I find the lyrics to this song endlessly fascinating. The story is clear; the song is musically quite unvaried - why does it work so well? I couldn't comment on the detail of the music, but I think that one of the reasons why the lyrics work so well is the way they use shifts of time and perspective. Just when you think you have settled into understanding what you think is now the end of the story (the romance; then the baby; then the birth; then the rupture), the lyrics plunge you into a new time and a new perspective that puts the last "chapter" into a new frame. Given that the music does NOT signal these shifts by moving from verse to chorus or introducing radically different forms or melodies, I think part of the reason for the song's genius is how the propulsive nature of the music acts as a misleading overlay to the time-shifting lyrics.
@jonathanpk It is the compression of story. Dylan used to do it well on some of his narrrative songs. Rarely were they as concise as three minutes though.
@jonathanpk It is the compression of story. Dylan used to do it well on some of his narrrative songs. Rarely were they as concise as three minutes though.
@jonathanpk Exactly, this song uses tense to set you up and then knock you down. The first four verses are past tense ("I never thought", "We moved in", "I got a job", etc). Then the fifth verse is in the present tense ("This morning at four fifty") to make you think he is wrapping up the story with the birth of his daughter - sitting there thinking about how he and his love got to this point. Aw, what a nice story. Then BAM - the lyrics hit you with the painful reality by jumping in time ahead a couple...
@jonathanpk Exactly, this song uses tense to set you up and then knock you down. The first four verses are past tense ("I never thought", "We moved in", "I got a job", etc). Then the fifth verse is in the present tense ("This morning at four fifty") to make you think he is wrapping up the story with the birth of his daughter - sitting there thinking about how he and his love got to this point. Aw, what a nice story. Then BAM - the lyrics hit you with the painful reality by jumping in time ahead a couple of times. Brilliant.
I find the lyrics to this song endlessly fascinating. The story is clear; the song is musically quite unvaried - why does it work so well? I couldn't comment on the detail of the music, but I think that one of the reasons why the lyrics work so well is the way they use shifts of time and perspective. Just when you think you have settled into understanding what you think is now the end of the story (the romance; then the baby; then the birth; then the rupture), the lyrics plunge you into a new time and a new perspective that puts the last "chapter" into a new frame. Given that the music does NOT signal these shifts by moving from verse to chorus or introducing radically different forms or melodies, I think part of the reason for the song's genius is how the propulsive nature of the music acts as a misleading overlay to the time-shifting lyrics.
@jonathanpk It is the compression of story. Dylan used to do it well on some of his narrrative songs. Rarely were they as concise as three minutes though.
@jonathanpk It is the compression of story. Dylan used to do it well on some of his narrrative songs. Rarely were they as concise as three minutes though.
@jonathanpk Exactly, this song uses tense to set you up and then knock you down. The first four verses are past tense ("I never thought", "We moved in", "I got a job", etc). Then the fifth verse is in the present tense ("This morning at four fifty") to make you think he is wrapping up the story with the birth of his daughter - sitting there thinking about how he and his love got to this point. Aw, what a nice story. Then BAM - the lyrics hit you with the painful reality by jumping in time ahead a couple...
@jonathanpk Exactly, this song uses tense to set you up and then knock you down. The first four verses are past tense ("I never thought", "We moved in", "I got a job", etc). Then the fifth verse is in the present tense ("This morning at four fifty") to make you think he is wrapping up the story with the birth of his daughter - sitting there thinking about how he and his love got to this point. Aw, what a nice story. Then BAM - the lyrics hit you with the painful reality by jumping in time ahead a couple of times. Brilliant.