I think these connections would be worth a study in their own right. Nevertheless the treatment, and the contexts, are so different that it’s quite possible to overlook the thematic connections. The same themes are treated in different songs, and very often the exact same words will be used again and again from song to song. It’s worth pointing out that the New Morning album – like a number of Dylan’s albums – works as a unified whole (thus exemplifying one of its themes). I hope I’ve managed to get across something of Dylan’s skill here.
Some of the lyrics seem now to be masterpieces of precision, the thematic richness being disguised by a sometimes extreme simplicity of language. Going back to it, I’ve realised how wrong I’ve been. Ever since I bought it forty-five years ago, I’ve suffered under the illusion that it’s thin both musically and lyrically. I started with the songs from New Morning, an album of quite amazing lyrical complexity. Far more likely the narrator is trying to turn us against the messenger so that he can continue in his own disreputable ways. It’s very unlikely that God’s representative would make a meal out of insignificant things (‘the smallest matter’), or ‘flatter’ his hosts. How do we know? Because Dylan tells us the messenger came from Eli (God). The narrator comes across as someone with a contemptuous attitude towards the messenger, and fearful of him.
In ‘The Wicked Messenger’, for example, the narrator is clearly untrustworthy when he characterises the messenger as wicked. What a shame he included the final clause! In a similar way Dylan often gets his narrators to give things away about themselves. Like a thin clear bubble of blood, for the children to pick and sell’ ‘The wild tulip, at the end of its tube, blows out its great red bell Here the narrator, in attempting to show his appreciation for the beauties of nature, unintentionally informs us that his primary concern is with monetary value: Like the speakers in most so-called dramatic monologues, they are duplicitous but in a way that the careful listener can see straight through.Īn example from outside Dylan’s work which may serve as a model is the narrator in Browning’s dramatic monologue ‘Up At A Villa, Down In The City’. These narrators are not to be taken at face value. I’ve tried to show that in many songs the speaker is not Dylan himself, and indeed may be somebody he wouldn’t want to be. Nevertheless I think it’s important to get away from those interpretations which assume each song is only about some trivial aspect of Dylan’s life – drugs or meeting Elvis, say. And of course meaning will often be personal for each listener, or perhaps arise from a transcendent beauty, or subtlety, created by the writing, making hopeless any attempt to pin it down. I’m sure there will be other, often better, interpretations. The focus is on meaning rather than style but I’m not claiming special insight into ‘the meaning’ of the songs.
This, then, is an attempt to at least begin to plug what I see as a gaping hole. I can think of just a handful of sites and books I’ve found at all useful. Close, literary analysis is something which doesn’t appear much on the internet or in books on Dylan, yet I can’t imagine I’m alone in regretting this.
I should say that the overall aim of the site is to present literary interpretations of Dylan’s lyrics. There’s a post on each song from New Morning, and I’ve begun to add posts on other albums. I’m glad you’ve found the site and hope you find at least some things in it worthwhile.
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