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Cozy Sharke's avatar

Wow, man. This is beautiful.

This particular verse from "Every Grain of Sand" is nestled quietly among the rest; but it's the one that always jumps out on me. He closed with this song when I saw him last year in Asheville, too. It's mysterious what these songs have meant for some of us.

PS: There's a bootleg recording out there, which I prefer to the album version. It's simpler, somehow frailer. You can hear a dog barking in the background.

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Janet Asiain's avatar

Agree with John, blown away by this piece.

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Wayne McMillan's avatar

Great stuff Jonathan. I have been a fan of Baez and Dylan for 50 years and still enjoy their music. Now at 68 I realise even more how great a poet Dylan is.

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Scott's avatar

Thanks Jon, beautiful piece and personally very helpful!

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John Watters's avatar

Jonathan, reading this from a cafe on Shoreham Beach. One of your best posts...A gem in almost every line...

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Janet Asiain's avatar

You’ve inspired me to catch up on Dylan’s work (post-folk culture icon), among other things. May assist me with the beholding thing. All I know now is that whatever we’re acting from is all wrong. Would like to begin to understand what might be right

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Jeff Andersen's avatar

No feudal horn. “ And the one-eyed undertaker, he blows a futile horn”

Also, IMHO, most religions are just an ignorant con job. Buddhism has a lot of good points, though. My favorite Dylan song is “You Gotta Serve Somebody”.

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Jonathan Rowson's avatar

I knew there would be a mistake in there somewhere. Sad to hear that. It's the same issue with 'midnight's broken toe' being 'broken toll' that I mention in the footnote. Sometimes the typo/ mistake is even better than the original. For me it will remain a feudal horn, with all due respect to Dylan, but futile horn is also good...

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Jeff Andersen's avatar

Now that is just rampant obstinacy. It’s not your lyric, it’s Dylan’s lyric.

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Jonathan Rowson's avatar

It’s an accent thing, mostly, but have you heard of exaptation, or for that matter, play? I said with all due respect to Dylan. It’s his song, his lyric, but he is not sovereign over the listener’s imagination, and nor do I think he would want to be…

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