http://www.thecultureclub.net/2006/12/19/bob-dylan%e2%80%99s-desolation-row-and-tangled-up-in-blue-%e2%80%93-from-complexity-to-simplicity/ literature, music, art, culture Sat, 28 Jan 2012 18:44:09 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 http://www.thecultureclub.net/2006/12/19/bob-dylan%e2%80%99s-desolation-row-and-tangled-up-in-blue-%e2%80%93-from-complexity-to-simplicity/comment-page-1/#comment-278 Shane Balkowitsch Mon, 20 Oct 2008 20:18:00 +0000 http://thecultureclub.wordpress.com/2006/12/19/bob-dylan%e2%80%99s-desolation-row-and-tangled-up-in-blue-%e2%80%93-from-complexity-to-simplicity/#comment-278 http://webhost.btinet.net/~sharoncol/desolationrow.htm is where the art can be found. http://webhost.btinet.net/~sharoncol/desolationrow.htm is where the art can be found.

]]> http://www.thecultureclub.net/2006/12/19/bob-dylan%e2%80%99s-desolation-row-and-tangled-up-in-blue-%e2%80%93-from-complexity-to-simplicity/comment-page-1/#comment-277 Shane Balkowitsch Mon, 20 Oct 2008 20:17:23 +0000 http://thecultureclub.wordpress.com/2006/12/19/bob-dylan%e2%80%99s-desolation-row-and-tangled-up-in-blue-%e2%80%93-from-complexity-to-simplicity/#comment-277 I have designed a work of art that addresses in visual form the song Desolation Row by Bob Dylan, it is a very deep song and I did everything I could to bring the song justice. I have designed a work of art that addresses in visual form the song Desolation Row by Bob Dylan, it is a very deep song and I did everything I could to bring the song justice.

]]> http://www.thecultureclub.net/2006/12/19/bob-dylan%e2%80%99s-desolation-row-and-tangled-up-in-blue-%e2%80%93-from-complexity-to-simplicity/comment-page-1/#comment-279 Neil Tue, 26 Aug 2008 01:23:35 +0000 http://thecultureclub.wordpress.com/2006/12/19/bob-dylan%e2%80%99s-desolation-row-and-tangled-up-in-blue-%e2%80%93-from-complexity-to-simplicity/#comment-279 Tangled up in blue speaks from inside his chest. Many have said Dylan was ageless from the outset. He could have been old coot riding in from way out west or a young gun slinger - that was part of his mystique. He seemed to have lived other lives even early on with Highway 61. I think that's part of the reason his output later is even more satisfying. It feels like an honest sketch of his heart. He sems life weary and because of that he is closer to us. No longer a prodigy on the pedastal. He knows what it feels like to break. And he says things we say. He is alone now. And what's more we know why. Not only does he tell our stories back to us through the songs, but we also see the story of the recluse. The man who hid from us because we pulled at his clothes and picked at his thoughts. We pushed him away and he returns with dignity and sings bravely about how one day the axe just fell. I wasn't alive for any of this time. I can only look through a body of work. But I believe in it. If Dylan had churned out more cerebral spitoon tunes, wouldn't everybody have felt tired for him? Wouldn't everyone have looked for a different type of truth from him? I believe the change is not so much badge of simplicity over complexity. I believe it was the tone of voice. The words just followed his breath and he breathed a little shallower by the time he got to writing Tangled up in blue. He wanes. And as he waxes he tells us about the people he once knew, 'they're an illusion to me know.' In the strident downward jumps of these lines there is more possibility. Sung with impatience - he wishes to banish to their meaning. And he regrets. Those lines he sings like an old miner. Like a father banging his blackened hands at the dinner table for some peace. Dylan lays out something blackened from his past. He pushes it across a crooked table for everyone to see. And there is grace in that disdain. Tangled up in blue speaks from inside his chest. Many have said Dylan was ageless from the outset. He could have been old coot riding in from way out west or a young gun slinger – that was part of his mystique. He seemed to have lived other lives even early on with Highway 61.
I think that’s part of the reason his output later is even more satisfying. It feels like an honest sketch of his heart. He sems life weary and because of that he is closer to us. No longer a prodigy on the pedastal. He knows what it feels like to break. And he says things we say.
He is alone now. And what’s more we know why. Not only does he tell our stories back to us through the songs, but we also see the story of the recluse. The man who hid from us because we pulled at his clothes and picked at his thoughts. We pushed him away and he returns with dignity and sings bravely about how one day the axe just fell.
I wasn’t alive for any of this time. I can only look through a body of work. But I believe in it. If Dylan had churned out more cerebral spitoon tunes, wouldn’t everybody have felt tired for him? Wouldn’t everyone have looked for a different type of truth from him?
I believe the change is not so much badge of simplicity over complexity. I believe it was the tone of voice. The words just followed his breath and he breathed a little shallower by the time he got to writing Tangled up in blue. He wanes. And as he waxes he tells us about the people he once knew, ‘they’re an illusion to me know.’ In the strident downward jumps of these lines there is more possibility. Sung with impatience – he wishes to banish to their meaning. And he regrets. Those lines he sings like an old miner. Like a father banging his blackened hands at the dinner table for some peace. Dylan lays out something blackened from his past. He pushes it across a crooked table for everyone to see. And there is grace in that disdain.

]]> http://www.thecultureclub.net/2006/12/19/bob-dylan%e2%80%99s-desolation-row-and-tangled-up-in-blue-%e2%80%93-from-complexity-to-simplicity/comment-page-1/#comment-280 Daniel Mon, 11 Aug 2008 23:37:29 +0000 http://thecultureclub.wordpress.com/2006/12/19/bob-dylan%e2%80%99s-desolation-row-and-tangled-up-in-blue-%e2%80%93-from-complexity-to-simplicity/#comment-280 As a hardcore member of the Sixties Generation who is now two weeks shy of his Sixtieth birthday, the music of Bob Dylan was a profound influence on my own life as a young man. If Desolation Row was the destination of those who suffered a wrenching sense of disconnectedness from the dominate society, well, that's where I lived. To a great degree, I still do. What has really changed in the past forty years? We still live in a society ruled by the iron dictatorship of fashion and its agents, advertising executives. We've evolved into a money-worshipping cult of conspicuous consumers---ala Thorstein Veblen---popping benzodiazapine candy to "cure" every perceived anxiety while blithely engaging in, yes of all things, another incredibly pointless war reminiscent of Vietnam that was this time launched to search for imaginary weapons of mass destruction in a place called Iraq. Those who choose to 'opt out' of the shallow delusional nightmare of mainstream society still gravitate toward that place in the mind called Desolation Row. It may be lonely, but at least its sane. As a hardcore member of the Sixties Generation who is now two weeks shy of his Sixtieth birthday, the music of Bob Dylan was a profound influence on my own life as a young man. If Desolation Row was the destination of those who suffered a wrenching sense of disconnectedness from the dominate society, well, that’s where I lived. To a great degree, I still do. What has really changed in the past forty years? We still live in a society ruled by the iron dictatorship of fashion and its agents, advertising executives. We’ve evolved into a money-worshipping cult of conspicuous consumers—ala Thorstein Veblen—popping benzodiazapine candy to “cure” every perceived anxiety while blithely engaging in, yes of all things, another incredibly pointless war reminiscent of Vietnam that was this time launched to search for imaginary weapons of mass destruction in a place called Iraq. Those who choose to ‘opt out’ of the shallow delusional nightmare of mainstream society still gravitate toward that place in the mind called Desolation Row. It may be lonely, but at least its sane.

]]> http://www.thecultureclub.net/2006/12/19/bob-dylan%e2%80%99s-desolation-row-and-tangled-up-in-blue-%e2%80%93-from-complexity-to-simplicity/comment-page-1/#comment-276 hudson Sun, 20 Apr 2008 09:58:22 +0000 http://thecultureclub.wordpress.com/2006/12/19/bob-dylan%e2%80%99s-desolation-row-and-tangled-up-in-blue-%e2%80%93-from-complexity-to-simplicity/#comment-276 I think if you mix the complexities of Desolation Row Dylan (language) and Tangled Up In Blue Dylan (narrative) you get close to TS Eliot. You think? Obviously in terms of meter Eliot is free and Dylan is very strict. I think if you mix the complexities of Desolation Row Dylan (language) and Tangled Up In Blue Dylan (narrative) you get close to TS Eliot. You think? Obviously in terms of meter Eliot is free and Dylan is very strict.

]]> http://www.thecultureclub.net/2006/12/19/bob-dylan%e2%80%99s-desolation-row-and-tangled-up-in-blue-%e2%80%93-from-complexity-to-simplicity/comment-page-1/#comment-274 ttucker23 Mon, 29 Jan 2007 12:33:08 +0000 http://thecultureclub.wordpress.com/2006/12/19/bob-dylan%e2%80%99s-desolation-row-and-tangled-up-in-blue-%e2%80%93-from-complexity-to-simplicity/#comment-274 Thanks for this perspective Luke, it's very illuminating. I think Dylan's attitude to 'truth' is worthy of an entire book in itself. Thanks for this perspective Luke, it’s very illuminating. I think Dylan’s attitude to ‘truth’ is worthy of an entire book in itself.

]]> http://www.thecultureclub.net/2006/12/19/bob-dylan%e2%80%99s-desolation-row-and-tangled-up-in-blue-%e2%80%93-from-complexity-to-simplicity/comment-page-1/#comment-275 luke mcgill Fri, 26 Jan 2007 13:04:03 +0000 http://thecultureclub.wordpress.com/2006/12/19/bob-dylan%e2%80%99s-desolation-row-and-tangled-up-in-blue-%e2%80%93-from-complexity-to-simplicity/#comment-275 In response to your article, I want to take a more general approach to the meaning. I have read many interpretations and analysis of the song and find almost amusing the ambiguous and contrasting ideas that come up. In fact they start to remind me of the song itself. Desolation Row is a place of refuge from clouded human perception. A perception which Dylan brings to light with his usual brilliance. The world outside of Desolation Row is a place which is as much fiction as it is reality, and importantly is deeply influenced (if not controlled) by societal trend, which is in turn is as much fiction as it is reality. Dylans deliberate use of confusion, contrast and mystery gives the song its amazing scope and purity. I think Dylan himself believed he was writing from Desolation Row. We all want to be at this place but it will always be lonely because it cannot ever be found in conjunction with society. Truth itself is personal to each of us. The lesson here is not to let anyone or any group cloud our own personal truth we must each find our own Desolation Row. Desolation Row will always be heretic in nature and is highly contestable as the question will always arise, is there really a perspective totally detached from the influence of society. Society itself was created under the premise of imagination. We are a product of social convetions which is the convergance and development of human perception and the articulation of what we perceive and what we imagine. I think what old Dylan wants to know is where to drawn the line between the two. Is imagination simply an exaggeration of honest perspective? Desolation Row certainly advocates the idea of truth, im not too sure. In response to your article, I want to take a more general approach to the meaning. I have read many interpretations and analysis of the song and find almost amusing the ambiguous and contrasting ideas that come up. In fact they start to remind me of the song itself. Desolation Row is a place of refuge from clouded human perception. A perception which Dylan brings to light with his usual brilliance. The world outside of Desolation Row is a place which is as much fiction as it is reality, and importantly is deeply influenced (if not controlled) by societal trend, which is in turn is as much fiction as it is reality. Dylans deliberate use of confusion, contrast and mystery gives the song its amazing scope and purity. I think Dylan himself believed he was writing from Desolation Row. We all want to be at this place but it will always be lonely because it cannot ever be found in conjunction with society. Truth itself is personal to each of us. The lesson here is not to let anyone or any group cloud our own personal truth we must each find our own Desolation Row. Desolation Row will always be heretic in nature and is highly contestable as the question will always arise, is there really a perspective totally detached from the influence of society. Society itself was created under the premise of imagination. We are a product of social convetions which is the convergance and development of human perception and the articulation of what we perceive and what we imagine. I think what old Dylan wants to know is where to drawn the line between the two. Is imagination simply an exaggeration of honest perspective? Desolation Row certainly advocates the idea of truth, im not too sure.

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