Bob Dylan is an American songwriter, singer, artist, and writer. Dylan has won many awards for his song writing and performances, including
the 2016 Nobel Prize in Literature for his entire body of work. Some of his albums and singles include The Midnight Special, The concert
for Bangladesh, Songs for the New Depression, No reason to Cry etc.
Bob Dylan’s Nobel Prize for Literature:-
Nobel Prize is the highest and the most prestigious award in the field of literature. Bob Dylan is the first singer to have
achieved this award, which has received a lot of mixed response. Other than Nobel Prize in Literature, he has also won an Academy award
being the second person after George Bernard Shaw to have received both the Oscar and the Nobel Prize. He has also won the Grammy, and so
much more. There has been a lot of mixed response for him bagging the Nobel Prize, where writers like Salman Rushdie appreciate his achievement,
other writers like Ruskin Bond comment that Bob Dylan’s Nobel Prize is an insult to Literature. Some latest updates suggest that, he refused his Nobel
Prize and his being silent has been inferred as ‘arrogance by the Nobel authorities.
The purpose of this paper is not to criticise or support any decision. This paper aims to analyse the works of Bob Dylan.
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Evaluation of Bob Dylan’s works:-
The works of Bob Dylan has been soothing our ears and compelling us to interpret this world since 1960’s. Most of his songs include social messages
and longing for love. Through this paper, I want to analyse his songs with social messages with attempt to protest. For e.g- his song, Blowing in the
wind is a song which is so tightly constructed that every line has power and strength; it is an anti-political song that suggests that by observing and
taking notes of the real world, we can understand the world. He says that we don’t need political vision, leaders, theories or anything else. Some of his
songs which talks about war protest, racism protests, rural and social protests which includes, Hard Rain’s gonna fall, John Brown, Masters of War, With
God on our side, Talking World War III Blues, Only a pawn in their game, Oxford Town, When the Ship comes in, The Lonesome Death of Hattle Carroll, Chimes
of Freedom etc. Songs like My Back Pages, Gates of Eden , It’s all right ma talks about individualism.
In 1970’s some of his best works like, Knocking on heaven’s door, New Morning, Day of the locusts, Idiot Wind, Gotta Serve Somebody etc came
up. In the 1980’s most of his works included the feeling of love and romance in them and some other works were Disease of Conceit, Everything is Broken, Man
in a Long Black Coat etc. The 1990’s included songs like The Devil’s been busy, Seven Deadly Sins, Time to end this Masquerade, Million Miles etc. Some of his
21st Century songs include Summer Days, Honest with me, Floater etc.
The songs of Dylan somehow depicted that music was not just for entertainment but has high literary value. Music can be the carrier of social
messages. In the
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beginning as well, poetry was in the form of music and by giving his poetry the rhythm of oomph, he has definitely redefined poetry. Through this paper, I
will analyse most of his songs with hidden meanings and, how that could be related to the world and to the forms of literature. This paper shall also include
the background stories behind some of his songs, as well as the language and influences of the early Bob Dylan.
Anaysis of Dylan’s lyrics as poetry:-
Initially, poetry was sung. Poetry started as a form of music and till this day, artists like Dylan have proven that poetry somehow lies in
the lyrics of modern day’s rock and pop music. If the songs of Dylan shall be categorised then, they shall be in a certain kind of way. Songs of my emotional
pain with criticising tone:- for example:-One too many mornings, It aint me babe, Don’t think twice ‘ perhaps the classic Dylan ‘song of leaving’, ‘Look out
your window and I’ll be gone ‘ you’re the reason I’m travelling on’,
Someday Baby is an interesting ‘I’m gonna leave you’ blues song which contains all the essential ingredients of the blues, Most likely you go your way. A touch
of disdain, but just a touch, Tambourine Man is a leaving song, but not of leaving a woman, but of leaving this world, rather like the pied piper. Can you please
crawl out your window?, Idiot Wind, Like a Rolling Stone, Positively Fourth Street, One of us must know, It ain’t me babe, Heart of Mine is an interesting variation
because it is a song of self-disdain, Pay in Blood ‘ some put down as a religious song, but I disagree, Rollin and Tumblin is a classic blues song of disdain,
but curiously Dylan adds a new verse near the end which suggests the couple should make up and be happy,Where were you last night.
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The political/protest songs, includes; Times they are a changing, and Hard Rain are examples, although Hard Rain is also a
song of despair. Masters of War, Hard Rains a Gonna Fall, Times they are a changing, Chimes of Freedom.
The religious songs include, When the ship comes in, Every grain of Sand, Gotta Serve Somebody ,I believe in you, Trouble
‘ which is Dylan’s anti-religious song., Pay in Blood
Songs of Despair include; The world gone wrong. Here the singer’s world ‘ perhaps the whole world ‘ has collapsed or at
the very least is uncertain and hazy. Desolation Row is the perfect example of the collapsed world. Another perfect example is ‘Just
like Tom Thumbs Blues’ which contrasts with Honest with Me ‘ a lost love song.
Masters of War gets close to that ‘ rather it is Not Dark Yet, the ultimate drift away from such an imperfect world.
There is a different type of despair on Million Miles, Blind Willie McTell which recounts the world of slavery must come into this section
Songs of Love include; To be in this group I’m thinking that the song has to express real love, even if the relationship
is over. Love is the essence, not the departure, She Belongs to Me, Shelter from the storm, Tangled up in blue, Where were you last night?,
I want you, Honest with Me, You angel you, On a night like this, Absolutely sweet Marie ‘ which is a song of lost love, but unusually not a song of disdain.
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Dylan has sung many songs in his life, some were highly appreciated and some were criticised as well. This paper, however shall analyse
some particular and selected lyrics of some powerful songs written by Dylan.
It’s not dark yet was one of the highly appreciated works by Dylan. The lyrics include the following lines:-
It’s Not Dark Yet
Shadows are falling and I’ve been here all day
It’s too hot to sleep, time is running away
Feel like my soul has turned into steel
I’ve still got the scars that the sun didn’t heal
There’s not even room enough to be anywhere
It’s not dark yet, but it’s getting there
Well, my sense of humanity has gone down the drain
Behind every beautiful thing there’s been some kind of pain
She wrote me a letter and she wrote it so kind
She put down in writing what was in her mind
I just don’t see why I should even care
It’s not dark yet, but it’s getting there
Well, I’ve been to London and I’ve been to gay Paree
I’ve followed the river and I got to the sea
I’ve been down on the bottom of a world full of lies
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I ain’t looking for nothing in anyone’s eyes
Sometimes my burden seems more than I can bear
It’s not dark yet, but it’s getting there
I was born here and I’ll die here against my will
I know it looks like I’m moving, but I’m standing still
Every nerve in my body is so vacant and numb
I can’t even remember what it was I came here to get away from
Don’t even hear a murmur of a prayer
It’s not dark yet, but it’s getting there
This is a song with very powerful lyrics. This song talks about the loss of faith in humanity somewhat
like the loss of ‘sea of faith’ mentioned in Arnold’s Dover Beach. This song reflects the modern skeptics found in most
modern poems. Turning of ‘soul’ into ‘steel’ shows the modern despair and inhumanity prevailing post wars. Steel is a
production of science, which is again another characteristic of modern poetry, the mention of science. In the lines,’
it’s not dark yet but it’s getting there’ simultaneously shows the, optimism and pessimism prevailing in the modern human
psyche. ‘Behind every beautiful thing there’s been some kind of pain’, this line shows the ultimate modern psyche. The
modern people are somehow afraid of joy, unlike the romantics. We are so skeptic that we get afraid of beautiful things;
as we believe that after getting even a little bit of joy, the sorrow follows and stays. In these lines, romantic escapism
can also be seen, as here the speaker is somehow trying to run away from all the worries and pain living and breathing in the modern society.
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Ballad for a Friend
Sad I’m sittin’ on the railroad track,
Watchin’ that old smokestack.
Train is a-leavin’ but it won’t be back.
Years ago we hung around,
Watchin’ trains roll through the town.
Now that train is a-graveyard bound.
Where we go up in that North Country,
Lakes and streams and mines, so free,
I had no better friend than he.
Something happened to him that day,
I thought I heard a stranger say,
I hung my head and stole away.
A diesel truck was rollin’ slow,
Pullin’ down a heavy load.
It left him on a Utah road.
They carried him back to his home town,
His mother cried, his sister moaned,
Listin’ to them church bells toll.
The above lyrics, reflect reminiscence, loss and despair. The cause of accident through mechanical machines,
rather than natural death shows the modern nature of people.
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Death has become so common that it hardly shocks people anymore. These lines also kind of, connect one to Thomas Gray’s Elegy
written in a country churchyard.
Some other popular poems by Dylan were; Blowing in the wind, Honey just allow me one more chance, Down the highway, Tomorrow
is a long time, Hollis Brown, Dont think twice, Oxford town.
Oxford town:-
He went down to Oxford Town
Guns and clubs followed him down
All because his face was brown
Better get away from Oxford Town.
The above song was meant to be a racial protest. Dylan somehow pointed out the fact that,
we people tend to be so modern but we are still very old fashioned with our mentality. We follow modern
corrupted practices but we still are racist in our hearts. The ‘guns and clubs followed him down, all
because his face was brown’, these lines show the violence followed in the world because of racism. We
always consider that a brown man should a slave or they bring bad luck, or probably are immigrants and
terrorists, as also shown in 12 years a slave. Dylan is trying to change the mentality of people through these songs.
Masters of war:-
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Sat down on a hard hot cold frozen stone
Ten thousand stood round me yet I was alone
I took off my hat to keep my head warm
Ten thousand was drowned that never was born.
You that build all the bombs/You that hide behind walls/You that hide behind desks/I just want you to know/I can see through your masks
The above lines are from one of the most appreciated songs by Dylan. Masters of war, shows the cruelty of war and the
Gods of war, i.e- humans. The ‘hard cold frozen stone’ is the metaphorical heart and soul of human beings, which doesn’t feel anymore.
The speaker was alone even with so many other people, shows the lonliness of mind in the modern society. In modern world we don’t even
help our neighbours anymore, we don’t even know them; let alone other human beings. Another meaning could also be, the actual physical
loneliness as he might be alone amongst 10,000 dead bodies. The 10,000 was drowned that never was born could mean two things, either
the people who never even got a chance to live, or that, the people could not even give birth to other human beings, who were supposed
to be born but were not as their parents were dead. The lines mentioned later, is an insult to the human beings. Dylan says that,
we build all the bombs and act like heroes but in reality, we are all cowards. We hide behind the walls, we act good but we are not.
Dylan has also pointed the double faced nature of human beings, where we act like something but in reality, we are something else.
The speaker says that, he can see through our masks. The human masks are our body, our face which appears to be something else but our souls are dark. We
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may act to be good but our masks are going to get eventually diminished with only our dark soul, wandering in this world.
The World War III blues- ‘I’ll let you be in my dreams if I can be in yours’. This line is the most popular line by Dylan.
The song , like the ‘masters of war’ talks about the fear and estrangement related to wars.
Knocking on heaven’s door:-
Mama, take this badge off of me
I can’t use it anymore
It’s gettin’ dark, too dark for me to see
I feel like I’m knockin’ on heaven’s door
Mama, put my guns in the ground
I can’t shoot them anymore
That long black cloud is comin’ down
I feel like I’m knockin’ on heaven’s door
These lines were little difficult to infer, but it shows the ultimate hopelessness and
remorse a person feels during the denouema of his/her life. The speaker in these lines, is pleading for
forgiveness and mercy, he has somehow given up on everything and he is ‘knockin on heaven’s door’ for
hope and mercy. He wants peace, and wants to escape from the soul-less world. He feels that his time
is near and he doesn’t have any more strength to go on with violence, he doesn’t want to fight anymore.
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Times, they are a changing-
Come gather ’round people
Wherever you roam
And admit that the waters
Around you have grown
And accept it that soon
You’ll be drenched to the bone
If your time to you is worth savin’
Then you better start swimmin’ or you’ll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin’
Come writers and critics
Who prophesize with your pen
And keep your eyes wide
The chance won’t come again
And don’t speak too soon
For the wheel’s still in spin
And there’s no tellin’ who that it’s namin’
For the loser now will be later to win
For the times they are a-changin’
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Come senators, congressmen
Please heed the call
Don’t stand in the doorway
Don’t block up the hall
For he that gets hurt
Will be he who has stalled
There’s a battle outside and it is ragin’
It’ll soon shake your windows and rattle your walls
For the times they are a-changin’
And the first one now will later be last
For the times they are a-changin’
The above lines might remind someone of ‘ The Last Ride Together’ which was a Victorian dramatic monologue.
He says the time changes very rapidly and nothing stays forever. The speaker here says that the time always changes,
for every person; today a loser might become tomorrow’s winner.
Every Grain of Sand:-
In the time of my confession, in the hour of my deepest need
When the pool of tears beneath my feet flood every newborn seed
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There’s a dyin’ voice within me reaching out somewhere
Toiling in the danger and in the morals of despair
Don’t have the inclination to look back on any mistake
Like Cain, I now behold this chain of events that I must break
In the fury of the moment I can see the Master’s hand
In every leaf that trembles, in every grain of sand
Oh, the flowers of indulgence and the weeds of yesteryear
Like criminals, they have choked the breath of conscience and good cheer
The sun beat down upon the steps of time to light the way
To ease the pain of idleness and the memory of decay
The above lines, seems like an ardent poetry. Here, the speaker doesn’t want to look back to
correct his mistakes. Here, he has also used archetype, and trying to recall cain who was the
first muderder ever. He beheld his chains of events, that he thought was needed to be broken.
The beautiful yesteryear is dying with the evolution of the modern times.
Blowing’ in the wind.
How many years can a mountain exist
Before it’s washed to the sea?
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Yes, ‘n’ how many years can some people exist
Before they’re allowed to be free?
Yes, ‘n’ how many times can a man turn his head
Pretending he just doesn’t see?
The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind
The answer is blowin’ in the wind
How many times must a man look up
Before he can see the sky?
Yes, ‘n’ how many ears must one man have
Before he can hear people cry?
Yes, ‘n’ how many deaths will it take till he knows
That too many people have died?
The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind
The answer is blowin’ in the wind.
The above lines, have so many meanings to them. These lines talk about the human pain.
The speaker here is asking, that for how long does a man require to be strong before he
questions for how long does a man need to become a slave so that he can be free. ,for how long does a man need to be tortured before he can finally smile and be free. He says that everybody only pretend like they see nothing, they ignore everybody’s pain. He questions ‘hope’, how many times does a man need to become hopeful before the enlightenment. He questions the way, in which people can finally realize other’s pain. He
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says that when will people realise the terror of war and death and pain. He finally
says that the answer lies in the wind.
Other than songs, Dylan has written many books; most of them are about
songs and art amongst which tarantula is one of the appreciated work. He has written many
of his works under the genre of experimental literature. Tarantula is one of his work which
deals with Prose-Poetry. It employs stream of consciousness writing.
Conclusion:-
With the clashes of critics about Dylan being a Nobel laureate is set apart.
The question of music being poetry or Dylan’s Nobel prize being justified remains unanswered
for the moment. Although, his works does include poetic notes, if one compares Dylan with the
present song-writers then definitely his songs can be highly acclaimed. The present generation
of music has somehow become corrupted. The world of rock and pop music was redefined by Dylan;
even when present singers and rappers are taken into account, Dylan’s works shall stand apart.