An Example of Polarity Management: The Grateful Dead's Truckin'

A few decades back my brother Ron, a psychologist, shared a concept with me that seems to have endless applications, the idea of Polarity Management. The concept is illustrated perfectly in two lines from the Grateful Dead's lively hit song "Truckin'." 

If you remember the song, it's essentially about life on the road as a band, with commentary about the various places they stayed or performed from Houston and New Orleans to New York, Buffalo and back to Bourbon Street. It talks openly about life on the road, which for many if not most bands included drugs at the time, so it was a counterculture anthem, not mainstream. 

The stanza that sums up polarity management is this one:

You're sick of hanging around and you'd like to travel
Tired of travel, you want to settle down
I guess they can't revoke your soul for trying
Get out of the door - light out and look all around

Who hasn't had the experience? You get tired of doing nothing and become restless, so you get busy. At a certain point, if you're too busy, you crave a break, a downtime.  So we pause, and it refreshes, but then that pause generates a longing to be active again. It's a cycle

There are dozens, even hundreds, of polarity cycles. Finding the balance between work and play is a problem that leads us into cycles. Some people like structure in their lives and create rigid lifestyles which at times feel like constraints or even shackles that we need to shake off. In our relationships, we may find our natural inclination to be supportive of whatever friends pursue, but then we fall back into a sense in which we feel a need to challenge them a little. ("Are you sure you're marching down the right path? Remember what happened last time.")

In our current post-covid business environment many executive and management level workers are struggling to find a balance between working in the office again (centralization) and continuing the "cocooning" style of working from home and connecting on Zoom. One thing for sure is that the benefits and weaknesses of each style have been experienced so that at least alternatives to what used to be a historical method have now been questioned. What comes next? It waits to be seen.

Roller coasters are exciting, but if we went to an amusement park and spent 98% of the time being flung all about, arms akimbo, we'd be ill. The excitement is fun, even terrifying, when it is temporary. Finding balance between equilibrium and drama is big part of life for many people 

Truckin' was penned by Robert Hunter, the only songwriter in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame who was not a performer, a lyricist for the Grateful Dead. Bob Dylan and Hunter collaborated on Dylan's 2009 album Together Through Life, which I listened to almost continuously as I set up a major art show that summer in what is now called the Lincoln Park District here in Duluth.

To learn more about Polarity Management ask Google. Or see what's available in your local library. Numerous articles and books have been written on the subject. At the heart of them all is an apparent desire find the Golden Mean, a life of balance of sorts betwixt and between all the forces pulling us back and forth in various directions.

For me, there's a lively sophistication in the arrangement in which all the players seem to dance around the melody in this song while no one actually plays it. The singer carries that melody, surrounded by an entourage of sound that is lively, pressing ever forward. It's catchy.

If interested, you can learn more about Truckin' (not necessarily polarity management) here at http://artsites.ucsc.edu/gdead/agdl/truckin.html

Beyond Here Lies Nothing Is Great Intro to Dylan's Together Through Life

My first solo art show in Duluth was called First Hand Experiences. The idea being that the process of making art is a first hand experience and that people should come and experience it first hand rather than just take someone else's opinion on the matter.

A couple days ago I heard someone speaking critically of Picasso as an artist and painter. It was obvious to me that they drew conclusions based on images they'd seen in a book and had never really had a chance to marvel at his skills up close and personal. Maybe they didn't like his style, and I can accept that, but he knew his materials, and from a very early age he demonstrated skills beyond his years.

I bring all this up to put in a plug for Dylan's 2009 studio album Together Through Life. For me it will be forever associated with that First Hand Experiences art show as I hung the show while listening numerous times to this album which I consider an excellent addition to the "Late Dylan" period.

Like Picasso, Dylan's interests evolved and can be loosely packaged as periods. With Picasso there was his Blue Period, Cubist period, and onward, always avant garde and breaking new ground. Dylan began in the folk realm, broke new territories for rock, took in Nashville spirits, and so on. The late period beginning with his Grammy-award winning album Time Out of Mind is consummate Dylan, produced in conjunction with Daniel Lanois whom he praises in his book Chronicle: Volume One. (Volume Two is on its way!)

This may have been a stepping stone to his taking over full control for his subsequent albums, all produced by Jack Frost, Dylan's "pen name" for the projects Love and Theft, Modern Times and Together Through Life.

The first two in this trio were highly praised by critics who lumped them together with Time Out of Mind to form that trio. My feeling is that it should be the third in in the Jack Frost trio. For some reason this latter did not receive the same critical acclaim. David Fricke's Rolling Stone review puts both sides of the assessment in a pair of sentences that seem to praise and parch the album: The lyrics seem dashed off in spots, like first drafts, while the performances — by Dylan's current touring band — feel like head arrangements caught on the run between Never Ending Tour dates. But there is a grim magnetism coursing through these 10 new songs — and most of it is in Dylan's vividly battered singing.

My first hand experience with the album has been to find it a re-occurring pleasure. The title of the album is taken from a quote by Ovid, and like both of its predecessors it borrows heavily from other sources.

What's fun in this album is the addition of David Hidalgo's accordion as a thematic musical thread, much like Scarlet Rivera's violin set the tone for Desire. Hidalgo, of course, is the Tex/Mex accent that gives "Must Be Santa" its raucous joyousness on Dylan's Christmas in the Heart. From the opening pair of chord shots "Beyond Here Lies Nothing" yanks you in. Maybe it's having spent a year in Mexico, but there's something engaging about that musica nortena accordion effect, and it obviously appeals to Dylan as well.

Still the King of Cool.

I'm not the only one who likes this album. Dylan himself has played this song 226 times since 2009 on his Never Ending Tour, the last time being two weeks ago in Pori, Finland. Forgetful Heart is another great song from this album, which he is still playing, the last time being in Sweden two nights before Pori.

Maybe some people are critical of the fact that most of the songs were written in collaboration with Robert Hunter, lyricist of the Grateful Dead. And maybe as a listener I don't really care that much how the songs were produced or where they came from. I enjoyed, and still enjoy, the sound, the feel, the vibe of this album. It's opening number here was nominated for a Grammy for Best Rock Vocal Performance, Solo.

The album cover itself has that Old Mexico feel with its red, black and white color scheme. The history of Mexico is itself dark with bloodletting and revolutions. Spain sent its Conquistadors and its Inquisition heritage, but the human sacrifices of the Mayans were no picnic for those tribes and peoples who were thus placed on the altars. Dylan's stance toward our present historical situation offers a similar bleakness.

One last thing I like about the album title is that having spent fifty years of listening to Dylan music, it really does feel like we've been together through life.

Here are the lyrics, followed by a music video with the song itself. As always, it's the delivery that makes it uniquely Dylan.

Beyond Here Lies Nothin'

Oh I love you pretty baby
You're the only love I've ever known
Just as long as you stay with me
The whole world is my throne
Beyond here lies nothin'
Nothin' we can call our own

I'm movin' after midnight
Down boulevards of broken cars
Don't know what to do without it
Without this love that we call ours
Beyond here lies nothin'
Nothin' but the moon and stars

Down every street there's a window
And every window made of glass
We'll keep on lovin' pretty baby
For as long as love will last
Beyond here lies nothin'
But the mountains of the past

My ship is in the harbor And the sails are spread
Listen to me pretty baby
Lay your hand upon my head 
Beyond here lies nothin'
Nothin' done and nothin' said

Copyright © 2009 by Special Rider Music and Ice-Nine Publishing


This music video for the song, produced by Blue Tongue Films, is a pretty dark piece of videography. It's a story that takes you somewhere you hope you never go.

Meantime, life goes on all around you. Just keep breathing.

Throwback Thursday: Bob Dylan's Linguistic Transfigurations

This blog post was written five years ago today as I was preparing for my first one-man art show in forty years. I remember bringing multiple carloads of paintings, drawings and such to hang, and my CD player to listen to music as I did so. Dylan's Together Through Life had just recently been released and I know that I listened to it multiple times as I hung the show. Hence the thematic blending of art and Dylan in more than a few of these blog posts. There is a sense in which the three of us -- art, Dylan and I -- have been "together through life."

Linguistic Transfigurations

"But for the sky there are no fences facing." ~ Bob Dylan

What set Bob Dylan apart when he first emerged on the scene was not simply the message he conveyed, but the manner in which he conveyed it. His words glittered over the surface of his songs and each movement of light caused spangles of delight in the brain that recognized what was happening here.

Mr. Tambourine Man is filled with language that explodes with imagery, carrying listeners through energizing whitewater rapids of emotion.

The message, to some extent, is an old one. The metaphor above is an original way of repeating a common maxim: The sky's the limit. Or to put it another way, there are no limits. But by putting the wine in different wineskins, Dylan rejuvenated the meanings for a new generation.

The culmination verse summarizes thus:

"Yes, to dance beneath the diamond sky

with one hand waving free, silhouetted by the sea

circled by the circus signs with all memory and fate

driven deep beneath the waves, let me

forget about today until tomorrow..."

Having lived in Mexico a year, I have to believe these lines are, in essence, a linguistically luminous way of summarizing the philosophy of "Manana" which means "Tomorrow." For a moment in time, for today, for the now, let's just live for today, he sings.

Ultimately, becoming a mature adult means that we do have to carry burdens and assume responsibilities. For the young, the appeal of avoiding this yoke is rightly sensed, though adulthood also has its rewards. As we grow, however, let's not forget to make a place for dancing beneath diamond skies.

For some, music is the route to temporary forgetfulness. We lose ourselves in the sweet strains of the strings, chimes, rhythms. And for others, myself here, it is the act of creation which is my dance.

This month, some of my art is on display at The Venue @ Mohaupt Block in a retrospective of interpretations and transformations, both black & white and color, on surfaces of every kind. The Dylan painting at the top of this page will be on display, along with more than 130 other works. And maybe a few surprises.

* * * *

It is now five years later. The Dylan piece at the top of the page -- and a number of other pieces -- can now be seen at Goin' Postal in Superior.

Speaking of Superior, this coming Sunday July 20 is Lake Superior Day, an annual celebration of the Great Lake, the largest freshwater body of water in the world, and an inspiration to many of the artists and residents here in the Northland. The event takes place at Barker's Island, with music by the Boomchucks (among others) plus poets, artists, craftspersons and more. 

Meantime, life goes on all around you. Celebrate it...

21st Century Dylan: A Discussion with Eric Hoffman and His Call For Papers

A couple weeks back, during Duluth’s Dylan fest, I saw a link to this call for papers related to two of Bob Dylan’s 21st century albums. The notation indicated that author and editor Eric Hoffman was planning a book of essays centered on Dylan’s 2001 and 2006 albums Love and Theft and Modern Times, which he called “arguably two of his best and most important works since 1975’s Blood on the Tracks.” The book was tentatively to be titled, From Love and Theft to Modern Times: Bob Dylan and the Twenty First Century. Naturally I had to learn more. Mr. Hoffman graciously responded to my inquiry.

EN: Love an Theft is a great album and Modern Times certainly ranks with it. On what basis do you consider these albums the most significant since Blood on the Tracks?

EH: From at least 1965, Dylan's relationship to his audience, and particularly his relationship with the media, is ambivalent at best, caustic at worst. It's arguable that since that time Dylan has been actively working against any preconceived notion of who he is, or what he represents, not the least of which is the moniker "the voice of a generation." You need only look at his 1965 San Francisco press conference or, much more recently, his interview on 60 Minutes or footage from No Direction Home, to get a sense of this. Yet the albums better than anything illustrate this ambivalence. In 1967, you have him disappearing into the countryside to record music he never intended to professionally release, then you have John Wesley Harding, a considerably more stripped down style of music than his mid-60s work, the introduction of a new vocal style in Nashville Skyline, the intentional attempt to derail his career with Self Portrait.

What you had in the mid-1970s revival is an instance where Dylan finds himself re-energized through collaboration, in particular his collaboration with The Band. Blood on the Tracks seems the natural outcome of Dylan having the joy brought back into his music as a result of this collaboration. Following that, I believe Dylan's music again took a downturn as a result of his divorce, probably numerous other reasons . . . who knows. Nevertheless, the gospel era, whatever its strengths (and they are myriad), did mark another slow descent into mediocrity, similar to the one descent that occurred a decade before. What re-energized him was again collaboration, this time with the Grateful Dead. Though there is not much to recommend the music Dylan performed with the Dead, he did come to realize that their model of performance (ongoing live concerts and touring) was a viable alternative to maintaining and fostering a core audience of devoted fans. It also took some of the pressure off of coming up with new music to record, something Dylan was at pains to do from the mid-80s to mid-90s.

Then came a different sort of collaboration, this time with the folk tradition, both in live concerts (notably the Supper Club performances from '93) and the two albums of folk "covers", Good As I Been To You in 1992 and World Gone Wrong from the following year. Essentially, Dylan managed to brush aside the immense weight of living up to the work he produced thirty years before (describing himself in one interview as digging in the trash outside the palace of past triumphs). As Neil Young related to Charlie Rose, Dylan no longer knew the young man who wrote those songs. Accepting that he would never again ascend to those heights freed him from the burden of trying and, ironically, allowed him to once again to produce in a decade's time a trio of albums (Time Out of Mind in 1997, Love and Theft in 2001 and Modern Times in 2006) of considerable merit. They weren't nearly as good as the stuff from '65 and '66, admittedly, but they were still substantially creative efforts that had the added benefit of being performed by a more self-assured musician than anything since '75.

EN: How did you choose these two and neglect the Grammy-winning Time Out Of Mind or the sequel to Modern Times, Together Through Life?

EH: Love and Theft and Modern Times are the focus because these are the two most significant works Dylan produced since the start of the 21st century. Together with Time Out of Mind they arguably form a "trilogy" but Dylan in his Rolling Stone interview with Jonathan Lethem thinks the link tenuous and arbitrary, and largely media-originated, and doesn't agree. I happen to think he's right. That said, I don't think I in my introduction or what I have seen so far from the abstracts I have received, will in any way "neglect" either Time Out of Mind or Together Through Life, nor any other of Dylan's work before or after. But I want those two albums to be the focus as I think, and this is my opinion here, that these albums are the two most significant works Dylan has produced in the last nearly forty years and certainly worthy of scholarly attention. Most of the books on Dylan focus on the sixties stuff (though there has been a refreshing number of books taking on later material, most notably Lee Marshall's and Sean Wilentz's) to the neglect of the later material. Together Through Life I find an unconvincing and uninspired album, mostly, though I do appreciate the musicianship involved. What's more, the album is largely a collaborative effort (this time with Grateful Dead lyricist Robert Hunter) and it leans more toward Down in the Groove than Love and Theft. I don't really see Together Through Life as a sequel to Modern Times any more than Love and Theft is a sequel to Time Out of Mind. But again, that's my opinion.

EN: Would you consider Dylan to be one of the two or three most significant people in music of the last half century? Why or why not? What is it that has kept Dylan's music so influential, especially since the times have SO CHANGED since he first emerged?

EH: Dylan expanded the musical lexicon so significantly that even now I don't think we fully comprehend the impact. And I mean the impact on both a cultural and social level. I mean, sure, to many, even maybe to himself, he's an artifact of the 1960s, and in some ways emblematic of that decade's cultural smugness and pretension. But I think if you really look at it closely, Dylan largely rejected the 1960s counterculture, even more than he did the folk and coffee house scene where he first made a name for himself. He transcends all these boxes that we put around him which I think points to the universality of his music. People listened to the songs and heard different things because they were written in such a way that it lent itself to all these myriad interpretations. And that to me is what great art does, or should do.

Details

Deadline for abstracts: June 2012

Deadline for final papers: October 2012

Dylan art by Ennyman