Tombstone blues
| Tombstone blues | |
|---|---|
| Bob Dylan | |
| publication | July 1965 |
| length | 5:56 |
| Genre (s) | Blues rock |
| Author (s) | Bob Dylan |
| Label | Columbia Records |
| album | Highway 61 Revisited |
Tombstone Blues is a blues rock song by Bob Dylan that was first released in 1965 on his album Highway 61 Revisited .
Emergence
The song was recorded by Dylan and his accompanists on July 29, 1965 under producer Bob Johnston for Columbia Records . In time, he fell into Dylan's cutting edge from the folk protest scene, which wanted to claim him for itself. Dylan had made it clear on his previous album Bringing It All Back Home that he wanted to break away from this period - musically with the turn to rock music and lyrically with increasing surrealist elements . Tombstone Blues is one of the artist's most unusual works in this regard.
content
The text has been interpreted in many ways. In addition to the assumption that it was a biting social criticism, the song was also understood as a self-portrait . Dylan used a large number of historical and fictional characters. The play mentions Paul Revere's horse , Belle Starr , Jack the Ripper , Jezebel, the nun, John the Baptist , Gypsy Davey, Galileo Galilei , Cecil B. DeMille as well as Ma Rainey and Ludwig van Beethoven , who even put Dylan in bed together throws (“Where Ma Rainey and Beethoven once unrapped their bedroll”).
In addition, there are fictional characters like the “hysterical bride”. Dylan uses her to describe the conflict of conscience of the sexual revolution of the 1960s; for her between the lustful fulfillment of her sexuality (“Screaming, she moans 'I've just been made'”) and the image of being a good girl. So the doctor she called gives her the advice: “My advice is to not let the boys in”.
John the Baptist speaks to the “Commander-in-Chief” about dishonesty, whining and cowardice. Contrary to his biblical presence, he is portrayed as a tough guy: “Well, John the Baptist after torturing a thief”.
Dylan may also be referring to the Vietnam War . The “King of the Philistines” wants to save his soldiers by laying jawbones on their graves, flattering their graves and becoming a pied piper in prison, fattening slaves and then “sending them all out into the jungle”.