The album from which this song hails is one of Bob’s best and I think history will judge it as such, for many reasons, but one is that this whole albums is about, more than anything, music itself, and Bob’s relationship to it. What a perfect theme for what could very well be his last studio album(as far as he knew at the time of making it). The man devoted his life to music, and to music he shows the greatest reverence.
The clues are all there; Songs like I Contain Multitudes, Goodbye Jimmy Reed, and Murder Most Foul are bursting with references to countless other artists. False Prophet, the song Bob maybe wishes he could have written in the 60s when people were anointing him the voice of a generation when all he wanted to be was a “song and dance man”. My Own Version of you could be a coded recipe on his approach to songwriting and the way he is constantly reimagining his own repertoire. Mother of Muses…well hopefully you get the idea.
Which brings us to this masterpiece. Who has Bob made up his mind to give himself to? At first you think, this is the kind of sappy refrain you’d hear in a classic love song. But quickly, the veneer of nostolgia gives way to a deeper truth. Bob has given himself up to Music, more than people, more than religion.
The album from which this song hails is one of Bob’s best and I think history will judge it as such, for many reasons, but one is that this whole albums is about, more than anything, music itself, and Bob’s relationship to it. What a perfect theme for what could very well be his last studio album(as far as he knew at the time of making it). The man devoted his life to music, and to music he shows the greatest reverence.
The clues are all there; Songs like I Contain Multitudes, Goodbye Jimmy Reed, and Murder Most Foul are bursting with references to countless other artists. False Prophet, the song Bob maybe wishes he could have written in the 60s when people were anointing him the voice of a generation when all he wanted to be was a “song and dance man”. My Own Version of you could be a coded recipe on his approach to songwriting and the way he is constantly reimagining his own repertoire. Mother of Muses…well hopefully you get the idea.
Which brings us to this masterpiece. Who has Bob made up his mind to give himself to? At first you think, this is the kind of sappy refrain you’d hear in a classic love song. But quickly, the veneer of nostolgia gives way to a deeper truth. Bob has given himself up to Music, more than people, more than religion.