Desiring Machine

I am a fan of Bob Dylan and I think what I find most satisfying in his music is the ecstatic tenor in many of his songs. The somber and emotional mood of Shelter From the Storm is undeniable and has long been a staple of many Dylan fans, myself included. But I have recently become more aware of what I would like to call an “ecstatic” vein in Dylan’s music. I find this stuff positively infectious. Some examples I can think of are

• Paths of Victory

• I Don’t Believe You (She Acts Like We Never Have Met)

• When The Night Comes Falling From The Sky (the version from the Bootleg Series Vol. 1)

• You Changed My Life

• When My Ships Come In

• If Not For You

At his best, Dylan is yearning, and earnest in his love songs. In many of his songs there is a crescendo build up to the excitement. Just listen to the build up in Dylan’s voice about 3/4 of the way through When The Night Comes Falling From The Sky it just bursts into a full blown enthusiastic earnest. This is completely independent of the lyrical content. Sometimes even in contradiction to the lyrical content. Take Desolation Row, far and away one of my favorite songs, especially the unplugged version. On the surface a seemingly somber song about desolation and absurd living, but in my mind Dylan carries it off with an air of ecstatic aloofness, with a detachment that is more cutting and incisive than the lyrics themselves. And for all those in despair about the current state of our nation just go back and listen to Paths of Victory or When The Ship Comes In. With these songs I just sit back and think I am glad to be alive.

I am too young to have experienced Dylan when he first came of age. I can only imagine how my parents experienced Dylan when they were my age or younger. My dad positively worships Dylan. For him it is a spiritual feeling. I came of age in the era of angst ridden grunge and Kurt Cobain. And there is much to acknowledge and celebrate in Cobain. He spoke for my time and screamed it out in a way that I still find compelling. But when I listen to the early Dylan I am reminded of a music and spirit that really is the soul of the progressive moment. A heralding of the political and cultural day of reckoning, an enthusiasm for the present and embracing of the struggle. The driving force through all this is an ecstatic emotional response that fully recognizes that we must remain present in the moment and live purposefully.