Chaos to Creation the Enigma of Bob Dylan (Part 3)

8/10/2019 Chaos to Creation the Enigma of Bob Dylan (Part 3)

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Chaos to Creation: the enigma of Bob Dylan (Part: Three)

In 1968, Dylan came out from his eighteen-month long self-imposed exile, once more picked up his acousticguitar and recordedJohn Wesley Harding, a soft, somber acoustic album very different from thesurrealistic verbosity and flashy musical arrangements ofBlonde and Blonde. Unlike the apparently

impromptu manner in which he wrote the lyrics of his previous album, every song of the new album waswritten with more care and completed before he went for recording. The world he described in the songs, asMike Marqusee has drawn our attention to, is loaded with connotative characters: the immigrants, drifters,outlaws, hobos, greedy landlords, hateful figures of unentitled authority, saints, martyrs, the rich and thepoor. Though sounded simple and rustic, the narrative songs are in fact ingrained deep into elementalsocial themes, revealing several intertwined layers of subtle political message which went almost undetectedto the listeners. During the sparkling 1968Sing Out!interview, John Cohen asked him why his songs arentas socially or politically applicable as they were earlier. Absolutely conscious and confident about hisintention, Dylan gave a categorical reply to the question and said: Probably that is because no one cares to

see it the way Im seeing it now, whereas before, I saw it the way they saw it.

In one of the songs of this albumAll Along The Watchtower, Dylan was at his enigmatic best. The hauntingtwelve lines song unfolds the cycle of events, as Dylan puts it, in a rather reverse order but masterlyevokes the frightening air of a desolated wasteland. It also conveys an apocalyptic warning through thebrilliant juxtaposition of biblical imageries the two approaching horsemen signaling the destruction ofBabylon, the growling wild cat and the howling wind as the portents of doom. Although Dylan wasincreasingly unwilling to express his opinion or take a stand on the war of Vietnam that took two millionlives,All Along The Watchtowerinfuses within the listener a daunting feeling of an impending catastrophe,obliquely referring to the extensive calamities happening in Vietnam. Commenting on the starkness andsimplicity of the album and its black & white cover photograph, critic Andy Gill wrote in his bookMy BackPages: Classic Bob Dylan 196269that, a rural breeze whispered through its lonely margins. In thephotograph Dylan posed significantly with Bengali baul minstrels Purna Das and Lakshman Das his only

Indian connection we know so far. The baul brothers were on a six month America tour sponsored byDylans manager Albert Grossman and his wife Sally, staying with them as theirhouse guests.

Its easy to criticize

It took some time for the academia to recognize the a esthetic excellence of Dylans works. The so-calledguardians of high culture were more concerned to protect and nourish the refined and classical forms of artthan the unrefined and avant-garde forms growing popular with the masses. The form of popular musiccame under serious consideration of the academics after postmodernism emerged as a new intellectualoutlook which attempted to pluralize the notion of culture by cracking the synthetic divide between themass and the elite. Literary critics, academics and scholars started to study Dylans lyrics and werefascinated by its enormous literary value, the richness of his metaphorical language and his acerbic method

of interpreting the sanity and rottenness in society. While his songs were subjected to intense analysis, thestudies were usually dominated by a literary approach overstressing on the semantic meaning of the lyrics

above the musical qualities of his sensual and intimate songs.

In June 1970, the messiah of counterculture was finally co-opted by the academic establishment. ThePrinceton University honored Dylan, a college dropout who has just turned 30, with a Doctorate of Music the first such honor given to a popular musician. Though he had credible reasons to accept the degree which
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spelled respectability from every look and touch and scent of it, his wife Sara and friend David Crosby hadto take lots of effort to convince a hesitant Dylan to attend the ceremony. The main reason for him to acceptthe honor was to undermine the burden of his counter cultural credibility which was taking too much out ofhis life. Extremely uncomfortable in the ceremonial cap and gown which he initially refused to wear, Dylanclimbed the ceremony dais on a hot day with the droning din of cicadas in the background and wasintroduced as one of the most creative popular musicians of the last decade. Much to his dismay, thecommencement speaker then went on describing him with the same words he deeply loathed, though heis approaching the perilous age of thirty, he remains the authentic expression of the disturbed and

concerned conscience of Young America. Over thirty years later Dylan wrote inChroniclesthat theintroduction came like a jolt to him and he felt like getting tricked once more. InDay of the Locust, asong he wrote shortly about the occasion, Dylan described that the venue smelled like a tomb and he wasglad to get out of there alive.

Serious studies, densely written books and scholarly articles on Dylan began to appear in the late 60s.However, the greater part of the works has emerged from outside of the boundaries of academic circles. Aparticular amateur school of scholarship emerged in the form of Dylanology a term coined by a madcapDylan fanatic A. J. Weberman. Weberman was also the self-proclaimed father of garbology, the study ofhuman personality through the analysis of garbage. Unsuccessful to detect what went down behind thedoor that Dylan had slammed in my face, while he was trying to crack the code of his symbolism,

Weberman shifted his center of attention on Dylans garbage can. The first valuable discovery in his questfor truth was a half-finished letter written by Bob Dylan to Johnny Cash. To unlock more secrets ofDylans life, he then went on digging out other valuable materials from the trash can disposable diapers,supermarket receipts, fragments of fan letters, ripped rock-and-roll magazines including an issueof Crawdaddy!containing Webermans recently written article, vet bills relating to treatment of Dylans dogSashas upset stomach, discarded Polaroid negatives and a card from Dylan's mother wishing a happybirthday to one of his kids.

Weberman also led a group of pot smoking Yippies and started the "Dylan Liberation Front". The aim of thefront was to remind Dylan about his refusal at that time to perform at political benefit concerts, the lack ofsocial commitment in his song lyrics and the fact that he owned stock in companies that produced weapons

used in Vietnam. Clearly troubled by the full-scale anarchy launched by the notorious group, Dylan finallylost his patience. A.J., you go through garbage like a pig, man? he furiously told Weberman andthreatened him to kick his ass personally if he did it again. But Weberman could not resist the temptation

to carry on his bizarre scientific research and continued to sneak around in the alleys behind Dylans house.What happened next is depicted in Webermans bookMy Life in Garbology. In an absolutely hilariousaccount he recalls being encountered by Dylan on Elizabeth Street in the Bowery neighborhood ofManhattan:

That afternoon I was walking down Elizabeth Street with my head bowed down to my shoes trying tofigure out where I was really at, when I heard a bicycle stop a few feet in back of me. I thought nothing ofit. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, an arm clasped around my neck. I wrenched it loose, turned around

and saw it was Bob Dylan, my former idol, the man who'd written all the symbolist poetry I meticulouslystudied. My thoughts were interrupted by a punch in the head. Could this actually be happening or was ita bad dream? Perhaps it was a combination of both. I didn't fight back. Instead I tried to calm Dylandown and block his punches. But he was having too much fun to stop. He threw me down on the groundand he began to knock my head against the pavement. Finally some local freaks pulled Dylan off.

Thinking that Weberman had been robbed, a local who witnessed the entire episode asked him, Did he getmuch money? Weberman replied feverishly, Man, thats was BOB DYLAN, he doesnt have to roll hippieson the Bowery! He took the physical assault as an honor and later proudly toldRolling Stone, Not toomany have that opportunity to have Bob Dylan on top of them.

However, the later day Dylanologists does not seem to be as crackbrained as Weberman and his gang. Manyof them turned out to be serious researchers, closely studying Dylans life and works, discovering andcollecting rarely known facts, analyzing his lyrics and organizing and publishing recording session data. IanMacdonald wrote in Uncut: Over the years Dylanologists have hypothesized about their subject at greaterlength, in more detail, and often in keener intelligence than anything accorded to comparably prolific


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however, also offered secular material and is more personal and spontaneous in nature than the previoustwo.

Democracy don't rule the world

Fortunately for his admirers, his flirtations with religion ended abruptly. Discharging his disillusionmentabout religion, Dylan told Martin Killer in provocative words: Religion is a dirty word. It doesnt meananything. Coca Cola is a religion. Oil and steel are a religion. In the name of religion people have been

raped, killed and defiled. Todays religion is tomorrows bondage. After a temporary sojourn , he returnedto secular subjects in his 1983 releaseInfidels, focusing on some of the thorny geopolitical themes of acacophonous and vacuous postmodern world. While the songs of this album definitely lacks the enduringsignificance of his earlier topical classics or an identifiable political focus,Infidelsbrings an angry, inquiringDylan back to his audience who intensely desired to get their real Dylan back. I dont know if that(subject) appeals to people or not, Dylan tells Robert Hilburn ofLos Angeles Times, but I felt I had to dothese songs now.

The kaleidoscopic opening trackJokermanstands out for its sublime lyrics. Freedom just around thecorner for you / But with the truth so far off, what good will it do? InLicense To Kill, mankind is accusedfor their imperialistic greed, particularly for their self-destructive obsession for power and predilection for

violence. The prophetic and explicitly anti-capitalist Union Sundowngives a superb depiction of ravenousAmerican capitalism:

You know, capitalism is above the law

It say, "It don't count less it sells."

When it costs too much to build it at home

You just build it cheaper someplace else

Next comes a harsh repugnance against globalization:

Democracy don't rule the world

You'd better get that in your head

This world is ruled by violence

But I guess that's better left unsaid

In an interview with David Gates inNewsweek, Dylan explains his restlessness, I think one thing todayand I think another thing tomorrow. I change during the course of a day. I wake and I'm one person, andwhen I go to sleep I know for certain I'm somebody else. I don't know who I am most of the time. It doesn'teven matter to me. He continues further, I find the religiosity and philosophy in the music. I dont find itanywhere else. [] I dont adhere to rabbis, preachers, evangelists, all of that. I've learned more from thesongs than Ive learned from any of this kind of entity. The songs are my lexicon. I believe the songs.

According to literary critic and scholar Christopher Ricks, Time Out of Mindwas like Lazarus risen fromthe dead. The songs, as one critic has observed, is full of regret, lamentation, sadness, and the inevitableapproach of death. The bleak songs, Dylan told in a 1997 interview, are more concerned with the dreadrealities of life than the bright and rosy idealism popular today.Time Out of Mindis arguably one of hisbest albums after the 1975 releaseBlood On The Tracks. While, according to his own admission, songs dontcome to him easily anymore, he remains to be a prolific songwriter who can fluently express himself in thesuperb single Things Have Changedwhich he wrote in 2001 for the film Wonder Boys. Commenting on thelyrics Joel Selvin writes: Its classic Dylan acerbic, cryptic, truthful. The snarl of his youth has given wayto a distracted ennui. He is a man disconnected from his own emotions, watching his own life pass by, butstill feeling hunger and wondering what happened.

No one in front of me and nothing behind

On May 2011, Bob Dylan has turned seventy. In April 1997, Allen Ginsberg died of a heart attack at the ageof 70 in New York City. The same night at a show in Canada, Dylan dedicated Desolation Rowto Ginsberg.


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Many of his close friends, associates and rivals like Albert Grossman, Phil Ochs, Mike Bloomfield, GeorgeHarrison, Dave Van Ronk, Johnny Cash and Jerry Garcia with whom he had walked his spectacular journeyhave also died. On February 2011, Suze Rotolo died of lung cancer in her Manhattan home at the age of 67.Just before the release of his 1997 album Time Out of Mind, Dylan himself became seriously ill from a heartinfection. I really thought Id be seeing Elvis soon, he quipped characteristically after recovering from hisillness.

Dylan has long left behind his supernova years. The particular era he represented has also receded from the

public mind and is recalled and idealized now by nostalgia. The range and dexterity of his young voice hasdissipated and became scratchy due to age. Though he remained controversial all his life, his contradictions,antics and incongruities could not cause any harm to his world-wide reputation as one of the mostinfluential artists of the past century. On the contrary, unlike many popular artists who have faded withtime, Dylan has retained his audience and determination and has achieved a mythical status in the world ofpopular music. His five decades long riveting musical journey is still in motion. He can still evoke a deepemotional response from his audiences.

Being fully aware that, People are fickle. Their loyalty can turn at the drop of a hat, he has certainlymastered the essential skills he needed to survive as a popular artist and deal with fame. He has survivedthe changing music tastes by continuously reinvented himself and has found a new generation of avid

listeners. Hundreds of books have been written about him, thousands of articles about his life and works aremushrooming almost daily. The ever-expanding internet sites are flooded with every bit and piece of Dylan

information. Academic courses and conferences are arranged regularly by reputed institutions whereeminent scholars, fascinated by his abiding contribution to popular culture, keep themselves busydissecting his vast repertoire of impressively diverse, elusive yet powerful lyrics. However, he still remainsdeeply disturbed and frustrated for being misunderstood by critics. He laments about the lack of goodcritics who can understand the dynamic fundamentalism of popular music.

However, Dylan is far less concerned with nostalgia. Instead, he is notorious for upsetting his admirers bytwisting the iconic songs, bewildering them by transforming their lyrics and melodies into strange newcreations during the live shows. When in 2004 he was awarded an honorary doctorate by Scotlands

University of St. Andrews, Dylan was seen sitting motionless on stage, yawning and showed no reaction asa university choir performed a version of his early classic Blowin in the Wind. He continues to remainobscure in public saying little about his music and absolutely nothing about his personal life.

Changing pace and location, Douglas Brinkley remarked in theRolling StonearticleBob Dylans America,

are essential to his survival as an artist. Touring nonstop since 1988, Dylan has tirelessly played over ahundred shows a year and has performed at more than two thousand concerts all around the globe on aNever Ending Tour.

In Things Have Changedhe fascinatingly wrote:

People are crazy and times are strange

Im locked in tight, Im out of range

I used to care, but things have changed

Dylan continues to fight back against anything that devalues the spirit of the individual and is critical aboutthe postmodern generation. Its a shame to see them so tuned out to real life, he has bitterly remarked toDouglas Brinkley in 2009. A worried man with a worried mind, he finds that the generation does notunderstand the cost of liberty. Throughout his life, individual liberty was what mattered to him most.

(Concluded)

References:1. Bob Dylan:Lyrics (1962-2001)

2. Bob Dylan: Chronicles (Vol: One)

3. David Boucher, Gary Browning (ed.): The Political Art of Bob Dylan


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Chaos to Creation the Enigma of Bob Dylan (Part 3)

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