he had the book in his hands:

“Sometimes I’d open up a book and see a handwritten note scribbled in the front, like in Machiavelli’s The Prince, there was written, “The spirit of the hustler.” “The cosmopolitan man” was written on the title page in Dante’s Inferno.”

This plays in one of his lodgings, with “Ray and Chloe”, in the time before Dylan recorded his first LP, so around 1960. It seems rather unlikely that the autobiographer Dylan remembers handwritten scribbles in other people’s books more than forty years later, but well alright. In this passage Dylan sums up a whole zip of antique and less antique writers, refers to works that do not exist and remembers fantasised titles – apparently Dylan is not so much striving for academic correctness, but still does feel a need to demonstrate that he is not entirely uneducated.

Anyway – Inferno. After that depressing vestibule Dante and Virgil approach the bank of the Acheron. Charon sees that Dante is still alive and therefore doesn’t want to take him with him, but is overruled by Virgil, who seems to have some authority, down here. Meanwhile, it gets busier and busier on the bank: the souls of the damned, who have to be taken to the other side.

As in the autumn-time the leaves fall off,
First one and then another, till the branch
Unto the earth surrenders all its spoils;
In similar wise the evil seed of Adam
Throw themselves from that margin one by one,
At signals, as a bird unto its lure. 

And thus, Dante is walking through the leaves, falling from the trees, through the wandering souls who can’t see him, to Charon’s ferry. He’s a stranger here, being the only one with a good soul, according to Virgil, among all those souls who never will undo their failed lives. Dante’s sorry. And they are sorry too.

Previously in this series

• The Mississippi-series, part 1; no polyrhythm here please
• The Mississippi-series, part 2: the line that never was.
• Mississippi- series, part 3: Belshazzar on the steppe
• The Mississippi-series, part 4: Bertolt, Bobby, Blind & Boy
• The Mississippi-series, part 5: Frost in the room, fire in the sky
• The Mississippi-series, part 6: Charades
• The Mississippi series: part 7: Dorsey Dixon
• The Mississippi-series, part 8: Pretty Maids All In A Row

To be continued. Next up: Mississippi part X: Eyesight To The Blind

Jochen is a regular reviewer of Dylan’s work on Untold.  His books are available via Amazon both in paperback and on Kindle:

• Blood on the Tracks: Dylan’s Masterpiece in Blue
• Blonde On Blonde: Bob Dylan’s mercurial masterpiece
• Where Are You Tonight? Bob Dylan’s hushed-up classic from 1978
• Desolation Row: Bob Dylan’s poetic letter from 1965
• Basement Tapes: Bob Dylan’s Summer of 1967

Untold Dylan: who we are what we do

Untold Dylan is written by people who want to write for Untold Dylan.  It is simply a forum for those interested in the work of the most famous, influential and recognised popular musician and poet of our era, to read about, listen to and express their thoughts on, his lyrics and music.

We welcome articles, contributions and ideas from all our readers.  Sadly no one gets paid, but if you are published here, your work will be read by a fairly large number of people across the world, ranging from fans to academics.  If you have an idea, or a finished piece send it as a Word file to Tony@schools.co.uk with a note saying that it is for publication on Untold Dylan.

We also have a very lively discussion group “Untold Dylan” on Facebook with around 7000 active members. Just type the phrase “Untold Dylan” in, on your Facebook page or follow this link 

You’ll find some notes about our latest posts arranged by themes and subjects on the home page of this site.  You can also see details of our main sections on this site at the top of this page under the picture.  Not every index is complete but I do my best.   Tony Attwood

By Tony Attwood

It is often stated that The Roving Gambler, a song which Bob has sung many times in concert, is a American folksong that originates in the first decade of the 20th century.  It has a wide of number of names beside “Roaming Gambler” – but all closely related, such as “The Gambler”, “Gambling Man.”

However there is a 19th English folk song “The Journeyman” or “The Roving Journeyman”, which exists in the Bodleian Library and which dates from sometime between 1818 and 1838.

The similarities are too great to be dismissed in my opinion.  Here’s one of Bob’s versions of the American approach.

https://youtu.be/tqKxq3oBf4k

Bob is noted as having played it for the first time on 1 May 1960 at the home of Karen Wallace in St Paul, with the last performance being at Newport RI on 3 August 2002.

I am a rovin' gambler, I've gambled all around
Wherever I meet with a deck of cards
I lay my money down
(I Lay my money down, lay my money down.)

I gambled up in Washington, gambled over in Spain
I'm on my way to Frisco town
To knock down my last game
(knock down my last game; knock down my last game)

I had not been in 'Frisco, many more days than three
I fell in love with a pretty little girl
And she fell in love with me
(Fell in love with me, fell in love with me.)

She took me in her parlor, she cooled me with a fan
She whispered low in her mama's ear
"I love this gamblin' man."
("Love this gamelin' man." "Love this gamblin' man.")

"Daughter, Oh! dear daughter, how could you treat me so?
And leave your dear old mother
And with a gambler go?"
(With a gambler go? with a gambler go?)

"Mother, Oh dear mother, I'll tell you if I can
If you ever see my face again
I'll be with the gamblin' man"
(be with the gamblin' man" be with the gamblin' man)

https://youtu.be/SD82d33GOA0

The earliest trace of it in America came with “The Gamboling Man” in “Delaney’s Song Book No. 23” around 1900 and was republished, although without the repetitions, in Carl Sandburg’s “American Song Bag” in New York in 1927.

Sandburg suggests this is a song performed by the minstrel shows and says, rather inaccurately “while gamblers may gambol and gambolers may gamble, the English version carries no deck of cards.”

By the second world war the song had become one of the roving soldier

I am a roving soldier,
I rove from town to town,
And when I see a table
So willingly I sit down.

There is even a Guerrilla version

I am a roving guerrilla,
I rove from town to town,
And whenever I spy a pretty little girl
So willingly I get down
So willingly I get down.

So we have one answer to why Bob Dylan likes it – it is a long lived song that has turned up in many places.   And it is unusual with the drawn out final line and the harmony opportunities that offers the performers.  The change of tempo is not unique to this song, but it is unusual, and seems to date back to some of the early performances.

And whatever else Bob does to the tune, that essential pause in the final line of each has to stay there.

https://youtu.be/Jq93pGzBsr4

Why does Dylan like –

This series contains reviews of the songs of other writers that Dylan admits he loves… along (where possible) with examples of Dylan performing the songs, in contrast with the originals.

1. Why does Dylan like Van Morrison?
2. Why does Dylan like John Prine?
3. Why does Dylan like the Stanley Brothers’ “White Dove”?
4. Why does Dylan like “Dark as a Dungeon”
5. Why does Dylan like “Somebody Touched Me”
6. Why does Dylan like “The End of Innocence”
7. Why does Dylan like “The Golden Vanity”
8. Why does Dylan like “Bony Moronie”?
9. Why does Dylan like Cohen’s Hallelujah but not his own?
10. Why does Dylan like “Boogie Woogie Country Girl”
11. Why does Dylan like Uncle Tupelo, Son Volt & Wilco
12. Why does Dylan like “Somebody Touched Me”
13. Why does Dylan like “The End of Innocence”
14. Why does Dylan like “The Golden Vanity”
15. Why does Dylan like Uncle Tupelo, Son Volt & Wilco
16. Why does Bob Dylan like “October Song” by the Incredible String Band
17. Why does Dylan like – Red Cadillac and a black moustache
18. Why does Dylan like “We had it all”?
19. Why does Dylan like 1952 Black Lightening?
20. Why does Bob Dylan like “October Song” by the Incredible String Band
21. Why does Dylan like “Ball and Biscuits”?
22. Why does Dylan like “I aint got no home”?
23.  “Uncloudy Day”? A bolt straight from the heavens.
24.  “The World’s Gone Wrong” – it’s the blues turned upside down.
25.  “Spanish is the Loving Tongue”
26. Bob Dylan and the untamed sense of control – Roscoe Holcomb
27.  “Let it be me”?
28. Bill Monroe
29.  “Black white and brown”
30. “Mystery Train” by Junior Parker (and Elvis Presley)
31. “Me and My chauffeur blues” – the foundations of Obviously 5 Believers
32.  “Lucille” by Little Richard, and some Zappa too
33.  Johnny Cash’s Train Of Love..,
34.  Barbara Allen
35.  “Friend of the Devil”?
36.  “Not Fade Away”
37. “Lonely Avenue” by Ray Charles?
38.  “Lonesome Town”
39.  “So Cold in China”?
40. Why and how did “Cottonfields” change Bob Dylan’s life?
41. Why does Dylan like “Freedom for the Stallion”?
42. Halleluhjah I’m ready to go
43. Why does Dylan like Leon Redbone
44. Why does Bob Dylan so like this track taken from Hotel California?

Untold Dylan: who we are what we do

Untold Dylan is written by people who want to write for Untold Dylan.  It is simply a forum for those interested in the work of the most famous, influential and recognised popular musician and poet of our era, to read about, listen to and express their thoughts on, his lyrics and music.

We welcome articles, contributions and ideas from all our readers.  Sadly no one gets paid, but if you are published here, your work will be read by a fairly large number of people across the world, ranging from fans to academics.  If you have an idea, or a finished piece send it as a Word file to Tony@schools.co.uk with a note saying that it is for publication on Untold Dylan.

We also have a very lively discussion group “Untold Dylan” on Facebook with around 7000 active members. Just type the phrase “Untold Dylan” in, on your Facebook page or follow this link 

You’ll find some notes about our latest posts arranged by themes and subjects on the home page of this site.  You can also see details of our main sections on this site at the top of this page under the picture.  Not every index is complete but I do my best.   Tony Attwood

by Larry Fyffe

Much like the writings of the GrecoRoman mythologists, and of the Abrahamics, Zoroastra says the Almighty is a good force that some individuals choose to ignore. Mani instead says black and dark forces struggle for dominance over individuals. Swedenborg says the white forces have won, but most individuals on earth haven’t received the news yet. In his poetry, William Blake says at this particular time the black forces of society dominate most individual’s earthly existence. In his, Percy Shelley says it’s time that individuals side with the good forces. In his poems, John Keats says all of  this makes him a sad individual. In his, Robert Frost says, as an individualist, he’s rather hesitant as to which path to take.

Into the song pot below, Bob Dylan throws pieces of the aforementioned writers to see what comes out after it’s all boiled up.

From the Holy Bible, Bob tosses in a balance-carrier who rides the back of a black horse:

And when he had opened the third seal ....
And I beheld, and lo a black horse
And he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand
(Revelations 7:5)

Black forces, at least for the time being, carry more weight:

Black Rider,  black rider, you've been living too hard
Been up all night, have to be on your guard
(Bob Dylan: Black Rider)

Doth taste a lot like Blake:

And priests in black gowns, were making their rounds
And binding with briars, my joys and desires
(William Blake: The Garden Of Love)

The cook puts a bit more Bible into the broth:

Because strait is the gate
And narrow is the way
Which leadeth unto life
And few there be that find it
(St. Matthew 7:14)

Seasons the soup:

The path that you're taking, too narrow to walk
Every step of the way, another stumbling block
(Bob Dylan: Black Rider)

Dylan drops in a cube of poetry to cool things down:

The road that you're on, same road that you know
Just not the same as it was a minute ago
(Bob Dylan: Black Rider)

Plops in Frost:

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence
Two roads diverged in the woods, and I
I took the one less travelled by
And that has made all the difference
(Robert Frost: The Road Not Taken)

Adds in Priapus who’s pinched from a bag of black-humoured Greco-Roman mythology.
Aphrodite’s son Priapus is cursed by Hera, the wife of Zeus, to bear a big permanent erection except when needed; like the time that he loses hardness because of the braying of a donkey. Hera is angry at the foamy sex goddess because Paris judged her more beautiful than she:

The size of your cock will get you know where
I'll suffer in silence, hold it right there

At such times, it’s convenient to claim that one’s high moral principles be the cause of the deflation:

Maybe I'll take the high moral ground
Some enchanted evening, I'll sing you a song
Black Rider,  black rider, you've been on the job too long
(Bob Dylan: Black Rider)

Like this song for instance:

Some enchanted evening, someone may be laughing
You may here her laughing across a crowded room
And night after night, as strange as it seems
The sound of her laughter will sing in your dreams
(Frank Sinatra: Some Enchanted Evening ~ Rogers/Hammerstein)

In the Bible, Alohlah and Aholibah are depicted as whores who ‘sleep’ with Assyrians and Babylonians  –  or at least the guys there who have penises as large as those on donkeys:

For she doted upon their paramours whose flesh is the flesh of asses...
(Ezekiel 23: 20)

So it is said of Sinatra’s appendage. Likewise, Christian lore has it that Satan (who charms Eve) has a large snake-like phallus.

‘Black Rider, Black Rider’ is a real boner.