Bob Dylan's Finger of Judgement
Published September 28, 2005
Like any great artist, Bob Dylan has a lot of different strains of effect. He has written some beautiful displays of religious faith and awe, such as "I Believe in You" and "Every Grain of Sand." He wrote a lot of great comedy in the early days, such as "Rainy Day Woman #12 & 35" and my beloved "Bob Dylan's 115th Dream." He did some of his best work with emotionally complex broken romances that defined the modern singer-songwriter idea, starting with "Tangled Up in Blue" and "Just Like a Woman."
Perhaps his most striking characteristic approach is what I call Bob Dylan's Finger of Judgement. It's a Jewish thing, wherein Bob goes on like an Old Testament prophet wagging his finger in someone's face and rendering moral chastisement and sentences of doom.
Mileage varies on this kind of approach. I tend to have a somewhat limited taste for such things. Even if you're right, shut up with the implicit proclamations of superiority.
However, with all his musical skills and burning inspiration, it's hard to argue against, say, the rebuke of "Like a Rolling Stone." There's a delightful, undeniable joy in getting to give such a beautiful rebuke. "How does it FEEEEL?" This particular rebuke among others gets perhaps slightly mitigated by the fact that it's apparently at least partly directed back at himself, with his made up story that leaves him with "no direction home."
That's part of the more personal type of rebuke, which would include interesting but clearly lesser works such as the total settling of accounts with an old girlfriend and her whole crew in the "Ballad in Plain D." Van Morrison had fond nostalgia for his brown eyed girl. Dylan got more mileage with his bronze skinned ex as an object of rebuke. He spent over eight minutes of Another Side of Bob Dylan in earnest quiet rebuke of her whole family "each one of them suffering from the failure of their days. With strings of guilt they tried hard to guide us." Also, her sister was a "parasite." Eight solid minutes with minimal tune breaking down this whole crew. Whew!
But when he got a good tune and some beat going, the malicious venom dripping from his fangs was an infectious narcotic. There's a bracing virulence to the extended "Idiot Wind." Sometimes you can really get off on explaining how "You're an idiot, babe. It's a wonder that you still know how to breath."
- Bob Dylan's Finger of Judgement
- Published: September 28, 2005
- Type: Review
- Section: Music
- Filed Under: Music: Blues, Music: Adult Alternative, Music: Classic Rock and Oldies, Music: Folk, Music: Pop, Music: Popular and Standards, Music: Progressive Rock, Music: Rock, Music: Roots Rock
- Writer: Al Barger
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Comments
peace pukes? hmmmm, allow me to quote some text i stumbled upon recently:
"Even if you're right, shut up with the implicit proclamations of superiority."
Barry, it's not that being judgmental is uniquely a Jewish thing, but it's the particular flavor of Dylan, how he plays prophet and quotes the Old Testament and such.
Monsieur Saleski, re: "peace pukes." This usage is a mild joke. I'm teasing you. I'm sure you could find much better examples in my writing of me up on a moral high horse.
This was chosen as an Editor's Pick this week by your humble Music Editor Matt. Go HERE to find out why and grab a nifty graphic button to put on your own site.
Al, this may be my favourite slab of Bergerism yet etched in the 1'an 0's. plenty for to get me riled up, if i didn't assume you were sniggerin away there at the thought. That Hurricane malarky... but i agree that the song is way too long and worse, the lyrics are horrible.
but yes, enjoyed every inch of this, an reminded me why i dig the hell outta Infidels. also, he looks like Shane MacGowan circa-1990 on the front cover. Or does Shane MacGowan circa-1990 look like Bob Dylan on the cover of Infidels? maybe some scholars should look into it.
Good piece. I'm curious as to your take on "George Jackson".
While I know you don't care for Rage Against the Machine, I suggest you try their version of Maggie's Farm, one of my all-time classic covers. They do a much better job of capturing the narrator's anger, slowly building in intensity at each family member.
First of all, you forgot "A Hard Rain's A Gonna Fall." Second, how could you possibly find such a hypnotic song as "Hurricane" to be tuneless? That's just plain wrong. Is there a listener of oldies radio anywhere who has any trouble recalling the melody, reciting the chorus or, lacking that, recognizing the song within seconds? And it's not "most of a half-hour," it's 8 minutes and 32 seconds -- and while Dylan's facts are wobbly, the lyrics tell a fascinating crime story, each verse building in detail. And if you want a much better example of Dylan's occasional naivete where real life crime is concerned, try "Joey," the oh-so-poignant tale of a the mobster Joey Gallo, who had the decency not to use guns around children.
Rodney, Hard Rain didn't really seem to fit. In theory, it could be considered to be in judgement against the masters of war what would be causing the hard rain, but it seems to me more like existential terror than any finger of judgement.
You might have me though on the length of "Hurricane." I confess to not having looked it up again while writing. Maybe it only SEEMS like it goes on for 20 something minutes.
Bicho, I'll have to listen to "George Jackson" again. It's never made a big impression on me.
Duke, perhaps that "Hurricane" song might sound good to you while you're doing the humpty dance with Bin Laden, but I can't fathom why anyone not similarly engaged would like it.
However, I doubt UBL would appreciate if you played that "Neighborhood Bully" for him. Might ruin the mood for your romantic interlude there.
Al, "Hard Rain" and "Times They Are a-Changin'" are on seperate albums, but they are I think very much of a piece, and both have that sense of an Old Testament prophet declaring impending doom -- more so, I think, than most of the others on your list: "I've stumbled on the side of twelve misty mountains/I've walked and I've crawled on six crooked highways/ I've stepped in the meadow of sevenm sad forests," etc., etc. It is not, as are most of the others on your list, directed to a single person or thing or image, but neither is "Maggie's Farm," which doesn't really live up to your criteria, either, but it's your list.
I'd love to hear "George Jackson" again. Anyone know why he never put it on an album?
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I'm not sure a "finger of judgement" is really "a Jewish thing" - consider Phil Ochs if you will. First, the basic protest tunes ("Here's To The State of Mississippi") then the refined protest tunes ("Bracero") then the personal putdowns ("I've Had Her"), not to mention the greatest protest song of ALL time ("Outside A Small Circle of Friends"). Of course, poor Phil never made the big time and then turned his back against the left, which is one reason Dylan has fared so well in these neocon times, the fraud.