Doodles on the Half Shell

In the lonely night In the blinking stardust of a pale blue light You’re comin’ thru to me in black and white When we were made of dreams --Bob Dylan, Born In Time 

Out of the Blue 

Miss Handled

Presto Change-O

Drama King

The Happy Prince

The Philosopher

The Sports Fan

A Little Poon-Buddy

The Night Crawler

The beginning of a new year is a good time to sort through files and get organized. I came across four folders filled with three decades of doodles. It stimulated ideas for an upcoming project. Hope you enjoyed these. Have a super meaningful 2021. 

Related Link

Does Doodling Improve Memory?

Born In Time and Other Dylan Songs About Bein' Born

"He not busy bein' born is busy dyin'."
-- It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding

This past week I was thinking about how many Dylan songs mention the word born. It started when I was thinking about Born In Time and the line above from It's Alright, Ma. Born in Time, particularly the version on Tell Tale Signs, is on my short list of favorite songs, and "He not busy bein' born is busy dyin'" is on my short list of favorite lines.

But there are some other favorite lines with the word born in them. The first that immediately came to mind was "She was born in spring, but I was born too late" from Simple Twist of Fate. Then this one came to mind: "I was born here and I'll die here against my will" from Not Dark Yet. (I love the follow up line, too: "I know it looks like I'm moving, but Im standing still."

So I went to the Dylan Concordance and looked up the number of references to "born" in Dylan's lyrics. It turned out to be a surprisingly long list, and (for a Dylan fan) an enjoyable search-and-find exercise, reading through song after song trying to find each born-reference in its context. Dylan's lyrics are so rich and rewarding it's difficult to remain "on task" as one gets swept into the whitewater rush of imagery. Read through the lush lyrical vibrance of Changing of the Guard, for example.

What follows are the lines or stanzas where the word born appears in each song.

In the Garden:
Nicodemus came at night so he wouldn’t be seen by men
Saying, “Master, tell me why a man must be born again”

Saved
"I was blinded by the devil, born already ruined…"

Song to Woody
“Hey, hey, Woody Guthrie, I wrote you a song
’Bout a funny ol’ world that’s a-comin’ along
Seems sick an’ it’s hungry, it’s tired an’ it’s torn
It looks like it’s a-dyin’ an’ it’s hardly been born”

Subterranean Homesick Blues
“Ah get born keep warm
Short pants, romance, learn to dance…”

Neighborhood Bully
“Always on trial for just being born…”

Only a Pawn in Their Game
A South politician preaches to the poor white man
“You got more than the blacks, don’t complain.
You’re better than them, you been born with white skin,” they explain.

Jokerman
You were born with a snake in both of your fists while a hurricane was blowing

Catfish
Carolina born and bred

Joey
Born in Red Hook, Brooklyn, in the year of who knows when (opening line)
and late in the same song:
They said a mass in the old church near the house where he was born

Last Thoughts On Woody Guthrie
And to yourself you sometimes say
"I never knew it was gonna be this way
Why didn't they tell me the day I was born"

Motorpsycho Nightmare
He said, “What do doctors Know about farms, pray tell?”
I said, “I was born At the bottom of a wishing well”

Ballad of Hollis Brown
Somewhere in the distance there are seven new people born.

Don't Ya Tell Henry
I went down to the river on a Saturday morn
 A-lookin’ around just to see who’s born...

Sugar Baby
Just as sure as we’re living, just as sure as you’re born
Look up, look up—seek your Maker—’fore Gabriel blows his horn

Tough Mama
Angel Baby, born of a blinding light and a changing wind

Changing of the Guards
She’s smelling sweet like the meadows where she was born
 On midsummer’s eve, near the tower

Shelter from the Storm
If I could only turn back the clock to when God and her were born
 “Come in,” she said, “I’ll give you shelter from the storm”

North Country Blues
Oh, the years passed again, and the giving was good
With the lunch bucket filled every season
What with three babies born, the work was cut down
To a half a day's shift with no reason

I Want You
But it’s not that way
I wasn’t born to lose you

Wedding Song
Oh, can’t you see that you were born to stand by my side
And I was born to be with you, you were born to be my bride

Jokerman
You were born with a snake in bother of your fists
while a hurricane was blowin'

What Can I Do For You?
Soon as a man is born, you know the sparks begin to fly

* * * *

Did I miss anything?

* * * *

Meantime, life goes on all around you. Get into it.

Born In Time

If anyone asks, the answer is "Yes." We did go ahead and purchase the recently released and much maligned Dylan Christmas CD, Christmas In The Heart. I'll review it after we listen to it this weekend. For now, I'm still not done extracting the full measure of last year's Tell Tale Signs, and this morning I wanted to share another great tune, Born In Time.

A lot of people don't realize what a great album this is, opening last year at #6 on the Billboard 200. It was Dylan's 17th album to open on the Top Ten. Edna Gunderson, writing about the album for USA TODAY last year, described it like this:

The two-CD, 27-song set, out Oct. 7, contains previously unreleased studio recordings, demos, alternate takes, live tracks and rarities spanning 1989 to 2006, a rich period that generated the lauded Time Out of Mind, Love and Theft, Modern Times and Oh Mercy... Listeners will discover a wealth of fresh material and multiple versions of songs with altered lyrics, moods and styles.

"When Most of the Time came out on Oh Mercy, I thought it was such an achingly beautiful love song," says Steve Berkowitz, senior vice president of A&R at Columbia/Legacy. "Now it's here as a folk version and something that sounds like Dylan with Brian Eno and The Edge. To hear the way the songs and lyrics develop is fascinating. Dylan comes across as a folk singer, a blues musician and a jazz artist."

This song, too, Born In Time, is "achingly beautiful." You can probably find it online somewhere, but why not just get the whole enchilada? Tell Tale Signs is a thoroughly rich and wonderful experience that I'm still absorbing again and again.

The line "when we were made of dreams" evokes for me that moment in Vanilla Sky when Sofia tells David, "I'll see you in another life... when we are both cats." Many of the lyrics are ambiguous and obscure, yet they touch real places in the soul. Like a Fellini film, every passing moment is another opportunity to grasp meanings and lose them again. Open your eyes.

Born In Time
by Bob Dylan

In the lonely night
In the stardust of a pale blue light
I think of you in black and white
When we were made of dreams.

I walk along through the shaking street,
Listening to my heart beat
In the record breaking heat
When we were born in time.

Bridge 1:
Just when I thought you were gone you came back
Just when I was ready to receive you;
You were smooth, you were rough
You were more than enough,
Oh babe, why did I ever leave you? Or grieve you?

On the rising curve
Where the ways of nature will test every nerve,
I took you close and got what I deserve
When we were born in time.

Bridge #2:
Just when I knew
Who to thank, you went blank
Just when the firelight
Was gleaming

You were snow, you were rain
You were striped, you were plain
Oh babe, could it be that you were scheming?
Or was I dreaming?

In the hills of mystery,
In the foggy web of destiny,
You’re still so deep inside of me
Where we were born in time.