tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8183662.post116380248166397451..comments2023-06-13T21:46:20.222+01:00Comments on A few words: Desolation Row: Bob Dylan's wastelandUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8183662.post-26040443804806181682020-02-06T14:49:26.916+00:002020-02-06T14:49:26.916+00:00Just one other thing as an FYI. Dylan's father...Just one other thing as an FYI. Dylan's father was an 8 year old when three men were hanged in Duluth. They sold pictures of the hanging. I guess Dylan's dad must have told him about it and it made an impression.The Dune dudehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09732973537993563657noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8183662.post-35667932790097992602020-02-06T14:13:45.033+00:002020-02-06T14:13:45.033+00:00Nothing Dylan writes is just for rhyming sake. He ...Nothing Dylan writes is just for rhyming sake. He chooses his words and imagery carefully. They mean something to him, but they are personal and so he chooses not to explain them, instead saying they don't mean anything to get people to quit bugging him. I admit that I didn't really understand this song but liked the music and imagery it created. Then I think it was Bob Weir who explained that Dylan is using all these famous names but putting them in unfamiliar and weird situations not normally associated with them. Why? Dylan explains in the last verse, "I got your letter, and I know the people you mentioned. They are quite lame and I have given them different names (to protect their innocence or because he doesn't want to be sued for slander?). So Romeo and Einstein and company are just pseudonyms for real people that Dylan doesn't care for. Dylan also doesn't care for inane questions like "how are you doing?". In another song he complained about someone asking him "where it was at?". It must be hard to talk to Dylan. If you ask him what he considers is a stupid question he might write an entire song about it. But only you and he will know what it is about. I think Dylan realizes over time the original reason for the song doesn't matter, and he would rather people come up with their own interpretation as has been done here then say, oh this song was about my friend Susie and a dumb letter she wrote about people I can't stand, namely Bill, and Jane, etc. Rest assured though, there is a reason for each and every word. The Dune dudehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09732973537993563657noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8183662.post-62864840812634453092018-05-19T10:04:09.189+01:002018-05-19T10:04:09.189+01:00Hey Nico Fitz! Gotta bombshell: it's "......Hey Nico Fitz! Gotta bombshell: it's "...delicate, she seems like the mirror" - not veneer! It's that unusual habit inhabitants of the New World have of pronouncing 'looking glass' with a single syllable. Young Diogeneshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12827559578392205467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8183662.post-86079281664579234572015-12-06T05:33:30.952+00:002015-12-06T05:33:30.952+00:00man you said it and how aptly.
man you said it and how aptly. <br />Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04707766116018750823noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8183662.post-42036123227390392322013-03-27T05:27:48.192+00:002013-03-27T05:27:48.192+00:00The start of your article, and I thank you for inc...The start of your article, and I thank you for including it, says it all: he didn't have any studious intent in writing this song, or any it appears. He rhymes words with words, often totally apart from an image he is trying to convey ("She looks just like veneer" from Visions of Johanna springs to mind - he didn't see any image there of a veneer-like woman, it just rhymed with the word near and it suggested itself to him while he was writing). He rhymes words together and extemporizes until he's extemporized al he feels like. There's no plan, no intent - as he says himself. He doesn't know what he's doing, he's just playing with words and music. T.S Eliot is a different kettle of fish. He knew exactly what he was doing and why, with every word and not-word and every punctuation and formal device etc. This is the difference. If Bob Dylan didn't have any meaning, structure, intent, erudition (apart from rhyming words together so that they sound good and interesting), then why invent meanings and interpretations? He rhymes words together with little consciusness of what he's doing or what he wants to do, and little editing in a lot of cases. It's pretty poor stuff, and a comparison with Eliot's Wasteland, or any poem by a respected poet, of any generation, only serves to highlight this.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8183662.post-66510099589048237792011-07-31T02:44:30.179+01:002011-07-31T02:44:30.179+01:00Could some additinoal verses be added to the song?...Could some additinoal verses be added to the song? Maybe one about Confucious, between verse 10 and the rest of the song.Myrtonehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06414825749856157045noreply@blogger.com