Gereformeerd en Charismatisch met elkaar in gesprek.

Het blad ‘De Reformatie’ heeft onlangs een nummer[1] gewijd aan ‘Gereformeerd en charismatisch – Met elkaar in gesprek door middel van vragen’. Op twee artikelen reageer ik in het kort. Het eerste artikel is van Hans Burger: ‘Huiswerk voor Gereformeerden’. Het tweede artikel waarop ik reageer is van Ds Bas Luiten ‘Genade, Geest en gaven’ –belangrijke gereformeerde vragen aan charismatische christenen’.
Eerst het artikel van Hans Burger. Burger formuleert een zestal kritische vragen die vanuit charismatische hoek aan gereformeerden gesteld zouden kunnen worden en onderneemt vervolgens een poging om vanuit de gereformeerde praxis na te gaan in hoeverre deze vragen hout snijden. In zijn beantwoording van de kritische vragen spant Burger zich in om zo veel mogelijk ‘credit’ te geven aan de bezwaren van de charismatici en eerlijk in de door hem zelf gefabriceerde spiegel te kijken. Een enkel punt licht ik eruit.

De eerste vraag die gereformeerden zich zouden kunnen stellen, luidt: ‘Hanteren wij wellicht een gesloten wereldbeeld?’. In een gesloten wereldbeeld heeft God geen plaats en lijkt leven zonder God prima te kunnen. Burger stelt: ‘Ook wijzelf, gereformeerden, hebben last van die neiging tot afgeslotenheid voor God. Gereformeerden, in Kuyperiaans-vrijgemaakte variant, zijn betrouwbare doeners. Zij neigen tot nuchterheid, in elk geval in Nederland. We laten ons niet snel in het hart kijken en zijn niet zo goed in geloofsgesprekken. Voor het drijfzand van de beleving zijn we wat huiverig. Liever richten we ons op het objectieve van Gods belofte en het normatieve van Gods wet. Het geloof blijft daardoor veelal impliciet. Het is er wel, maar krijgt te weinig woorden’. Er schijnt dus volgens Burger een ‘Kuyperiaans-vrijgemaakte variant’ van Gereformeerden te zijn (geweest). Ik ken die variant niet. De term ‘Kuyperiaans-vrijgemaakt’ lijkt me nogal tegenstrijdig. Waren het juist niet de latere vrijgemaakten die de leer van de z.g. ‘veronderstelde wedergeboorte’ van Dr. A Kuyper hartgrondig verwierpen? Hoe kan je dan ‘Kuyperiaans –vrijgemaakt’ zijn? Welke generatie bedoelt Burger eigenlijk? Laten we in eerste instantie maar eens kijken naar de generatie die het meest lijkt te beantwoorden aan de omschrijving die Burger in dit citaat hier geeft. Dat is de generatie die de Vrijmaking van 1944 als volwassene bewust heeft meegemaakt en/of in die Vrijmaking een rol heeft gespeeld. Die generatie is nu in een snel tempo aan het uitsterven. Voor de naoorlogse baby- boomers –waartoe ik mijzelf ook reken – gaat het dan om de ouders en voor de huidige generatie veelal om de grootouders.
Die oude generatie die heeft er van ons de laatste jaren flink van langs gekregen. Velen van hen streden fanatiek, met inzet van alle krachten, voor het behoud van Schrift en belijdenis, inclusief een zuivere kerkleer. Daar hadden ze veel, zo niet alles voor over. In die strijd, die polemiek, gebruikte men – soms ook over en weer- grote woorden, eerst in de richting van de ‘synodalen’ en later ook in de richting van de z.g. ‘buitenverbanders’. Woorden die als we ze nu, vele decennia later, lezen, met afgrijzen vervullen. Verbijsterd en met plaats vervangende schaamte vragen we ons af hoe het zo ver heeft kunnen komen dat we elkaar genadeloos afmaakten. Natuurlijk, het is nu gemakkelijk oordelen. Je moet alles in de context van die tijd zien. Toen ging dat immers zo. Zo werd er toen gepolemiseerd. Elke tijd heeft immers zijn eigen vragen, uitdagingen en blinde vlekken. Je kunt er de klok op gelijk zetten dat komende generaties –althans indien de Heer niet is terug gekomen - zich ook verbijsterd zullen afvragen waarom wij in bepaalde situaties zus en zo gehandeld hebben en waarom niet anders en waarom we op bepaalde punten zo nalatig en naïef zijn geweest. Laten we in ieder geval voorzichtig zijn met al te grote woorden te uiten over vorige generaties.
Nu krijgt die generatie gereformeerden –en hun nazaten- ook nog te horen dat ze een ‘impliciet’ geloof hadden c.q. hebben. Het geloof is er wel maar krijgt te weinig woorden zo wordt gesteld. Dat komt ervan volgens Burger als je gefocust bent op ‘ het objectieve van Gods belofte en het normatieve van Gods wet’. Het verwijt ‘te weinig woorden’ kan een terecht verwijt zijn en we hebben dat ons aan te trekken. Als geliefden hun liefde voor elkaar niet in woorden weten uit te drukken, dan wordt die liefde maar een saaie bedoeling met maar weinig uitstraling. Dan klopt er iets niet. Daar staat tegenover dat, als geliefden de intimiteit van hun omgang met elkaar, hun bedgeheimen, aan de grote klok hangen, het een smakeloze vertoning wordt. In grote lijnen gaat het er in het geloof ook zo aan toe. Waar het hart vol van is, daar loopt de mond over. Als je zoveel liefde van de Heer ervaren hebt, dan vertel je andere mensen daar graag over. Tegelijkertijd heeft het iets breekbaars en kwetsbaars. Het hart is om een oud woord te gebruiken ‘arglistig’. Voor je het zelf in de gaten hebt, komen niet de grote daden van de Heer op de voorgrond te staan maar jijzelf, met jouw eigen daden, ervaringen en prestaties. Daar moesten die gereformeerden van toen – en velen ook nu nog - niets van hebben. Dat waren en zijn inderdaad echte ‘doe’ mensen, zo in de trant van: ‘Doe maar gewoon dan doe je al gek genoeg’. Als er één ding is waar die generatie van de vrijmaking in te prijzen is, dan is het dit: trouw. Ze gingen ervoor en hun ja was ook ja, ook als het moeilijk werd en het hen vee kostte. Weglopen voor problemen was er nooit bij, ook al schoten ze in het tackelen van die problemen soms veel te ver door.
We komen vandaag steeds meer broers en zussen tegen, ook in de gereformeerde kerk, die- heel anders dan die vrijgemaakten van het eerste uur - heel expliciet zijn in het uitdragen van hun geloof. Ze hebben de naam Jezus voor in de mond liggen. Ze spreken continu over Jezus volgen, het is Jezus voor en Jezus na en alles wordt in gebed aan de Heer voorgelegd. Ze spreken ook met anderen openlijk over hun persoonlijke band met Jezus. Dit is een goede zaak en iets om echt om jaloers op te worden. Maar hoe oprecht en integer deze broers en zussen ook zijn, we zien ook bij sommigen van dit type gelovigen een bepaalde trend, een andere kant die als een schaduwzijde getypeerd moet worden. Vaak geven deze broers en zussen er blijk van dat hun persoonlijke band met Jezus zo sterk is dat ze ook allerlei persoonlijke boodschappen en instructies van Jezus ontvangen hoe ze in bepaalde situaties hebben te handelen. Het lijkt erop dat men een apart lijntje met de hemel onderhoudt. In de praktijk blijkt het dan moeilijk om tegen bepaalde opvattingen van deze broers en zusters vanuit de Bijbel bezwaren in te brengen. Immers, deze broers en zusters hebben de neiging zich bij bezwaren van anderen te beroepen op hun gevoel dat het Jezus of de Geest is is die hen een bepaald standpunt heeft ingegeven. Het wordt daardoor een individueel geloof dat zich door anderen niet gemakkelijk wil laten corrigeren en dat ten diepste gebaseerd is op gevoel. Je krijgt te maken met allerlei gevoelsargumenten die niet meer openstaan voor rationele argumenten vanuit de Bijbel of vanuit de kerkgemeenschap. Het kan niet anders of een individueel geloof moet zich keren tegen de gemeenschap, tegen de Bijbelse z.g. ‘koinoonia’. Dit type gelovige laat vaak maar weinig geduld zien en als men tegenspraak of tegenwerking ondervindt van anderen, dan heeft men snel de neiging om teleurgesteld af te haken en de benen te nemen. Kortom, het ontbreekt vaak aan twee essentiële Bijbelse begrippen nl. ‘trouw’ en ‘ volharding’, begrippen waar vorige generaties veel meer van hadden en die vandaag in toenemende mate gemist worden. Zonder die twee begrippen gaat het toch echt niet lukken in de kerk.
Dat apart lijntje met de Geest dat veel gelovigen zeggen te onderhouden, zorgt zoals gezegd voor een individueel toegesneden geloof. Daarin is zeker de invloed van de charismatische beweging merkbaar met zijn neiging om Woord en Geest van elkaar te scheiden. Maar dat niet alleen. Want wat bij Burger echter niet in beeld komt is het individualisme dat vanuit de cultuur en de maatschappij een geweldige invloed op ons denken en handelen verworven heeft. Het individualisme dat hand in hand gaat met de secularisatie heeft in de maatschappij gezorgd voor een afbrokkeling van de zuilen en de gezagsverhoudingen. Het van God los geslagen individu is, zoals Ds B. Luiten elders[2] in dit nummer schrijft, ‘zelf verantwoordelijk geworden voor geluk of ongeluk, is iets niet meer leuk, dan is men bijna aan zichzelf verplicht om over te stappen naar iets anders’. Ds Luiten besluit: ‘Jezus benadrukt het recht, de barmhartigheid en de trouw (Mat 23:23). Hier komt het op aan’.

Dan in het kort nog iets over het artikel van Ds. Bas Luiten ‘Genade, Geest en gaven’[3]- Ds Luiten stelt 10 belangrijke vragen aan charismatische christenen en geeft daar vervolgens zelf commentaar op. Ds Luiten doet dit vanuit een bewogen hart omdat hij –terecht - aan beide kanten het werk van de Geest van God ziet. De toonzetting van het artikel is dan ook enerzijds mild maar anderzijds ook  confronterend, juist omdat het gereformeerde gedachtengoed Ds Luiten zo dierbaar is. Ik moet u zeggen dat ik nog nooit eerder de belangrijkste geschilpunten met de charismatici op een zodanige compacte wijze en zo ‘to the point’ onder woorden heb zien brengen. Dit artikel is m.i. dan ook verplichte lectuur voor alle ambtsdragers , pastorale werkers en catecheten, maar natuurlijk ook voor heel de gemeente!.  Wat mij betreft heeft dit stuk de kracht van een manifest en zijn deze vragen en antwoorden zo actueel dat ze een goede basis kunnen vormen voor toevoeging aan bijv. H.C. Zondag 20 over het werk van de Heilige Geest, aan Zondag 27 over de doop enz..  Vrijwel alles uit dit artikel is het citeren waard, maar ik moet me beperken. Ik stip een paar punten aan.
Overtuigend toont Ds Luiten aan dat het nieuwe verbond niet in de plaats van het verbond met Abraham is gekomen, maar dat dit verbond het verbond verving dat op de berg Sinaï werd gesloten (Hebr. 8:9) ‘De Geest schrijft Gods geboden in onze harten, dat is het nieuwe (Hebr. 8:10)!Dit verbond met Abraham is ons dierbaar, omdat God het ook met de kinderen heeft opgericht (Gen.17) Wij worden door genade behouden, ‘net als Isaak die als kleine jongen werd besneden (Gal 4:28)’. God blijft in elk stadium van het verbond altijd dezelfde. Als Hij tegen het volk Israël zegt dat Hij het op adelaarsvleugels gedragen heeft (Ex. 19:4), dan blijft Hij dat ook nu doen.
Prachtig ook hoe de ‘pars pro toto’ – een deel voor het geheel – gedachte wordt uitgewerkt en op een hoger niveau wordt gezet wanneer Ds Luiten schrijft: ‘Is de doop niet de besnijdenis in het groot? Vroeger werd een stukje vlees weggesneden, in de doop wordt heel ons lichaam begraven (Kol 2:11-12). Ligt hierin niet de aanwijzing dat de doop ons is gegeven in het verlengde van de besnijdenis?’. Zo worden we steeds rijker omdat in de Nieuw testamentische bedeling heel ons leven een ‘heilig en God welgevallig offer’ wordt (Rom. 12:1).
Voorts wijst Ds Luiten ons er fijntjes op dat het woord ‘tongentaal’ geen goede vertaling is van het Griekse woord ‘γλῶσσα’. We lezen: ‘Het Bijbelse ‘glossa’ betekent óf tong óf taal – een van beide, maar niet ‘tongentaal’. Zo kan in het Nederlands ‘leer’ ladder betekenen óf gelooide huid. De vertaler moet kiezen, maar een ’ leren ladder’ is onzin’. Uit het vervolg blijkt dat Ds Luiten voor ‘taal’ kiest wanneer hij schrijft dat het spontaan spreken van een buitenlandse taal gezien moet worden als hét wonder van de Pinksterdag.

Ten slotte nog iets over vraag 9: ‘Waar in de Bijbel wordt de verantwoordelijkheid voor onze schuld aan de satan toegeschreven? . Wat mij betreft vraagt de beantwoording om een nadere toelichting. Terecht schrijft Ds Luiten: ‘Nergens leert de Bijbel ons dat wij demonen moeten opzoeken om hen uit te drijven. Het zoeken van contact met geesten en demonen is ons toch juist uitdrukkelijk verboden?’. We zien tijdens de rondwandeling van Jezus op aarde een toename, een explosie, van demonische krachten, mensen die door demonen zijn bezet en die het pad van het ambtswerk van Jezus kruisen. De duivel krijgt de ruimte om nog één keer met alle macht alle demonische registers open te trekken om zo het verzoenend werk van Christus te blokkeren. De vraag die nu gesteld kan worden is deze: Is sinds de overwinning van Jezus aan het kruis de macht van satan om mensen demonisch te bezetten niet op zijn minst sterk ingeperkt? Volgens het artikel van Hans Burger echter niet, want die schrijft dat ‘in onze niet meer christelijke wereld zou Christus als koning de invloed van het kwaad en van de duivel wel eens kunnen laten toenemen. Wanneer mensen expliciet de invloed van het kwaad zoeken en zich openstellen voor kwade geesten, krijgt de duivel meer ruimte dan hij voorheen in een christelijk Nederland had’. De vraag is of wat Burger hier schrijft identiek is aan demonische bezetenheid. Ik betwijfel dat. In de loop der eeuwen is men echter, wat men eerst voor demonische bezetenheid hield, door de ontwikkeling van de psychiatrie meer en meer gaan zien en herkennen, niet als een demonische bezetting, maar als een psychische ziekte, waarbij men, bij wijze van spreken, in toenemende mate verwees naar de psychiater i.p.v. naar de exorcist. Daarmee kan men een hoop angst voor ‘vermeende’ demonische bezetting en de daaruit voortvloeiende beschadiging worden voorkomen. Bij een psychische ziekte immers, hoeft er helemaal geen sprake van zonde te zijn en verwijzen we door naar de psychiatrische hulpverlening.
Terecht schrijft Ds Luiten dat het uitdrukkelijk verboden is om contact te zoeken met geesten en demonen. Het is bovendien nog erg gevaarlijk ook. Maar wat moeten we doen als wij deze demonen niet opzoeken maar als die demonische bezetting, in een uitzonderlijk geval, juist ons pad kruist? Wat moeten we doen als we tegen wil en dank er toch mee worden geconfronteerd? Ik schreef terughoudend over wat we demonische bezettingen mogen noemen maar valt daarmee geheel uit te sluiten dat we ook vandaag nog met demonische bezetting worden geconfronteerd? Ik durf dat niet geheel uit te sluiten. Maar ook dan mogen we dezelfde weg bewandelen die Ds Luiten aangeeft. We gaan niet de rechtstreekse confrontatie met de demon aan, maar we gaan naar Jezus toe: ‘We leren bidden tot Hem om verlossing van de boze’.  Tot zover het artikel van Ds Luiten. Ik zou zeggen: lees zelf verder, proef en smaak het goede……

Ik hoop en bid dat dit artikel de basis vormt voor een verder gesprek met de charismatische beweging en dat we zo samen verder mogen komen.


 

[1] Nummer 9 – Jaargang 87 -27 Januari 2012

[2] In de column ‘Kortetermijndenken’ pagina 170

[3] Pagina 178 e.v.

Bob Dylan's "All along the Watchtower" - a lyric analysis - Part 2

“No reason to get excited,” the thief, he kindly spoke, “There are many here among us who feel that life is but a joke”. Elsewhere Dylan wrote: “When God is in His heaven, we all want what’s His, but power and greed and corruptible seed; seem to be all that there is”. Power and greed are typical of the joker but against all odds, things take a turn for the better when the thief starts talking. The thief on the cross has repented and has experienced what saving grace means. And because of that a new situation has now arisen on either side of Jesus hanging on the cross. On the one side there is now faith represented by the thief; on the other side there is continuous unbelief from the joker. On the one side is humility from the thief; on the other is arrogance from the joker. Profanity speaks out of one side and reverence speaks out of the other side. We said that the picture which is drawn here is timeless; these two voices have continued to speak from either side of the cross till this very day and will continue to do so until the Latter Day. The world has always been divided, and always will be divided, with Christ at the center. I read somewhere that God may have placed a man on each side of Jesus for this reason: one is the voice of the kingdom of this fallen world, the kingdom of Babylon, and the other is the voice of the Kingdom of God.
This saving grace from Jesus has made the thief humble and he now gently tries to persuade the joker to join his side saying: “No reason to get excited,” These words sound as if the thief says:  “You only worry about the loss of material things, your wealth and riches, your influence and power in this world; all these earthly principles which have corrupted you, the loss of all these things is no big deal and no reason to get excited about. Remember that all that there is in this world, is only temporary, only means to an end.  What really is bad and frightening in this world is that “There are many here among us who feel that life is but a joke”. Not only the chief priests, the scribes and soldiers standing around the cross, mocking and joking on Jesus, are meant here (Luke 23:35-37) but also the whole fallen world of Babylon of which the joker and the thief are both part of. Those who take life as a joke say: “Let’s feast and drink, for tomorrow we die!”(I Corinthians 15:32). They are without any hope; they “laugh in the face of what sorrow brings”.
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!
When the thief goes on to say to the joker: “But you and I, we’ve been through that, and this is not our fate”, it is as if the thief says: “We are both part of this fallen world of Babylon .I’m not naïve unworldly person; just like you, I experienced all the ups and downs and all the hardships of this fallen world. In this world I was no better a man than you are. We are both thieves and we fully indulged in whatever we could grasp in this world and we all grabbed it fast. We’ve both been to Sugar Town and we both shook the sugar down. We both deserve to die here on the cross but the saving grace of Jesus came over me and now I’m on my way to heaven and I will be in paradise with Jesus today (Luke 23:43). It was grace that taught me how to fear but Jesus reaches out for you too. You can either accept his hand or refuse it; that is your own responsibility. You can no longer hide and say that this is your fate, if you go down now, it’s gonna be your own fault”. “Fate” – if defined as the force by which all existence is determined and conditioned- is often unjustly invoked as a last resort to justify immoral practices.
Dylan has always been preoccupied with the concept of fate and destiny, the idea of “fate” as a last resort to justify immoral practices is very immanent in songs like "With God on our side" and in “Who killed Davey Moore” where the death of Davey Moore is in the end unjustly justified by: “Don’t say ‘murder,’ don’t say ‘kill’ It was destiny, it was God’s will”. Dylan wants to make it clear that although from a biblical point of view “fate” and “destiny” play an important role in the unfolding of God’s plans – “God knows everything, “God sees it all unfold”, “some perfect finished plan”- this concept never intends to neutralize individual human responsibility. On the contrary, when the thief on the cross says to the joker: “but this is not our fate” he wants to make it clear that they both have a choice. The choice is to either accept the saving grace of Jesus – which the thief will do – or to reject this saving grace; at the same time the thief emphasizes that is no use for the joker hiding behind words like “fate” or “destiny” when spiritual freedom for the joker is available just around the corner of his eyes. But if the joker perseveres in his unbelief, the thief presumably will have to heave a sigh in the end, saying to himself about the joker: “But with truth so far off, what good will it do!”
When the thief goes on to say to the joker “So let us not talk falsely now, the hour is getting late” he increases the sense of urgency. The word "falsely” reminds us of the Biblical ninth commandment not to "bear false witness”. The ninth commandment tells us that we must never give false testimony against anyone, twist no one’s words, not gossip or slander, nor join in condemning anyone rashly or without a legitimate hearing. But all these things happened to Jesus on the cross. It is as if the thief now says to the joker: “Look at that Roman officer standing there at the foot of the cross, this officer is a pagan, can’t you see that even he is convinced that the way in which Jesus died is such an unprecedented and world shaking event, that this officer has to admit:  “This man – Jesus - truly was the Son of God!”(Mark 15:39), so please open up your eyes to the truth which is now more apparent than ever,how long can you falsify and deny what is real, how long can you hate yourself for the weakness you conceal?”.
“The hour is getting late” is a biblical metaphor for the approach of the Day of Reckoning (Judgment, it) expresses here that time is running out quickly. Time is piling up for the joker and he has nearly reached the end of his trail, it is now or never. Just like the thief, the joker will die on the cross within the next few hours. The joker must come to a decision now. The thief now gently urges the joker, in the same way Dylan would do later at the beginning of this century when he performed the bluegrass gospel song “ This world  can't stand long”  38 times in concert: ”This world it can’t stand long, be ready don't wait too late,”.

We now come to the final verse which, as we said above, should actually be the first verse. It was Dave Van Ronk, a fan and mentor of Dylan at the time, who remarked that the “Along” of “All along the watchtower”, is simply a mistake. A watchtower is not a road or a wall, and you can't go along it. In van Ronk’s eyes it was a poetic liberty Dylan thought he could get away with. Probably the words “All along” were inserted for rhythm purposes or to focus not on what happened on the watchtower but on what happened alongside the watchtower, the activities surrounding the watchtower.  We also remarked above that he whole of the discussion between the joker and the thief on the cross is marked by this verse. This verse “All along the watchtower, princes kept the view…etc. “reflects the Book of Isaiah Chapter 21: 5-9 which reads:
“Prepare the table, watch in the watchtower, eat, drink: arise, ye princes, and anoint the shield. For thus hath the Lord said unto me, Go, set a watchman, let him declare what he seeth. And he saw a chariot with a couple of horsemen, a chariot of asses, and a chariot of camels; and he hearkened diligently with much heed: And he cried, A lion: My lord, I stand continually upon the watchtower in the daytime, and I am set in my ward whole nights: And, behold, here cometh a chariot of men, with a couple of horsemen. And he answered and said, Babylon is fallen, is fallen; and all the graven images of her gods he hath broken unto the ground”.
This prophecy of the great Prophet Isaiah (740-639 BC) focusses on the fall of the great Neo-Babylonian Empire. A typical phenomenon of the prophecy of the Old Testament is that a prophecy may have multiple fulfillments throughout the history of this world, even without the prophet necessarily being aware of these multiple fulfillments. The first fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy took place when the great Neo-Babylonian Empire fell in 539 BC. We see a next fulfillment - in fact the biggest and the ultimate fulfillment- when Jesus died on the cross and by doing so, Jesus did what is written in Colossians 2:15: “He disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities”,’ in fact Jesus defeated the spiritual empire of Babylon on the cross. We see a next fulfillment of the prophecy of the fall of Babylon  represented in the fall of the Roman Empire and we sees a final fall of Babylon on the Latter Day, the fall of the great superpowers, the great Babylon as described in Revelation 18. The prophecy sees all these events as sequences, following one another in intervals, rather than as events next to one another as on a picture. This enhances the timelessness of the scene. Babylon stands for the all the powers which oppose the coming Kingdom of God. What strikes us in the prophecy of Isaiah is the great activity surrounding the watchtower – this may be the reason why the song says “all along” the watchtower. Isaiah sees a lot of stir and bustle: “a chariot with a couple of horsemen, a chariot of asses, a chariot of camels, a chariot of men, with a couple of horsemen”.  Dylan pictures the same activity, the same stir and bustle when he writes: “princes kept the view. While all the women came and went, barefoot servants, too”. In some sort of a way whenever a big catastrophe, a world shaking event, is about to occur we see the highest state of alert in heaven and on earth, a whirlpool of activity. (Revelation 8:5; 11:13). We see the same stir and hustle around the cross: “all the women (John 19:25) came and went barefoot servants too”. Barefoot servants may represent the messengers of God, the prophets, the apostles, who gave up everything they owned to serve the LORD: “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach good news” (Romans 10:15, even if these servants are poor and have to go barefooted. A barefooted servant may also be a messenger who publicly mourns for the sins of the people, like king David once did when he publicly mourned and wept for his own sins (2 Samuel 15:30). As we read in Revelation 18, the fall of the spiritual empire of Babylon is reason for ‘weep and wail’ (Revelation 18:9, 17).
“Outside in the distance a wildcat did growl, two riders were approaching, the wind began to howl. In this final line the omen that something ominous is about to happen is getting stronger, as if we’re just past the stillness in the winds before the hurricane begins. We have the idea that “the last part of the day is already gone” and that “it’s way past midnight”.
“Outside in the distance a wildcat did growl” may be a contemporary way of saying what is written in 1 Peter 5:8: “Be sober, be watchful – that is: stay on the watchtower – Your adversary, the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour”.
“Two riders were approaching, the wind began to howl. The two riders may be the two riders of Isaiah 21:7; they may be in a figurative sense the joker and the thief, approaching your life house, urging you to make a decision: “which side are you on? “or  the two riders may be, also in a figurative sense, the last two witnesses of Revelation 11.This final line warns us: “whatever you wish to keep, you’d better grab it fast” because the hour is getting late, the hour is near.

In part 1 of this analysis we raised the question why this song is so important for Dylan. Does Dylan see himself as some sort of a prophet like Ezekiel? Ezekiel received orders from the LORD:  “Now, son of man, I am making you a watchman for the people of Israel. Therefore, listen to what I say and warn them for me”.  (Ezekiel 33:7)
During his 1979/1980 gospel tour we hear Dylan say in a stage rap: “Years ago they ... said I was a prophet. I used to say, "No I'm not a prophet" they say "Yes you are, you're a prophet." I said, "No it's not me." They used to say "You sure are a prophet." They used to convince me I was a prophet. Now I come out and say Jesus Christ is the answer. They say, "Bob Dylan's no prophet." They just can't handle it”. In his 2004 CBS interview Dylan says that people use to say to him: "'You're the prophet. You're the savior.' I never wanted to be a prophet or savior. Elvis maybe. I could easily see myself becoming him. But prophet? No.".
We conclude that it is true that Dylan never regarded himself as a prophet with a capital “P”, speaking with divine authority like the biblical prophets. In I Corinthians 14, however, it says that all Christians may be in sense prophets, but they are prophets with a small “p” and Dylan is certainly one of them. And that is why this song is so important to him.
As always, please feel free to respond to this article.....

Bob Dylan's "All along the Watchtower" - a lyric analysis - Part 1

Bob Dylan’s “All along the Watchtower” – an analysis by Kees de Graaf – Part 1

This song was written and recorded in 1967 for the album “John Wesley Harding”. Dylan at the time remarked that this album was “the first biblical rock album“, this remark gives us a hermeneutical key, not only for this song, but for the interpretation of the whole album.
“All along the watchtower” has only three verses and there is no chorus. The narrative of the song has a rather unusual structure. The third verse: “All along the watchtower, princes kept the view…etc.” tells the story and one would expect the song to start with this verse. But in fact the song starts in the middle of a conversation. In an interview which Dylan gave in 1968, he commented on the album “John Wesley Harding” saying: "I haven't fulfilled the balladeer’s job. A balladeer can sit down and sing three songs for an hour and a half... it can all unfold to you. These melodies on John Wesley Harding lack this traditional sense of time. As with the third verse of "The Wicked Messenger", which opens it up, and then the time schedule takes a jump and soon the song becomes wider... The same thing is true of the song "All Along the Watchtower", which opens up in a slightly different way, in a stranger way, for we have the cycle of events working in a rather reverse order."
The unusual structure of the narrative was also noted by Christopher Ricks, an English Literature Professor, who commented that "All Along the Watchtower" is a typical example of Dylan's audacity at manipulating chronological time: "at the conclusion of the last verse, it is as if the song bizarrely begins at last, and as if the myth began again."
On the album version of the song there is a high haunting harmonica and the simple motion of the riff hurriedly drives you in a forward direction as if you are heading towards some abyss from which there is no turning back. There can be no doubt that this song represents a very important, if not the most important, place in Dylan’s works. The song was performed in concert for the first time in 1974 and as per today (December 2011) the song has been performed a staggering 1957 times, more than any other Dylan song, even more than his best known song “Like a Rolling Stone” which has been performed 1810 times up till now. One may say that “All along the Watchtower” represents Dylan’s trade mark or identity card.

What is the secret behind this song? First of all, we’d like to reiterate what we earlier wrote on our weblog about the 60 minutes CBS television interview Bob Dylan gave in 2004. I think that this interview may give us an important clue on how we should position “All along the Watchtower”. In this interview Dylan is asked why after so many years he still out there on stage, performing all of his songs on tour. After emphasizing that he doesn’t take any of it for granted, Dylan gives the following reply: ‘’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’’. On the question what his bargain was Dylan answers: ‘‘to get where I am now”. And asked whom he made that bargain with he answers: “With the Chief Commander, in this earth and in a world we can’t see”.
It all seems to demonstrate that Dylan doesn’t do anything at random. He feels there is a divine purpose, a plan behind everything he does as an actor. He seems to believe that his shows, the set lists, the albums, the songs and in particular this song “All along the Watchtower”, all are part of some sort of ‘perfect finished plan’, a carefully selected process for which he has guidance from above. He feels that as an artist he officiates as ‘Watchtower’ to warn people, in some sort of a way like the old biblical Prophets once did, that this world is doomed. This may be the reason why ‘All along the Watchtower’ has such an important place in his works and has run like a continuous thread through almost all of his shows for so many years. Let’s take a closer look at the lyrics of this song to see how we can piece all those things together.

First and foremost, we feel it is important to note that the third verse: “All along the watchtower, princes kept the view…etc. “echoes the Book of Isaiah Chapter 21 verses 5-9. We will discuss these verses later on in more detail but here it is important to note that in these verses the prophet Isaiah prophesizes the fall of the great Neo-Babylonian Empire, which indeed fell in 539 BC. But it did not end there. In the Bible and notably in the Book of Revelation  Babel and Babylon represent, in a spiritual way, all powers, of all ages, which oppose and are hostile to the coming of the Kingdom of God. In all ages, each and every individual human being is called upon to take a moral stance towards Babylon, this call is timeless; the picture that is drawn in this song is therefore also timeless. The question therefore of all ages that now lurks in the background is: “which side are you on?” If your heart is with Babylon (like that of the joker), you will perish with Babylon and there is no hope left. If you repent (like the thief did) and obey to the call to get out of Babylon, you will be saved (Revelation 18:4). I think that this question also marks the discussion between the joker and the thief, to which we are now going to have a detailed look.

“There must be some way out of here,” said the joker to the thief. In this timeless conversation, the big question is: who is this joker and who is this thief and what do they represent? Some commentators say that Dylan is the joker and Elvis the thief. Elvis was once called a thief by many African Americans because his music was so much influenced by black artists. Others say that the joker and the thief represent the two riders which were approaching and of whom the final verse speaks. This opinion is based on the fact that there is this reverse order in the song whereby the final verse should actually be the first verse; the two riders approaching start this conversation: “there must be some way out of here etc….”.
Again others, say that the joker represents Jesus on the cross talking to one of the two thieves which were crucified with Him (Matthew 27:38). I think that this interpretation is not very  plausible. Although a “joker” in a card game may be an additional playing card of any value – so also of the highest value, a sort of ace in the hole, in the same way as Paul Simon, in one of his songs, meditates on the possibility that Jesus may be the ace in the hole- on Tarot cards, however, Jesus is depicted by the Joker card. On Tarot cards, the Queen card represents the Virgin Mary. In the secrets of cards she is called the mother of harlots. Joker, however, means fool! Jesus Christ is held up by the card players as a fool. And even more appallingly, the secret language of a deck of cards goes further and declares that Jesus (the Joker card) is the offspring of a lustful Jack, and the Queen mother, Mary. We can find an additional reason why the interpretation that the joker would represent Jesus is not very plausible in Dylan’s song “Jokerman”. It is true; in this song the portrayal of the Jokerman is somewhat ambiguous. On the one hand, words like “Man of the mountains” and who can “walk on the clouds” and “the book of Leviticus and Deuteronomy are your only teachers” look like as if these words point to Moses and Jesus as being the Jokerman, but these words are not what they seem. It all has to do with false prophecy and deception and Dylan warned us on the same album “Infidels”: “Sometimes Satan comes as a man of peace “ (“Man of Peace”)
On the other hand, the overall portrayal of the “Jokerman” is that of the personification of all  evil, in fact of Satan himself. That is why the Jokerman is called a “dream twister, a manipulator of prayers, who goes to Sodom and Gomorrah etc…”
A much more likely interpretation therefore is that both the joker and the thief represent the two thieves that were crucified on either side of Jesus. Dylan calls the one thief the “joker” because in the same way like the chief priests, the scribes and soldiers standing around the cross did; he mocked and joked on Jesus saying: “So you’re the Messiah, are you? Prove it by saving yourself—and us, too, while you’re at it!”(Luke 23:39 NLT). Although the other thief, whom Dylan also calls a “thief”, initially also mocked Jesus, (Matthew 27:44, Mark 15:32), he repented in the end, rebuking the other thief - the joker - saying: “Don’t you fear God even when you have been sentenced to die? We deserve to die for our crimes, but this man (Jesus) hasn’t done anything wrong.”(Luke 23:40, 41).
Dylan seems to write a parody on this discussion between the two thieves on the cross. But there is more to it. We have good reasons to believe that the two thieves on the cross represent two sorts of inhabitants of the great spiritual –all time - kingdom of Babylon. The one thief on the cross – called the joker – represents the part of the kingdom of Babylon which opposes and rejects the Kingdom of God represented by Jesus on the cross. On the cross we see this joker persevere in his rejection of Jesus and His Kingdom. The joker is for that reason doomed to perish when Judgment Day comes falling from the sky upon Babylon.

“There must be some way out of here,” shows that the joker is desperately trying to find a way out of the dreadful situation he is in on the cross. The only way out for the joker is to apply to Jesus and to surrender to Him. But the joker refuses to do that and applies for advice and help to the thief. But the thief cannot help the Joker, the thief needs redemption himself. In his refusal to accept redemption the joker represents the fallen Babylon which has been beaten on the cross by Jesus.  For the thief, representing the people of God in Babylon, there is a way to get out of the fallen Babylon; in Revelation 18:4 God’s people are summoned to leave the spiritual Babylon: “And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues”.
“There’s too much confusion, I can’t get no relief”. Of the Aristotelians it is said that they were liable to the confusion of thought. James 3:16 says: “For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work”. When the joker says “There’s too much confusion, I can’t get no relief”, the joker uses this as a pretext not to repent as if he says: “there are too many confusing, conflicting, things happening here around the cross, there is a  Babylonian “confusion of tongues” going on here, a perfect Babel of tongues,  it is therefore not clear to me who and what is right or wrong, so I see no reason why I should turn to Jesus for redemption, I must use my own ingeniousness to get out of here”. The thief could have said to the joker: “I know what you want, joker, you only want is to get relief from the dreadful situation you are in. “Oh, Jokerman, you don't show any response to the suffering of Jesus, on the contrary, you keep on mocking Him. The only thing you are interested in is saving your own neck, you have the same attitude as the Pharaoh once had, when he was hit by the plagues, he was after relief and not repentance and as soon as relief had come, he became stubborn again (Exodus 8:15) and refused to listen to Moses”.

The joker continues his lamentations: “Businessmen, they drink my wine, plowmen dig my earth. None of them along the line know what any of it is worth”. “Businessmen” is a word from our modern times whereas “Plowmen” has an ancient undertone; it underlines the timelessness of the meaning of the song. As said the thief – called joker by Dylan – on the cross may represent the fallen spiritual empire of Babylon. In the Book of Revelation, Chapter 18, we find a lamentation on the downfall of Babylon. “Businessmen, they drink my wine, plowmen dig my earth. None of them along the line know what any of it is worth” is Dylan’s a parody on this downfall of Babylon. The joker, representing the falling Babylon, regards all the riches of this world as his personal property. “Businessmen” merchants, they drink my wine and plowmen they dig my earth. It is as if the joker says: “I’’ll plant and I’ll harvest what the earth brings forth” just like Revelation 18:12,13 says:  “gold, silver, jewels, and pearls; fine linen, purple, silk, and scarlet cloth; things made of fragrant thyine wood, ivory goods, and objects made of expensive wood; and bronze, iron, and marble  cinnamon, spice, incense, myrrh, frankincense, wine, olive oil, fine flour, wheat, cattle, sheep, horses etc…” but I’m going to use it for my own purposes, to glorify myself because all of this belongs to me, it is mine”. The Bible however, teaches us that the earth and all her riches belongs to the LORD (I Cor. 10:26) and is only given to man to glorify God and to serve your neighbor. “Theft” in the Bible means using the earth and her riches for your own purposes, to glorify yourself as if you are the legitimate owner. And if you do that you are called a “thief”. The thief, the joker, on the cross represents an empire of thieves: Babylon.
Revelation 18:17 tells us that all the wealth and riches of Babylon will be destroyed in a single moment. The businessmen and merchants, who became wealthy by selling her these things, all the captains of the merchant ships and their passengers and sailors and crews will stand at a distance, terrified by her great torment. They, including the joker, will weep and cry out to all those standing by as if they were saying: “None of them along the line know what any of it is worth. What a shame and waste that all the wealth and riches of Babylon, all the treasuries of the whole world, which are of incalculable value, are destroyed in the twinkling of an eye, nobody seems to realize what any of it is worth”. Rather than repenting and worrying about her immorality and the “blood of the prophets and of God’s holy people that flowed in your streets and the blood of people slaughtered all over the world” (Revelation 18:24), the joker- the thief, representing Babylon - is only concerned about the loss of material property, about the loss of his wine and whatever his plowmen, digging in his earth, will bring forth.
In concert Dylan usually repeats this first verse and ends the song with this verse, emphasizing and lengthening this line and in particular the word “worth”. The band often ends the song with a dramatic end chord. It all sounds like a last, final warning as if Dylan says: “This world can't stand long, be ready and don't be late, we should know this world can't stand for it's too full of hate”

In part 2 of our analysis we will strike a more optimistic note when the thief starts talking and we will see that the final verse: “All along the watchtower, princes kept the view”…etc. is closely bound up with the rest of the song, so that we will find that we have a coherent work of art at hand.

As always, please feel free to respond. Will be continued…….

Bob Dylan's "High Water" - for Charley Patton - an analysis- Part 3

Bob Dylan’s “High Water (for Charley Patton)” – an analysis by Kees de Graaf- Part 3.

“The Cuckoo is a pretty bird, she warbles as she flies, I’m preachin’ the Word of God,
I’m puttin’ out your eyes. I asked Fat Nancy for somethin' to eat, she said, “Take it off the shelf—as great as you are a man, you’ll never be greater than yourself”. I told her I didn’t really care, high water everywhere”.
Undoubtedly Dylan was inspired here by the song "The Coo Coo bird”, a traditional Appalachian lyric which was originally recorded in 1927, the year of the Great Flood, by Western North Carolina banjo musician Clarence Ashley. Some of the lyrics read: “Gonna build me a log cabin  on a mountain so high, so I can see Willie,  as he goes on by, Um hmm hmm...Oh the coo-coo is a pretty bird, she wobbles when she flies, she never hollers coo-coo,  'til the fourth day of July”. Dylan’s own rendition of the song called “The Cuckoo” can be found on the single CD “Live at the Gaslight 1962”.
In many traditions, hearing the cuckoo’s call is a first harbinger of spring time and for that reason identified with the warmth and promise of that season. At the same time, the roving bird is a symbol of adultery, infidelity and deceptive love. This is caused by the fact that some female species of the cuckoo have the particularity to deposit their eggs in the nest of other, smaller, birds, leaving the eggs there to be hatched by a bird of totally different species.
As such, the image of the cuckoo fits in well with the apocalyptic atmosphere of the song. The cuckoo on the one hand represents spring, a brand new season with its promises of new life and warmth, and on the other hand the cuckoo represents adultery, infidelity and deceptive love. Both these two notions find their way in the song. First, it is said that “The Cuckoo is a pretty bird, she warbles as she flies”, outwardly the cuckoo is a gracious and an attractive bird to look at and to listen to. But the bird has a hidden trait when she deposits her eggs in the nest of other birds to be hatched there. She does not take any responsibility for bringing up her own breed and leaves that arduous task to other birds. It is like Dylan once said in the song “Heart of Mine”: “If you can’t do the time, don’t do the crime, heart of mine”. Dylan sees the same things happen in the end times of this world. Amidst the catastrophes which batter this world (“High Water Everywhere”) sexual dissipations are sold to this world as true “love” and encouraged: “jump into the wagon, love, throw your panties overboard”. This kind of love outwardly looks like “a pretty bird”, which sings songs of love: “she warbles as she flies” but in reality, behind the scenes, it is all just a fake. This kind of “love” is all deceit because it is only based on lust and is not accompanied by true love which is based on fidelity, loyalty and perseverance. Just like the cuckoo, our modern society does not take any responsibility for its own immoral deeds and shifts the burden to the society, to the public at large. The result of all this adultery is that we live in a world of broken promises of love, staggering divorce rates leading to broken families and where children are victimized. Dylan earlier said in his “T.V. Talking song”: “Your mind is your temple, keep it beautiful and free, don’t let an egg get laid in it by something you can’t see” , warning us, that in the end times you’ll have to open up your eyes and not surrender to those who want the pleasures but not the problems and to those who say “Darwin Loves You" but who in the end leave you behind with the bleak consequences of the law of the jungle.
For a world which has fallen so deeply and which is at the brink of total collapse, there is only one remedy left and that is: “I’m preachin’ the Word of God, I’m puttin’ out your eyes”. Putting out a person’s eyes may be a token of complete humiliation, like once happened to Samson when he was captured by the Philistines. We read of this in Judges 16:21: “But the Philistines took him, and put out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza, and bound him with fetters of brass; and he did grind in the prison house”. At the same time, putting out a person’s eyes results in total blindness and this blindness is an illustration of ultimate divine wrath and judgment. We see this phenomenon in the story of the destruction of the city of Sodom as described in Genesis 19. The men of Sodom demanded to have sex with the two angles who were staying at Lot’s house. When this was refused the men of Sodom lunged towards Lot to break down the door of his house and to force themselves in. Then the angles interfered and we read in Genesis 19:11: “Then they blinded all the men, young and old, who were at the door of the house, so they gave up trying to get inside”.
The message of the ‘the Word of God’ which Dylan preaches here is, that a world may become so decadent and defiled that the only way to stop this process of total self-destruction and annihilation is to blind people so that they cannot carry out their wicked schemes. God does not rejoice in taking hard and tough measures such as putting out people’s eyes, but sometimes there is no alternative left when there is “High water everywhere”.

“I asked Fat Nancy for somethin' to eat, she said, “Take it off the shelf—as great as you are a man, you’ll never be greater than yourself”. I told her I didn’t really care, high water everywhere”. The gallery of disasters which passes by in this song is not over yet as Fat Nancy bursts upon the scene. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if Dylan was inspired here by a song called “The Wreck at the Fat Nancy Trestle”- a song by Phil Audiber: Phil Audibert guitar and vocals; Alex Caton, banjo and vocals; Jeff Romano, harmonica.
This is a song about a train disaster that occurred on July 12, 1888 outside the town of Orange in the state of Virginia. In 2007 an inscription was erected at the sight of the disaster which says: “Here, on 12 July 1888, occurred one of Virginia's largest train disasters, the wreck of the Virginia Midland Railroad's Train 52, the Piedmont Airline. As it crossed the 44-foot-high, 487-foot-long trestle, called the ‘Fat Nancy’, for a local African American woman who served as a trestle watcher and reported problems, the trestle collapsed. Nine passengers were killed etc…”. When you watch the video of the song and the accompanying commentary you will indeed find out that the story is rife with ironies. Strange things happened there like never before……The refrain of the song reads:
“Wave Fat Nancy, wave that train goodbye. Save us dear Nancy, save us from our plight, where were you Nancy when the trestle fell down last night”.
Fat Nancy, the washerwoman, reported that there were problems at the trestle, but, just like Noah in the days of the sin flood, her warnings were ignored and the trestle collapsed. Ironically it says about Fat Nancy that “she just got too heavy to hold up her own weight”. This is exactly the same word pun Dylan uses when he says: “as great as you are a man, you’ll never be greater than yourself”. Now how can we all piece those things together?  The Bible says that that we can tell a true prophet from a false prophet by the fact that whatever a true prophet prophesizes will come true (Deuteronomy 18:21, 22). Noah, through building the Ark, prophesized that the sin flood would come, the sin flood which would destroy the whole world and his prophesy did come true: “High water everywhere”. For that reason Noah can be called a true Prophet. In a certain sense, Fat Nancy was a true prophet too. She predicted that the trestle would collapse and it did come true. The Bible also teaches that false prophets can be manipulated and that they play up to you, (I Kings 22:6, 7) they’ve got to go where their bread is buttered. A true Prophet (I Kings 22:8) however, cannot be manipulated and such a prophet can truly say: “I’m preaching the word of God”. Fat Nancy was such a true prophet. She couldn’t be manipulated; she didn’t play up to you. It is the reason why when, Dylan “asked Fat Nancy for somethin' to eat”, she refused to obey and replied “Take it off the shelf—as great as you are a man, you’ll never be greater than yourself”.  A true prophet acts irrespective of persons. Even if you are a celebrity, like Dylan is, you don’t get any preferential treatment. God treats all men as equal. The apocalyptic catastrophe will strike the rich and the poor, the famous and the humble. The prophet Fat Nancy is nobody’s well trained maid and she will not give you any material benefits upon demand. ”As great as you are a man, you’ll never be greater than yourself” puts man in the right perspective. You may be a V.I.P. in the eyes of the world but you will never reach beyond the limitations God has imposed on you and like Dylan wrote elsewhere: “God knows you ain’t gonna be taking nothing with you when you go”.
Fortunately the poet accepts Fat Nancy’s refusal to give him any preferential treatment: “I told her I didn’t really care, high water everywhere”.  In the face of the high tides that are rising, the narrator now seems to realize that he’d better concentrate on the global, devastating consequences of the flood, rather than on his own personal interests. 

“I’m gettin’ up in the morning—I believe I’ll dust my broom, keeping away from the women, I’m givin’ ’em lots of room. Thunder rolling over Clarksdale, everything is looking blue, I just can’t be happy, love, unless you’re happy too. It’s bad out there, high water everywhere”
“I'm goin' get up in the mornin', I believe I'll dust my broom, I'm goin' get up in the mornin', I believe I'll dust my broom, girlfriend, the black man you been lovin', girlfriend, can get my room” is from an old blues lyric called “Dust my broom” best known from Robert Johnson who recorded the song for the first time in 1936. “Dust my broom” is an old expression derived from “get up and dust” which means to leave in a hurry. Earlier “dust” was commonly used as a synonym for “depart”. In fact, the expression has Biblical roots.  In the Gospel of Matthew, 10:14, Jesus Christ says: “If any household or town refuses to welcome you or listen to your message, shake its dust from your feet as you leave”. Dylan uses the same Biblical expression in the song “Pressing On” where it reads: “Shake the dust off of your feet, don’t look back“. We may conclude that the expression has the connotation of “leaving for good”, just like Dylan once expressed in “World Gone Wrong”: “Pack up my suitcase, give me my hat, no use to ask me, baby, 'cause I'll never be back”.
The line “Keeping away from the women, I'm giving them lots of room” was inspired from a  traditional song called “ Bald Headed End Of A Broom”, the chorus of which goes: “Oh boys, stay away from the girls, I say, Oh give them lots of room. They'll find you and you'll wed, and they'll bang you till you're dead, with the bald-headed end of a broom.”
“Thunder rolling over Clarksdale, everything is looking blue” is a reference to Clarksdale (MS). It was just above Clarksdale where, during the Great Flood of 1927, the levee broke and water inundated the State of Mississippi. Clarksdale is not only the birth place of a.o. Sam Cooke, Muddy Waters and John Lee Hooker but also the place where, according to the legend, Robert Johnson sold his soul to the devil at the Highway 49/61 Crossroads. In Clarksdale we find the famous Delta Blues Museum. Clarksdale is seen as the birthplace of the blues, “everything is looking blue” is, amidst the catastrophe Dylan describes here both an appropriate and an ambiguous expression; it is a reference both to the ‘blue’, dreadful situation Clarksdale was in during the Great Flood and although Clarksdale may be called the cradle of the “blues” music, it couldn’t escape from the menace of the flood:“Thunder rolling over Clarksdale”.
This last verse of the song may be seen as an epilogue and regarded as some sort of a penance from the narrator. In spite of the rising waters and the nearing Apocalypse as described in the first verses, stealing and looting and sexual dissipations go on, and even the narrator took part in it: “Jump into the wagon, love, throw your panties on the board” but in this final verse the narrator seems to have come to his senses, just like the prodigal son once, when he went abroad and was hit hard by the hand of God but in the end repented and went back home.
“I’m gettin’ up in the morning—I believe I’ll dust my broom” shows that the poet realizes that “this place doesn’t do him any good” he is ready to hastily leave the doomed place he is in, so that the rising waters will not overtake and overflow him. He is now in an obedient and remorseful mood and seems willing to follow instructions and leave. The whole scene is somewhat reminiscent of what happened to Lot (Genesis 19) who was urged to leave the doomed city of Sodom in a hurry; the city which was on the verge of being destroyed through fire from heaven.
In the face of the approaching calamity he is ready to give up his wanton lifestyle full of sexual dissipations and there is only one way out of it and that is: “keeping away from the women, and givin’ ’em lots of room”. He knows that this won’t be easy because “these bad luck women stick like glue” and he must have realized too what it meant, what he would write elsewhere  in this album: “There ain’t no limit to the amount of trouble women bring”. He knows he has to hurry now because already “Thunder is rolling over Clarksdale, everything is looking blue”; everything looks very ominous and heavy weather may break lose any minute now and if he stays on he may find himself trapped in it, and nowhere to escape.
“I just can’t be happy, love, unless you’re happy too” is a veiled and alternative wording of the so-called “Golden Rule” and proves once again that the narrator is willing to repent. The Golden Rule or ethic of reciprocity basically says that ‘one should treat others as one would like others to treat oneself’ (Matthew 7:12). In a sense “I just can’t be happy, love, unless you’re happy too” is the antipode of “Don’t reach out for me, can’t you see I’m drowning too”. When a man is locked in tight, the instinct of self-preservation becomes predominant and only heavenly aid can alter this natural tendency of man and make him loving meek and lenient, so that he can only be happy if his beloved is happy too, even when “It’s bad out there, and there’s high water everywhere”.

We’ve come to the end of the analysis of this song. We may conclude that in the face of the nearing Apocalypse the main theme of this album, which is “Love” and “Theft”, is fully expressed in this song. By love we mean both deceptive “love” –“jump into the wagon and throw your panties overboard”- and true love –“I just can’t be happy, unless you’re happy too”-. But at the place where love is, either deceptive or true love, there is ‘theft’ too. Stealing and looting go on, no matter how high the waters rise.

As always, please feel free to respond......

Bob Dylan's "High Water" - for Charley Patton - an analysis- Part 2

Bob Dylan’s “High Water (for Charley Patton)” – an analysis by Kees de Graaf- Part 2   

“Well, George Lewis (see the picture on the left) told the Englishman, the Italian and the Jew, “You can’t open your mind, boys to every conceivable point of view” They got Charles Darwin trapped out there on Highway Five. Judge says to the High Sheriff, “I want him dead or alive, either one, I don’t care”, high water everywhere”
Who is this George Lewis? Some have suggested that it may be George E. Lewis (born in 1952 in Chicago) who is a trombone player, composer, and scholar in the fields of jazz and experimental music and a pioneer of computer music. Others say it may be George Lewis (1900-1968) who was an American jazz clarinetist who achieved his greatest fame and influence in the later decades of his life.
The problem is however, that the lyrics seem to suggest that there is a connection between George Lewis and Charles Darwin (1809-1882) but neither of these two musicians do have this link, nor are they known to have stated something as philosophic as: “You can’t open your mind, boys to every conceivable point of view”, a statement which obviously has kindled the anger of the Judge to such an extent that a death or alive warrant is issued.
However, if you spell Lewes instead of Lewis there is definitely a connection. (“Lewis” is the spelling which is used on the official Bob Dylan website, however, one may wonder if there is any “official” spelling which is authorized by Dylan himself).
So there can hardly be any doubt that George Henry Lewes (1817-1878), a contemporary and correspondent of Charles Darwin is referred to here. George Henry Lewes was an English philosopher and critic of literature and theatre. He became part of the mid-Victorian flow of ideas which boosted discussion of Darwinism, positivism, and religious skepticism. Influenced by positivism, Lewes abandoned all faith in the possibility of metaphysics, the idea that there is more to this world than we can see and feel, in fact he refuted the idea that there might be a God who planned it all and who is in control of  all things, also of the faculties of the intellect. He laid down this abandonment in his ‘History of Philosophy’. To suggest and to stimulate the mind, but certainly not to supply it with any complete system of knowledge, may be said to be Lewes's main contribution to philosophy. Lewes once said[1] : “We must never assume that which is incapable of proof”. In his ‘Foundations of a Creed’ he pronounced all inquiry into the ultimate nature of things fruitless.  This is the reason why the poet has Lewes say: “You can’t open your mind, boys to every conceivable point of view”. From Lewes’s stance, the concept of believing in a God who created all things and controls all things, may be nothing more than “a conceivable point of view”, for which it is no use opening up your mind because this would go far beyond the limitations of the human mind and is therefore completely fruitless. Lewes said this “to the Englishman, the Italian and the Jew”. The Englishman represents the Protestant, the Italian represents the Roman Catholic and the Jew represents Judaism. Protestantism and Catholism, representing the main stream of Christianity, have something in common with Judaism.  They all share the Old Testament. The doctrines of the Bible in the Old Testament which declare God, Jaweh, as the Creator of all things and as the Origin of all Species, is denounced by Lewes as something to which you cannot open up your mind. Because of this denouncement the Judge is very angry with Lewes and wants him “dead or alive”.These words seem to be inspired by an old traditional called “Po’ Lazarus”, which has the following lyrics: “Well, the High Sheriff, he told his deputy,
want you go out and bring me Lazarus, bring him dead or alive”. To make sense of all of this, we feel that it is absolutely essential to understand that   the words “Judge” and “High Sheriff”, which are used here, are a metaphor for God and/or Jesus. God does not accept to be denounced, outmaneuvered, and His omnipresence darkened by Lewes’ philosophy. God shows his wrath to Lewes, and for that matter also to Charles Darwin and to the whole world, by allowing apocalyptic catastrophes to take place: “High Water Everywhere” .It is like C.S. Lewis (British Scholar and Novelist, 1898-1963) once wrote: “God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks to us in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: It is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world”.
The message Dylan wants to convey can be read between the lines: There is no salvation in George Lewes’ philosophy of the autonomy of the human intellect, nor is there salvation in Charles Darwin’s theory of the evolution of the species. This does not mean that Dylan intends to say that there is no truth in the theory of the evolution of the species. The point Dylan seems to make is that it is all about the harsh qualities of life governed by natural selection, and Dylan seems to refute Darwin’s thesis that there is only one eternal law in the universe and that is the law of the jungle which is at the basis of Darwin’s theory of natural selection. When you accept the consequences of natural selection to the very end, the only truth in the universe is a world, which is driven by mere chance and heartless competition. The result is a disenchanted world without the active presence of an Almighty God who is above all and everything, a God who is always ineffably much more than any theory a man can ever conceive. This result is unacceptable to God and that is why Dylan has Darwin convicted by God.
The irony in the picture Dylan draws is that a world which embraces the consequences of the theory of natural selection is not only battered but in the end even destroyed by its own theory. Within the reasoning of this theory the Flood: “High Water Everywhere”, is only caused by mere chance and self-centered egoism, expressed by “Don’t reach out for me, can’t you see I’m drowning too”, is morally justified as the only means of survival of the fittest.  In this song we see what happens if (as Dylan says in “Jokerman”) the law of the jungle is our only teacher: a harsh and self-centered world, where mercy walks the plank. Fortunately, it is not the law of the jungle but the love and mercy of God that will ultimately win and rule the earth.
There is irony too in the fact that it is Charles Darwin himself who is trapped in the flood. Within his own theory a devastating flood happens by mere chance and enables only the fittest to survive by the process of natural selection. However, by trapping Darwin, God makes it clear that He rules and allows catastrophes to occur and that he is able to intervene in any process, also in the process of natural selection, and use it for His Own purposes.
The lyrics say that “They got Charles Darwin trapped out there on Highway Five”. Highway 5 might have been chosen to make it rhyme with the following “alive”. However, one would rather have expected that Dylan would have had Darwin trapped on Highway 61. Highway 61, sometimes called the "Blues Highway," stretches from New Orleans through Memphis and from Iowa through Dylan's birthplace, Duluth, to the Canadian border. But Highway 61 also runs through the Mississippi Delta, which was devastated by the Great Flood of 1927. Along Highway 61 a lot of strange and harrowing things have happened. Bessie Smith was killed in an automobile accident on that roadway; Robert Johnson is said to have sold his soul to the devil at the crossroads of Highway 61 and Highway 49; Elvis Presley grew up in the housing projects built along Highway 61 and Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated at a motel just off Highway 61. Darwin would have fitted in very well in this category. In your imagination you can see it happen quite vividly: Charles Darwin trapped in his carriage on Highway 61, struggling to survive, unable to move on because of the ever rising waters which encircle him and block up the road ahead of him, while at the same time The High Sheriff and his servants close in on him.
Highway 5, however, is a long way from the disaster area. Highway 5 stretches from Washington State, down through California, and the only reason I can think of why Dylan chose Highway 5 for this scene, is for rhyming purposes.
“I want him dead or alive, either one, I don’t care”. One would expect the lyrics to read: “I want them dead or alive” because the following “either one” suggests that both George Lewes and Charles Darwin are wanted by the Judge. The Judge doesn’t care whether they are delivered up dead or alive, as long as both of them are handed over to Him.
We already said that we have solid reasons to assume that when Dylan says: “Judge says to the High Sheriff” he uses these words as a metaphor for God and/or Jesus. In the Bible God is often called “Judge”, both in the Old and in the New Testament; e.g. Psalm 7:11 says: “God is an honest Judge. He is angry with the wicked every day”. Jesus is also called Judge in the Bible.  Acts 10:42 for example says “that Jesus is the one appointed by God to be the judge of all—the living and the dead”. The High Sheriff is ordered here in the song to execute the Judge’s verdict. This comes close to when Jesus is called “the ruler of all the kings in the world” (Revelation 1:5) who executes God’s verdicts (Acts 17:31). In his 2004 CBS Television interview Dylan correctly calls Jesus “the Chief Commander, in this earth and in a world we can’t see”.  There is one other reason why the words “Judge” and “High Sheriff” are used as a metaphor for God and/or Jesus. If one would take the words “Judge” and “High Sheriff” in a literal sense, one must assume that both George Lewes and Charles Darwin had committed crimes on this earth which would justify a dead or alive warrant put out against them. But that was not the case, so we have to understand these words in a figurative, metaphorical sense.

Next time, in part 3 of my analysis we are going to take a closer look at the cuckoo and at Fat Nancy, so stay in touch with this website. As always, your comments on this article are highly appreciated…..

[1] The Physiology of Common Life (1859-60; repr. New York: D. Appleton, 1867) vol. 2, p. 349

Bob Dylan's "High Water" - for Charley Patton - an analysis- Part 1

Part 1 of Bob Dylan’s “High Water (for Charley Patton)” – an analysis by Kees de Graaf

This song from the album “Love and Theft” (2001) is a typically Dylanesque song and without any doubt a masterpiece. The song – in its apocalyptic menace- is closely tied to another masterpiece on the same album: “Mississippi”. One could also say that “High Water” ” is Dylan’s late-career new-millennium equivalent of “A Hard Rain’s a-Gonna Fall”. The flood overwhelms doomed people, and there is no help as the structure of society breaks down like in the days of Noah’s great flood. Although “High Water” is vividly metaphorical and full of apocalyptic conceit, it focuses on the story of the great Mississippi Flood of 1927. This devastating flood caused death and widespread destruction throughout the lower Mississippi Valley, from Arkansas to Louisiana, from Cairo, Ill., to the Gulf of Mexico. The number of casualties is not known exactly. Historians estimated the death toll at about 250 victims, but deaths due to the following disease and exposure were estimated to exceed 1,000 deaths. The Flood of 1927 affected an area of 27,000 square miles, about the size of all the New England states combined. The song is full of references to old blues songs and although it focuses on the Great Flood of 1927, it is not entirely restricted to that era, as we will outline below.

Dylan was not the only one who composed a song dealing with this catastrophe. In terms of music the flood aroused a hype which produced a lot of songs depicting the tragedy and, as may be expected, most of these songs had their roots in the blues. The songs included Bessie Smith’s “Muddy Water (A Mississippi Moan),” Blind Lemon Jefferson’s “Rising High Water Blues,” Memphis Minnie’s “When the Levee Breaks” and Vernon Dalhart’s “The Mississippi Flood.” Dylan dedicated the song to Charley Patton (1891-1934). Patton was at one time seen as the father of the Mississippi Delta Blues. Patton zigzagged between sacred church music and blues. One of his strongest songs was “High Water Everywhere” which he recorded in two parts in 1929, and of which we may say that it has been Dylan’s major source of inspiration when he composed “High Water”. Patton performed “High Water Everywhere” in a special way. It sounded as if he were some reporter, breaking news of some big catastrophe in a live broadcast, shouting over his guitar as if at any moment he himself could be swept off his feet by the disaster.

Although Dylan made it clear in the song “God knows” from the album “Under the Red Sky” that: “there’s gonna be no more water but fire next time”, (hinting at the fire by which the world will be purified at the Latter Day) “water” has always been one of his main elements to express apocalyptic judgment and doom, e.g. in the songs. “Down in the Flood” and “The Levee’s gonna break”. Dylan's singing on "Down in the Flood" sounds more like a warning; here his voice sounds more like a menace, emphasized by David Kemper's drum rolls at the start of each verse, which sound like a wave of water.
The question is what message the poet intends to convey in this song? I think that the message of the song is that no matter how hard the world is hit by calamities of apocalyptic proportions, the lewd basic instincts of man remain intact. On the ruins of civilization and amidst all the hardships catastrophes cause, looting, stealing and sexual orgies and dissipations go on, as if nothing has happened. Let’s see how this works out in the lyrics of the song.

“High water risin’—risin’ night and day, all the gold and silver are bein' stolen away, Big Joe Turner lookin’ east and west from the dark room of his mind, he made it to Kansas City
Twelfth Street and Vine, nothin' standing there, high water everywhere”. When the water rises night and day you and the threat of flooding comes closer and closer and in the end becomes inevitable reality, you may expect people to help and support one another in this dreadful circumstance. However, during every big catastrophe there are always some people who take advantage of the situation. They enrich themselves by stealing and robbing from people when they are in a vulnerable position: “all the gold and silver are bein' stolen away”. We see this happening on a local, micro, level; like in the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 Dylan deals with here, but also on a global level, where 20% of the world population has stolen all natural resources, at the expense of 80% of the world population that lives in poverty.
“Big Joe Turner lookin’ east and west from the dark room of his mind” introduces Big Joe Turner. Born Joseph Vernon Turner (1911-1985), Turner was an American blues shouter from Kansas City, Missouri. Some say that "Rock and roll would have never happened without him." Although he reached the top of his great fame in the 1950s with his innovating rock and roll recordings, particularly "Shake, Rattle and Roll", Turner's career as a performer stretched from the 1920s into the 1980s. Turner's songs rocketed to the top of the rhythm-and-blues charts. However, his records were sometimes so down to earth and pedestrian that some radio stations refused to play them. It may be the reason why his moral principles are questioned here and why it says that Turner operated “from the dark room of his mind”. A “dark room” is a room in a gay bar or adult movie theater where customers engage in sexual activity of some kind. Turner, as an adult, operating “from the dark room of his mind” is in strong contrast with the young Turner, who, as a child, first discovered his love of music through involvement in the church. Turner's father was killed in a tragic train accident when Joe was only four years old. This tragic accident may account for the dark room in his mind. He began singing on street corners for money, leaving school at age fourteen to begin working in Kansas City's nightclub scene, first as a cook, and later as a singing bartender. “Big Joe Turner lookin’ east and west” may mean that Turner “had” it. He was very successful and had all the possibilities to go either to the east or to the west. ”He made it to Kansas City Twelfth Street and Vine”. Turner not only made “to” Kansas City, he also made it “in” Kansas City. The period between the 1940s and the 1970s was a heady time when Kansas City was sometimes considered the crossroads of the world. This was fueled by the Presidency of hometown boy Harry Truman from 1945 through 1953, followed immediately by Kansan Dwight D. Eisenhower from 1953 to 1961.
“Kansas City Twelfth Street and Vine” refers to the City's 12th Street, which became nationally known for its jazz clubs, gambling parlors and brothels, earning the city the name, "The Paris of the Plains." At its top, 12th Street was home to more than 50 jazz clubs.
No matter how big and famous Joe Turner might have been, he would ‘never be greater than himself and in the end would have to surrender to the forces of nature: “nothin’ standing there, high water everywhere”. Kansas City was hit by the Great Flood of 1951 causing massive devastation.

“High water risin’, the shacks are slidin’ down, folks lose their possessions—folks are leaving town”. As said above, the Great Flood of 1927 caused massive devastation. Over 130,000 homes were lost and 700,000 people were displaced. Property damage was estimated at 350 million dollars, equivalent to approximately 5 billion dollars today.
“Bertha Mason shook it—broke it- then she hung it on a wall, says, “You’re dancin’ with whom they tell you to or you don’t dance at all”, it’s tough out there, high water everywhere”. These lines have been inspired by Patton’s song “Shake it and Break it” which starts with the following lines: “You can shake it, you can break it, you can hang it on the wall, throw it out the window, catch it 'fore it roll, you can shake it, you can break it, you can hang it on the wall, ...it out the window, catch it 'fore it falls, my jelly, my roll, sweet mama, don't let it fall”.
Bertha Mason is an insane character in a well-known novel with the title “Jane Eyre”, written by the English writer Charlotte Brontë and published in 1847.Dylan wants to make it clear that no matter how much devastation of apocalyptic proportions is immanent in America’s society, it is nevertheless the rules and ‘moral’ principles of the violent, the insane, the madmen and the cruel - like Bertha Mason – who pull the strings, and by which rules we all have to abide. All that is shattered, shaken and broken, all that is ugly, is presented to the nation as the best we can ever produce; it is hung on the wall for everybody to see. It is like Dylan once wrote in ‘Political World’: “We live in a political world, everything is hers or his, climb into the frame and shout God’s name, but you’re never sure what it is”. When houses are destroyed and thousands of people are displaced and forced to flee, leaving all their possessions behind, there are always some maniacs left who really thrive on insanity – like Bertha Mason once did – and they have an unholy glee over all those unfortunates and they force you into a macabre dance, to dance in accordance with their rules or principles,  to fulfill their wishes, and if you are unwilling, you are excluded from society and from the upper ten and you are told that you will not “ dance at all”.

“I got a cravin’ love for blazing speed, got a hopped-up Mustang Ford, jump into the wagon, love, throw your panties overboard. I can write you poems, make a strong man lose his mind, I’m no pig without a wig, I hope you treat me kind, things are breakin’ up out there, high water everywhere”. When the world is under threat of being wiped out, one may expect that man will repent. But that is usually not the case. On the contrary, in the Apocalypse, the low natural tendencies of man seem to thrive like never before. The saying “let’s eat and drink and be merry, because tomorrow we die” (1 Corinthians 15:32) rings true. This is expressed in various ways in the song. First in “a cravin’ love for blazing speed”; the word ‘craving’ indicates that this love for blazing speed has something of a compulsion neurosis.
The words “A hopped up Mustang Ford” in combination with “craving love” and “blazing speed”  is a brilliant pun. A Mustang Ford is said to be a “speedy car, but “speed” is also a drug for which you may be “craving”.  So you may be “craving” for the drug “speed”, but you may also have a craving love for blazing “speed”” – that is for driving very fast. The reason why the Mustang Ford is called “hopped up” is because it is a very “speed-y”, fast car. By the way, speed (methamphetamine) is a dangerous and unpredictable drug, sometimes lethal, representing the fastest growing drug abuse threat in America today. Speed is a potent and addictive central nervous system stimulant, closely related chemically to amphetamine, but with greater central nervous system effects. “Hopped up” means ‘high’ or ‘stoned’, the word is derived from “hop", a nickname for heroin and/or opium, but it can refer to the effects of any drug, e.g. ‘everyone got all hopped up at the concert and the after party’
Chuck Berry's influence is apparent on the album “Love and Theft”. The lines in “Summer Days” about having eight carburetors and a stalling motor seem to be inspired by Berry's "Maybelline". Also the lines in "Lonesome Day Blues” about "dropping it into overdrive” and the "hopped up Mustang Ford”, seem to be influenced by Berry’s song. “The Mustang Ford” was initially based on the second generation North American Ford Falcon, a compact car. The first generation of the Mustang Ford was introduced in 1964 and has undergone several transformations to its current fifth generation.
In this verse an atmosphere is created of drugs use in combination with fast cars, wanton women and sexual orgies, that’s why it now says: “jump into the wagon, love, throw your panties overboard”. The concept of sex as a last stronghold in the face of a nearing apocalypse may be called a classic lyrical device, a last resort when “things are breaking up out there,” when everything is lost and there is no hope left, why shouldn’t you surrender, jump into the wagon and throw your panties overboard and have sex, no matter how hard the world burns all around you?

“I can write you poems, make a strong man lose his mind, I’m no pig without a wig, I hope you treat me kind, things are breakin’ up out there, high water everywhere”  “All my powers of expression and thoughts so sublime, could never do you justice in reason or rhyme” (from “Mississippi”) in some sort of a way seems to be the counterpart of “I can write you poems, make a strong man lose his mind”. It is true, Dylan is indeed a great poet, and the Nobel Prize in Literature should have been awarded to him a long time ago. His poetry is so powerful that it may “make a strong man lose his mind”. He is a public figure – a pig with a wig (a “pig without a wig” make be taken from some nursery rhyme, where it reads: “as I went to Bonner, I met a pig without a wig, upon my word and honor”. In private –without his wig – the poet is no pig but a gentle person, who deserves to be treated kindly, as he would treat her. We may conclude that whether you are a person with public acclaim or not, whether you are a great poet or not, no matter who or where you are, when you are stuck and “things are breakin’ up out there”, man is inclined to take refuge to low and lewd survival mechanisms.

“High water risin’, six inches ’bove my head, coffins droppin’ in the street like balloons made out of lead. Water pourin’ into Vicksburg, don’t know what I’m goin' to do, “Don’t reach out for me,” she said, “Can’t you see I’m drownin’ too? “It’s rough out there, high water everywhere”.
The narrator is now completely stuck. The water rises above his head and many people drown. What was first thought to unbelievable, like a lead balloon, now becomes virtual reality, indicating that the full impact of the apocalyptic disaster will be worse than anyone could ever imagine. ”Coffins dropping in the streets” but soon enough there will be no coffins left for the many who will die in the catastrophe, nor will there be any dry land left for them to be buried. “Water pourin’ into Vicksburg” is inspired by Charley Patton’s song “High Water Everywhere” who has: “Boy, I'm goin' to Vicksburg, well, I'm goin' to Vicksburg, for that high of mine”. Vicksburg, Miss., is on higher grounds than the rest of the Mississippi Delta, so it was a place that could provide refuge, and at the time of the 1927 flood there was a refugee camp at Vicksburg. In 2002, it was the 75th Anniversary of the Great Flood of 1927 and on March 12th 2002 there was a gathering at Vicksburg, commemorating the event.
The narrator is at his wits end, he thought he would be safe at Vicksburg but now “Water’s even pourin’ into Vicksburg”, the poet has to admit: “we’re trapped in the heart of it; we’re all boxed in, nowhere to escape”. The poet is ‘Down in the Flood’ and has no alternative but “to find himself another best friend, somehow”. But in vain, when he reaches out for help to her he is refused “Can’t you see I’m drownin’ too?” Everybody is thrown on his own resources for help, and there will be no mercy for you once you’ve lost like Dylan once said in ‘Down in the Flood’: “It’s sugar for sugar and salt for salt, it’s king for king and queen for queen, this is the meanest flood anybody has ever seen”. That’s how it all ends in this world, when things start to disintegrate. We live in a world of the end times, where – like Dylan once wrote in the song ‘Political World’ –“mercy walks the plank, life is in mirrors, death disappears up the steps into the nearest bank” and where he cannot draw any other conclusion but: “It’s rough out there, high water everywhere”.

In part 2 of my analysis we’re going to take a closer look at among others George Lewis and Charles Darwin, so please stay tuned to this website. As always please feel free to respond to this article.

Bob Dylan's "This Dream of You" - an analysis of the lyrics.

Bob Dylan’s “This Dream of You” – an analysis by Kees de Graaf.

This song is the only one on the album ‘Together through Life’ (2009) of which both the music and the lyrics were composed by Bob Dylan; the rest of the lyrics of the album were co-written with Robert Hunter. It is a song that one hand deals with the fragility and mortality of the poet’s earthly existence which tends to drive him into the morals of despair, and on the other hand it deals with a faint, wavering and distant hope; a hope which is yet strong enough to keep him living on.

As is the case in many Dylan songs, it is a debatable question as to who the “You” in the song might refer. When we take a look at the verses, we have good reasons to assume that the “You” might be Jesus or God. The mood of the song is definitely spiritual and there are a lot of Biblical connotations in the song; on the other hand, the song does not entirely exclude the possibility that the “You” may be a girl or a woman or some other person. This has one major advantage: it makes this song accessible and palatable to the public at large.  Let’s have a closer look at the verses to see if we can back up our stance that the “You” may indeed be Jesus or God.

“How long can I stay in this nowhere café, 'fore night turns into day, I wonder why I'm so frightened of dawn”. The picture that is drawn is in some sort of a way reminiscent of the "Blood in my eyes" video. In our imagination we see some weird stranger, sitting all by himself at a table, drinking whiskey in a shabby café in the middle of nowhere and talking to himself in a monologue.  It is way past midnight, long after closing time and the dim light of dawn is already on the horizon. The waitress has already silently urged him to leave and although it seems - “there is nobody in the place but me and her”- (as it says in the song “Highlands”), he still lingers on and on. Why is the poet so frightened of the dawn? He looks as if he is of a retiring disposition, shy and introvert, and he knows that as soon as another dreadful day starts, he cannot escape having to see and deal with people around him, people whom he does not trust and whom he fears. People of whom he said in the song “Cold Irons bound” -“I thought some of them were friends of mine, I was wrong about ’m all”. No wonder that such an isolated and deeply lonesome person has no one left to turn to but God, as he says in the renewed version of “Gonna change my way of thinking”: “Oh LORD, You know I’ve got no friend but You”. We must realize that Dylan has never been a member of any church. He can best be described as a stand-alone messianic Jew. Although he calls his fellow believers “All my loyal and much-loved companions, they approve of me and share my code” (Ain’t Talking) and “I’ve got nothing but affection for all those who’ve sailed with me” (“Mississippi”) he seems to do without the indispensable support of a brotherhood in church. The resulting solitary life style which – from a poetical point of view- may be his strength, may make him at the same time – from a Biblical point of view - very vulnerable and excessively pessimistic in matters of faith. His genius is both his strength and weakness.
It is the reason too why the refrain says: “All I have and all I know, is this dream of you which keeps me living on”. The poet seems to describe the whole concept of Jesus or God as “a dream” which keeps him living on. When he says “dream” he does not mean “dream” in the common, literal, sense of the word, in the same way as he used the word “dream” in the song “I feel a change coming on” where Dylan says: ”Well now what's the use in dreaming, you got better things to do, dreams never did work for me anyway, even when they did come true”.  In meaning the word “dream”, as used in this song, comes close to the word “vision”, or even better, to the word “hope”. “Hope” is often used colloquially expressing uncertainty, with no reference to the future, but that is not what is intended here. “Hope” in the Biblical sense expresses a high degree of certainty, and is described as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul (Hebrews 6:19). I think that this is what the poet may have had in mind when he says: “All I have and all I know, is this dream of you which keeps me living on”. This dream is like a vision to which he hangs on, and although this this dream is in some sort of a way a last resort. yet he knows for sure, and he has high hopes and feels confident, that although he is forsaken by all of his friends, Jesus or God will never forsake him.
“There's a moment when all old things become new again, but that moment might have come and gone”. The meaning of these words comes close to what Dylan says in the song “Pressing On”: “What’s lost has been found, what’s to come has already been”. Very likely the poet had the book of Ecclesiastes in mind when he wrote: “There's a moment when all old things become new again, but that moment might have come and gone”.  It says in Ecclesiastes 1:9, 10: “History merely repeats itself. It has all been done before. Nothing under the sun is truly new. Sometimes people say, “Here is something new!” But actually it is old; nothing is ever truly new”. (New Living Translation).  In the eyes of the poet, everything on earth, even new things, are of a temporary nature and seem meaningless, futile and soon replaced by new things and are in the end forgotten. (Ecclesiastes 1:1). It may be an attempt too to relativize his own work. Charges of plagiarism have dogged Bob Dylan throughout his career. Quite wrongly so! We have to remember that all artists draw from all sorts of earlier sources to produce new art and by doing so, one may say that “old things become new again”. But no matter how sublime the poet’s power of expression may be, they offer him no permanent solace, no lasting inner peace. The thrill which new things bring goes by, that moment might have come and gone. In the end he is thrown back on what is left inside of him. The only thing the poet finds left inside of him is this dream, this hope of God, the bargain he made with God and about which he talked about in his 2004 CBS interview, the deal he made with God, only these things enable him to carry on and not give up.

“I look away, but I keep seeing it, I don't want to believe, but I keep believing it, shadows dance upon the wall, shadows that seem to know it all”. We have good reasons to believe that here Dylan speaks about his relation to God, about his faith in God or Jesus. One of the main characteristics of faith in God is that you have to surrender to God and trust your fate in the hands of God. Man, however, has a natural tendency not to do this and to resist the presence of God in his life. And this natural tendency ‘to look away’ when God looks at you, remains in a human being throughout his whole life, no matter if you are a believer or not. In Roman Romans 10:20 God says: “I was found by people who were not looking for me, I showed myself to those who were not asking for me”. The poet experiences the same thing. His poetical gifts – “my thoughts so sublime” as he calls his talents in the song “Mississippi” – his world-wide fame as a musician and as the songwriter and poet of this and last century give him all the reasons ‘to look away’ and not to believe and trust in God but only to trust himself and to rely on his own capabilities to find his way in life. What person, who is in a position like Dylan, would prefer the folly of the cross of Jesus by following him, to all the riches and fame and glory which is at his feet in this world. However, no matter how often the poet looks away from God, God comes back to him and makes him see again. No matter how often he says: “I don’t want to believe all this stuff”, God comes back to him and makes him believe. Elsewhere Dylan calls this ‘saving grace’.
“Shadows dance upon the wall, shadows that seem to know it all”. This line may be inspired by the poet S.T. Coleridge (1772-1834). In his poem “A Day-Dream” we find:
“The shadows dance upon the wall,
By the still dancing fire-flames made;
And now they slumber, moveless all!
And now they melt to one deep shade!”
Although the poet’s heart continuously tries to have him look way from God and not to believe, the dancing shadows upon the wall tell him a completely different story. They for-shadow that something new is coming which will be everlasting. In “Tomorrow is a long time” Dylan wrote: “There’s beauty in the silver, singing river. There’s beauty in the sunrise in the sky”. The beautiful sunset, the falling shadows dancing on the wall, the whole creation reflecting the beauty and glory of God, confirms and proofs that He is there, God does exist, even the shadows “seem to know it all”.  It is the reason why the poet wonders: ”Am I too blind to see, is my heart playing tricks on me, I'm lost in the crowd, all my tears are gone”. These words remind us of two Dylan songs. The first one is “Heart of Mine” which says ”Heart of mine so malicious and so full of guile, give you an inch and you’ll take a mile, don’t let yourself fall, don’t let yourself stumble, heart of mine”.  The second one is “Forgetful Heart” where it says: “Forgetful heart, lost your power of recall, every little detail, you don't remember at all”. Ever since man fell into sin, there is a struggle going on in a man’s heart. If a man’s heart would not have been affected by sin, he would immediately see, that when a takes a look into the sky and sees all the stars and the immense universe, when he sees the pure beauty of creation, that there is a God, a creator of all things. But sin tears a man’s heart into the wrong direction, sin blurs his vision, “he is too blind to see”, he allows his sinful heart to “play tricks on him”, so that he does not see the reality, he does not see what is so obvious and what is right in front of him: “Freedom just around the corner for you” (“Jokerman”).
“I'm lost in the crowd, all my tears are gone”, aggravates his pain. ”He feels like a stranger nobody sees” (“Mississippi”).  He walks the streets where nobody seems to be going anywhere. He feels completely lost, with no direction home. I think that this feeling may have to do with what we wrote above. We wrote that Dylan has never been a member of any church and that he seems to do without the indispensable support of a brotherhood in church. His solitary life style, the reclusion, and the impenetrable personality of his poetic mind make him feel very lonely, as if he is lost in a big crowd, just a number without support from anyone. Deep down inside he cried so often that all “his tears are gone”, he is just feeling vacant and numb. In those dreadful circumstances he has nothing left to turn to, and no other option left but to persevere in his faith: “All I have and all I know, is this dream of you, which keeps me living on”

“Everything I touch seems to disappear, everywhere I turn you are always here, I'll run this race until my earthly death, I'll defend this place with my dying breath”
“Everything I touch seems to disappear” reminds us of Dylan’s song “Everything is broken”. This song deals with the fragility and decay of life in general. The brokenness of life is in material things: “broken dishes, broken parts, broken cutters broken saws” etc., and in immaterial things:” Streets are filled with broken hearts, broken words never meant to be spoken,everything is broken”.  Dylan quite often draws from the Book of Ecclesiastes. Ecclesiastes 1:1 says: “Everything is meaningless,” “completely meaningless!”  Nothing in this life is lasting. Today you may think you can touch and possess things, tomorrow they may have disappeared and vanished into oblivion, there is nothing you really can take for granted under the sun. On the other hand: God is always near; that is what the shadows that dance upon the wall tell him and that is the reason why he now says: “everywhere I turn you are always here”. Definitely Psalm 139:7-12 shines through here: “I can never escape from your Spirit! I can never get away from your presence! If I go up to heaven, you are there; if I go down to the grave, you are there. If I ride the wings of the morning, if I dwell by the farthest oceans, even there your hand will guide me and your strength will support me. I could ask the darkness to hide me and the light around me to become night—but even in darkness I cannot hide from you”(New Living Translation)
When Dylan wrote this line he may also have been inspired by the poem Anthony F. Neiland wrote in 1983 titled: “Lord, You Are Always Near”. This poem says:
“Though many times I turn from you,
Still you understand when I'm in need of you;
Lord, you are always near to forgive,
Lord, you are always near to be with”.

“I'll run this race until my earthly death, I'll defend this place with my dying breath” Life is a hard and difficult road the poet has to walk. Here life compared to a race which you have to run till you die. I Corinthians 9:24, 25 refers to this race: “Don’t you realize that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize? So run to win!. All athletes are disciplined in their training. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize.” Miserably though as the poet may feel during this race,  yet – like most human beings- he is chained to the earth and he is inclined to hang on to life as long as he can, ready to defend his life and that is why he says:. “I’ll defend this place with my dying breath” This line may be read against the background of William Blake’s “Auguries of Innocence”” where we read: ”Now I see that the mourning burdens so much, would peace have come sooner with death's biting touch? "Your safe!" I had uttered with my last dying breath. Is life with such sadness better than death?”

“From a cheerless room in a curtained gloom, I saw a star from heaven fall, I turned and looked again but it was gone”. This line seems to be inspired by the poet Henry Timrod. His poem “Serenade” has:
“Hide, happy damask, from the stars,
What sleep enfolds behind your veil,
But open to the fairy cars
On which the dreams of midnight sail;
And let the zephyrs rise and fall
About her in the curtained gloom,
And then return to tell me all
The silken secrets of the room”.
From an earthly perspective, it is obvious that the poet is in a dreadful position. Here on earth it is doom alone that counts. The words “From a cheerless room in a curtained gloom” emphasize what Dylan once wrote in the song “Rolling and Tumbling”: “The night is filled with shadows, the years are filled with early doom”. But amidst the darkness of his mind, there is suddenly hope that, when he sees a star from heaven fall, something tangible and visible is about to occur, the curtain is in the cheerless room is lifted and something is going to happen to which he may connect. When he says: “I saw a star from heaven fall” this looks like a shooting star, a cosmic event, a sign that the Apocalypse must be near. In his song ‘Shooting Star’ Dylan connects this notion of a shooting star with the Latter Day : “as the last fire truck from hell goes rolling by, all good people are praying, it is the Last Temptation, the Last Account, last time you might hear the Sermon of the Mount”.
This uplifting experience, however, of this shooting star lasts only for a brief moment: ”I turned and looked again but it was gone”. Disappointment shines through, the whole event was “nothing that would pass inspection” (as expressed in the song “Series of Dreams”).As soon as the falling star had appeared, it was gone again. It is as if the poet pinches himself and squeals: “Is this for real?”.  The poet is not allowed to hang on for long to something tangible like a shooting star. He must return to what may seem a last resort: “This dream of you” but what in the end proofs to be, not only to be his only comfort but also the only way in which he can be redeemed: “All I have and all I know, is this dream of You, which keeps me living on”.

As always please feel free to respond…….  

Bob Dylan's "Ain't Talking" -The Old Testament revisited - an analysis -PART 5- Final Part

Bob Dylan’s “Ain’t Talking”- The Old Testament revisited- an analysis by Kees de Graaf - 5th and final part.

In this final part we analyze the remaining verses of this masterpiece and wrap this whole thing up.

“It's bright in the heavens and the wheels are flying, fame and honor never seem to fade.
The fire's gone out but the light is never dying, who says I can't get heavenly aid?” It seems as if the lonesome pilgrim is now suddenly taken off his legs and for a while freed from his wretched earthly existence, he is shown a heavenly vision. The scene is reminiscent of the vision the prophet Ezekiel once had when he was in exile at the river Chebar. The heavens were opened and Ezekiel saw visions of God (Ezekiel 1:1). Ezekiel saw spinning wheels; their appearance was like the gleaming of chrysolite (1:15). The chrysolite of the wheels reflected the fires that were between the cherubim (1:13, 10:7), as if the wheels themselves were on fire. The wheels in the vision of Ezekiel represent the Spirit of the Lord. These wheels (like the Spirit of the Lord) are always in action, unstoppable, maneuverable in all directions, never missing its target, always fulfilling the will of God. The pilgrim, raised into heaven, is now in a place where the power and wealth, the wisdom and might, the honor and glory of the Almighty God is everlasting and omnipresent, a place “where fame and honor never seem to fade”.
“The fire's gone out but the light is never dying”. A fire may be an expression of apocalyptic wrath and judgment like in Dylan once said: “This Wheel’s on fire, rolling down the road, best notify my next of kin, this wheel shall explode”. In the song: “ Changing of the guards” (from the album “Street Legal” which may be seen as a prelude to Dylan’s conversion to Christianity in 1979) Dylan seems to have come to terms with the judgmental character of the word “fire” when he says: “Peace will come, with the tranquility and splendor on the wheels of fire”. Although the fire of judgment – through divine atonement – has gone out, the light, however, will forever remain and will never die. God is Light (1 John 1:5). The Light that will never die is the shining glory and omnipresence of God.
Although it was the Roman poet Ovid who once said: “Who says I can’t get heavenly aid when a God’s angry with me?” the  wretched pilgrim, when he concentrates on that shining Light ahead of him, finds great comfort in this bright shining Light of God, and against all odds he exclaims: “who says I can't get heavenly aid?” The pilgrim is near the end of his trail and he knows that amidst the darkest hour of his painful pilgrimage, he has nowhere left to go but to throw himself upon the mercy of God: “I know the mercy of God must be near” and as a last resort, he trusts his fate in the hands of God.

“Ain't talking, just walking, carrying a dead man's shield, heart burning, still yearning, walking with a toothache in my heel”. After this uplifting verse, the narrator is thrown back into the harsh reality of things. “Carrying a dead man’s shield” is a way of describing how people avail themselves of useless weaponry – like a dead man’s shield - as if that would protect them from any danger. Here the remedy (a dead man’s shield) is worse than the disease and in spite of the poet carrying this shield; it cannot prevent death from coming soon.
“Walking with a toothache in my heel” is inspired by the nineteenth-century minstrel song Old Dan Tucker in which we hear that Old Dan “died with a toothache in his heel”. Within the context of the song- the Old Testament revisited - “walkin’ with a toothache in my heel” may refer to Genesis 3:15,”He will strike at your head; while you strike at His heel.” It expresses the struggle, the pain and agony, of the poet’s long journey from the mystic Garden of Eden, from which he was expelled, to his destination, the mystic Garden of John 20, the place where the tomb was from which Jesus was resurrected from the dead.

“The suffering is unending, every nook and cranny has it's tears, I'm not playing, I'm not pretending, I'm not nursing any superfluous fears”. The downfall of man not only caused man to be expelled from the Garden of Eden, but with his fall man also dragged down the whole of creation. Romans 8:22 says that ‘the whole creation has been groaning in travail”. This causes the pain and suffering to be unending and unlimited. Pain is all around. The pilgrim is confronted with the tears of decay in every nook and cranny he passes by. It was Paul Simon who wrote in the song “Born at the right time”: “The planet groans, every time it registers another birth”.” I'm not playing, I'm not pretending, I'm not nursing any superfluous fears” emphasizes that the pain and agony the creation has to go through will not be taken away in the near future but, as we are nearing the end of the world, things will get worse; the worst fears of the poet will come true, there is a lot of pain ahead of him and nobody and nothing will be able to escape from it. We are all boxed in until the end of time.

“Ain't talking, just walking, walking ever since the other night, heart burning, still yearning, walking ‘til I'm clean out of sight”. It seems that the nearer the pilgrim comes to his ultimate destination, the more diligently and hurriedly he keeps on walking, not allowing himself any night’s rest. But suddenly the camera zooms out. The picture of the pilgrim walking in the desolate landscape, in the last outback, at the world’s end is getting smaller and smaller, giving us the same impression as in Dylan’s song “Highlands”: “I’ve got new eyes, everything looks far away”. In the end, a small tiny figure disappears in the distance, behind the corner, in the last outback, and here the song could have ended, but it doesn’t, two important verses are to follow.

“As I walked out in the mystic garden, on a hot summer day, hot summer lawn, “Excuse me, ma'am” “I beg your pardon, there's no one here, the gardener is gone”. There can hardly be any doubt that this verse is based on what we read in John 20:11-18. The first thing that strikes us that it was “on a hot summer day, a hot summer lawn”. In the first verse of the song he walked out “tonight” in the mystic garden.  It was in the cool evening breeze of the Garden of Eden where Adam had his fatal encounter with God. But here in this mystic garden, on the day and at the place where Jesus was resurrected from the dead, it all happens in full broad daylight; it is ‘’on a hot summer day, a hot summer lawn”. “In the Summertime, when you were with me”, an occasion where the poet seems to have had an encounter with Jesus, simmers through here.
As said this verse is based on John 20-11:18, but when you take a close look at John 20:11-18 there is of course a difference.  The ‘madam’ is obviously Maria of Magdalene but whereas in John 20:15 Maria Magdalene initially mistakes Jesus for the gardener; here in the song Dylan has Maria say something different than in John 20. In John 20: 15 Maria says: “Sir if you have carried him (Jesus) away, tell me where you have laid him and I will take him away”. Here Dylan has her say: “I beg your pardon, there's no one here, the gardener is gone”. We do not find Maria saying this in John 20. Now Dylan connects an event which took place earlier that day with this event. Earlier that day – at dawn – Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the sepulchre (Matthew 28:1).Then an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and said about the resurrected Jesus: “He is not here” (Mathew 28:6). The lyrics here have something similar: “there’s no one here”. But instead of saying: “Jesus is gone” which is what one would have expected Maria to say, Dylan has Maria Magdalene say: “The gardener is gone”. Why does Dylan do that? The first reason may be a poetic reason. The poet doesn’t want to force an open door. He wants you to think about it and to draw your own conclusions; it may be an intentional elusiveness. Dylan said about that in his 2004 CBS 60 minutes interview: “They (the songs) change their meanings for different situations that a person is in and they hold up because they are so wide, there so many levels in them”. The second reason may be that the word “Gardener” is used in the Bible to refer to God. In John 15: 1 we read: “I (Jesus) am the true grapevine, and my Father is the Gardener” (New Living Translation).
“The gardener is gone” does not mean that the gardener, Jesus, God, is dead and that the narrator has lost all hope of redemption. On the contrary, “The gardener is gone” means that Jesus is no longer here on earth but has gone to heaven, to rule at his Father’s right hand. To reach that one sweet day when he will stand beside King, the narrator, against all odds, has to keep on walking, to last outback at the world’s end, just like the final verse says:

“Ain't talking, just walking, up the road around the bend ,heart burning, still yearnin
In the last outback, at the world's end”. Once again, but this time for the last time, the camera zooms out. He slowly disappears “up the road around the bend, walking till he is clean out of sight”.
“In the last outback, at the world's end” This line is again inspired by the Roman Poet Ovid, we find an almost identical line in his “Black Sea Letters”, Book 2, Part 7, Line 66. "In the last outback, at the world's end" evokes the image of a lonely pilgrim who tries to cross the Australian continent. It reminds us too of Patrick White’s novel "Voss" . Voss set out to cross the Australian continent in 1845. He and his party headed inland from the coast only to meet endless adversity. The explorers met with drought-plagued deserts which stretched out endlessly and where all vegetation had withered, followed by waterlogged lands until they retreated to a cave where they lay for weeks waiting for the rain to stop. "In the last outback, at the world's end” on the one hand shows the utter forlornness of the poet and on the other hand, that his dreadful journey is almost accomplished. His journey started in the Garden of Eden and ended in the mystic garden, near the tomb where Jesus resurrected from the dead.  Here on earth ‘the gardener is gone’ that is why he has to keep on walking, but has found consolation as if he says: ”we gonna meet again, some day on the avenue, tangled up in blue as long as I have to keep on walking!”.  
I’d like to finish with a quote from Michael Anton Miller’s book called ‘Hard Rain, Slow Train: Passages about Dylan’:
“I haven’t been talking at all, if talking means speaking to others. I’ve been speaking only to myself in my songs, my way of walking through this life”. A Dylan song is therefore best understood as an artistic rendering of an extremely intimate self-conversation”.

We have finally come to the end of the analysis of this song. We hope to have shed some new light for you on this complex, intriguing and brilliant song. If you want to read all 5 parts of my analysis, I put all five parts together in one PDF file. You can find this on my ‘Bob Dylan page’, elsewhere on this website. As always, please feel free to respond to this article……….