Highterrain

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Bob Dylan – Desolation Row Lyrics 12 years ago
Far from being "well-read",I do have some thoughts on this song and my conclusion is that after the first verse most of the rest of the song are about the holocaust. In my opinion,the verse beginning "Across the street"is clearly reference to the Jews who kept The Passover in hiding. They nailed the curtains simply means they had to go to extreme lengths to conceal the light of the candle...a 'must-have' for Passover. The male head of each Jewish home wore the white gown of The High Priest during the Feast ("in the perfect image of a priest").
And recently I've come to believe that the verse beginning with "Praise be to..." is in reference to the ship filled with Jewish refugees that was turned away by Cuba,the US and Canada. There was much hope among the Jews that they were escaping to the West. It's original destination was Cuba,right in the middle of the birth of Calipso music. Calipso music was known for mocking and I think,though I've yet to find as song about the ship,they "laughed at them..." was in regard to the indecision of all countries in the region. Not one of them could bring themselves to offer safe haven to the Jews. The suject was a political "hot potato" No one country knew what to do,so the ship wandered about the Carribean "E.Pound and TS Eliot",I believe,is about the captain's struggle with his own conscience, a german officer growing increasingly sympathetic to the plite of his passengers. One account I read suggested that he even considered running the ship aground to keep from having to return them to Europe. The use of " the titanic" simply implied that the passengers,or at least many hundreds of them, were doomed to end up in concentration camps and many murdered by the nazi regime.
I am still working on a couple of other verses,but I beginning to believe the rest also refer to that time in history. Dylan,of course,was born a Jew and studied the Torah in his early years. This is just my humble opinion. HW61 Rev. is my vary favorite album of ANY artist and I have listened to it perhaps hundreds of times over the years. D.R. is of particular interest to me. But it was not until just a few years ago that I noticed,while wearing headphones,the work on guitar DURING the 2 harmonica solos. Blew me waway!!!

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Arcade Fire – Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels) Lyrics 15 years ago
Got to thinking about what I wrote as I was trying to get to sleep last night and it came to me that that guitar in Obviously 5 Believers could,with little effort,convince me that it was laughing at the "Swing them" episode of Seinfeld....some 20 years before the show was made. Gave me a chuckle,anyway.

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Bob Dylan – Desolation Row Lyrics 15 years ago
I disagree,though Dylan's familiarity with "Desolation Angels" as you suggest may also have come to mind as he wrote Desolation Roe. I think,instead,Dylan,being born a Jew and taught The Laws of God as a young man(once commenting that he studied under a Rabbi on the second floor of a building,then he and his friends who'd formed a band would go downstairs in the same building and boogie) is speaking of the Jews hiding in homes and other buildings during the holocaust,that continued to observe Passover. This Feast begins when the woman of the house lit a candle at sundown...you could not have Passover without the candle. Of course,a lit candle placed them at increased risk of being exposed and,of course,taken to a death camp and murdered,so,the point of "Across the street they've nailed the curtains.They're getting ready for The Feast" fits perfectly.And,during Passover the man/father of the house wore a pure white robe as worn by the High Priest in the Tabernacle,and since they were hiding in a secret or hidden or somehow in-obvious area of the house or building,as did The Phantom of the Opera,it's a perfect fit that "The phantom of the Opera in a Perfect Image of a Priest" is what he's referring to in that verse. Passover.

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Arcade Fire – Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels) Lyrics 15 years ago
Great post! I've heard it said that true art,such as a painting,owes it's greatness to what the artist left out...not what he put in. For me this is true in music. I can listen to a master guitarist who plays every note perfectly and not be the least bit inspired by his performance,but a true artist with a guitar playing with an almost casual way,a few notes not so full as others. Perhaps one or 2 left out and even an occasional off-key note can fascinate my mind. For an example of what I mean,listen sometime to Dylan's Obviously 5 Believers from his Blonde on Blonde album. Robbie Robertson,I believe,did the guitar work,and it is some of the best you'll hear anywhere. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMt2Ea64Vxs

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Arcade Fire – Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels) Lyrics 15 years ago
I gave you a "plus" just because you forced me to think about this song from an angle I had not,though I do not agree with you altogether. That's what's great about music. One song can have a million meanings to others than to me. The more opinions I read the deeper my understanding of my own opinion becomes.

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Arcade Fire – Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels) Lyrics 15 years ago
As for your Lennon reference,I consider AF's music to be far deeper,beautiful and complex. But,then,I've never been a big Lennon...or Beatle fan,anyway. My personal favorite artist is Dylan and album Highway 61 Revisited,but Arcade Fire is a close second...and catching up.

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Arcade Fire – Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels) Lyrics 15 years ago
Interesting point. Seems to me that much of their music is written as though the U.S.,at least,has collapsed. Never really spoken,but just from a perspective that needs no explanation. I get a clear sense of that mindset when I listen to Vampire in a Forest Fire,though the song also deals with some very deep personal pain unrelated to your original point.

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Arcade Fire – Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels) Lyrics 15 years ago
I just came back from not logging on here for quite some time and I just want to say that so many of you seem to really connect with this song,as do I. Lots of great opinions and thoughts...and well deserved by the song. Still my favorite AF song and after listening to and watching it perhaps another 100 times or so since my last visit,I'm all the more convinced that it is,as most of you agree,a love song,but I still think it is purely written about Win and Regine's relationship and I still tend to think it is written from Regine's perspective. I'm sure it is obvious to all AF fans that she is a musical genius...in the rough,kinda,and when Win happened along in her life he had the innate ability to draw out of her what she herself could not. It's my belief that a genius lives in each of us but so very few are able to tap into it. To me,"the lead sleeping in my head" is her way of describing the frustration of knowing she had something inside but could not get at it. "You change all the lead sleeping in my head to gold" she is expressing her gratitude and admiration to Win,as well as her love in her quirky (as she does most everything else)way by singing it to him...through him. One reason I can point to is that it seems clear to me that the "lead" and "gold" came from the same mind. Same as I wrote a year ago,but trying to express my thinking a little more clear. Or,perhaps this is seen as nothing more than mindless drivel. Great song,though!!!

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Arcade Fire – Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels) Lyrics 16 years ago
I believe it is a love song the couple wrote either to each other or perhaps,since she always plays drums,Regine wrote to Win and is singing to him through him. She really appears to enjoy driving the beat.

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