Refer to the lyrics at www.bobdylan.com
I was gonna write about this while covering the release for Isis or Dignity & have been too busy to get all my notes together but basically yes, you are right, Stephen. I always thought of it as a kind of "Hallmark Greeting Cards" Burns piece. (A bit like Emotionally Yours/I'll Remember You for Bob!) This feeling comes not just from the verses themselves but in the way young lovers would quote them to each other after Romantic trips to the highlands. ('walking' holidays away from family and colleagues could have a formative innfluence on young couples I guess!).
Just to give you an idea of what I mean - I was in an antiquarian bookshop in London on Tuesday & was looking through various editions of Burns's poems. No less than three of them had verses from this (one terribly "personalized") hand written in the inside cover commemorating time spent with a lover.
Stephen Scobie/Maureen Scobie wrote:
OK, so the song "Highlands" contains the line 'My heart's in the highlands." The source of this line (my apologies to all of you who know this already) is a song by Robert Burns. The song was first published in 1790, and, like many of Burns's songs, was his own expansion of lines gathered from the folk tradition.
In the 1960s, as I recall, the song was somewhat scorned in Scotland. (Andrew Muir can perhaps confirm this.) It was seen as one of Burns's polite, sentimental songs, written for an English audience (as witness its English, not Scottish, vocabulary). In the 1960s, it was the kind of thing which would have been sung by genteel, middle-class, pseudo-Scots entertainers, rather than by the genuine singers of the Scottish folk renaissance. (That is, to get really local, it's a song more likely to have been performed by Kenneth MacKellar than by Archie Fisher -- right, Andy?)
Anyway, with these (serious) reservations, here are the lyrics:
My heart's in the Highlands, my heart is not here;
My heart's in the Highlands a-chasing the deer;
Chasing the wild deer, and following the roe;
My heart's in the Highlands, wherever I go.
Farewell to the Highlands, farewell to the North;
The birth-place of valour, the country of Worth:
Wherever I wander, wherever I rove,
The hills of the Highlands for ever I love.
Farewell to the mountains high cover'd with snow;
Farewell to the Straths and green valleys below;
Farewell to the forest and wild-hanging woods;
Farewell to the torrents and loud-pouring floods.
My heart's in the Highlands, my heart is not here,
My heart's in the Highlands a-chasing the deer;
Chasing the wild deer, and following the roe;
My heart's in the Highlands, wherever I go.
Stephen
catherine yronwode wrote:
All this talk about "Highlands" containing inaccurate Scottishisms misses the point, in my opinion. The "border country" Dylan sings of is not that between England and Scotland, but between the US and Canada, namely Minnesota (cf. "Girl of the North Country," "where the winds hit heavy on the borderline"). The person who posted the Robert Burns song (forgot your name, sorry) was right on target -- this is a take-off on that song -- but it is not a literal one. And again i urge everyone to read the classic William Saroyan story "My Heart's in the Highlands" (once a part of everyone;s high school curiculum) -- in which Saroyan, an Armenian-American, uses the Burns song and the word "highlands" as a metaphor for nostalgia for one's childhood home, wherever that home may be.
Frank Ahern wrote:
Subject: Swing Low... don't look a thing like me."
The waitress in 'Highlands' (surely representative of those querously importuning fans who have dogged Dylan's creative genius since the earliest of days) tells us "That don't look a thing like me." Oh dear! So the man isn't an artist after all...
So, to all the literal-minded waitresses who are unhappy with Dylan's lack of topologiocal exactitude (e.g. the Scottish borders in relation to the Scottish highlands): isn't one of this fine song's great strengths its allusive nature.
The highlands are psychic and not geographical; they represent, amongst other things, his spiritual homeland, his liberating homecoming, his crossing of the Jordan:
My heart's in the highlands at the break of dawn
By the beautiful lake of the black swan
Big white clouds like CHARIOTS that SWING down LOW
Well, my heart's in the highlands, only place left to go.
The allusion to 'Swing Low, Sweet Chariot' is but one of many
interesting allusions in the song.
And did somebody really suggest, in an earlier posting, that the song
was a waste of space. Hmm...
Bentz Kirby wrote:
And could it be connected with Easter? I mean my kids boil eggs, color them and then eat them.
Chiarot wrote:
The only dylan-viable connection between "Highlands" and Easter is that in both cases Bob's gravity has failed and negativiity wont pull him through.
Mark Moore wrote:
I don't think this is correct. The theme of death and resurrection runs throughout "Highlands," and Easter is alluded to in many ways. There is the line when he is sitting at rest in the restaurant and he muses, "Well, it must be a holiday. There's nobody around." Traditionally, hard-boiled eggs are decorated for Easter, and they would be something that one really might want to eat on the Easter holiday, unless one already ate too many or thought them to be unhealthful. The egg is traditionally a symbol of birth or rebirth and new life. Strangely, there are no eggs in this restaurant, or at least the waitress refuses to serve them. There is no life in the place. The restaurant is empty and dead except for the waitress and the sole customer. Many could be at church or at a family get-together at home, while the narrator is an isolated, lonely wanderer, who just so happened to stumble into this tomb. He is also old, world-weary and dying, spiritually if not physically. He is consciously unaware what day it is, that is, what day society believes it to be. But he is highly aware of his own mortality and his approaching death. He knows that this day could be his own day of death and resurrection, which
He realizes that he made a mistake when he stopped into the establishment where the worldly woman is in charge. This is no church. It's a profane business open on Easter Sunday, the most sacred day of the year. The waitress who is supposed to serve him instead insults his dignity and attempts to play around with his mind, apparently with the intention of getting him to serve her own desires. The "kind miss" that he expected to greet him turns out to be a rude and insolent wench with an impudent, hard-boiled attitude. The hard-boiled egg imagery now brings to mind pre-Christian paganism (where the egg was a symbol of fertility and, by extension, sex and sexual rites), and the waitress now appears as a pagan hussy, although in her own mind she is some sort of high-priestess and hates the unflattering image the man has of her and her inability to deceive him with her pretty face. (It could even be that the artist drew a picture of a decorated hard-boiled egg on the napkin that she threw at him.) But he perceives her true nature, and she is about as helpful to him as a hole in his head.
At the first chance that he gets, he quickly departs and, in his mind, heads for the beautiful highlands where God truly dwells and where he can finally be free to enjoy life the way it was originally meant to be, before the rise of the cold, cruel, arrogant city of mystery wherein he feels imprisoned. This decision to leave the tomb-like atmosphere of the restaurant and step outside into the life-filled street represents his death to the present world and a rebirth or resurrection into a new spiritual life. His day of salvation and resurrection has come. He is walking down the highway to Heaven, to the Highlands. Never mind the streets that are dead or that this road may go on for a million miles, the sun (or the Light of the Son) is beginning to shine on him. The Lord has risen in his heart. He has been given new eyes, which give him an entirely new perspective and vision. God is leading him home out of the profane world ("same old rat race" and "same old cage") and out of the worldly mentality of the "registered" citizens of the City of (Wo)Man.
He alludes to the traditional gospel song "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot": "Swing low, sweet chariot / Comin' for to carry me home / Sometimes I'm up, sometimes I'm down / Comin' for to carry me home / Yet still my soul feels heavenly bound / Comin' for to carry me home." He has died to the temporal world of confusion, indignity and ugliness and has been resurrected into the spiritual world of wondrous eternal beauty, represented by the highlands. Heaven is already here, in the midst of this ungodly hell, if one has received the spiritual sight to see. This is as Jesus said in the Scriptures: "Now having been questioned by the Pharisees as to when the kingdom of God was coming, He answered them and said, 'The kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed; nor will they say, "Look, here it is!" or, "There it is!" For behold, the kingdom of God is in your midst.'"
The song also alludes to the resurrection of Jesus when he says that his heart is in the highlands "at the break of day," which is when Christ rose from the dead. He describes the highlands in the springtime or at Easter time when the flowers are blooming and the waters are flowing, both symbols of the Father's and the Son's rejuvenating Spirit and power. As Jesus said, "He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water." The Highlands of Scotland has been a Christian country at the edge of Christian civilization since time out of mind and has traditionally had a reputation for having a mystical atmosphere, which is associated with its early Celtic Christian roots and the first monasteries and churches founded by Columba, who was based in the monastery at Iona, an island in the Hebrides off the northwest coast of Scotland.
There is also a connection here with the song "In the Garden" from Saved, which has the lines: "Nicodemus came at night so he wouldn't be seen by men / Saying, 'Master, tell me why a man must be born again.' / When he spoke to them in the city, did they hear? / When he spoke to them in the city, did they hear?" The town and city (which are usually built in the valleys below) are seen in Dylan's songs as representing the evil, hard-boiled, insolent society of mankind, whereas the highlands or the country are places where one can get closer to God. The connection between the two songs is further reinforced by these lines: "The multitude wanted to make Him king, put a crown upon His head / Why did He slip away to a quiet place instead?" The man in "Highlands" also rejects society and does not seek anyone's approval or praise, particularly that of the waitress (who apparently recognizes him as a famous artist). He seeks only to escape to the peace and quiet of the highlands where he can be in the presence of the Lord. By the way, Dylan continues to play "In the Garden" in his concerts, which I have been lucky enough to witness three times over the years. Dylan continues to ask his audience, "When He rose from the dead, did they believe?" Some will and some won't.
The connection between the Easter theme in "Highlands" and "Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues" is also certainly intended: "When you're lost in the rain in Juarez / And it's Eastertime too / And your gravity fails / And negativity don't pull you through / Don't put on any airs / When you're down on Rue Morgue Avenue / They got some hungry women there / And they really make a mess outa you." The narrator in "Highlands" can be understood as being down and out on Rue Morgue Avenue, where matters of life and death are pressing upon his soul, and the waitress can be seen as one of the "hungry women" or whores referred to in JLTTB. The "whore" is a biblical symbol of a church or religious group that mixes truth with lies, or mixes immorality with morality, as opposed to the virgin who represents pure truth or pure righteousness. The waitress, then, could be understood as the embodiment of the false religion of modern times, among other things, of course. But in reference to JLTTB, this older and wiser Tom Thumb does not fall for her wiles, but is much more like the Angel who "Just arrived here from the coast / Who looked so fine at first / But left looking just like a ghost." The man in "Highlands" could very well be a ghost, escaping from the tomb of his past life.
Coincidentally, I also witnessed Bob Dylan's wonderful performance in Virginia Beach, where he played "Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues" third in the set in place of "Tough Mama," which he played ninth. "Tough Mama" is also connected with the theme of the worldly, adulterous, hard-boiled woman, who could be seen as a whore (but who wants to be thought of as a "sweet goddess") and thus could also represent a false church, false religion or humanity in rebellion toward God. These songs took the place of the prophetic, apocalyptic "All Along the Watchtower," which Dylan had played third for years. There is undoubtedly significance to this, but I suppose this is enough already, or probably too much.
Bentz Kirby wrote:
I can't say that I agree with all Mark has writ here, but I think he makes a compelling argument for some of the significance surrounding this egg and the waitress. I like the suggestion that he drew an egg on the napkin. But I think the refusal to serve the egg is a lot like the diner scene in 5 Easy Pieces where Nicholson's character can't get toast. Well, I personally love the scene. I think it plays a part in the refusal to serve the egg.
R. Ward wrote:
Having read much excellent discussion on the possible allusions and references in "Highlands," I feel that many have missed the point. "Highlands" is 16 minute-long song (an obvious observation, but I have a point). Apparently, Dylan was talked out of a 21 minute-long version. Surely this is an important piece - an epic, if you please. In fact, this song embodies the essence of an album in which the central theme is that of a "world gone wrong." It is an epic - a masterpiece - but it belongs in the category of "mock-epic." It is essentially a black comedy about a world that is in "end-times," with a pure-hearted narrator who guides us along "drifting from scene to scene."
The narrator's heart is in the highlands. The highlands are not necessarily in Scotland, or the border country between the U.S. and Canada. The highlands in this song are not literal. The highlands are an idyllic retreat from the modern world. They represent an escape from the "same old rat-race/Life in the same old cage." The highlands exist as an imaginary place. It is an innocent place (I'm reminded of Brigadoon). In spiritual terms, the highlands are Heaven, and the narrator imagines all that awaits when this world passes to the next.
The narrator dreams of the highlands, but lives in the ugly reality of twentieth century Western civilization. He is confused by "what it could all possibly mean." He cannot tell the difference between "a real blonde and a fake." How could he? He is not immersed in the trappings of modern society, but instead, exists somehow as an outsider. [In the Newsweek article Dylan states: "I don't feel in tune with anything."]
The scene with the waitress in the restaurant is central to the song. It is a comic scene (the contributor who saw a connection to Five Easy Pieces is right on). The narrator is uncomfortable in this worldly place. The waitress, as someone noted earlier, is of this world, with no concern for spiritual matters. She keeps this uncomfortable narrator who has "no idea what [he wants]" off guard. She "studies [him] closely." In his bewilderment, he asks her if she knows what he wants. Funnily enough, she does. ("... your debutante just knows what you need, but I know what you want ...") She tells him he wants hard-boiled eggs and he agrees. Then, in a final ironic twist, the restaurant doesn't have any. The narrator has "picked the wrong time to come." She knows what he wants, but cannot provide it. He wants simplicity (the idyllic highlands). It doesn't get much more simple than hard-boiled eggs. The restaurant - of this world - hasn't got any.
The waitress apparently "knows" what everyone needs. She is the kind of person who reads self-help books, watches the psychic friends network, and is damned certain that the narrator "doesn't read woman authors." The narrator fumbles and claims to have read Erica Jong. This narrator is truly out of step with the times. He is, however, unconcerned. He makes all the excuses he can think of to avoid sketching the waitress. When he finally does sketch her, she claims that it looks nothing like her. The truth hurts. The narrator, out of step and out of time, cannot mask the truth. The narrator understands the truth of the spiritual - the highlands. This world, as it nears the end of time, is not about truth or purity.
Understanding the truth that this world is doomed and the only answer is holding out for the next, is far more important than being able to tell the difference between a "real blond and a fake.