submissions
| Bob Dylan – Slow Train Lyrics
| 18 years ago
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This is one of Dylan's many songs about an approaching day of judgment. I've read in more than one of his biographies that even as a kid he enjoyed visiting churches and synagogues, reading the Bible, etc. I can think of no other major artist whose work is more filled with Biblical imagery. Now. Whatever your feelings about evangelicals or Christians, this was written right when Dylan was in his Christian "phase." He no doubt deplores hyprocrisy in the Christian church, but the warning of God's impending judgment is aimed not just at Christians but at all of us, especially Americans who have forgotten or rejected their Biblical heritage. God's judgment may be slow in coming, but it's coming. These apocolyptic songs show up all during his career. I heard it first in "The Hour That The Ship Comes In" ('64?) a song about judgement day if ever I've heard one. And "John Wesley Harding" is drenched in these images. "All Along the Watchtower" gives me chills. "Outside in the cold distance, a wildcat did growl. Two riders were approaching. The wind began to howl." Wowee!!! Pretty scarey! Whatever his spiritual beliefs are, many of his songs are filled with Biblical images and references, God's judgment among them. |
submissions
| Bob Dylan – It's All Over Now, Baby Blue Lyrics
| 18 years ago
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The obvious major theme of this song is Dylans moving on out of the folk scene, and giving a kind of warning to others than you can't stop change. But as is so typical of him, the images don't all make perfect sense, at least not to me. But they are so vivid... oh my, they must mean something. The one line I especially like is ..... "The highway is for gamblers, better use your sense. Take what you have gathered from coincidence." I could go off for a while on what I think it means... it's obviously more warning to those who want to stay put but are forced, as we all are, to move on and start anew. About 30 years ago I read a whole essay in some magazine about the "take what you have gathered from coincidence" line. The author felt it was very metaphysical..... kind of like..."Life is very mysterious and uncertain and we're not going to figure it out really well, but hey..... those seeming coincidences may just give us a clue. So gather them up and make the best sense out of things that you can. There's a wonderful line in a Jackson Browne song about death...."It's like a song I can hear right in my ear. I can't sing it. I can't help listening." For me, Dylan's lyrics are often like that. They are just beyond my total grasp. I can't put them in a box and wrap them up with a bow. There. Done. They just keep ringing in my ear... over and over. They must mean something very important. What? |
submissions
| Bob Dylan – Maggie's Farm Lyrics
| 18 years ago
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I'm back. Just read through many of the other comments. We tend to bring our own perspectives and sensibilities to Dylan's work, which he probably likes. But you just cannot see this as a political song. Remember, it came out at the same time as Tamborine Man and It's All Over Now Baby Blue. He was "striking another match" musically. The fact that he sang this song with Mike Bloomfield at his side at the very Newport Festival set that got all the purist folkies so knotted up in their knickers points to its meaning. It was Dylan saying..."Take this job and shove it, I ain't workin here no more." And "I shall be free." Losttango's remark above is right on the money... it is a demand for autonomy. |
submissions
| Bob Dylan – Maggie's Farm Lyrics
| 18 years ago
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In many of his songs, Dylan is like a modern artist, painting in images. You can't treat the lyrics like a poem by Yeats or Shakespeare, where every line "means" exactly one thing. That is especially true of songs like Tamborine Man.
But like T. Man, Maggies Farm is related to Dylan's need to break free and (as he's done so often" reinvent himself. The song came out right in that 1965 period where he shucked off folk music taboos and conventions and embraced a broader form. Some people didn't like the new "him" and his response was.... I just don't want to work there any more.... they cheer me while I SLAVE, but I just get bored. The thing I love about Dylan (in addition to his incredible imagery) is that he never follows. He listens to that inner muse and goes where he needs or wants to go. He won't be boxed in or confined. He's off down the road, with one hand waving free, silhouetted by the sea...bootheels wandering...to his tamborine in time.... where there are no fences facing.... into his own parade.... he'll go following that singular muse of his. |
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