What Bob Dylan teaches us about love (Author - Manning Patston) | The Odyssey Online
Start writing a post
Featured

What Bob Dylan teaches us about love (Author - Manning Patston)

Bob Dylan

2895
What Bob Dylan teaches us about love (Author - Manning Patston)

Bob Dylan, the dexterous singer/songwriter, poet and painter, leaves his fans with little more than breadcrumbs to follow

If you thought learning how to tie a tie was gruelling, try getting Dylan to label his music. For decades, Dylan has become infamous for slamming, or downright ignoring the press. During most interviews, the wordsmith keeps his answers vague and esoteric, leaving listeners famished and clueless. Heck, when he was awarded the Nobel Prize for creating "new poetic expressions within the great American songwriting tradition", he didn't even show up. News flash - Dylan doesn't give a rats what you think.

All his evasiveness leads us to look solely across his records to find answers. And while his lyrics are cryptic, they are laden with sharp observation, rich discoveries, and musings to ponder over. It's in this published material that we learn lessons about ourselves and the world we inhabit. Lessons of war, lessons of politics, lessons of class. Lessons of life, lessons of death. Most potently I'd argue, are Dylan's lessons on love. If you care to indulge, I'd love to scour over the artists' most memorable quips and discuss the nuggets of truth that have shaped my perceptions of love. Love in all forms, gentle and fierce.

Love grows stronger with time

If love is a burning fire, time can do one of two things. One, it can slowly extinguish the flames until it becomes ash; forgotten and distant. Two, it can be the gasoline, making the fire burn brighter than ever before. This is why memories of love often feel so visceral. They etch into your daily conscious, influencing your decisions and outlook to a severe degree.

"Please, see if her hair hangs long

If it rolls and flows all down her breast

Please, see for me if her hair's hangin' long

'Cause that's the way I remember her best"

For Dylan on Girl From The North Country (1963), the memory is so vivid that it dare not be tainted with. Even the way the hair fell on his old partner is so precious that it must remain intact. At least in his mind, because that's where it can rest; peacefully and permanently. Here, Dylan teaches us that time cuts the fat, leaving only the strongest feelings behind.

Love cannot be forced

Have you been in a relationship where no one's in the wrong, but the whole affair feels stale? You've climbed to the top of the ladder but the view doesn't live up to the promise. It's unfortunately a pretty common situation. If you reach this point, the best thing to do (probably!) is gently close the relationship, even though it's going to be rough for your partner.

You say you're lookin' for someone

Who's never weak but always strong

To protect you and defend you

Whether you are right or wrong

Someone to open each and every door

But it ain't me, babe

It Ain't Me Babe (1964) kisses off a dying relationship in the most blatant manner possible, teaching listeners that ending a relationship is a necessary hurt. The single encourages us to seek passionate love and never to settle for anything less. There's a liberating feeling that comes from this knowledge. Best to take it and run fast.

Love can turn spiteful

When your lover hops on a plane, leaves for another or takes time to themselves, it doesn't take long for an ego to bruise. A connection once dearly valued has been discarded and deprioritized. The radical change can make you wonder if it even meant anything in the first place.

"She takes just like a woman

Yes, she does, she makes love just like a woman

Yes, she does, and she aches just like a woman

But she breaks just like a little girl"

Nothing captures this bitter aftertaste quite like the sneer of Just Like A Women (1966), which unfairly focuses on the partner's actions, instead of ones own. The protagonist is unreasonable and snarky, but they portray a real feeling that's all too easy to fall into. With vivid imagery bringing life to the tilted scene, "her fog, her amphetamines, and her pearls", spiteful love becomes a lesson seldom forgotten.

Love reveals love

Have you noticed that even the most cliche-ridden love songs hit harder when you're in a relationship (or recently out of one)? This isn't a coincidence. As soon as you've revelled in the feverish delights of intense love - you'll see it in everything. For Dylan, the catalyst to this epiphany was reading the works of an Italian poet from the 13th century. He reveals this in Tangled Up In Blue (1975), a song that took him "10 years to live and 2 years to write".

And every one of them words rang true

And glowed like burnin' coal

Pourin' off of every page

Like it was written in my soul

From me to you

Tangled up in blue

When all the signs on the street point back to love, you know you're in deep. As the associations roll in, it'll get harder and harder to close the blinds

Love is about sacrifice

The blistering fact is... if your love is indeed real, you'll sacrifice anything to have it. The book of Job (Old Testament), Benigni's WWII film Life Is Beautiful, and thousands of other retellings explore this unflinching realisation. Of course, Dylan's portrayal on Make You Feel My Love (1997) struck a chord with creatives everywhere, from Billie Joel to Adele.

I'd go hungry, I'd go black and blue

I'd go crawling down the avenue

No, there's nothing that I wouldn't do

To make you feel my love

When we're swept up in the euphoric rush of young love, giving up everything is easy. The real test comes over time. Will you crawl down the avenue year after year to prove your love? What is it worth to you? These are the questions that surface when such selfless claims are sung so adamantly.

Report this Content
Featured

Yoga love

A long over due thank you note to my greatest passion.

24118
A person in a yoga pose surrounded by a supportive community of fellow yogis with a look of peace and gratitude on their face the image should convey the sense of strength mindfulness and appreciation that the writer feels towards yoga
StableDiffusion

Dearest Yoga,

You deserve a great thank you.

Keep Reading...Show less
Arts Entertainment

Epic Creation Myths: Norse Origins Unveiled

What happened in the beginning, and how the heavens were set in motion.

5337
The Norse Creation Myth

Now, I have the everlasting joy of explaining the Norse creation myth. To be honest, it can be a bit kooky, so talking about it is always fun. The entire cosmos is included in this creation myth, not just the earth but the sun and the moon as well. This will be a short retelling, a summary of the creation myth, somewhat like I did with Hermod's ride to Hel.

Keep Reading...Show less
Old school ghetto blaster sat on the floor
8tracks radio

We all scroll through the radio stations in the car every once in a while, whether its because we lost signal to our favorite one or we are just bored with the same ol' songs every day. You know when you're going through and you hear a song where you're just like "I forgot this existed!" and before you know it, you're singing every word? Yeah, me too. Like, 95% of the time. If you're like me and LOVE some good throwback music, here's a list of songs from every genre that have gotten lost in time, but never truly forgotten.

Keep Reading...Show less
Featured

27 Hidden Joys

Appreciation for some of life's most discredited pleasures.

36020
Best Things in Life

Life is full of many wonderful pleasures that many of us, like myself, often forget about. And it's important to recognize that even on bad days, good things still happen. Focusing on these positive aspects of our day-to-day lives can really change a person's perspective. So in thinking about the little things that make so many of us happy, I've here's a list of some of the best things that often go unrecognized and deserve more appreciation:

Keep Reading...Show less
beer on the beach

Summer is hot and humid, and it's almost like summer was made specifically to drink the refreshing, cold, crisp wonderful, delicious, nutritious nectar of the gods. Which is none other than beer; wonderful cold beer. With summer playing peek-a-boo around the corner while we finish up this semester, it's time to discuss the only important part of summer. And if you haven't already guessed, it's beer. There are few things I take more seriously than my beer, in order are: sports... and beer. Here are my favorite summer brews:

Keep Reading...Show less

Subscribe to Our Newsletter

Facebook Comments