Bob Dylan's 'Jokerman' - an analysis - Part 3

In this article we take a closer look at the second stanza of this song.

‘So swiftly the sun sets in the sky
You rise up and say goodbye to no one
Fools rush in where angels fear to tread
Both of their futures, so full of dread, you don't show one
Shedding off one more layer of skin
Keeping one step ahead of the persecutor within’.

‘So swiftly the sun sets in the sky, you rise up and say goodbye to no one’. These words seem rather obscure and hard to unravel. The setting sun is of religious significance within Judaism. Sunset is the time for the evening prayers to start; sunset marks the transition to, or from, the Sabbath or any other holiday. Sunset is the time for a Jewish ritual called ‘Havdalah’ which takes place at the end of Shabbat. Some analysts see the Jokerman mocking this ritual by not taking part in it and breaking up the community of this ritual without even saying goodbye. This explanation however, seems a little farfetched. There is more likelihood in assuming that the Jokerman again wears the cloak of Jesus. Although his coming to the earth was predicted by the prophets, Jesus suddenly appeared in public life and only after a few years he was crucified at the age of 33 but he rose from the dead. Prior to his crucifixion he was abandoned by everyone, even by his closest disciples. (Mat. 26:56). ‘So swiftly the sun sets in the sky’ may also be a vague reference to the ‘darkness at the break of noon’, the three hours of darkness which fell all over the land during the crucifixion of Jesus and which is described in Matthew 27:45. But the best explanation of the words ‘you rise up and say goodbye to no one’ seems to be found in the story of the ascension of Jesus into heaven as pictured in the book of Acts, Chapter 1:9-11: “After saying this, he (Jesus) was taken up into a cloud while they were watching, and they could no longer see him. As they strained to see him rising into heaven, two white-robed men suddenly stood among them. “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why are you standing here staring into heaven? Jesus has been taken from you into heaven, but someday he will return from heaven in the same way you saw him go!” From these words we learn that Jesus did not really say goodbye to his disciples, nor to the world for that matter, in fact the disciples were quite taken by surprise by the scene of the ascension which took place before their very eyes. Jesus just rose up and disappeared on a cloud.
‘Fools rush in where angels fear to tread, both of their futures so full of dread, you don't show one’ 'Fools rush in...' is a precise quote from the English poet Alexander Pope's ‘An essay on criticism’, 1709, where it reads: “No Place so Sacred from such Fops is barr'd, nor is Paul's Church more safe than Paul's Church-yard: Nay, fly to Altars; there they'll talk you dead; for Fools rush in where Angels fear to tread’. A number of writers like Edmund Burke, Thomas Hardy, E.M. Forster and James Joyce have repeated this quotation in their literary works. The expression also has some Biblical connotation and Alexander Pope may well have been inspired by this. The book of Jude first speaks of wicked angels ‘who did not stay within the limits of authority God gave them but left the place where they belonged. God has kept them securely chained in prisons of darkness, waiting for the great Day of Judgment. (verse 6).But there are also good angels like Michael, the archangel and his companions, who act in a very prudent way. Michael has fear to judge and fears to tread in field of Judgment which only belongs to God. We read: ‘Michael did not dare accuse the devil of blasphemy, but simply said, “The Lord rebuke you!” (This took place when Michael was arguing with the devil about Moses’ body.) No matter how prudent and full of fear Michael the angel is, in the book of Jude we see ‘Fools rush in’ ready to ‘scoff at things they do not understand. Like unthinking animals, they do whatever their instincts tell them, and so they bring about their own destruction’ (verse 10).
Now Dylan goes on to say that ‘both of their futures so full of dread’ indicating that not only the future of the ‘fools’ but also the future of the ‘angels’ is full of dread, both the fools and the wicked angels are in great fear of impending evil, in the same way as Shakespeare wrote: ‘The dread of something after death’. However, the word ‘dread’ has also a more positive meaning. ‘Dread’ may also mean: reverential or respectful fear, awe. We see both meanings of the word reflected in the book of Jude and also incorporated the Jokerman. On one hand we see the wicked angels, chained in the prisons of darkness, waiting for the great Day of Judgment, and they are full of dread for this day. We also see the fools and the book of Jude says of the fools and the scoffers: ‘Woe to them!’’ (verse11).  The fools and the wicked angels have every reason to be full of dread for the future. But on the other hand, there is Michael, the good angel, he is also full of dread, but he is dreadful in a positive way, he is full of respect and awe for God.
The Jokerman is an ambiguous character, therefore it now says: ‘You don’t show one’, the Jokerman does not show which kind of dread he inhabits. He does not show his evil intentions. He looks like an angel of light, in the same way as Satan does (2 Corinthians 11:14: ‘even Satan disguises himself as an angel if light’’).  
‘Shedding off one more layer of skin’ makes the Jokerman hard to detect. The Jokerman looks like a chameleon which changes color all the time, the Jokerman is a person who changes opinions, ideas, or behavior to suit the prevailing social climate; an opportunist.
Reptiles, like snakes, shed off their skins. The snake, the serpent, is in the Bible the equivalent of the devil, the Satan. The devil, in the shape of a serpent, stealthily comes to Adam in the Garden of Eden to tempt Adam to disobey God’s commandment. Therefore, when it says ‘Shedding off one more layer of skin’ Dylan once again deposits the Jokerman in the realm of Satan and of all evil but the Jokerman does so in a disguised way with the purpose of ‘keeping one step ahead of the persecutor within’. Kevin Bloom applies this couplet to Dylan personally as if Dylan were the Jokerman himself and writes: “And if there’s any couplet to quote back at him, any piece of rhyming verse that could conceivably be inscribed as an epitaph on his tombstone, it’s from the biblical track “Jokerman,” specifically the last two lines of the second verse: “Shedding off one more layer of skin/ Keeping one step ahead of the persecutor within.”. Somehow Kevin Bloom’s interpretation just does not feel right. His interpretation is too negative; it does not fit in with Dylan. Although over his career Dylan has had a wide variety of styles, he has often been the opposite of a chameleon. As said a chameleon changes opinions, ideas or behavior to suit the prevailing social climate. But Dylan has always ventured to act against popular culture and public opinion, making turns where nobody would expect him to do so. In many ways Dylan is the opposite of an opportunist.
‘A persecutor’   is someone who torments other people, he is a tormentor. When this persecutor is ‘within’ you, it means that your own body and your own mind is torn apart by this persecutor .No matter how defiled demons can be, and no matter how much relish demons take in doing evil and setting up wicked schemes, there is always a persecutor inside these devils and demons which tells their conscience that what they are doing is wrong and this voice torments and destructs them as long as they exist.   Satan himself has this self-destructive power, this tormentor, within him. This self- destructive power is, however, restrained by his will to do as much evil as he can, till at last, at the Latter Day, the game is finally over. Through metamorphoses – shedding off layers of skin - Satan is able to avoid not only detection but also avoid total destruction and annihilation and to start all over again in a new deceptive body. In this way Satan always keeps one step ahead of the persecutor, the destructive power, within him. We see these satanic metamorphoses throughout the Bible and specifically in the Book of Revelation. In chapter 12 the devil is first pictured as a great red dragon (verse 3) and next as a serpent (verse 15) and in chapter 13 as a beast with ten horns and seven heads. But in the end the devil – the Jokerman – will not be able to keep one step ahead. We see the devil – and his incarnations the Beast and the false prophet – thrown into the lake of fire and sulphur were they will be forever tormented. The persecutor, the tormentor, will end up being persecuted and tormented (Rev. 20:10).Justice will get the better of him in the end.     

Bob Dylan's 'Jokerman' - an analysis - Part 2.

Bob Dylan’s “Jokerman” – an analysis- Part 2- by Kees de Graaf.

In the first article  on Jokerman we wrote some introductory remarks on this song. In this article we will deal with the lyrics of the first stanza and the chorus.

‘Standing on the water, casting your bread’ combines two Biblical notions .First of all, one would expect the lyrics to read ‘standing at the water, casting your bread’ but the lyrics deliberately say: ‘standing on the water.’ By saying ‘on’ the water, the poet immediately draws attention to Jesus of whom the Scriptures say that he walked ‘on’ the sea. (Matthew 14:25, 26). At the same time, by saying ‘standing on the water, casting your bread Dylan connects Jesus’s walking on the water with the Biblical Book of Ecclesiastes (11:1) where it says: ‘Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days’.  Later on in 2003, Dylan has the actor John Goodman say in the movie “Masked and Anonymous”: ‘Does Jesus have to walk on water twice to make a point?". By walking on the water Jesus wanted to make a point, a statement. The same point as in Ecclesiastes 11:1 The point Jesus wants to make is: have faith in God, trust in God and anything is possible, even walking on water. As long as Peter trusted in God and Jesus, he too could walk on water. But when his faith started to waver, Peter began to sink (Matthew 14:30) and he cried out to the Lord to save him. The same idea is expressed in Ecclesiastes 11:1.The New Living Translation translates Ecclesiastes 11:1 as follows: ‘Send your grain across the seas, and in time, profits will flow back to you’. The idea is the same as in Matthew 14: trust in God, have trust in the future and invest in other people by helping them out and sharing and casting them your bread and in due course the Lord will bless you for your attitude. But no matter how faithful and sincere one may be in doing this, Dylan warns that idolatry may be near and is always more on the lurk than you realize. Things are often not what they seem and that is why he adds: ‘While the eyes of the idol with the iron head are glowing’. Jesus could do miracles and walk on water but likewise Pharaoh’s magicians could do miracles by turning a rod into a serpent (Exodus 7:11, 12). And what about the idol, the Beast coming out of the earth as pictured in the book of Revelation 13:11?  We read that this beast ‘had two horns like a lamb, and he spoke as a dragon’. He looks like a ‘lamb’ – like Jesus – but speaks like the devil. Things are not what they seem. This beast ‘does great wonders, so that he makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, and he deceives them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles’.  When miracles do no glorify God, miracles turn into jugglery and self-glorifying idolatry. Likewise, when you are casting your bread with the purpose not to help your neighbor but to get richer and more prosperous than you already are, you are entering the territory of and paying tribute to ‘idol with the iron head’. The idol has an ‘iron’ head. ‘Iron’ in the Bible stands for brutal strength: the idol ‘will crush you with wealth and power’ (as Dylan wrote in ‘Ain’t Talking).
’The eyes of the idol with the iron head are glowing’ means that the eyes of the idol are on fire, the idol is ready to lash out, there is just no escaping once the idol has seen you and once you have felt the ‘tender touch of the beast’ . Once the idol has grasped you it will ‘bury you from your head to your feet, from the disease of conceit’ which it will inflict on you.

‘Distant ships sailing into the mist’ might have been inspired by the fact that this song was written on a boat down in the Caribbean. Dylan said in 1984: ‘Me and another guy have a boat down there. ‘Jokerman’’ kinda came to me in the islands. It’s very mystical. The shapes there, and the shadows, seem to be so ancient. The song was sorta inspired by these spirits they call jumbis’. In the song ‘Caribbean Wind’ Dylan also deals with distant ships and writes: ‘And them distant ships of liberty on them iron waves so bold and free, bringing everything that’s near to me nearer to the fire’ where he seems to suggest that these distant ships carry everything that is near to him, what is of great moral value to him, to the fire of judgment.

‘You were born with a snake in both of your fists while a hurricane was blowing’. This is an ancient mythological image. The ‘You’ obviously is the Jokerman which is portrayed later on in the chorus of the song. The image reminds us of the little baby Hercules. Hercules strangled two snakes which were sent to kill him by Hera, the jealous wife of Zeus. ’While a hurricane was blowing’ may draw our attention to the Greek God Poseidon who could not only create hurricanes and thunderstorms, but he could also calm the seas to glass-like placidity. He could also raise islands out of the sea as he pleased. In Greek mythology the Hekatonkheires were three giant gods of violent storms and hurricanes. They had a hundred hands and fifty heads, for handling the destructive power of storm.
Whereas in the first line ‘standing on the water, casting your bread’ the Jokerman is identified with Jesus, reciting the Biblical Book of Ecclesiastes, we now see ambiguity for the first time burst upon the scene because the Jokerman is now identified with the territory of the snake, the serpent, behind which we see the devil who is a personification of all evil powers. The next line in the song: ‘Freedom just around the corner for you, but with truth so far off, what good will it do’, shows that this ambiguity of the Jokerman is nothing new. We find this ambiguity in the attitude of some of the Jews towards Jesus as described in the book of John, chapter 8:30-59. I would not be surprised if Dylan had this chapter of the gospel of John in the back of his mind when he wrote this line. In John 8:32 Jesus says that the ‘truth shall make you free’, truth and freedom are inseparably intertwined. Freedom without truth will lead to decadence and truth without freedom will lead to oppression. There was this ambiguous attitude of the Jews when they were confronted with Jesus’s claim on truth. In 8:29 we read: ‘Then many who heard him say these things believed in him’. But others said: Didn’t we say all along that you (Jesus) were possessed by a demon?”(8:48). This whole passage of John 8 is about the question of truth. Jesus had claimed: ‘I am the way, and the truth and the life’ (John 14.6) and if in John 8 Jesus had spoken these words ‘Freedom just around the corner for you, but with truth so far off, what good will it do’, it would have fitted in very well, because in other words this is exactly what Jesus is saying there. It is as if Jesus were saying: ‘Freedom, that is me!, I will set you free. I am not far away, in fact I’m standing right in front of you, or haven’t you looked? Freedom is close by, just around the corner for everybody here in this town of Jerusalem. But near as I may be, to find me you have to accept that I speak the truth, that I am the truth,  but you are not willing to accept the truth about me and with truth so far off, what good will it do?.

Within the context of the lyrics of the song, it now seems obvious that the ‘Jokerman’ in the chorus: ‘Jokerman dance to the nightingale tune, bird fly high by the light of the moon’ is a highly controversial, deceptive, ambiguous personality, a wolf in sheep’s clothing, who sometimes looks like a savior, as the Savior, but who in reality belongs to the satanic realm of darkness. The ‘Jokerman’ may have some connotation with the Joker card in card playing. In card playing the Joker card is often some sort of a wild card which may represent other existing cards in the game. The Joker card may be very beneficial or it may be very harmful and one does not know beforehand how it will work out. No wonder that the ‘Jokerman’’ is portrayed here as a very deceptive and ambiguous personality.
Another aspect of the ’Jokerman’ is mockery. It is a main feature of human existence that when times are strenuous, people may do two quite different things. They either start joking, mocking or slandering or they start praying.  An example of the first is the joking, mocking thief who was crucified next to Jesus. For more details on this subject please go to my analysis of "All along the Watchtower" . But in times of strain and crisis, people also may act in the opposite way. Instead of mocking and joking they start praying. Dylan gives us an example of this in the song ‘Shooting Star’. Amidst the crisis of the Last Account Dylan writes: ‘As the last fire truck from hell goes rolling by, all good people are praying’.
The attitude of the Jokerman is: the show must go on, just like when the Titanic was going down, the band played on. Likewise the Jokerman keeps on dancing on the ruins of Babylon: “Jokerman dance to the nightingale tune”. A nightingale used to be a symbol for a poet or a singer. When the Jokerman dances, it seems the Jokerman is much more focused on the nightingale’s tune, on the poet, the sing and dance man, than on anything else. In times of crisis, when people are crazy, entertainment has always been a way of distracting attention and moving away into the land of oblivion. By seeking entertainment the Jokerman secludes himself from all the serious things, from all the hardships, that go on all around him. At a time when it really matters, the Jokerman is unwilling to take any responsibility and ‘laughs in the face of what sorrow brings’ (as Dylan wrote in “What Good am I?”).
Like a bird that flies high in the sky, the Jokerman tries to get away as far as he can from all crazy sorrow in this world, that is why he now adds:. “Bird fly high by the light of the moon”
High up in the sky the Jokerman shuts himself off. The moon in Dylan’s work – an also in the Bible - is often an omen of approaching apocalyptic disaster, but the Jokerman does not care.
Maybe I got it all wrong. Therefore, give us your thoughts on this analysis on how we should see it. To that please push the button 'reacties' below and give us your response to this article.

Bob Dylan's 'Jokerman' - an analysis - Part 1 - Introduction

Introduction
The album ‘Infidels’ – of which ‘Jokerman’ is the opening song –is usually not regarded as part of Dylan’s legacy of specific Christian albums. Although the album is littered with numerous Biblical allusions, it is, unlike its predecessors ‘Slow Train Coming’, ‘Saved’ and ‘Shot of Love’, which are generally labeled as Dylan’s Christian trilogy, not seen as outspoken Christian.  By some the album is seen as some sort of departure from confessed Christianity and even a tentative rapprochement to Judaism. In my opinion this is not the case .One may argue that Dylan – when he wrote these songs for this album sometime in 1983- had gone through a mental process of change which started ever since he converted to Christianity in 1978. The process of conversion to Christianity is marked by various stages which may be regarded as natural stages and all these phases constitute an integral part of Christian conversion.
Actually, the first stage on this road was the album ‘Street Legal’ (1978 which) may well be regarded as a prelude to his upcoming conversion to Christianity which became evident later on that year. The next stage was the album ‘Slow Train Coming’ (1979) which already showed on the cover of the album that Dylan had a works under construction and that it was now time to exactly pinpoint where he stood at that stage of his conversion. The album represents the phase of dogmatism and antitheses Dylan was going through: “Ya either got faith, or ye got unbelief and there ain’t no neutral ground” (Precious Angel) or “He who is not for Me is against me” (Gonna change my way of thinking’). ‘Slow Train Coming’ was followed by the album ‘Saved’ (1980). ‘Saved’ representing the next phase in Dylan’s conversion process, expresses joy and gratitude for Dylan’s personal salvation: ‘I’m so glad, I want to thank you Lord, I just want to thank you. ‘You have given me everything’’ ‘What can I do for You?.
‘Saved’ was followed by ‘Shot of Love’ (1981). ‘Shot of Love’ marks an entirely new phase. First of all, Dylan returned to what one may describe as a more secular way of writing songs. Secular themes often touched upon - like disaffected love - returned and were integrated in notions of apocalyptic deceit and formed a sort of synthesis with it. Although Dylan’s new songs written for the album ‘Shot of Love’ were no longer overtly Christian gospel songs or even blue grassy, yet the message was undoubted still the same but one had to make an effort to read between the lines to find it. In the first phase of conversion to the Christian faith there is certainty and this is expressed in overtly Christian lyrics but in the next stages there is also room for the expression of vulnerability, weakness, disappointment and self-doubt. In abundance we find this on ‘Shot of Love’, particularly in one of the greatest songs Dylan ever wrote: ‘Every Grain of Sand’.
The next phase, which at the same time is the most critical part in the process of conversion, is best described by the word ‘deception’. Seen from a religious point of view, conversion to Jesus evokes a spiritual war – as Dylan wrote in ‘Solid Rock’: ‘It is the ways of the flesh to war against the spirit, twenty-four hours a day you can feel it and you can hear it, using all devices under the sun. And He never gives up till the battle is lost or won’. Like in so many real wars it is deceit and deception that turns the balance. The devil is skilled in deception and addicted to deceit. The devil deploys these deceptive weapons in an ultimate attempt to turn the balance in his favor of those converts who ‘are hanging in the balance of the reality of man’.
It seems obvious that the album ‘Infidels’ is marked by this concept of deception and ambiguity. One of the best example of this is the lyrics of ‘Man of Peace’: ‘You know sometimes Satan comes as a man of peace’ which is quite clearly inspired by 2 Corinthians 11:14:‘and no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light’. We find the same phenomenon in ‘Jokerman’.  Sometimes it is as if the Jokerman is Jesus or Moses speaking, the next time it is as if the devil himself is speaking. To recognize the devil, you have to read carefully and you must know exactly what the Scriptures tell you, otherwise you will be deceived and you will end up joking like the Jokerman.  It was W.S. Gilbert (1836-1911) the famous British dramatist and librettist who wrote: “Everything is a source of fun. Nobody's safe, for we care for none! Life is a joke that's just begun! That is exactly what the Jokerman wants to achieve through his deceit. In our next article we will take a closer look at some of the lyrics of this enigmatic song.

Het mysterie van de vervloeking van de vijgenboom

Het mysterie van de vervloeking van de vijgenboom.

Deze geschiedenis lezen we in Marcus 11. Jezus kreeg honger en zag in de verte een  vijgenboom. Hij ging naar de boom in de hoop iets eetbaars te vinden. Toen Hij bij de boom kwam vond Hij geen vruchten. Het was namelijk nog niet de tijd voor de vruchten. Jezus vervloekt de vijgenboom:"Nooit oftenimmer zal er nog iemand vruchten van je eten". De vervloeking kwam uit. Toen ze de volgende morgen langs de vijgenboom kwamen was de boom totaal verdord.

Een opmerkelijk verhaal. Jezus die praat tegen een vijgenboom alsof het een mens is. Nog opmerkelijker is het feit dat Hij kennelijk iets eetbaars verwacht te vinden aan de vijgenboom op een moment dat je dat van die vijgenboom helemaal niet mag verwachten. Je zou zeggen: Daar kan die vijgenboom toch niets aan doen!. Is die vervloeking niet zinloos?.

Het doet me denken aan vraag 9 van de Heidelbergse Catechismus. Daar wordt gevraagd: "Doet God de mens dan geen onrecht, dat Hij in zijn wet van hem eist wat hij niet doen kan"?. Het antwoord is: "Nee, want God heeft de mens zo geschapen, dat hij dit doen kon. Maar de mens heeft zichzelf en al zijn nakomelingen, op ingeving van de duivel en door moedwillige ongehoorzaamheid van deze gaven beroofd".

Dat gebeurde in de Hof van Eden. Er waren daar allerlei bomen met heerlijke vruchten (Gen.2:9) waar de mens op elk moment volop van genieten kon.Maar de mens viel in zonde door zijn moedwillige
ongehoorzaamheid. Hij trok de hele schepping mee in zijn val. Er volgde een vloek: voortaan zullen er dorens en distels groeien (Gen. 3:18).Het is niet meer een vanzelfsprekende zaak dat er vruchten aan een boom groeien. Die vloek kwam niet alleen over de planten wereld maar net zo goed over de dieren wereld. Een leeuw die je eerst kon aaien wordt na de zondeval een verscheurend dier dat je opeet. De eerste mens verloor zijn positie als onder- koning en nu wil de schepping hem niet langer gehoorzamen.

Jezus zegt: "Door het geloof zullen jullie een vijgenboom kunnen laten verdorren en zelfs bergen kunnen verplaatsen naar de zee" (Mat. 21:21).De eerste mens Adam doorstond de proef niet en kwam ten val en met hem viel de hele schepping. De tweede mens, Jezus Christus doorstond de proef wel  en daarom kon hij temidden van wilde dieren verblijven zonder dat ze hem verscheurden (Marc. 1:13).Maar zo kon het niet blijven. Voor Jezus geldt dat Hij nu de weg van de vernedering moet gaan. Hij die als Koning mag eisen,voor Hem zijn er nu geen vijgen om Zijn honger te stillen. Omdat Jezus volmaakt is doet de vijgenboom als schepsel Hem onrecht en daarom moet de boom vervloekt worden. Maar gelukkig zal het zo niet blijven. Door Zijn gehoorzaamheid zal de paradijs toestand weer hersteld gaan worden. Straks zullen er elke maand vruchten te plukken zijn. Ja zelfs de bladeren van de bomen brengen de volken genezing. Er zal niets meer zijn waarop een vloek rust. (Openb. 22: 2,3)

When the night comes falling from the sky - an analysis Part 3

Lyric analysis of Bob Dylan’s “When the night comes falling from the sky’ – Part 3 (final part).

Part 1 and 2 of this analysis were published a few months ago, so if you wish to put things together please first read Part 1 and Part 2 of my analysis. We now continue were we left off last time.
 
“In your teardrops, I can see my own reflection; luck was with me when I crossed the borderline.  I don't want to be a fool that's starving for affection; I don't want to drown in someone else's wine”. You can see your own reflection in the mirror. Her tears are so big and intense that he can see his own reflection in those tears, like looking into a mirror.  It is really all buckets of tears here. He sees his own reflection also means that he sees his own sorrow and grief, about the situation she is in now, reflected in her tears. ‘Luck was with me when I crossed the borderline’, the Empire Burlesque version has: ‘ It was on the northern border of Texas where I crossed the line’  is a metaphor to show that at a certain point during her lifetime, he was lucky enough to get away from her and to set himself free. On border towns Dylan is said to have said “You feel things and you’re not quite sure what you feel. But it follows your every move.” By crossing the borderline the poet was lucky enough to break away from her physically, yet mentally he is very much attached to her.
“ I don't want to be a fool that's starving for affection” reminds us of the poet Spenser who once said: “Most wretched man, That to affections does the bridle lend”. The Scriptures say that a fool is a person who acts contrary to moral and religious wisdom and who ends up dead. The poet seems to struggle with this misplaced affection, lust which will ultimately lead him to death. He cries out the same warning as in ‘Don’t fall apart on me tonight’: ‘No more decadence and charm, no more affection that’s misplaced girl’.
“ I don't want to drown in someone else's wine” may either mean that he is not willing to fall victim to the delight of others –the satanic powers that urge him to give in to the powers of the flesh –or some vague reference to the blood of Christ. In ‘Tight connection to my Heart’ Dylan wrote ‘Never could learn to drink that blood and call it wine” .In Matthew 26:27 it says: ‘And he (Jesus) took a cup of wine and gave thanks to God for it. He gave it to them and said, “Each of you drink from it, for this is my blood, which confirms the covenant between God and his people”. The meaning here may be that if he gives in to her, the blood of Christ will do him no good. The blood (the wine) which was meant to salvage him will be the cause of his ultimate spiritual death.

“For all eternity I think I will remember that whirlpool of light that's in your eye”.Again, the poet focusses on what will happen in all eternity. In eternity there is a large gulf between the two them which cannot be fixed. Yet it will be a narrow escape from her. Her life – some hear ‘life’ instead of ‘light’ here – is like a whirlpool that sucks all life out of him, just like a black hole in universe absorbs all energy of a galaxy. This whirlpool is like that temptation’s angry flame which tried to drag him into the morals of despair. He did not give in, but it was a narrow escape and for all eternity he will remember the power of force she had on him.
“You will seek me and you'll find me in the wasteland of your mind, when the night comes falling from the sky”. He fears that she will end up in hell. And just like the rich man in hell (Luke 16), in vain reached out to poor Lazarus for help, her attempts to reach out for him will fail. Yes, she will find him, but it will be in ‘the wasteland of her mind’.  A wasteland is an uninhabited wilderness that is worthless for cultivation. She will find him but she will be unable to get into contact with him and reap the fruits of such an encounter, it will all be in vain.  
Dylan may have been inspired by T. S. Eliot's poem "The Waste Land" of which the critic Joseph King wrote that it ‘demonstrates a religious sentiment about the increasing lack of restraint in human sexuality. The reader experiences a morose overtone from the title of the poem to its almost nonsensical conclusion as Eliot describes this fantastic yet hauntingly familiar wasteland. The oncoming sexual revolution appeared imminent as a reaction to the repressive Victorian society of the past generations. Eliot sensed the changing world and forged this poem to strike at the heart of this growing trend of immorality."

“Well, I gave to you my heart like buried treasure, but suffering seems to fit you like a glove, I’m so tired of those who use forbidden pleasure, who think they've got a monopoly on love”.
Some hear here: Well I gave to you my heart without bad intention. Since there is no alternate transcription of the song, this may also be possible.
‘A buried treasure’ is usually defined as a surprising piece of code found in some computer program. The expression ‘A buried treasure’ may be used sarcastically, because what is found is anything but a treasure. Anyway, ‘buried treasure’ almost always needs to be dug up and removed. In slang ‘buried treasure’ may denote yet-to-be burnt weed found at the bottom of a deep bowl, usually covered by layers of ash. Furthermore Jesus speaks of a ‘buried treasure in Matthew 13:44: “The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure buried in a field. When a man discovered it, he buried it again”.
Within the context of the song ‘buried treasure’ may mean that in the poet’s heart there is something very precious. This treasure may be faith in God. The treasure is buried deep in his heart, so it is not easy to dig it up but if she would have done her utmost, she would have found it. But she refused to do so and now it is too late, all that remains for her is eternal suffering, a suffering which is all around her and seems to fit her like a glove. Whereas peace, joy and delight fit those who are in heaven like a glove, those who are in hell fit suffering like a glove. Which one will fit you is a matter of choice, a choice you have to make here on earth. It is either one or the other (but one cannot say neither of the two).
“ I’m so tired of those who use forbidden pleasure, who think they've got a monopoly on love”. Some hear Dylan sing: “I'm so tired of those who use you for their own pleasure”, but this seems less appropriate. ‘Forbidden pleasure’ reminds us of the forbidden fruits of paradise. In “TV Talking song” Dylan warns us that watching TV will “Lead you to the land of forbidden fruits”. The forbidden fruits of paradise were a delight to the eyes and very tempting. Eve fell for the temptation of the devil and ate the forbidden fruits and by doing so dragged all mankind into sin. The core of all sin is separating the gift from the Creator of the gift and using the gift for one’s own pleasure, as a stand-alone item. This is exactly what those do who use forbidden pleasure. They have sex without love and without an embedding in a relationship of enduring love, loyalty and companionship, and that is what forbidden pleasure really is all about. Those advocates of forbidden pleasure make matters worse by claiming that this way of practising love is the only way of expressing love, they think they’ve got a monopoly on love, they look down in contempt on those prudish people, who reject free sex and who still connect love and sex. The poet is sick and tired of those advocates of free love and sex and that is why he ends the song with an unequivocal statement.
“Well, this time I'm asking for freedom, freedom from a world which you deny. And you'll give it to me now, I'll take it anyhow, when the night comes falling from the sky. This last verse has the force of an ultimatum; it is full of apocalyptical fire. The song reaches its climax. For him it is a matter of life or death. He does not want to abandon her but at the same time he demands freedom. He demands freedom to serve the Lord. He lives in a quite different world than she does. She constantly refuses to accept the existence of the spiritual world he lives in. He feels he has to make a choice. She must accept the reality of this spiritual world and if not he has to leave her. One thing is clear to him: he will not abandon his faith and if she is not willing to accept that, he must leave her, no matter how painful such a decision is. The bottom line is that if he has to make a choice between her and God, he will chose for God. When the night comes falling from the sky – the Latter Day is on the doorstep –he wants to make a clear statement about his dedication to God, this dedication is straightforward, plain and irrefutable and if he has to give up his beloved for this dedication he will do so, no matter how suffering and agony it will cost.  
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Bob Dylan's 'When the night comes falling from the sky'- an analysis - Part 2

Lyric analysis of Bob Dylan’s “When the night comes falling from the sky’ – Part 2.


‘I can see through your walls and I know you're hurting.  Sorrow covers you up like a cape. Only yesterday I know that you've been flirting with disaster that you somehow managed to escape’. The poet sees his beloved in hell. She cannot see him but he can see her, he ‘can see through her walls’, he experiences a vision which you normally cannot see on earth with your natural eyes. It is as if the camera now zooms into a scene which is very much reminiscent of the parable of poor Lazarus and the rich man as written in the gospel of Luke (16:19-31).It is as if we are invited to 'look into the fiery furnace and to see the rich man without any name'. If there is any place where you are covered with sorrow and where suffering fits you like a glove, this place is in hell. The tormented rich man in hell begs: 'send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue for I am tormented in this flame’. The  rich man may add: ‘All I see is heat and flame'  But it is as if Abraham says: 'there ain't no going back when the foot of pride comes down' Communication is no longer possible: 'Don’t look for me, I see you, there is this great gulf fixed between you and me' Oh yes, it was only yesterday, in this life on earth that everything seemed quite the opposite, but the rich man had been 'flirting with disaster' when he did all this injustice to the poor Lazarus. It looked as if the rich man somehow 'managed to escape’ judgement and disaster when after his luxurious life, he had that exuberant funeral but it is now time to face the bare facts. Elsewhere Dylan writes: ‘God knows you ain’t gonna be taking nothing with you when you go’. Whether you are rich or poor in this life, in the end it does not matter anymore. The same thing the rich man has experienced now seems to have happened to the poet’s beloved. That is why the poet goes on to say ' Well, I can't provide for you no easy answers. Who are you that I should have to lie? You know everything, my love. Down below and up above, when the night comes falling from the sky’. Jesus once said: “For the time is coming when everything that is covered will be revealed, and all that is secret will be made known to all” (Mat 10:26). There is no need to beat around the bush any longer, the time for easy solutions has passed, the truth has to be faced. There is no sense in telling lies anymore because when the night comes falling from the sky, the truth will be known to all. Here on earth, ‘down below’- just like the rich man- you were able to keep up appearances, you thought you had it all and - just like the rich man did to poor Lazarus, even here in hell ‘up above’, you think you can order me to do things for you, but you have to keep in mind that now there is a large gulf between you and me, there is nothing left I can do for you , now  is time for your tears, the night has fallen from the sky.
“I can hear your trembling heart beat like a river and recently you thought you'd seen it all. But you're disappointed now in those who did not deliver, but it was you who set yourself up for a fall”. In this episode the parable of the rich man and poor Lazarus (Luke Chapter 16) still lingers in the background. There is a wall between the poet and his beloved. He can not only see but also feel her pain, fear and agony; he can even feel her troubled heart beat like a wild river. Only yesterday she was living a life full of wealth and luxury and she thought she had everything under control, she needed nothing from anyone, she had seen it all and apparently was in a position to order people to do things for her. But now, up above here in hell, she has lost the high position which she recently had on earth.  Also the rich man in hell was no longer in a position to give orders to poor Lazarus. Abraham repudiated the rich man and said to him: “Son, remember that during your lifetime you had everything you wanted, and Lazarus had nothing. So now he is here being comforted, and you are in anguish” (Luke 16:25). It is as if Abraham says: ‘you have no reason to be disappointed that Lazarus no longer delivers. During your lifetime you had all the opportunities and all time in the world to help and to do justice to poor Lazarus but you refused to do so. Your contempt for poor Lazarus and your continuous refusal to help him is the reason for your downfall and that is entirely your own fault; it was you and no one else who set yourself up for a fall”. You cannot go on for ever defying doing justice on earth, when you do that you set yourself up for a fall and the outcome will be that ‘one day you open up your eyes (in hell), and you’ll see where you are’,  but then it will be too late.

“I've seen thousands who could have overcome the darkness, for the love of a lousy buck, I've watched them die. Stick around, baby, we're not through, don't look for me, I'll see you, when the night comes falling from the sky”.
It is said that ‘Achluophobia’, or the fear of the dark, puts many children and even some adults into terror. While many children grow out of it, some 28% of adults still have some sort of anxiety-related disorder. True as this may be, it is not this kind of darkness and fear, which the poet has in mind here. ’Darkness’ here reflects what is said in Colossians 1:13 “For he has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son”. The kingdom of darkness represents hell. I Tim 6:10 says: 'the love of money is the root of all evil'. Ultimately, the love of money, the love for a lousy buck caused the rich man to end up in hell. Nowadays the poet sees the same thing happening all around him. Many people could have been saved but the love of money prevented them from overcoming the kingdom of darkness and entering into the kingdom of love and light. It is true what Dylan wrote many years earlier: ‘he not busy being born is busy dying’. ‘The love of a lousy buck’ seems to be inspired by a film called ‘On the Waterfront’. ‘On the Waterfront’ is a 1954 American drama film about union violence and corruption among longshoremen. There is a dialogue in the film in which Karl Malden says: "You want to know what's wrong with our waterfront? It's the love of a lousy buck. It's making love of a buck---the cushy job---more important than the love of man!"
‘Stick around’ means “Stay put in the corner here!"; "Stick around and you will learn something!, we’re not through, we are not finished yet. Over here in hell, the tables are turned. You cannot bully me any longer like you once did when we were on earth, I can’t hear you anymore, and from now on you have to listen to what I say. Don’t look for me I’ll see you, is again a quote from the Humphrey Bogart film "Maltese Falcon" here it means that there is a large gulf between you and me, I can see you in hell but you cannot see me, you cannot communicate with me, for all eternity you’re completely stuck. This is exactly what is going to happen ‘when the night comes falling from the sky’.
Will be continued. Please add your response.......

Bob Dylan's 'When the night comes falling from the sky'- an analysis - Part 1

Lyric analysis of Bob Dylan’s ‘When the night comes falling from the sky’ – Part 1.


This song was first released on the album ‘Empire Burlesque’ (1985). There is an earlier, much different version of the song, which was later released on ‘The Bootleg Series’ volume 1-3’.  John Bauldie, in the accompanying notes to the Bootleg series version of the song, quite rightly wrote in 1991: ‘it’s remarkable to remember that this is a take which was presumably judged as not being good enough for release, merely a workout, and yet Dylan sings wonderfully. The song seems capable of kicking itself into ever-higher gear, and as the band recognizes it, so does Dylan, who gets audibly more and more excited as the song progresses’. In comparison, the Empire Burlesque version is much more easy going and lacklustre. This outtake however, is full of apocalyptic menace and fire. This is the reason why I prefer the ‘Bootleg Series’ version and in my analysis I will follow the lyrics of the Bootleg series version.
What is this song about? The ‘woman’, which in Dylan’s earlier works may be seen much more as a goddess, has more and more turned into an evil power, certainly ever since his conversion to Christianity in the late seventies. Over the years, the ‘woman’ or so-called ‘love’ is more and more seen as an expression of selfish lust, a force which continuously distracts him and tries to lure him into the morals of despair. Yet he shows an ambiguous attitude towards this force. On the one hand he makes it clear that he now lives in a completely different world and is continuously involved in a quest to give up ‘the ways of the flesh’, on the other hand he is still very much attracted to his former way of living and thinking. We find this ambiguity, this struggle, in many a song, also in this one. Let’s see how this works out in the lyrics.
“If you look out across the fields, see me returning. Smoke is in your eyes, you draw a smile. From the fireplace where now my letters to you are burning, you've had time to think about it for a while”.  Satan did this once. Satan crossed the fields of the earth and reported his findings to God (Job 1:7). Here however, it is as if Jesus speaks through his mouth of Dylan. He immediately takes us in our mind to what will happen on the Latter Day. Revelation 1: 7 says: “Look! He (Jesus) comes with the clouds of heaven. And everyone will see him—even those who pierced him. And all the nations of the world will mourn for him”. “The same way I leave here, will be the way that I came” Dylan would later on write, obviously about Jesus, in a poetical inversion when he composed the song “If you ever go to Houston”, reflecting Acts 1:11: “Jesus has been taken from you into heaven, but someday he will return from heaven in the same way you saw him go!”. In the poet’s imagination that moment has now come. It is as if Jesus says: ‘be on the alert, look out across the fields, look up into the sky, I may return at any moment now”. “Smoke is in your eyes, you draw a smile” seems to be inspired by an old song called “Smoke gets in your eyes”, written by Otto Harbach for the 1933 operetta Roberta. In the original lyrics it says: “Yet today, my love has flown away, I am without my love. Now laughing friends deride tears I cannot hide, so I smile and say when a lovely flame dies, smoke gets in your eyes”.  The notion seems clear. It expresses what Dylan wrote in ‘What Good am I? : ‘I laugh in the face of what sorrow brings’. Judgement Day has arrived and although the smoke of the fire which accompanies this day is still visible and hurts people’s eyes, people draw a frozen smile, as if they are unwilling to admit defeat. Jesus goes on to speak through the mouth of Dylan and says: “From the fireplace where now my letters to you are burning, you've had time to think about it for a while”. Dylan may have had in mind the seven letters which Jesus sent to the seven angels of the seven churches of which we read in the book of Revelation, chapter 2 and 3. These letters were sent and meant to admonish and encourage these churches –in fact all churches of all ages - to keep on following the Lord, but it appeared that over the centuries, these warnings of Jesus were thrown to the winds and disregarded, these letters were thrown into the fireplace where they were burnt to such an extent that Jesus had to complain: “But when the Son of Man returns, how many will he find on the earth who have faith?”(Luke 18:8). Now almost two thousand years have passed since Jesus sent these letters and that is why Jesus says: you've had time to think about it for a while” which means: “I gave you time enough to repent but you chose not to do so, time has run out now, now I’m telling you that I've walked two hundred miles, now look me over, It's the end of the chase and the moon is high”. “I’ve walked two hundred miles” is really a metaphorical expression meaning: “I‘ve gone a long way, I’ve gone to great lengths to salvage you, I did not only walk two hundred miles, I have even waited two centuries and now you see me coming across the fields and from the skies, look me over, see how majestic I am, I’ve come to the end of my trail, it’s the end of the chase, the game is through, it is time for the few to judge the many”. “The moon is high” serves to indicate that the celestial bodies are involved at the Latter Day. Although the moon will be high at the Latter Day, yet it will be darkened as Jesus says in Matthew 24:29: “Immediately after the anguish of those days, the sun will be darkened, the moon will give no light, the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken”.
“It don't matter who loves who, either you'll love me or I'll love you”. Here Dylan quotes the Humphrey Bogart film "Maltese Falcon" in which is said "I don't care who loves who...maybe you love me and maybe I love you”; Dylan however, seems to use this quote for his own purposes in the song, i.e. to express what will happen with love as soon as time turns into eternity, on and after the Latter Day, when the night comes falling from the sky. As long as we live under the sun, there are all kinds of ‘love’; matrimonial love, love between brothers and sisters, parents and children etc. In eternity however, a completely new situation will arise as we may read in Matthew 22:30: “For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven”. In eternity love will be of one kind, love will fulfil all people, not the kind of love we are used to but a love which will be much deeper than we ever can experience on earth, a love which will reflect the eternal love and friendship and companionship which has existed for all eternity between the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. It may be the reason why the poet says that in eternity love will be such an overwhelming phenomenon that one may truly say that “It don't matter who loves who, either you'll love me or I'll love you”, love will be all around us. This is what will happen to the children of God ‘when the night comes falling from the sky’. The ‘night’ may be a metaphor for the Latter Day here. This night will not come gradually, like the twilight, but it will come suddenly, it will literally fall from the sky. It will come –as I Corinthians 15:52 says – “In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed”, this is exactly what will happen “when the night comes falling from the sky”

Will be continued…”when my memory is not so short”…….

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Reflections on Bob Dylan's "Shooting Star"

Reflections on Bob Dylan’s: ‘Shooting Star’ – by Kees de Graaf.
 
The moon is almost hidden, the stars are beginning to hide .Suddenly there is this flash across the sky and I see a shooting star. Is it doom alone that counts now? In the twinkling of an eye time seems to have come to a permanent stop.
In an instant, as in a flash back, as in a curtain glance I see this star from heaven fall; in it I see the life of my beloved pass by. “You tried to break into another world, a world I never knew”, I saw it was all her world, a world I’ve never known, a world in which I feel like a stranger nobody knows, a stranger in a strange land. I feel eternal alienation because I live in another world, a world which is so different from yours, a world where life and death are memorized and where the earth is strung with lover’s pearls. I asked you for freedom to live in this world, freedom to live in a world which you deny. She did not give this freedom to me, but I took it anyway. And now I ask myself what has become of her: “I always kind of wondered, if you ever made it through”. I feel sadness come over me when I think of this. I gave her my heart but she wanted my soul. I can’t see you anymore and now it is as if I can see through your walls and I see you hurting, sorrow covering you up like a cape. Last night I knew you but tonight I don’t. You had to go your way and I had to go mine. What about the Judge? The idea that the Judge holds a grudge on you haunts me like it never did before.
And now, as I see this shooting star, I know that for her the night has fallen from the sky....
But I do not only see her life, I also see my own life pass by: “Seen a shooting star tonight and I thought of me, if I was still the same, if I ever became what you wanted me to be” .The balance sheet of my life is drawn up. For me the time has come for the deal to go down. What has become of me? Have I held up my part of the deal? It goes back to that destiny thing. I mean, I made a bargain with it, you know, long time ago. And I’m holding up my end. But did I succeed? Oh my Lord, did I ever become what you wanted me to be or do you see my life as a complete failure? I have no idea what you expect of me. Well, maybe I do but I’m just really not sure. What I do know for sure that there is no escaping or turning back from You now.  “Did I miss the mark or overstep the line that only You could see? Seen a shooting star tonight, and I thought of me”. As this shooting star slips away, I can now clearly see my own failures and sins, they haunt me like they never did before. I tried to hide my sins from other people but You my Lord, you saw them all. Only You my Lord can see right through me, You can look into the deepest shadows, into every nook and cranny of my heart and You saw all transgressions. Oh heart of mine, so malicious and so full of guile, if I give you an inch, you take a mile. Oh forgetful heart, why did you lose your power of recall, every little detail you don't remember at all! Why did I so often miss the mark and why did I so often overstep the line? On this Latter Day I find myself suddenly confronted with the holiness of the Almighty God and in despair I turn myself to thee and in despair I wonder: What good am I when I so often turned a deaf ear to the thunder in the sky? I find myself stark naked and now I have no other option left but to throw myself upon your loving mercy, my Lord, and that is what I’m going to do.  
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But this is not the end. Just remember that death is not the end. As the shooting star slips away, the camera zooms out from my personal introspective level and that of my beloved to a universal, cosmic level. I now turn my back to the Son because the light is too intense. I can see the great apocalyptic, cosmic happening of the Latter Day suddenly start now. I see tree-trunks uprooted; I can see trees that stood for thousand years, suddenly fall. I feel a change coming on, the last part of the day is already gone, therefore 'Listen to the engine; listen to the bell as the last fire-truck from hell goes rolling by'. Hear that undertaker’s bell; ring them bells with an iron hand so the people will know that the sun is going down upon the sacred cow. I can see the last convulsive movement, the agony of death of the satanic beast as he drives the fire truck from hell on its last journey to the pit. The satanic beast lashes out one more time from behind the wheels of fire, in a final outburst of resistance, the beast is determined to destroy all the gentle through a huge fireball that sails through the air. As the fire truck from hell goes rolling by, I can see all powers that linger in the fireball heat explode. The tail of the beast tears down one third of the stars and casts them to the earth (Rev.12:4). The good, just and devout people now know that the hour of reckoning has finally come; I see those people surrender to the mercy of the Lord and I see that 'All good people are praying'. They learned to pray in the darkness of the night and in the brightness of the day. When Jesus gave the Sermon of the Mount (Mat 5-7), He gave them instructions how to pray (Mat.6:9-14).

I know that “It’s the last temptation, the last account, the last time you might hear the sermon on the mount, the last radio is playing”. As from now on, let us not be enticed because today is the day I’m gonna grab my trombone and blow, making it clear  that today is the last temptation, tomorrow there will be no more temptation, there will be no more decadence and charm, no more affection that’s misplaced. On this dreadful day which has now arrived, I’d hate to be you because I know I cannot trade places with you, on this day I cannot do it for you. Well, I cried for you—now it’s your turn to cry a while. Remember that today is the day of the last account, on this Latter Day; there ain’t no goin’ back, when your foot of pride comes down. If you had listened on time to the sermon of the mount, Judgement would be something that you’ll never see. So don’t wait before it’s too late because today is the last time you may hear and see it and feel it. As for me, I’m hanging on to this solid Rock. I hear the sound of a radio coming from the room next door. It may be the last radio playing because it is already late in the evening and all the music seeping through warns me that it is not only late in the evening, in fact it’s way past midnight. It is mighty funny: the end of time has just arrived.it is time for the few to judge the many.
“Tomorrow will be another day, guess it’s too late to say the things to you that you needed to hear me say, seen a shooting star tonight slip away” I had so much left to say, I had so much left to do, but it is too late for that. Right now, I see nothing gained by any explanation; there are no words that need to be said. But I do know that tomorrow will be another day, a new morning. I’m so happy just to be alive, underneath the sky of blue, on this new morning with You, my Lord. I know there are so many things that I will never undo. You needed to hear me say those things and I owe you an apology for that, please forgive my shortcomings and transgressions. But as I see this shooting star slip away, the light of the new morning is beginning to shine on me.  It is not as the light that it used to be. How I long for this day and for this place where the tree of life will be growing again, the place where the spirit never dies and where the bright light of salvation shines in dark and empty skies.

This is what I thought when I saw this shooting star slip away………

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