Like a Rolling Stone, A Few Memories, Revisited

Notice anything unusual about this record sleeve? This was the 45 rpm of Bob Dylan's "Like A Rolling Stone" which was released in the summer of 1965. Side One is Part 1 of the song and Side Two is Part 2.

If you weren't there in that time frame, when we were collecting 45s, you probably wouldn't have known about this unusual record that you had to turn over to hear the whole song. When you look on Wikipedia, they don't even show the first pressing of "Like a Rolling Stone," the single. Instead, you'll find a photo of another version of the 45, with this song on Side A and "Gates of Eden" on the B-side. 

The song has a legendary history. According to one Dylan interview, the song's reception by the public gave both the creator and his career a major boost. It also catapulted Al Kooper from being like a complete unknown to "that guy who created the memorable organ track on one of the great songs of history." Kooper was a 21-year-old guitar player who "just happened to be there." When the organ player was moved to piano, Kooper audaciously filled the empty seat at the organ. (Evidently "nature abhors a vacuum" even in a studio.)

It's no secret that Rolling Stone magazine took its name from the song and decades later named it #1 on its list of 500 Greatest Songs. (Fwiw, their most recent list bumped Dylan down to fourth with Aretha Franklin in the supreme slot.)

When I was in junior high school at Hillside School, Bridgewater, NJ, the school dances were held in the auditorium with a record player on the stage and a DJ making selections from stacks of 45s all laid out on a table. Every record was three minutes, and "Like a Rolling Stone" was six minutes. This meant you could slow dance for twice as long when this song played. Yes, this is kind of a strange song to dance to, but it was slow enough for a two-step, and who really cared what the lyrics were when we were 13. I would go ask Nancy Black if she would dance with me and it seemed like she always did. 

These were the days when teachers stood around the dance floor with rulers in their hands to make sure you were not closer than a foot apart. (They were probably used to measure hemlines as well, which were supposed to be no more than an inch above the knee, if I remember correctly.) For the record, I was too shy to talk to Nancy, either while dancing or while off the dance floor. 

The point of that story is this, though. It seems like I remember the DJ having to turn the record over to finish the song. And yet, according to Wikipedia, these 45s with two verses on the front and two on the back only circulated amongst radio disc jockeys, and the public got the pressing of a 45 with "Gates of Eden" on the back? Is my memory faulty? Can anyone definitively help me with that. 

Greil Marcus points out in his book about this song, subtitled Bob Dylan at the Crossroads, that Like a Rolling Stone was not the first record that took up two sides of a record. In 1959 In 1959 both Ray Charles ("What'd I Say") and the Isley Brothers ("Shout") released records that needed to be flipped. 

As for Nancy Black, if you see her, say hello. (She might be in Tangiers.)

* * *

The song became the opening track on one of the great albums of all time, Highway 61 Revisited. Dylan's mid-sixties albums opened whole new territory with regard to the possibilities of rock and roll. But that's another story. 

In 2014 the handwritten lyrics of this song sold for two million dollars. You can read more about that here:

 

Going Once, Going Twice, Sold! Two Million Dollars for Handwritten Draft of Dylan's Original Lyrics to Like a Rolling Stone

Daniel Botkin's Motorcycle Black Madonna and the Gates of Eden

I have no recollection of hearing anything about the Black Madonna before its reference in Bob Dylan's Gate of Eden in the mid-1960s. Because of its prominent position on one of his most heralded albums, Bringing It All Back Home -- in the seriously great sequence of Mr. Tambourine Man // Gates of Eden // It's Alright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding) // It's All Over Now, Baby Blue -- it has received mucho much play time over the past many decades. 

So it was quite the surprise to have the Black Madonna appear in the film War & Peace, based on Tolstoy's classic of the same name. (EdNote: My relationship to War & Peace is similar to Zelig's relationship to Moby Dick in the Woody Allen classic.)

According to scholar Marcus C. Levitt one of the key features of Napoleon and Napoleonism is the power of image. Supposedly Napoleon is the original source for the famous saying "a picture is worth 1000 words." Hence his willingness to have numerous portraits made of himself at key moments in his career, projecting a bigger than life mythology that gained for him a psychological advantage in battle.

Tolstoy explicitly invokes Napoleonic visual images and juxtaposes them with Russian icons including the famed Black Madonna. 

Some legends have it that the Black Madonna was painted on a piece of wood by none other than St. Luke the physician, who wrote the Gospel of Luke and the Book of Acts. Historians cite a painting of the Black Madonna that stood in Czestochowa, Poland for six centuries which was profoundly revered. The icon, known as the Queen of Poland, is credited with leading a group of monks holding out against a Swedish siege in 1655. More recently, the madonna's image was never absent from Lech Walesa's lapel during the Solidarity leader's struggle against Poland's Communist regime.

In olden times it was not uncommon for armies to carry symbols like this into battle in the belief that "if God be for us, who can be against us?" Like amulets and lucky charms it was intended to put the intangibles in our favor, hence it appears in this manner in Tolstoy's epic.

How very strange, then, for the Black Madonna to make its appearance here in Bob Dylan's Gates of Eden:

The motorcycle black madonna
Two-wheeled gypsy queen
And her silver-studded phantom cause
The gray flannel dwarf to scream
As he weeps to wicked birds of prey
Who pick up on his bread crumb sins
And there are no sins inside the Gates of Eden
 

The painting on this page is by Daniel Botkin. winner of the Dylan Days Art Competition in Hibbing. It was one of many impressive works that he shared at The Red Mug during Duluth Dylan Fest in 2015. When I asked for permission to share the painting he also supplied some commentary about the piece.

 

The full title is "Motorcycle Black Madonna With Grey Flannel Dwarf."

Of course the inspiration for this piece was from the lyrics, "The motorcycle black madonna, two wheeled gypsy queen, and her silver studded phantom cause the grey flannel dwarf to scream as he weeps to wicked birds of prey that pick up on his breadcrumb sins."

Like so many Dylan song lyrics, these words painted a picture in my mind, and this was one of those Dylan-inspired pictures I wanted to put on canvas.

I used a variety of materials to create it: cotton fabric, burlap, leather, wood dowel rods, rope for the motorcycle tires, doll eyes for the madonna, a glass eye and water buffalo teeth for the horse-headed phantom on the front fender, a crying doll head for the dwarf, and pieces of sponge for the breadcrumb sins.

Dylan's lyrics often have a surreal sense that produces concrete images while concealing or veiling deeper things. For example, the line from the following stanza  "While paupers change possessions, each one wishing for what the other has got" explicitly describes envy, one of Catholicism's Seven Deadly Sins.

This is immediately followed by "And the princess and the prince discuss what's real and what is not." Here we now stand in the midst of a whirl of ambiguity, because, "It doesn't matter inside the Gates of Eden."

You can read my 2015 interview with the artist here.

To see more of Botkin's art online, visit http://danielbotkin.com/

Poland's Black Madonna (1990 NYTimes story)

Dylan and Gates (Not Ol' Bill)

Mood Swings (installation detail)

Ever since last summer I've been intending to share some thoughts about Bob Dylan's "Absolutely Sweet Marie" from Blonde On Blonde. While reading That Thin Wild Mercury Sound this past fall the urge was re-ignited. Having now completed the book a second time I'm still not ready. Instead, this blog post will focus on one feature of the song, repeated three times on this classic album--gates.

The reason I find the prevalence of this word so intriguing may well, in part, be due to Bob's late-in-life interest in metal sculpture. His 2013-14 art exhibition titled Mood Swings filled the Halcyon Gallery with welded gates. His artist statement included these words:

“Gates appeal to me because of the negative space they allow. They can be closed but at the same time they allow the seasons and breezes to enter and flow. They can shut you out or shut you in. And in some ways there is no difference.”—Bob Dylan

And that is exactly how the word can be understood right here in the opening line of "Absolutely Sweet Marie."

Well, your railroad gate, you know I just can't jump it
Sometimes it gets so hard, you see
I'm just sitting here beating on my trumpet
With all these promises you left for me
But where are you tonight, sweet Marie?

Photo by Russ Ward on Unsplash

There's no question this song is about unrequited longing. You hear that plea even more forcefully in "Where Are You Tonight" on Street Legal, but that's a sidestreet and our focus here is gates. In "Absolutely Sweet Marie" the gate is a barricade. We're at a railroad crossing and the red lights are flashing.

Despite a lifetime of listens, I really never gave much thought to how many ways Dylan references gates in his work. In "I Want You" which is also featured on Blonde On Blonde, he this time mentions opening a gate.

And I wait for them to interrupt
Me drinkin' from my broken cup
And ask me to
Open up the gate for you.

And then again we find a gate reference in "Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands."

My warehouse eyes, my Arabian drums,
Should I leave them by your gate,
Or, sad-eyed lady, should I wait?

In this instance, he has brought something to the gate and is making a gentler appeal to the lady in waiting.

* * * *
Sometimes he may choose to use the word gate because the ease with which it rhymes with other words. For example, in "Everything's Broken" he sings,

Broken bottles, broken plates,
Broken switches, broken gates...

And in "Simple Twist of Fate"

She dropped a coin into the cup of a blind man at the gate 
And forgot about a simple twist of fate.

Is the gate significant? Maybe not, but might be, because of the numerous other gates here, it may be.

In "You Ain't Goin' Nowhere" he sings...

Clouds so swift
Rain won't lift
Gate won't close
Railings froze
Get your mind off wintertime
You ain't goin' nowhere

In other words, good times, open gates. Down in the easy chair.

Photo by Hédi Benyounes on Unsplash

To be sure the word is not always loaded with sexual connotations. In "The Walls of Red Wing" he sings about the gates that hold men in.

Oh, the gates are cast iron
And the walls are barbed wire.
Stay far from the fence
With the 'lectricity sting.

There's the spiritual references, as well.

Well, your clock is gonna stop
At Saint Peter's gate.
Ya gonna ask him what time it is,
He's gonna say, "It's too late."
Hey, hey!
I'd sure hate to be you
On that dreadful day

St. Peter's gate is pretty much the same as Heaven's Door, yes? Where have we heard that name before?

And Heaven, life's endpoint, has been foreshadowed in the Edenic Paradise that Adam and Eve were banished from in the beginning. In "Gates of Eden" from Bringing It All Back Home we find the word "gates" repeated with each refrain:

No sound ever comes from the Gates of Eden

Heading for the Gates of Eden

All except inside the Gates of Eden

There are no kings inside the Gates of Eden

And there are no sins inside the Gates of Eden

It doesn't matter inside the Gates of Eden

And there are no trials inside the Gates of Eden

And there are no truths outside the Gates of Eden

Note how switching from describing what's inside Eden to what is absent outside multiplies the force of that last refrain.

The next track on this same album is the one that sank the hook into my own heart's sinews, making a profound impact on me as a youth, and countless others from my generation, "It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)." The word gate re-appears here as well in this most memorable stanza:

While preachers preach of evil fates
Teachers teach that knowledge waits
Can lead to hundred-dollar plates
Goodness hides behind its gates
But even the president of the United States
Sometimes must have
To stand naked.

* * * *
In Dylan's poignant "North Country Blues" (from Times They Are A-Changin') the closed gates again convey a negative symbolic implication, the end of something. He sings:

So the mining gates locked 
And the red iron rotted 
And the room smelled heavy from drinking.

Songs with other applications of the word gate include All Over You, Quit Your Lowdown Ways, Long Distance Operator, Two By Two, Golden Loom, Foot of Pride, Day of the Locusts, Scarlet Town, When He Returns (Slow Train Coming) and two references to the Golden Gate Bridge in Down the Highway (Freewheelin') and Clean Cut Kid (Empire Burlesque).

2013 publicity still for "Mood Swings" opening at Halcyon Gallery

Freud famously once said, "Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar." His meaning: It is what it is. On the other hand, the meaning of words and images in Dylan's lyrics are frequently not what they appear to be. Sorting out the multi-layered allusions from the straight-up "it is what it is" meanings has been an endlessly fascinating conundrum for many long-time Dylan enthusiasts.

What comes to mind for me is a dialogue between Jake Gittes (Jack Nicholson) and Evelyn Mulwray (Faye Dunaway) in Roman Polanski's 1974 classic Chinatown.

Jake Gittes: Maid's night off?
Evelyn Mulwray: Why?
Jake Gittes: What do you mean, why? Nobody's here, that's why.
Evelyn Mulwray: I gave everyone the night off.
Jake Gittes: Easy. It's an innocent question.
Evelyn Mulwray: No question from you is innocent, Mr. Gittes.
Jake Gittes: I guess you're right.

When is a word pregnant with meaning and when is it just a descriptor? When we dig into Blonde On Blonde, I don't believe it's a stretch to say that no word from Dylan is innocent of deeper layers of meaning. This is what makes his lyrics nothing short of scintillating.

* * * *

Related Link

That Thin Wild Mercury Sound by Daryl Sanders Turns Readers into Blonde On Blonde Insiders

An Easter Reflection: Gardens in the Bible and Dylan

"I come to the garden alone, while the dew is still on the roses... and he walks with me." -- Austin Miles

From the beginning, gardens are featured in the Bible. The second version of the creation story (Genesis 2) begins with an account of the making of Adam and Eve and placing them in a garden in the east called Eden. The story of the off-limits tree with its forbidden fruit is as familiar as the story of the Exodus, the Ten Commandments and the Resurrection. Whatever one believes about these things, they are part of our cultural history. 

Biblical imagery features prominently in the lyrics of many Dylan songs, one of them being "Gates of Eden" from his album Bringing It All Back Home. The poetic prose dances with vibrant imagery, forceful and enigmatic. Much of it appears indecipherable, yet leaves a haunted frightening feeling that is a mixture of hope and fear. 

The Eden story ends with this statement: "After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life." (Genesis 3:24) What is this cherubim with a flaming sword? Where is this place that has been perpetually guarded? Is it literal and geographical or something else? In many places the Bible is a book of mysteries.

In the self-same chapter, where God has pronounced judgment on the man and the woman, He also gives a basis for hope. Their offspring will one day crush the head (the power) of the serpent with a heel. In a world where everything's broken, we need a basis for hope. The events of "Holy Week"... from Palm Sunday to Good Friday (history's darkest day) to Resurrection Sunday show how this prophetic statement played out regarding the head of the serpent being crushed by the heel of Adam and Eve's offspring.

It was Thursday of that week that Jesus, after sharing a final supper with his disciples, retreated to a garden called Gethsemane. The word gethsemane is derived from two Hebrew words: gat, which means "a place for pressing oil (or wine)" and shemanim, which means "oils." During Jesus' time, heavy stone slabs were lowered onto olives that had already been crushed in an olive crusher. He knew what was coming, and understood that he would soon be the one who is crushed "in the winepress of God's wrath."

San Francisco, 1979 (photo credit: Bill Pagel)

This is the garden that is featured in the first verse of Bob Dylan's song "In the Garden." In the garden, the authorities came to take Jesus away. Hours earlier he had washed his disciples' feet, even the feet of Judas who betrayed him. Hours later the religious leaders brought him to Pontius Pilate, with a mob incited to cry out for his blood. 

After he was crucified his friends laid him in an unmarked donated tomb. There must have been a garden there, too, for on that first "Easter Sunday" when Mary brought Peter and John to the empty tomb, Mary had a brief encounter with the risen Jesus, but didn't recognize him. She thought he was the gardener. (Full story of that morning here.)

Dylan followers know that over the course of more than half a century Dylan has had many creative periods that have been placed into categories. Folk, rock, Nashville, Never Ending Tour, among others. The three albums in his "Gospel" period began with his critically acclaimed Slow Train Coming. This song here appeared on his second of this trilogy titled Saved. The third, Shot of Love, did not receive the same love as the first, but I would suggest it has some really superb songs on it. 

Dylan first performed "In the Garden" in San Francisco in 1979. Through April 2002 he performed it 329 times in concert, suggesting that it is still meaningful to him.

In the Garden

When they came for Him in the garden, did they know?
When they came for Him in the garden, did they know?
Did they know He was the Son of God, did they know that He was Lord?
Did they hear when He told Peter, “Peter, put up your sword”?
When they came for Him in the garden, did they know?
When they came for Him in the garden, did they know?

When He spoke to them in the city, did they hear?
When He spoke to them in the city, did they hear?
Nicodemus came at night so he wouldn’t be seen by men
Saying, “Master, tell me why a man must be born again”
When He spoke to them in the city, did they hear?
When He spoke to them in the city, did they hear?

When He healed the blind and crippled, did they see?
When He healed the blind and crippled, did they see?
When He said, “Pick up your bed and walk, why must you criticize?
Same thing My Father do, I can do likewise”
When He healed the blind and crippled, did they see?
When He healed the blind and crippled, did they see?

Did they speak out against Him, did they dare?
Did they speak out against Him, did they dare?
The multitude wanted to make Him king, put a crown upon His head
Why did He slip away to a quiet place instead?
Did they speak out against Him, did they dare?
Did they speak out against Him, did they dare?

When He rose from the dead, did they believe?
When He rose from the dead, did they believe?
He said, “All power is given to Me in heaven and on earth”
Did they know right then and there what the power was worth?
When He rose from the dead, did they believe?
When He rose from the dead, did they believe?

Copyright © 1980 by Special Rider Music

* In May, the Red Mug Coffeehouse Chicago artist Damiel Botkin will have an art show featuring his Dylan-inspired art. One of his paintings is based on lyrics from Gates of Eden.