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Kees de Graaf] wrote:
> Oh God said to Abraham "Kill me a son"
> Abe says "Man, you must be putting me on"
> God says "No" Abe says "What?"
> God says "You can do what you want Abe, but the
> next time you see me comin' you better run"
> Well Abe says "Where do you want this killing done?"
> God says "Out on Highway 61"
>
>This first stanza of this song really puzzles me. This is
>a sort of a satire on the offering of Abraham's son Isaac
>as written in Genesis 22. It is true this song was written in
>what some call his 'agnostic' period....[]...
nate responded:
sort of, yes. 'agnostic' period?? hmm. havent heard that term.
>It is the reason why I dislike this song
nate responded again:
well, i'm hardly the one you want to agree with, since this is the reason _i_ like this song. along with the last verse. when i sing along with this, i like to put on this huge characture of a voice at "the next time you see me..." :-D fun stuff
you might also consider, from the other side of the same album:
well, John the Baptist, after torturing a thief,
looks up at his hero, the Commander In Chief,
saying "tell me, Great Hero, (but please make it brief)
- is there a hole for me to get sick in?"
the Commander In Chief answers him while chasing a fly,
saying "death to all those who would wimper and cry!",
and, dropping a barbell, he points to the sky
saying "the sun's not yellow! it's chicken!!!"
some answer, huh?
in fact, when you consider it, its as if the god depicted in the KJ bible is a pompous old jealous fool! i think that this period of Bob (a period that i love) is probably not well-behaved in the minds of those who have welcomed his born-again features, when couched along with some of his later periods. not enough comfort to me, but somethin'.
> [lately it is]...in the top ten of his most performed songs.
>I'm still wondering how it can have it's place next to songs like
>'In the Garden'. Recently some on the list talked about Dylan's
>ambiguity. Well here they may have a point.
actually, these seeming contradictions are only ambiguous at a superficial level. there is a consistency running through all of Bob's work. he likes to make characters speaking in modern dialects. indeed, what would all those old bible tales sound like if they were spoken by the street hipsters? its just a recasting in modern theatre. anyway, the names he attaches to his characters are chosen to maximize the shock/humour value....
John Mulligan wrote:
Okay, kids, here's the deal; Highway 61 is a main old north/south highway in Mississippi. It was the great highway to travel the so-called Delta on. Blues musicians would travel up and down old Hwy 61 plying their trade. Since so may Delta blues tunes contain geographical information, this highway is mentioned often. The title of Dylan's album, Highway 61 Revisited, is an allusion to the roots of the music. He's taking the music of the old masters and revisiting it in his own style, updated. The poetry of the French Symbolists had less of a lasting influence on Dylan than the poetry of blues and folk. He's still revisiting that old highway, and the music that thrived along it. Muddy Waters once said that the groove was older than time; Dylan says this old music comes from a timeless place, where it has existed since time out of mind. That's what hiway 61 is, that magical place, that crossroads, that mighty river of souls. When i die, Robert Johnson said, bury me by that highway side, so I can see that old Grayhound bus goin' by. (or something like that) etc.
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