A honest-to-god personal comment
I need to write a love note to a song. You see, as with people, the songs you love most are not necessarily your friends. If you pushed me up against a wall and told me to name my favorite Dylan song, my answer would be "All Along The Watchtower," or maybe "Shelter From The Storm," depending on what mood I'm in. But I would be lying. To me, Dylan is "Like A Rolling Stone." You can call it what you will - certainly it's Dylan's most celebrated song, and hardly an original choice - but it matters.
I've heard arguments that the song is a tragedy, not for the person being described, but the cynical narrator - but that's an incomplete description. Yes, there's bitterness: the "princess" is degraded, but the narrator's sadness is from longing, not from hatred. It's longing for the woman, for a purpose, for anything, and that makes it a cruel, knife-twisting song. And like most works of genius, it's lonely. I associate it with damp darkness, with the one woman I would have considering breaking up with Amber for, with seeing people getting hurt and not being able to do anything about it.
Murakami said Dylan was like a little kid watching it rain outside; he's wrong. Dylan is an old man, remembering the child he used to be. Luckily, that's not who I am, except for six minutes and nine seconds, whenever I can bear it.
I've heard arguments that the song is a tragedy, not for the person being described, but the cynical narrator - but that's an incomplete description. Yes, there's bitterness: the "princess" is degraded, but the narrator's sadness is from longing, not from hatred. It's longing for the woman, for a purpose, for anything, and that makes it a cruel, knife-twisting song. And like most works of genius, it's lonely. I associate it with damp darkness, with the one woman I would have considering breaking up with Amber for, with seeing people getting hurt and not being able to do anything about it.
Murakami said Dylan was like a little kid watching it rain outside; he's wrong. Dylan is an old man, remembering the child he used to be. Luckily, that's not who I am, except for six minutes and nine seconds, whenever I can bear it.