The film made me realize something. For most of his songs, I haven't got a clue what Bob Dylan is talking about. Even for some of the ones I really love and play often. Watching the film and reading some other stuff on the web, I realized that nobody else has much clue either. And Dylan has either forgotten what he meant or isn't saying. Or maybe never had a clear meaning in mind to begin with.
Still, I love some of his stuff in an odd way. I'm not a Dylan fan. I don't own a significant number of his albums. Most of his stuff I've never listened to. But the stuff I do like, I've worn out. Literally. I wore out copies of Highway 61 and the Basement Tapes back in the vinyl days.
I think the thing with Dylan is that people see their own meaning in his lyrics. Kind of like a musical rorsach. But the pictures he conjures aren't completely abstract, like the rorsach pictures. He writes about specific things, like ingratitude, or spurned love, or a thrilling ride, but in such a way that we can project our own experience onto the words he provides.
Apparently Obama likes Dylan. His staffers let it be known he had Dylan and Miles Davis and Yo-Yo Ma among many others on his iPod. Clearly they were highlighting a broad range to polish Obama's image. But they actually said he really likes Maggie's Farm. That he listens to it often. I believe it. Maggie's Farm is about ingratitude. About all the ways you can get screwed on the job and the kind of people who do the screwing. It was Dylan's break with the Folk movement. My guess is that anyone with a career in public service could relate, and add a few verses of their own. Obama's liking that song enough for them to mention it tells me a lot more about him than if they said he really likes Hey Jude or Stairway to Heaven or Papa's Got A Brand New Bag.
