martyns blog

Skipping Bob Dylan

May 6, 2006

That is a picture of the scaffolding going up on Emory's quad. Eventually that metal skeleton will contain a stage and the grass will be lined with several thousand folding chairs. It happens every year, but what will be different about this one is that I am graduating.. and this will be my graduation ceremony. Only I won't be there.. Emily and I will be in Egypt at the time of the ceremony.

When I think of graduation ceremonies I think of "Day of the Locusts" by Bob Dylan:

Oh, the benches were stained with tears and perspiration,
The birdies were flying from tree to tree.
There was little to say, there was no conversation
As I stepped to the stage to pick up my degree.
And the locusts sang off in the distance,
Yeah, the locusts sang such a sweet melody.
Oh, the locusts sang off in the distance,
Yeah, the locusts sang and they were singing for me.

If I remember right, I think Dylan got an honorary degree from Princeton or some such institution in the early 70s.. and this song reflects that experience. Although to me it seems like a statement about calling. The narrator is obviously out of place picking up the degree: "...little to say.. no conversation." The action is out there in distance, where the locusts are singing.. and that musical world has little to do with the academic setting of a graduation. The last stanza makes clear the need to get out:

I put down my robe, picked up my diploma,
Took hold of my sweetheart and away we did drive,
Straight for the hills, the black hills of Dakota,
Sure was glad to get out of there alive.
And the locusts sang, well, it give me a chill,
Yeah, the locusts sang such a sweet melody.
And the locusts sang with a high whinin' trill,
Yeah, the locusts sang and they was singing for me,
Singing for me, well, singing for me.

That could be us.. except the diploma will come in the mail, and instead of the "black hills of Dakota", we will be flying to the gray sandy hills of Masr. But we are definitely leaving Emory, and definitely "glad to get out of there alive." For Dylan this whole experience ends with a statement and restatement of the locusts singing.. as if signifying that true experience is outside the academy. And there is something to that.. something not to forget.

This invocation of Dylan comes the morning after we skipped Dylan's concert at Chastain up in Gwinnett County (near Atlanta). And it would not have been too tough for us to see him in Birmingham, Alabama or Jackson, Mississippi either. Kind of strange, I guess, since we have driven to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and Lexington, Kentucky to see him in the past. But as we looked at his recent set lists, we were struck by the fact that he seemed to be repeating himself.. not a lot of new songs were getting into the rotation. And surely the current political situation calls for something more.. something clearer than another replaying of "Masters of War."

I was convinced not to see Dylan when I read about his performance in New Orleans for the annual Jazz Fest at the end of April. His song list could have been drawn from almost any other night of his tour.. and there appears to have been not a word about the tragedy of the city. How different from Bruce Springsteen's performance, which included songs chosen for the occasion and references to what he had seen in New Orleans. It doesn't seem that hard..

My sense (which I will enlarge on in the future) is that Dylan has painted himself into a conceptual corner. Love and Theft was brilliant in its vivifying of the American past.. and infusing the language of the blues and folk with personal meaning. But there is also an accompanying sense that the public meaning of these words is lost. Listen again to the refrain of his concert standby "Summer Days":

Summer days, summer nights are gone
Summer days, summer nights are gone
I know a place where there's still somethin' going on

Now hear that as: "The Sixties are gone/The Sixties are gone/ But right here there are still some remnants you can enjoy." Dylan often has that twilight sound in his lyrics.. and even "The Times They Are A-Changing'" sounds like it is being sung in reverse these days: "I won't criticize what I can't understand." Dammit: criticize: