I reviewed Dylan's "Murder Most Foul" a few weeks ago. It's a haunting, soul-adjusting masterpiece that's right up there or even better than "A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall" and "Desolation Row" and his very best from the 1960s. That song, released on its own this past March, is one entire side of Dylan's Rough and Rowdy album released in June. I thought it time that I listened to the rest, on the other side.
It was time well spent. All of the songs are bursting with lyrics and allusions we haven't heard from Dylan in years. Like "Murder Most Foul," they're painted with icons of the past half-century, and Dylan's wry commentary. Here are my favorites:
"Key West (Philosopher Pirate)": I've long loved Key West, even though I've never been there. It reminds me, and is probably even better than, Cape Cod, where I've been going with my family since 1982, except this past summer of Covid and its lockdowns. I thought Bloodlines was excellent, in part because it took place in Key West. I really like Dylan's rendition of that place in this song. It's one of the ends of America, and the end of the rainbow. It's the "place to find immortality". Dylan already has that, he doesn't need to go to Key West to get it, but it's a tonic and a thrill to hear him sing about it, and tell his gravelly "story".
"My Own Version of You": Dylan writing and singing science fiction? Who'd have thunk it? But that's what this song, Dylan's own Frankenstein story (as in, he's Dr. Frankenstein), is. I added this to my Science Fiction and Fantasy song playlist, right between "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots" and "Monster Mash" (there's also something about a "robot commando" in "My Own Version of You").
"I Contain Multitudes": It's fair to say just about all of Dylan's songs are autobiographical, but this little gem is especially so. He has something of Poe in him, he paints nudes, has something of "those British bad boys, The Rolling Stones" in him, too, and he makes all of that rhyme. With dudes, foods, and classical preludes.
"Black Rider": Ok, one more. This is the tougher Dylan. "One of these days, I'll forget to be kind," he says to the rider who's been "visiting" the singer's wife. And then he becomes much more graphic about what he might do to this masked marauder who's breaking into his life. Don't mess with this wordsmith who can easily become a swordsmith in his songs.
Dylan took a long time to get back to this level of erudition and power. Rough and Rowdy Ways was well worth the wait.
Further reading: Simon Vozick-Levinson's review of this album in Rolling Stone's 50 Best Albums of 2020 (Dylan's album is #4).
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