Desolation Row was written in 1965, a crucial year in Dylan's career. He'd made a break from the folk scene that has brought him his early success. He'd broken up with Suze Roloto and had an affair with Joan Baez that had recently ended. He'd met Allen Ginsburg the previous year and made a personal connection to the original Beats. He'd taken hallucinogens. And the success of the Beatles had revived his childhood love of rock music. If you look at the themes of other songs he'd written in the year past, he made a lot of direct references to the changes going on in him and him relationships and his art: "Positively 4th Street," "My back Pages," etc. I think this is another. Desolation Row is a place outside of normal society. It's where the Beats live. (Two lines are lifted from Kerouac's "Desolation Angels.") It's Bohemia. And he's writing about the world as he sees it from there. The song isn't overtly political, though there are images that could be government agents and politicians (Nero, the commissioner). The characters are given names from literature or history -- a technique he used widely at the time. I would say that he had people in mind when he wrote the characters, although, in their depiction, the primary consideration is probably writing a good lyric rather than accuracy of any kind. It was Ginsberg's favorite Dylan song, so something tells be that Ginsberg saw himself in it somewhere. I think Ophelia bares a sharp resemblance to Baez, peeking into the Row but outside of it, an old maid in spirit at 22, the age Dylan met her. The "iron vest" possibly a reference to Joan of Arc's armor; a zealous devotion to her profession, looking for (political) salvation, but "lifeless" in the sense that she wouldn't cut loose and enjoy herself. Watch some footage of the super-serious Baez in the mid sixties, and you'll see what I mean. But resemblance to real people is secondary to their role as archetypes -- characters who will always be a part of life, in any era. And likely Dylan himself is in there, or previous incarnations of him. Cassanova certainly sounds like a rock star who's being tightly managed, punished for dabbling in the freedom of the Beats. Einstein/Robin Hood sounds like someone from an older generation, but the "electric violin" seems a reference to Dylan's adopting electric instruments. So it's probably part experience part people he's observed, and, in the end, a collection of universal images that will outlive the people who may have inspired them.
The Einstein is in my view a reference to himself. Ddisguised as Robin Hood" is his own start to the folk music where he came in out of nowhere with a fictional name and a fictional past. The jealous monk are the religious folkies clinging to life in the past as he tries to abandon the folk scene and do something new. "Sniffing draintiles and reciting the alphabet" is what others though he had done by abandoning folk for rock...they thought he went nuts. Why would he abandon what made him famous? The part about...
The Einstein is in my view a reference to himself. Ddisguised as Robin Hood" is his own start to the folk music where he came in out of nowhere with a fictional name and a fictional past. The jealous monk are the religious folkies clinging to life in the past as he tries to abandon the folk scene and do something new. "Sniffing draintiles and reciting the alphabet" is what others though he had done by abandoning folk for rock...they thought he went nuts. Why would he abandon what made him famous? The part about the electric violin reinforces this, only it is really an electric guitar, and HE is the Einstein. This is my favorite verse. He WAS an Einstein, a bit arrogant, but also a genius and he knew it. He said most of his songs are autobiographical.
I really like your interpretation a lot. And taking it one step further, the reference to Einstein disguised as Robin Hood, and his friend a jealous Monk. I was wondering if this could possibly be a reference to Simon and Garfunkel. It could make sense....they started out in the Folk scene before making it big with Sounds of Silence, which was initially recorded as a primarily accoustic track, but was later 'electrified' prior to it release as a single, thus catipulting S&G as successful big hit BEAT musicians (their transformation from the Folk scene to the Beat scene?
It might be...
I really like your interpretation a lot. And taking it one step further, the reference to Einstein disguised as Robin Hood, and his friend a jealous Monk. I was wondering if this could possibly be a reference to Simon and Garfunkel. It could make sense....they started out in the Folk scene before making it big with Sounds of Silence, which was initially recorded as a primarily accoustic track, but was later 'electrified' prior to it release as a single, thus catipulting S&G as successful big hit BEAT musicians (their transformation from the Folk scene to the Beat scene?
It might be somewhat of a stretch I suppose.
I enjoyed your intelligent comment. It is a deep mine of language to which this great genius, or as David Bowie called him , "the super brow" took us all, and we are still enjoying the exploration. As he said, "all these people that you mentioned, I know them, they're quite lame, I had to rearrange their faces, and give them all another name." The essence of symbolism is using disparate word images to set these ideas flowing in our minds. Next one in line to the crown was Jim Morrison who has followed Bob as a endless source of...
I enjoyed your intelligent comment. It is a deep mine of language to which this great genius, or as David Bowie called him , "the super brow" took us all, and we are still enjoying the exploration. As he said, "all these people that you mentioned, I know them, they're quite lame, I had to rearrange their faces, and give them all another name." The essence of symbolism is using disparate word images to set these ideas flowing in our minds. Next one in line to the crown was Jim Morrison who has followed Bob as a endless source of mystery and the fount of many a doctoral thesis by those who marvel and describe but can't create.
Desolation Row was written in 1965, a crucial year in Dylan's career. He'd made a break from the folk scene that has brought him his early success. He'd broken up with Suze Roloto and had an affair with Joan Baez that had recently ended. He'd met Allen Ginsburg the previous year and made a personal connection to the original Beats. He'd taken hallucinogens. And the success of the Beatles had revived his childhood love of rock music. If you look at the themes of other songs he'd written in the year past, he made a lot of direct references to the changes going on in him and him relationships and his art: "Positively 4th Street," "My back Pages," etc. I think this is another. Desolation Row is a place outside of normal society. It's where the Beats live. (Two lines are lifted from Kerouac's "Desolation Angels.") It's Bohemia. And he's writing about the world as he sees it from there. The song isn't overtly political, though there are images that could be government agents and politicians (Nero, the commissioner). The characters are given names from literature or history -- a technique he used widely at the time. I would say that he had people in mind when he wrote the characters, although, in their depiction, the primary consideration is probably writing a good lyric rather than accuracy of any kind. It was Ginsberg's favorite Dylan song, so something tells be that Ginsberg saw himself in it somewhere. I think Ophelia bares a sharp resemblance to Baez, peeking into the Row but outside of it, an old maid in spirit at 22, the age Dylan met her. The "iron vest" possibly a reference to Joan of Arc's armor; a zealous devotion to her profession, looking for (political) salvation, but "lifeless" in the sense that she wouldn't cut loose and enjoy herself. Watch some footage of the super-serious Baez in the mid sixties, and you'll see what I mean. But resemblance to real people is secondary to their role as archetypes -- characters who will always be a part of life, in any era. And likely Dylan himself is in there, or previous incarnations of him. Cassanova certainly sounds like a rock star who's being tightly managed, punished for dabbling in the freedom of the Beats. Einstein/Robin Hood sounds like someone from an older generation, but the "electric violin" seems a reference to Dylan's adopting electric instruments. So it's probably part experience part people he's observed, and, in the end, a collection of universal images that will outlive the people who may have inspired them.
The Einstein is in my view a reference to himself. Ddisguised as Robin Hood" is his own start to the folk music where he came in out of nowhere with a fictional name and a fictional past. The jealous monk are the religious folkies clinging to life in the past as he tries to abandon the folk scene and do something new. "Sniffing draintiles and reciting the alphabet" is what others though he had done by abandoning folk for rock...they thought he went nuts. Why would he abandon what made him famous? The part about...
The Einstein is in my view a reference to himself. Ddisguised as Robin Hood" is his own start to the folk music where he came in out of nowhere with a fictional name and a fictional past. The jealous monk are the religious folkies clinging to life in the past as he tries to abandon the folk scene and do something new. "Sniffing draintiles and reciting the alphabet" is what others though he had done by abandoning folk for rock...they thought he went nuts. Why would he abandon what made him famous? The part about the electric violin reinforces this, only it is really an electric guitar, and HE is the Einstein. This is my favorite verse. He WAS an Einstein, a bit arrogant, but also a genius and he knew it. He said most of his songs are autobiographical.
I really like your interpretation a lot. And taking it one step further, the reference to Einstein disguised as Robin Hood, and his friend a jealous Monk. I was wondering if this could possibly be a reference to Simon and Garfunkel. It could make sense....they started out in the Folk scene before making it big with Sounds of Silence, which was initially recorded as a primarily accoustic track, but was later 'electrified' prior to it release as a single, thus catipulting S&G as successful big hit BEAT musicians (their transformation from the Folk scene to the Beat scene? It might be...
I really like your interpretation a lot. And taking it one step further, the reference to Einstein disguised as Robin Hood, and his friend a jealous Monk. I was wondering if this could possibly be a reference to Simon and Garfunkel. It could make sense....they started out in the Folk scene before making it big with Sounds of Silence, which was initially recorded as a primarily accoustic track, but was later 'electrified' prior to it release as a single, thus catipulting S&G as successful big hit BEAT musicians (their transformation from the Folk scene to the Beat scene? It might be somewhat of a stretch I suppose.
I enjoyed your intelligent comment. It is a deep mine of language to which this great genius, or as David Bowie called him , "the super brow" took us all, and we are still enjoying the exploration. As he said, "all these people that you mentioned, I know them, they're quite lame, I had to rearrange their faces, and give them all another name." The essence of symbolism is using disparate word images to set these ideas flowing in our minds. Next one in line to the crown was Jim Morrison who has followed Bob as a endless source of...
I enjoyed your intelligent comment. It is a deep mine of language to which this great genius, or as David Bowie called him , "the super brow" took us all, and we are still enjoying the exploration. As he said, "all these people that you mentioned, I know them, they're quite lame, I had to rearrange their faces, and give them all another name." The essence of symbolism is using disparate word images to set these ideas flowing in our minds. Next one in line to the crown was Jim Morrison who has followed Bob as a endless source of mystery and the fount of many a doctoral thesis by those who marvel and describe but can't create.