The song has various meanings, and is meant to be so.
However:
One interpretation on one verse:
"Dr. Filth" = Andy Warhol, "leather cup" = to hold paint, "sexless patients" = Factory 'stars', "blow it up" = obv sexual ref, "the Factory" = (well, that's obvious), "heart-attack machine" = have you ever seen some of the 'devices' created for Warhol's 'Factory' or 'Plastic Exploding Inevitable, "insurance men" = Warholian entourage checking "to see that no-one is escaping to Desolation Row" (i.e. leaving the Factory).
Fascinating that it works on so many levels. Iconic, archetypal. I know next to nothing about Warhol's scene or Dylan's knowledge of it or likiness to commment about it, so these didn't occur to me. The whole Dr. Filth verse to me just suggests all the sexual repression going on, the 'authoritarian' culturally dictated & received views about hetero-normative safe sexuality, accepting no deviance... but in the process creating kink and 'dirty'ness itself, in a way. The factory & heart-attack machine and insurance men is all about just capitalism itself, and the need to promote and fuel mindless consumption, lest...
Fascinating that it works on so many levels. Iconic, archetypal. I know next to nothing about Warhol's scene or Dylan's knowledge of it or likiness to commment about it, so these didn't occur to me. The whole Dr. Filth verse to me just suggests all the sexual repression going on, the 'authoritarian' culturally dictated & received views about hetero-normative safe sexuality, accepting no deviance... but in the process creating kink and 'dirty'ness itself, in a way. The factory & heart-attack machine and insurance men is all about just capitalism itself, and the need to promote and fuel mindless consumption, lest the whole system collapse. Kerosene and castles alluding to the nightmarish reality of this sad state of affairs, pointing out the actual horror lying beneath the numb surface.
The song has various meanings, and is meant to be so.
However:
One interpretation on one verse:
"Dr. Filth" = Andy Warhol, "leather cup" = to hold paint, "sexless patients" = Factory 'stars', "blow it up" = obv sexual ref, "the Factory" = (well, that's obvious), "heart-attack machine" = have you ever seen some of the 'devices' created for Warhol's 'Factory' or 'Plastic Exploding Inevitable, "insurance men" = Warholian entourage checking "to see that no-one is escaping to Desolation Row" (i.e. leaving the Factory).
Fascinating that it works on so many levels. Iconic, archetypal. I know next to nothing about Warhol's scene or Dylan's knowledge of it or likiness to commment about it, so these didn't occur to me. The whole Dr. Filth verse to me just suggests all the sexual repression going on, the 'authoritarian' culturally dictated & received views about hetero-normative safe sexuality, accepting no deviance... but in the process creating kink and 'dirty'ness itself, in a way. The factory & heart-attack machine and insurance men is all about just capitalism itself, and the need to promote and fuel mindless consumption, lest...
Fascinating that it works on so many levels. Iconic, archetypal. I know next to nothing about Warhol's scene or Dylan's knowledge of it or likiness to commment about it, so these didn't occur to me. The whole Dr. Filth verse to me just suggests all the sexual repression going on, the 'authoritarian' culturally dictated & received views about hetero-normative safe sexuality, accepting no deviance... but in the process creating kink and 'dirty'ness itself, in a way. The factory & heart-attack machine and insurance men is all about just capitalism itself, and the need to promote and fuel mindless consumption, lest the whole system collapse. Kerosene and castles alluding to the nightmarish reality of this sad state of affairs, pointing out the actual horror lying beneath the numb surface.
I've always loved the Dead's versions of this song. Weir has the perfect twisted nuanced bitter/sarcastic/jaundiced perspective to sing it.
I've always loved the Dead's versions of this song. Weir has the perfect twisted nuanced bitter/sarcastic/jaundiced perspective to sing it.