Re: Guns n' stuff

Thor Cameron (my_colours@hotmail.com)
Fri, 14 May 1999 00:50:06 -0700 (PDT) 

"I'm just whispering to myself so I can't pretend that I don't know, Mamma 
you been on my mind"
-Dylan




>Rob, good enough.  I walked a tangent from your original
>post.  You write in absolutes, something I admire way more
>than I do vagueries.  I admire Dylan for that among other
>reasons.  It's characteristic of people that are (don't
>make me list all the superlatives and modifiers) angry.
>The tone of most of his songs is either full of anger,
>sorrow, humor, yarn, or all of the above.  Tunes like It's
>Allright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding), Ballad of a Thin Man,
>Idiot Wind, Under the Red Sky (the album), all have angry
>tones in them.  Talking Bear Mountain Blues is a great
>yarn w/ angry irony, 'Send them off for a picnic at Bear
>Mountain'.  His poetry in Tarantula, almost all angry.
>When I say angry, I don't mean for you to picture some guy
>in tight jeans horking with a red faced grimace and a Kill
>Your Grandma logo stitched to his jeanjacket, I mean
>someone who wants change, and wants it bad, but is either
>incapable or unwilling to make the change.  I think Dylan
>was unwilling, and his songs did become more passive with
>time, like, Down in the Groove, Dylan wasn't a
>revolutionary, by any means, Masters of War might be his
>most poignant and focused.  I don't appreciate suggestions
>in music.  It's like having a stranger tell me how and
>what to believe, uncomfortable, makes it hard to resist
>telling them to shut it.  Masters of War is an obviously
>powerful tune, but after that, I think Dylan was
>apprehensive to write another superpowerful social
>commentary type song, at least not in an angry way.  His
>anger in social commentary was probably diverted by
>religion, possibly shown by the tune Slow Train Coming.
>He has some bitter things to say in that song, but they're
>trapped inside his idea of a greater purpose, or the idea
>that righteousness will prevail in the face of a cesspool
>society.  This makes the bitterness less poignant and
>almost inspirational, but I think it weakens his form.  I
>may be confusing Man in the Long Black Coat with something
>else, but it bugs me to think that the man in the long
>black coat might be the devil (in Dylan's mind).  I sure
>hope he didn't believe that because it seems so intrusive
>to the soul of the song, which is bitter and not directed
>at any thing.  I think he's an expert on people's
>feelings, and should speak that way (which he does for the
>most part) rather than on social commentary or as a
>religious voice.  I get annoyed by atheists too, piping in
>their reasons why instead of playing an objective tune.  I
>said earlier that I like absolutes, as subjective
>statements of the way things are, rather than vagueries.
>Objective absolutes are better, but it takes a tactful
>person, like Dylan, to string the objective absolutes
>together to make a whole, to sway beliefs and to change
>minds.  That, I respect.
>
>About Seymour and Dylan.  I wish I didn't compare them
>now.  I read my earlier post and feel silly for it.  I
>would rather talk about Seymour period, but I've already
>worn my fingertips and brain to fleshy pulp.
>
>
>
>
>---Robert Morris <winboog@gis.net> wrote:
> >
> >
> > >Dylan was way angrier than Seymour, to compare them.  I'd
> > >say It's Allright, Ma is one of his best, because it
> > >exposes him for what he saw and felt during the time he
> > >was twenty two or so.
> >
> >    I think you missed the point of my post entirely. I
>was not comparing
> > Seymour to Zimmy. I was referencing Dylan's comments
>concerning on what his
> > beliefes were. ie belief in Hank Williams singing "I Saw
>the Light."
> >
> >     As far as Dylan being angry, at that point. i really
>couldn't disagree
> > more. There is a lot of comedy on those records, the
>one's you mention.
> > Anger? I don't think so.
> >
> >    I never compared the two (Seymour and Dylan). Were
>you got that from is
> > beyond me. If anything I compared myself and Dylan.
> >
> >
> >              Robert Morris
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
>
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