It's hard to tell how all the allusions fit together. Who are Gypsy Davey and Ma Raney?
The Biblical references are a bit easier. Jezebel (corrupt queen of Israel) shows up in the first verse, John the Baptist in the second, but Samson (though unnamed) is the big allusion.
He killed 1000 Philistines with a donkey's jawbone (see third verse), married and was betrayed by Delilah (fourth verse), and finally killed his captors by tearing down the pillars of the great house of the Philistines (fourth verse; note the reference to Cecil B. DeMille, who directed several major Biblical epics in the 1950s).
As far as how Samson and the others fit into the larger context of the song, I have no idea. Any thoughts?
Jezebel is "knitting a bald wig for Jack the Ripper who sits at the head of the chamber of commerce. I know this seems pretty far out, but were there any bald people in control of financial/banking systems back then? I could be a current pun... or maybe it just paints out the typical image of most rich, white, upper-classed individuals. Or it could just be a way of saying the privelaged people have nothing to offer, as in hair, or have no brains, or he could be making a stark contrast between the people in control of the money and the longhaired beatniks and hippies of the day... of course, Jack the Ripper would be the heir of Jezebel. OR could it be that he is refering to how rich, corrupt people like Jezebel create murderers and theives like the real Jack the Ripper... crime out of despiration? Nah, who knows? Only Dylan could get us all talking for so long about one fucking line! What a genius!!!
Ma Rainey (née Gertrude Pridgett, 1886-1939, who lived most of her life in rural and small-town Georgia) was considered the pioneer of female blues singers and is sometimes called "The Mother of The Blues." No Ma Rainey, and there would have been no Bessie Smith, Big Mama Thornton, Alberta Hunter, Janis Joplin, and countless others. Bonnie Raitt would have been a guitar-playing folk-singer rather than blues singer. In 1924, she made the first recording of "See See Rider Blues," one of the milestones of early recorded blues (also known as "C. C. Rider Blues" or "C. C. Rider" and a...
Ma Rainey (née Gertrude Pridgett, 1886-1939, who lived most of her life in rural and small-town Georgia) was considered the pioneer of female blues singers and is sometimes called "The Mother of The Blues." No Ma Rainey, and there would have been no Bessie Smith, Big Mama Thornton, Alberta Hunter, Janis Joplin, and countless others. Bonnie Raitt would have been a guitar-playing folk-singer rather than blues singer. In 1924, she made the first recording of "See See Rider Blues," one of the milestones of early recorded blues (also known as "C. C. Rider Blues" or "C. C. Rider" and a number of other names) and since covered by hundreds of artists (notably Mitch Ryder and The Detroit Wheels and The Animals, both in the mid-'60s).
Gypsy Davy is the title of a Woody Guthrie song that was based on a folk song of Scottish origin usually called "The Raggle Taggle Gypsies." It concerns a wealthy young woman who renounces her fortune to live a peripatetic life with gypsies. One of the characters with whom she associates is known as Black Jack Dave or Davy or Gypsy Davy.
@orthonormal :
Yewh poor ignorant ! Ma Rainey iz a great Blues singer an' Gypsy Davey iz the famous personnage from XVII th century english folk song an' it's also the name o' closer Donovan's companion.
Get the rite informations instead o' a-loosin' thy time wi' the stinkin' bible, yewh dummy !
@orthonormal :
Yewh poor ignorant ! Ma Rainey iz a great Blues singer an' Gypsy Davey iz the famous personnage from XVII th century english folk song an' it's also the name o' closer Donovan's companion.
Get the rite informations instead o' a-loosin' thy time wi' the stinkin' bible, yewh dummy !
It's hard to tell how all the allusions fit together. Who are Gypsy Davey and Ma Raney?
The Biblical references are a bit easier. Jezebel (corrupt queen of Israel) shows up in the first verse, John the Baptist in the second, but Samson (though unnamed) is the big allusion.
He killed 1000 Philistines with a donkey's jawbone (see third verse), married and was betrayed by Delilah (fourth verse), and finally killed his captors by tearing down the pillars of the great house of the Philistines (fourth verse; note the reference to Cecil B. DeMille, who directed several major Biblical epics in the 1950s).
As far as how Samson and the others fit into the larger context of the song, I have no idea. Any thoughts?
Very awesome thoughts on your part...
Very awesome thoughts on your part...
Jezebel is "knitting a bald wig for Jack the Ripper who sits at the head of the chamber of commerce. I know this seems pretty far out, but were there any bald people in control of financial/banking systems back then? I could be a current pun... or maybe it just paints out the typical image of most rich, white, upper-classed individuals. Or it could just be a way of saying the privelaged people have nothing to offer, as in hair, or have no brains, or he could be making a stark contrast between the people in control of the money and the longhaired beatniks and hippies of the day... of course, Jack the Ripper would be the heir of Jezebel. OR could it be that he is refering to how rich, corrupt people like Jezebel create murderers and theives like the real Jack the Ripper... crime out of despiration? Nah, who knows? Only Dylan could get us all talking for so long about one fucking line! What a genius!!!
Ma Rainey (née Gertrude Pridgett, 1886-1939, who lived most of her life in rural and small-town Georgia) was considered the pioneer of female blues singers and is sometimes called "The Mother of The Blues." No Ma Rainey, and there would have been no Bessie Smith, Big Mama Thornton, Alberta Hunter, Janis Joplin, and countless others. Bonnie Raitt would have been a guitar-playing folk-singer rather than blues singer. In 1924, she made the first recording of "See See Rider Blues," one of the milestones of early recorded blues (also known as "C. C. Rider Blues" or "C. C. Rider" and a...
Ma Rainey (née Gertrude Pridgett, 1886-1939, who lived most of her life in rural and small-town Georgia) was considered the pioneer of female blues singers and is sometimes called "The Mother of The Blues." No Ma Rainey, and there would have been no Bessie Smith, Big Mama Thornton, Alberta Hunter, Janis Joplin, and countless others. Bonnie Raitt would have been a guitar-playing folk-singer rather than blues singer. In 1924, she made the first recording of "See See Rider Blues," one of the milestones of early recorded blues (also known as "C. C. Rider Blues" or "C. C. Rider" and a number of other names) and since covered by hundreds of artists (notably Mitch Ryder and The Detroit Wheels and The Animals, both in the mid-'60s).
Gypsy Davy is the title of a Woody Guthrie song that was based on a folk song of Scottish origin usually called "The Raggle Taggle Gypsies." It concerns a wealthy young woman who renounces her fortune to live a peripatetic life with gypsies. One of the characters with whom she associates is known as Black Jack Dave or Davy or Gypsy Davy.
@orthonormal : Yewh poor ignorant ! Ma Rainey iz a great Blues singer an' Gypsy Davey iz the famous personnage from XVII th century english folk song an' it's also the name o' closer Donovan's companion. Get the rite informations instead o' a-loosin' thy time wi' the stinkin' bible, yewh dummy !
@orthonormal : Yewh poor ignorant ! Ma Rainey iz a great Blues singer an' Gypsy Davey iz the famous personnage from XVII th century english folk song an' it's also the name o' closer Donovan's companion. Get the rite informations instead o' a-loosin' thy time wi' the stinkin' bible, yewh dummy !