Bob Dylan: poet.

By Paul Goldfinger, Blogfinger.net

When I was a young musician, high school/college vintage, I paid minimal serious  attention to the lyrics of popular songs.  I guess they didn’t make much sense and I was much more interested in the music, but now, in retrospect, I was clueless about the messaging in song lyrics, especially about love.—-too young to get the nuances of this language.

But now I know that buried in words, sentences and paragraphs may be meanings that the words may not readily reveal.  Lovers of poetry know about that, and some lyrics are like poetry.  But you don’t get that sort of thing without some life experiences.

For example there is Buddy Holly’s classic fifties song “True Love Ways.”   I loved the song, but I had no idea what he meant by “true love ways.”  In fact, for years I thought he was saying “True love waits.”

Here is the opening paragraph:

“Just you know why
Why you and I
Will bye and bye
Know true love ways.”

I’m still not sure exactly what the young Holly was referring to, but he was married when he wrote that song, so he probably had some insight.

Then there is the song which we recently posted called  “I Apologize” sung by Billy Eckstine.  It is about a man trying to convince  a woman to forgive him.

What does he want, exactly?  He confesses and he asks for forgiveness, but then he gets specific. There is a line, “Give me back your glance, give me back romance.”

I was unsure, but after years I learned about a woman’s glance and how full of feeling and messaging that can be.  And what does the lyricist mean by “romance?”

Sarah Vaughan recorded a song called “Don’t Look at Me That Way.” It’s about nonverbal communication.   And that “look” in the song speaks volumes, and I wish I knew that language back then.  Here’s a line from this Cole Porter song.

“Since you began to play your role
I’ve lost my heart and I’ve lost my soul
But as for losing my self-control
Don’t look at me that way.”

OK, OK…I think I do understand what Sarah is referring to….

And finally  there’s  Bob Dylan—a poet-song writer.  And the use of language about love is sometimes hard to get.  What does he mean by “You’re a big girl now.? ”

What a wonderful song, but listen carefully to the lyrics; don’t give up on it.