Spencer is that you? Didn't you get a good sense of what he was singing about on that song, though? Like some real motifs, psychology, characters, and arc?
Play the Doors, play "Riders on the Storm"/Play it for the people at the Steve Hoffman for'm Kind of addictive when you start doing that...I couldn't think of anything musical that rhymes with "forum" though
Bob said that song was about himself too, maybe 50 years ago. He described it one long string of vomit. I give him license on this, and I don't even hear it to be about a girl anymore. It seems like a limited way to hear it.
I’ve never liked “Gates of Eden.” Easily his worst effort of that era. If it moves you, fair play. To me, it’s like a child’s or a beatnik’s idea of what poetry is: string together as many random signifiers and kooky words as you can, and, presto! Instant poetry.
Yeah I thought of "quorum" but I couldn't tie it in just right. It would be helpful if there were a band or song named "quorum."
"Play it for everyone at the Steve Hoffman Forum For Zeppelin and Floyd and even Status Quorum" "Play it for everyone at Steve Hoffman Forum If I keep listing musical artists I think we can get a quorum"
John Lennon also later claimed that “How Do You Sleep” was really about himself. In Lennon’s case, I actually sort of buy that, but, as with Dylan’s subsequent distancing of himself from “Ballad In Plain D,” “it was really about me” is certainly a convenient way of dodging the ugliness of what you wrote about someone else. But Bob was always angry and judgmental: the final lines of “Masters of War” are cathartic, but “I hope that you die / and your death will come soon” doesn’t exactly break the cycle of death that the rest of the song rails against. Likewise in the 70s, “born again” Bob railed at his audience that they were headed for the pit or whatever. That he’s a genius doesn’t make the misanthropy 100% palatable.
Is this guy the new Dylan? Babe : [reading a poem Deeds wrote for her] "Hard to breathe / Feels like floating / So full of love my heart's exploding. / Mouth is dry / Hands are shaking / My heart is yours for the taking. / Acting weird / Not myself / Dancing around like the Keebler elf. / Finally time / for this poor schlubb / To know how it feels to fall in lub." Longfellow Deeds : I couldn't find any other words that rhyme with "schlub..."
The lennon claim? Wow. Maybe he was trolling and had read the Dylan interview. It's a little...specific ...to flip flop on. But Dylan is on record w/ Jann Wenner that Ballad in Plain D was the only song to date that he said made him sound like a schmuck. He didn't defend it or make excuses. It's aslo very...specific. So it is definitely about him, and others too. But he owns it AFAIK.
I've always liked "Gates of Eden." The song actually has one of my favorite Bobby lines: "And on their promises of paradise, you will not hear a laugh." But I wonder if Bob himself liked GOE, because I think he never really played it much live, if at all. What if I still love Bob, even though he really might hate me. Is that bad?
"Play my favorite song by Low: 'Quorum'/Play it for the folks on the Steve Hoffman Forum/Just don't tell them the same album also has a song called 'Tempest'/Or that damn thread will never be finished"
“It’s not about Paul, it’s about me. I’m really attacking myself. But I regret the association, well, what’s to regret? He lived through it. The only thing that matters is how he and I feel about these things and not what the writer or commentator thinks about it. Him and me are okay” https://www.beatlesbible.com/people/john-lennon/songs/how-do-you-sleep/ “Ballad in Plain D” is pretty indefensible, I can see why he’s backed away from that one, but so many of Bob’s hatchet jobs haven’t aged well. I already mentioned what I think of “Masters of War,” but I can’t really relate to any of Bob’s finger-pointing anymore. When I was a teenager, I watched Don’t Look Back and cheered on Bob as he ripped a new one in the dumb Time reporter; when I watch the same film now, I relate more to the reporter. When I was a kid, I got off on the evisceration of square Mr. Jones in “Ballad of a Thin Man,” as a fifty-something husband and father, I now have a little more sympathy for Mr. Jones. As with Beckmesser in Die Meistersinger, who strikes me as the most interesting and sympathetic character in that opera, even though he’s meant to be the butt of the joke, I tend to find the targets of Bob’s vitriol more interesting and sympathetic than angry Bob is.
"Does' tend to pick on defenceless targets ?? Ballad in Plain D was nearly 60 years ago ! "I can still see them playing wth their shells in the sand...'.. I'm struggling to see how this 'exploits' his kids.... Get a grip !
And was just one of many hatchet jobs in a long career. For this listener, Blood on the Tracks largely transmutes the personal pain of two people’s real-life breakup into a more universal work of art. During Blood on the Tracks, he still had the judgment to self-edit and reject lines that crossed the line into biographical porn such as the outtake “the children cry for mother / I tell them mother took a trip.” For me, “Sara” crosses the line from confessional songwriting to eavesdropping on someone else’s private business. If you enjoy it, fair play.
You make a very fair point, and all one can really do is give the song a shot and it’s either for you or it isn’t. Or, maybe sometime down the road it will hit you at a different point in time and you might end up really digging it. Or maybe not. It’s not perfect, and I think Dylan would be aware of that but probably felt like if it was ever going to see the light of day that this was probably a good time. I had that “Keith Richards!!” moment for Pirates too! Took me right out of the allusion!
I’ve seen this argument repeated many times: “This song is Bob’s gift to us in this time of crisis,” or “This song means more now or is somehow related to this crisis,” but, assuming that this was written and recorded sometime in the past, what the present crisis has to do with its meaning completely escapes me. It’s a fallacy that current events have anything at all to do with the merits or demerits of this song.
Sara is one of the most beautiful lyrics Dylan has ever written. You seem to be all wrapped up in some sort of bitterness while preaching from a moral high ground. Dylan lives in your head rent free.
