| Bob Dylan – Ballad in Plain D Lyrics | 12 years ago |
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Unlike other songs of Bob Dylan's songs, this song is not a song about a political situation or mood, it is a song about a very specific personal issue and specific individuals. Whilst many listeners ascribe their own interpretations; in truth, this song is about the trials of Dylan and his partner Suze and significantly, it spits out emotional venom at his partner's family. As mentioned by others, like Brian Cronin, this song is about Dylan, Suze, and older sister Carla. It's also about Suze's mother, a widow who disapproved of her daughter's relationship with Dylan. Undoubtedly, as a songwriter, Dylan couldn't help but write about his experiences and perhaps even use it as an emotional cartharsis. However, regardless of the poetry and musical ability used in this song, it is nevertheless a bitter, unfair and emotional backlash at vulnerable figures that Dylan clashed with. Even Dylan himself regretted releasing this song. Suze was with Dylan from 1961 to 1964 and was only 17 when they first met. They fell in love and Suze eventually moved in with him. During this time Dylan's fame grew and his early songs used by protest groups were strongly influenced by Suze and her political views. Almost concurrently Dylan became highly involved with Joan Baez, from 1962 to 1965. Suze lost her father when only 14 and so Suze's mother and older sister Carla, took on the paternal role in their Italian family. Naturally, they were were protective of Suze and often clashed with Dylan. Dylan resented the influence of Mrs. Rotolo and particularly Carla who probably took on more of the protective role. In 1963 Suze was pregnant to Dylan and had an abortion. Suze moved out of Dylan's home and lived with her older sister. That same year, Dylan wrote and released "Ballad in Plain D", specifically about this highly personal drama including descriptions of a bitter argument he had with Carla . In 1964, Dylan and Suze permanently parted and a few months later in January 1965, he recorded "It's all over now Baby Blue" which has also has hints of these events. Suze and the Rotolo family have always been very tight lipped about the personal dramas that happened during these years but eventually put on an amicable front for the media. Though the events of those years must have had a tremendous impact on her family, Suze was always gracious in her publically expressed views of Dylan. In 2008 Suze published her memoirs of those years. She said she understood that Dylan had to write about his experiences in his songs, she never admitted that his words hurt her. They say "still waters run deep" and so it is here - I believe Suze truly loved Dylan the man, and what's more, respected his position as a prominent and influential singer/songwriter. But somehow, I don't think Carla and Mrs. Rotolo shared the same sentiments as Suze. After her break up with Dylan, Susan Elizabeth Rotolo remarried, and had a son. She maintained her interests in art and beauty (worked as a jeweller). When she spoke of the sixties she once said "we had something to say, not something to sell". Suze passed away in early 2011, aged 67. To be quite frank, I believe that Mrs. Rotolo's and Carla's fears for Suze were probably well founded. Bob Dylan probably had no long-term intention of supporting Suze. Suze left home and lived in a de-facto relationship with a womanising poet/musician to whom she was pregnant at 19 years of age. I'm sure there would be plenty of mothers and older sisters who when faced with this situation would similarly try to protect their loved one from all the potential hurts and danger this kind of situation holds. Dylan's response wasn't just to find material to write about, but to publically insult these women through the medium of his music. The lyrics in this song are clear in whom they target and their intent, for example the words "for her parasite sister, I had no respect" doesn't need any poetic interpretation. The lyrics below pretty much sum up the song and the situation: "Through young summer's breeze, I stole her away From her mother and sister, though close did they stay. Each one of them suffering from the failures of their day, With strings of guilt they tried hard to guide us." |
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| Bob Dylan – Wagon Wheel (Demo) Lyrics | 12 years ago |
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"Wagon Wheel" is a song about a man hitch-hiking and looking forward to seeing his girl as soon as possible but as Ketch Secor himself said, it's greater meaning is about wanting to "get outta town" or "gettin outta school" and that sort of thing. This is a fun song and I agree with some of the comments here showing the appropriate attribution to Bob Dylan and also a lyrics correction. OCMS's website doesn't list their lyrics which makes it a little hard to compare directly to the source. There are a number of videos on YouTube which show the song (and other obscure variations of the lyrics!) The supposed "official" video (at the time of this posting) not only posts errors in the lyrics but also stops abruptly before the song is finished - so much for quality control! There are two common errors for lyrics both in the third verse: "Walking to the South" should be "Walking due South". If you listen carefully to the lyrics there is only a single syllable word uttered before the word South, not two. "Due" is a single syllable word. The words "to the" takes up two syllables. You have to go with the evidence. You could argue that "to the" is sung really quickly so it sounds like one syllable, but I think that stretches this argument a little too much. The reason for this mistake is that the word "due" is not often used in today's day-to-day language with nowadays relating to directions "to the" being much more common. Regardless of this, the word "due" is in fact commonly used with compass point directions. "Due South" is the right term. "And I gotta get a move on fit for the sun" should be "and I gotta get a move on before the sun" as noted by at least one other contributor in this forum. One could be mistaken for hearing "fit for" rather than "before", because phonetically it sounds similar. However, if you sing the word "before" with a slight pause in between (common when matching words to music) you will hear the two syllable "bee_for" being pronounced. Another supporting argument for this is to look at the context of this phrase. The man in this song wants to get to his girl as fast as humanly possible, the reference to the sun is probably referring to sunset (but could also mean sunrise). It makes sense that he wants to cover as much ground as possible before the sun sets. Using the words "fit for the sun" just doesn't make sense and is not consistent with the rest of the lyrics. I've heard that some of the geography might be incorrect in terms of Westerly direction and the locations of Cumberland Gap and Johnson City. This may well be correct geographically, but I can't argue with what I hear. Ketch Secor sings this part just as they've written it here - musicians do sometimes manipulate facts for the sake of a song sounding good. Lastly, and this might disappoint some readers, there is a drug reference in the song. Once again, it's in the third verse: "Walkin' due South, out of Roanoke, I caught a trucker out of Philly, had a nice long TOKE." Unless the trucker has a "toke" and I don't know of any such trucking term (any of you truckers please comment and correct this if you do know) then this line is about the hitch-hiker (or possibly truck driver) having a smoke of marijuana. Toke is a common term to describe smoking marijuana. If you don't believe this, look it up yourself or find someone more familiar with this kind of language. Given that OCMS played to lots of college fraternities in the early part of their career, the use of the word isn't so surprising. This song is a lot of fun regardless of the lyrics. I just think that perhaps people should know what they are actually singing about. |
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| Bob Dylan – Wagon Wheel (Demo) Lyrics | 12 years ago |
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It is "before the sun". If you listen carefully carefully to OCMS's recordings and performances without preconceived bias, this is what is sung with the pronunciation with two syllables "Bee_For". Unfortunately, this is what is the majority of lyrics posted for this song use. There are also a number of really wrong ones, but I can understand why people think "fit for" because it sounds kinda similar to "before" particularly when sung with a little exagguration. Anyway that is what my ears tell me. On another point, getting a "move on before the sun" would make sense in the context of the song. It's about a man hitch-hiking to see his girl and he wants to get there as fast as possible. |
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| Bob Dylan – Wagon Wheel (Demo) Lyrics | 12 years ago |
| Good to hear the facts. | |
| Bob Dylan – Ballad in Plain D Lyrics | 12 years ago |
| I agree with your views, Dylan really does let Carla have it. | |
| Bob Dylan – It's All Over Now, Baby Blue Lyrics | 12 years ago |
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To understand this song, rich in poetic imagery, it may be useful to look at the background events of that time and also compare a related work done less than three years previously in 1962, "Don't think twice it's all right". In that song he wrote about departing from a relationship. In this song, he is again talking about a separation and a new beginning but this time, the other party, "Baby Blue" is encouraged to leave. Bob Dylan was well known to have aspects of his personal relationships emerge in his music. One specific example is "Ballad in Plain D" recorded in June of '64 which is an obvious reference to his breakup with his girlfriend at the time - Suze Rotolo. Suze Rotolo was an artist and active political activist that was with Bob Dylan from 1961 to 1964. It was a rocky road. There was a pregnancy, family problems and family feuding. Suze moved out of Dylan's home in 1963 to live with her sister and they finally split in 1964. Almost concurrent with this period, Joan Baez was strongly involved with Bob Dylan from 1962 to early 1965. Whilst "Don't think twice it's all right" was credited to have been inspired by Suze, it does not have the same level of specific content as "Ballad in Plain D". It's lyric's structure is a composite of fresh and borrowed lyrics (from Paul Clayton). Whilst unified in theme, this song has a composite nature. In a similar vein, I feel that "Baby Blue" is a composite character that lends itself to a multitude of emotions Bob Dylan must have had at various times towards Suze, Joan Baez, other characters, towards his audience and perhaps even towards Folk music. In creating this composite, I have no doubt that memories of Suze's departure from his home and attendance to issues outside of his interest had a particularly strong impact. The song clearly talks about "Baby Blue" encouraged to leave and start a new life, lyrics such as "reindeer armies" can easily disarm one wishing to interpret the song in a simple manner, but the themes described by the poetic imagery are totally consistent in each verse. In a single simplistic descriptive line, the song can be summed up saying something like: "Baby Blue you've gotta go, something else calls for your attention, leave the past, attend to these matters which you've created, go live a new life!" That Bob Dylan felt that he may have been used can be seen in verse four, where he may be referring to himself as "stepping stones". That the competing issue is a something belonging to "Baby Blue" demanding attention is brilliantly described as "your orphan with his gun". That the attention being sought is considered unreasonable and childlike is painted beautifully in "crying like a fire in the sun" and "drawing crazy patterns on your sheets" and also "vagabond who's rapping on your door." A fire in the face of the sun is unnecessary, but the inferno needs attention; your orphan has a gun; the painter has got into the house and is drawing crazy patterns in the bedroom; and a vagabond is banging on the door - quick do something! Progressing to a deeper level of understanding means less certainty but the clues are too tantalising to just ignore. One interesting aspect is identifying what the competing attention might be. Whilst they individually could be seen as separate incidents, they could also be describing the same thing in different ways. So the competing attention is described as: an armed orphan, a fire, a crazy painter and a pestering vagabond. The line about the lover in the third verse though also potentially a part of this theme may simply be further imagery of a broken lover's relationship. The line about "saints" is interesting and not altogether clear, but it is easy to imagine that it could possibly been a sarcastic description of those people wishing to step into his life in and "meddle" amongst others, this could include Suze's sister and parents who strongly disapproved of him. Lastly and I am critical here of Bob Dylan, there is strong bitterness which I think perhaps may have been a little too strong and bordering on insensitive. Whilst a poetic masterpiece, the song also doesn't hold back in it's emotional content. The line about "forgetting the dead" is a little harsh. Bob Dylan and Suze had a child which was aborted in 1963, leading up to their separation that year and final breakup in 1964. I cannot possibly imagine that this particular line was written without bringing up thoughts of this extremely sad incident. Although recorded in January 1965, this song most likely developed in late 1964 with strong emotional images of the previous 18 months clearly still in mind. This song is a poetic, beautiful yet harsh "move on" type message in Bob Dylan style. |
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| Mumford & Sons – The Cave Lyrics | 12 years ago |
| This is a well thought out analysis and I wholeheartedly agree. The lyrics were created with care and thought and so it is refreshing to see that they have found their mark in some of their audience. | |
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