It was March of 1963 in a triple title night at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Davey Moore had succesfully defended his Featherweight title 5 times and put it on the line against the Cuban Sugar Ramos. Ramos knocked the 5'2" Moore down into the ropes in the tenth round but Moore who was nicknamed The Little Giant popped up and finished the fight. He lost in the scorecards however and the title was transferred to Ramos. Moore walked back to the locker room and in a post-fight interview stated he couldn't wait to fight Ramos again to get his title back. Shortly after the reporters left Moore complained of headaches and fell unconscious. He died of inoperable brain damage in a local hospital where his wife had been flown to meet him. Geraldine Moore, on being informed of her husband's death said "It was God's will" and fainted.
Dylan wrote this in '63 back when he was doing a lot of social protest songs. This one however is different. I'll warn you, don't read too much into it as far as Dylan's perspective is concerned. I don't think Dylan believes boxing is all that bad. Dylan's rival Phil Ochs had written a song called Davey Moore and it seems as though Dylan wrote his version to show his superiority as a songwriter. It does man's and society's hypocrisy - and in that aspect very Dylanesque, yet if you think Dylan wrote this song to lead a flowers and bandanas revolution against boxing you might as well puke up the mushrooms.
An additional irony was added to Dylan's song when doctors concluded the autopsy of Davey Moore. Apparently when Moore had fallen in the tenth round his head had hit the ropes in what doctors called a "thousand to one" accident. The bottom rope had caused the brain to swell in the back which eventually proved fatal. So who killed Davey Moore? The inanimate and unfeeling ropes of the ring. The ropes that seperate the fighter from the crowd. Created by folks in some warehouse of a sports manufacturing company either to help hold men up or be pinned against.
It was March of 1963 in a triple title night at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Davey Moore had succesfully defended his Featherweight title 5 times and put it on the line against the Cuban Sugar Ramos. Ramos knocked the 5'2" Moore down into the ropes in the tenth round but Moore who was nicknamed The Little Giant popped up and finished the fight. He lost in the scorecards however and the title was transferred to Ramos. Moore walked back to the locker room and in a post-fight interview stated he couldn't wait to fight Ramos again to get his title back. Shortly after the reporters left Moore complained of headaches and fell unconscious. He died of inoperable brain damage in a local hospital where his wife had been flown to meet him. Geraldine Moore, on being informed of her husband's death said "It was God's will" and fainted.
Dylan wrote this in '63 back when he was doing a lot of social protest songs. This one however is different. I'll warn you, don't read too much into it as far as Dylan's perspective is concerned. I don't think Dylan believes boxing is all that bad. Dylan's rival Phil Ochs had written a song called Davey Moore and it seems as though Dylan wrote his version to show his superiority as a songwriter. It does man's and society's hypocrisy - and in that aspect very Dylanesque, yet if you think Dylan wrote this song to lead a flowers and bandanas revolution against boxing you might as well puke up the mushrooms.
An additional irony was added to Dylan's song when doctors concluded the autopsy of Davey Moore. Apparently when Moore had fallen in the tenth round his head had hit the ropes in what doctors called a "thousand to one" accident. The bottom rope had caused the brain to swell in the back which eventually proved fatal. So who killed Davey Moore? The inanimate and unfeeling ropes of the ring. The ropes that seperate the fighter from the crowd. Created by folks in some warehouse of a sports manufacturing company either to help hold men up or be pinned against.