Highway 61 Revisited (song)
| Highway 61 Revisited | |
|---|---|
| Bob Dylan | |
| publication | July 1965 |
| length | 3:30 |
| Genre (s) | Folk rock |
| Author (s) | Bob Dylan |
| Label | Columbia Records |
| album | Highway 61 Revisited |
Highway 61 Revisited is a folk rock song written by Bob Dylan . The title track of his sixth studio album , which was released on August 30, 1965, was also released as the B-side of the single Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window that same year .
The text depicts surrealistic situations that all end on Highway 61 .
In 2005, Rolling Stone magazine named Highway 61 Revisited 373 on their list of the 500 Best Songs of All Time .
Emergence
The piece, as it appeared on the album and as a single, was recorded on August 2, 1965 in a session that also included Ballad of a Thin Man , Queen Jane Approximately and Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues . The musicians alongside Dylan were Mike Bloomfield , Al Kooper , Bobby Gregg and Harvey Goldstein. Musically, Highway 61 is Revisited Garage Rock and not very different from the other tracks on the album. Only the use of a siren in the song is unique. The song and album were produced by Bob Johnston for Columbia Records .
text
The lyrics consist of five stanzas with seven verses each. Each describes a grotesque scenario for which Highway 61 is presented as the "solution".
The first stanza indirectly reproduces the 22nd chapter of Genesis , in which God asks Abraham to sacrifice Isaac . Dylan's verses appear like a parody of the Bible when he sings:
- Oh God said to Abraham, "Kill me a son"
- Abe says, "Man, you must be puttin 'me on"
Abraham's abbreviation for "Abe" takes away the seriousness of the religious tribal father. God's request seems like a joke to him at first and when God replies that it is not the case, he is completely flabbergasted. God then insulted that "Abe" could do what he wanted, but should be careful when they next meet:
- God say, "You can do what you want, Abe but
- The next time you see me comin 'you better run "
Abraham then buckles and asks where he should kill his son. God answers him, on Highway 61, which is a clear anachronism , since there was neither the highway nor the USA in biblical times. What is missing in the song is the salvation of Isaac or the son. Biographical interpretations point out that Dylan's own father was named Abraham and was called "Abe". The doomed son is therefore Dylan himself.
The second verse begins with Georgia Sam, who is beyond welfare and receives no support despite his bleeding nose. He asks poor Howard where he can go if he can only think of one place. Sam replies that he needs a quick answer since he is on the run. That fact, and the gun Howard is carrying, point to crime. Howard advises Sam to escape on Highway 61.
In the third verse, the protagonist is Mack the Finger and he turns to Louie the King in desperation. Mack has forty red, blue and blue shoelaces and his telephones do not ring, which indicates that he cannot find buyers for his goods. Mack asks what he can do with these things and Louie, after a moment's thought, advises him to dump them on Highway 61. Blue-white-red are the national colors of the USA, which possibly implies that patriotism is something that you can no longer find a buyer. Louie's answer is Highway 61, which suggests that the American answer to that is strays.
In the fourth stanza there are no names, only descriptions. The fifth daughter turns to the first father on the twelfth night and says that her complexion is too white. The first father confirms this and wants to take the advice of the second mother . However, this is with the seventh son on Highway 61. The narrator alludes to an incestuous relationship between child and mother or at least a moral break. The question remains whether there is any family relationship between the fathers, mothers, daughters and sons. The time indication twelfth night is probably an allusion to Shakespeare's comedy Was ihr wollt , which is originally called Twelfth Night, or what you will .
The fifth and final verse introduces the traveling gamer who is bored and asks a promoter to help arrange a new world war . The promoter is ecstatic and mentions that he has never done anything like this before. Basically, however, the whole thing must be easy to do. All you have to do is put the stands in the sun and let the whole thing happen on Highway 61. It is possible that Dylan is describing or caricaturing politics during the Cold War . Politicians as bored gamblers and wars that are started for the most trivial reasons. Even a layperson like the promoter is capable of doing this.
Highway 61
The US Highway 61 is one of the largest and most important traffic and transport routes to the United States. It leads from Duluth , where Dylan was born and raised, via New Orleans to the major metropolises of the south and runs partially parallel to the Mississippi River. It connects the south with the north and was also often the transport route for blues musicians like Blind Willie McTell , who influenced Dylan. The title of the song and the album, Highway 61 Revisited, implies that a new musician, namely Dylan himself, is now traveling on the old paths, which he is however reinterpreting.
Trivia
The 2003 film The Hunter's Hour by William Friedkin begins with the reading of the first stanza. It will be read by Johnny Cash , a longtime friend of Bob Dylan. The 2005 cash biography Walk the Line directed by James Mangold contains the intro of the song.
The song has been covered by a number of musicians, such as Johnny Winter and Karen O (for the soundtrack of the film I'm Not There ) and Billy Joel .