| Nine Inch Nails – Hurt Lyrics | 12 years ago |
|
I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Rom7, KJV |
|
| Bob Dylan – I Want You Lyrics | 13 years ago |
|
I like PDShimel's take. But I'd add "purity" or "innocence" is dead. And as a true lover, he's mourning not having the right people to love. It died with the pill and all the advances that made us screw like bunnies, unbeknownst to our parents. And verse 2 I think is Ted Kennedy and Chappaquidick. I wont get political, but he's saying more towards the end of the verse. |
|
| Bob Dylan – Precious Angel Lyrics | 13 years ago |
|
This song should be taken side by side with Covenant Woman. They're both extremely beautiful tributes to the woman that helped lead him to faith and made him want to be a better man (with apologies to Jack Nicholson). I just got to thank you Once again For making your prayers known Unto heaven for me And to you, always, so grateful I will forever be It's a true joy to know that your wife, who clearly knows how big a dork you are, not only loves you anyway, but prays to God on your behalf! In these two songs, Dylan is reveling in this love and he's not ashamed to share it with millions of people. Amazing! |
|
| Bob Dylan – Forever Young Lyrics | 13 years ago |
|
It's just a classic blessing, in the line of so many great blessing songs. Musically it's so simple. I think he's just nodding to the custom and adding his own to the library. And like them, it makes a great toast when youre drinkin with friends! "may the road rise up to meet you, may the wind be always at your back" |
|
| Bob Dylan – I Shall Be Released Lyrics | 13 years ago |
|
When I hear this I think of the thief on the cross next to Jesus. He knew he was guilty and would soon die. But he believed Jesus was God and Jesus told him he'd go to heaven. 40 But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? 41 We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.” 42 Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.[a]” 43 Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.” That's what I feel when I hear "released". It's an ultimate, once and for all deliverance. To one with spikes in his hands and feet, struggling for each breath, what a joy to look forward to! The bible also talks of letting your light shine before others that they may see your good works and glorify God in heaven. It also says that when you're saved, God separates you from your sin and accounts you righteous at that moment. 12 as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. I say all this knowing that the date of this song's writing puts it well ahead of BD's christian conversion. So I don't necessarily believe he had this in mind. It's just what it makes me think of. |
|
| Bob Dylan – Gates of Eden Lyrics | 13 years ago |
|
I think this one's simpler than we're making it out to be. 23 So the LORD God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. 24 After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side[e] of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life. The GATE is the penalty for original sin, separating man from God. The day before, God and man walked side by side, communing directly. Forevermore we're separated. By that gate. And on that day, not only did man fall, but all of creation fell. Death, disease, war, crime, lust, hate, natural disasters, etc all entered the world together. They exist outside the gates. Outside = consequence = mans fault. Inside = Gods perfection, unadulterated, wonderful. Each verse to me seems like a portrait of a consequence of the fall. |
|
| Bob Dylan – Ain't No Man Righteous (No Not One) Lyrics | 13 years ago |
|
So much magnificent art, throughout history, has been inspired (and often funded) by religion and religious institutions. Even agnostics can marvel at the beauty of the Sistene Chapel, or Michaelangelo's David. Handel's Messiah is known to please the ears of all sorts of people, believers and non. Let's take the music for what it is and be glad that Dylan found a muse to sustain him through a third, and fourth, and fifth decade of writing! How greater a waste would it have been if he retired to seclusion in 1975, never to write or sculpt or paint again? |
|
| Bob Dylan – Things Have Changed Lyrics | 13 years ago |
|
I agree with coldiron that you MUST view this song through the lens of his Christian faith and experience. But you have to also remember that Dylan screened the movie before writing the song. There are two powerful themes in the movie that I think Dylan chose to work into the song. 1) The aging phenom trying to create a second opus, without becoming repetitive and boring. This is obviously a painful parallel for Dylan, who's had to live in his own shadow with his fans expectations hanging in front of him like a noose whenever he put pen to paper. I think he may have slyly inserted references to earlier songs for just this purpose. 2) Self indulgent humanism and sin leads to misery and hard choices. The main character is caught in a web of consequences stemming from pursuing selfish pleasures. Dylans faith tells him that these things are the path to destruction. And he knows that man has knowledge of good and evil and that knowledge doesnt go away even when we do evil. But this is where I struggle. I don't find the song sympathic to the main character or desiring of his redemption by the end of the (song/movie). The lyrics feel so ... slippery and disjointed. I looked for metaphors, allusions, and philosophical memes and came up empty. The first person voice (and the video) threw me way off since I dont think Dylans putting himself in place of the main character. So I blurred my eyes and took an impressionist's angle. Who is this man singing and why is he singing? Andit hit me. Dylan is the temptor, the enabler. He's telling the protagonist its all right to do all this bad stuff. He even sings certain lyrics with a forked tongue. Dylan here is the devil, the evil that lurks in every mans heart. He's speaking the wisdom of man which is contrary to the wisdom of God. It has to be intentional. And it fits too well with the man in the movie who's ruined his own life and that of several others by trying to sit on his own throne. My $0.02 - I'd love to hear your thoughts. Biz |
|
* This information can be up to 15 minutes delayed.