If I Be Wrong\n\nTo understand this particular song, I considered this a chapter in a story. The story is the full album, Quiet at the Kitchen Door. When viewing the album image I see a woman standing at a threshold, the back door or side door, not the front door of her home. \n\nShe’s packed and ready to go, but she’s pausing. Reflecting. She’s all dressed up, heals and all, with a small bag. The kitchen gives a feeling of vacancy. She’s staring into the somewhat foggy landscape with a slight reveal of the forest. The path is not totally clear. \n\nIf I be Wrong is the 6th song out of 10 for the album. This is a turning point in the story. She’s not quite ready to go. She reflects on her life as a micro representation of the greater world. And she sees duality, all the “What If” statements. Is it this or that? Or it’s not this or that. A pendulum swing between good/bad, right/wrong. \n\nThere are 10,000 ways out. The number 10,000 is a term used in the Bible that denotes enumerable ways or infinite possibilities that she sees for ways to escape.\n\nBut she isn’t going anywhere, yet. Because in this pause, she recognizes she isn’t actually lost or need to be found. \n\nShe isn’t “Dylan’s wife” as in Carolyn Dennis, his second wife. Carolyn was his backup singer and it is believed their relationship was secret for many years before they became official. \n\nWolf is saying, I’m not the backup girl. I’m not the one who is going to be a secret lover or the woman in the shadows. \n\nShe also says she’s not “Cohen’s dog”. She is referring to Leonard’s beloved Scottish terroir, Tinkie. When Cohen was a teen, Tinkie disappeared during a snowstorm and wasn’t found until the following spring under the porch. Wolf is saying she’s not going to get caught up in some storm and go under the porch to curl up and die. \n\nWolf sings, “I am David Blaine” Blaine is a master illusionist. And like him, she will find an escape (because I do have free will). A way out of the rights/wrong, good/bad way of thinking. \n\nBut until she has figured it out, she’s pausing with the delicious comfort of “your arms tonight”.
@ShiroPath
I think you are absolutely right. In my efforts to understand the song lyrics, I at first presumed that Dylans first wife, Sarah, was being referred to. But then the question arose: Why should she have been „wrong“? She inspired him for many of his songs, like "Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands “. Your interpretation is much more plausible. I am convinced: „You got it!“ Thank you for your wonderful post!
P.S. „Right or wrong“ is also an issue in the Kinks‘ song „Days": "Days when you can’t see wrong from right.“ Everyone of us...
@ShiroPath
I think you are absolutely right. In my efforts to understand the song lyrics, I at first presumed that Dylans first wife, Sarah, was being referred to. But then the question arose: Why should she have been „wrong“? She inspired him for many of his songs, like "Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands “. Your interpretation is much more plausible. I am convinced: „You got it!“ Thank you for your wonderful post!
P.S. „Right or wrong“ is also an issue in the Kinks‘ song „Days": "Days when you can’t see wrong from right.“ Everyone of us should have a few days like this in his/her lifetime 😊, why? Because they are what "pearls of memories" are made of.
If I Be Wrong\n\nTo understand this particular song, I considered this a chapter in a story. The story is the full album, Quiet at the Kitchen Door. When viewing the album image I see a woman standing at a threshold, the back door or side door, not the front door of her home. \n\nShe’s packed and ready to go, but she’s pausing. Reflecting. She’s all dressed up, heals and all, with a small bag. The kitchen gives a feeling of vacancy. She’s staring into the somewhat foggy landscape with a slight reveal of the forest. The path is not totally clear. \n\nIf I be Wrong is the 6th song out of 10 for the album. This is a turning point in the story. She’s not quite ready to go. She reflects on her life as a micro representation of the greater world. And she sees duality, all the “What If” statements. Is it this or that? Or it’s not this or that. A pendulum swing between good/bad, right/wrong. \n\nThere are 10,000 ways out. The number 10,000 is a term used in the Bible that denotes enumerable ways or infinite possibilities that she sees for ways to escape.\n\nBut she isn’t going anywhere, yet. Because in this pause, she recognizes she isn’t actually lost or need to be found. \n\nShe isn’t “Dylan’s wife” as in Carolyn Dennis, his second wife. Carolyn was his backup singer and it is believed their relationship was secret for many years before they became official. \n\nWolf is saying, I’m not the backup girl. I’m not the one who is going to be a secret lover or the woman in the shadows. \n\nShe also says she’s not “Cohen’s dog”. She is referring to Leonard’s beloved Scottish terroir, Tinkie. When Cohen was a teen, Tinkie disappeared during a snowstorm and wasn’t found until the following spring under the porch. Wolf is saying she’s not going to get caught up in some storm and go under the porch to curl up and die. \n\nWolf sings, “I am David Blaine” Blaine is a master illusionist. And like him, she will find an escape (because I do have free will). A way out of the rights/wrong, good/bad way of thinking. \n\nBut until she has figured it out, she’s pausing with the delicious comfort of “your arms tonight”.
@ShiroPath WOW! You really, REALLY thought this out! I had the "feeling" of it but you put it into words. Great insight!
@ShiroPath WOW! You really, REALLY thought this out! I had the "feeling" of it but you put it into words. Great insight!
@ShiroPath I think you are absolutely right. In my efforts to understand the song lyrics, I at first presumed that Dylans first wife, Sarah, was being referred to. But then the question arose: Why should she have been „wrong“? She inspired him for many of his songs, like "Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands “. Your interpretation is much more plausible. I am convinced: „You got it!“ Thank you for your wonderful post! P.S. „Right or wrong“ is also an issue in the Kinks‘ song „Days": "Days when you can’t see wrong from right.“ Everyone of us...
@ShiroPath I think you are absolutely right. In my efforts to understand the song lyrics, I at first presumed that Dylans first wife, Sarah, was being referred to. But then the question arose: Why should she have been „wrong“? She inspired him for many of his songs, like "Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands “. Your interpretation is much more plausible. I am convinced: „You got it!“ Thank you for your wonderful post! P.S. „Right or wrong“ is also an issue in the Kinks‘ song „Days": "Days when you can’t see wrong from right.“ Everyone of us should have a few days like this in his/her lifetime 😊, why? Because they are what "pearls of memories" are made of.