Desolation Row
Ok this post approaches the kind of lame things I don't like in journals, but check it out anyway (if you're into Bob Dylan) -
http://www.bobdylan.com/songs/desolation.html
I have figured out the broad meaning behind Dylan's labyrinthine, 10.minute masterpiece, Desolation Row. It's very simple, which is what misleads people - the limitless strangeness and crazyness of the succession of characters and places confuses quite easily. The simple question is, what/where is Desolation Row, and what does it represent? Lots of people have tried to ask this also, but the answer involves two places, not one. Desolation row is only described in two or 3 verses of the song, while the second place is described in six.
The second place is the place that's not Desolation Row. You can tell which is which easily by the end of each verse - for instance, in the first, the line 'Lady and I look out tonight from Desolation Row' I take to mean they're on desolation row, looking out from it to the world outside, whereas the second verse's line, 'on Desolation row', obviously refers to the row itself. So, where is this second place if it's not desolation row? The only reasonable answer we can come to is, everywhere else - Society. Once you start looking for these two places, the answer to the question of what desolation row is/represents becomes quite clear, and we get another cool answer - what this 'society' is like. You can do it right now without the rest of this analysis! awesome!
But check it out - Society, the second place, is described in awesome but familiar kafka/orwellian images of control and torture. Authorities, officials, systems - the blind commissioner, the riot squat, the agents, religion, evil doctors, castles, the superhuman crew, heart attack machines, the captain's tower, the broken door. The society of Control. Desolation row isn't described much, the 2nd and 3rd, and to a certain extent 5th verses. But it's a wild place, strange and crazy but overall good & full of lifeblood. Cinderella smiles, there's a fortunetelling lady, everybody's making love, there's a carnival, einstein played the electric violin there - the only hint of negativeness is when Romeo says 'You belong to me, I believe' (belong - language of control) at which point a fight appears to start - implying lack of order, though there are ambulances. The authoritarian society doesnt want anybody to go to this wild place, but every individual who lives there longs to go (vs 4, 7, 8, 10) - apart from the privileged, represented in verse 9, which for me conjures up images of a constructed plastic world - calypso singers and mermaids.
The remaining mystery is, who is speaking, and how to explain the strange last verse? The best interpretation of the last verse that I've heard is that it's someone who lives in the society of control - 'when you asked me how I was doing, was that some kind of joke?' - who wants to find out the address of desolation row (from the letter mailed from there). But then, who is the person singing the first 9 verses, as this person is clearly currently on Desolation row? The best interpretation is that this first part of the song is the letter referred to in the last. Although it doesnt ask anyone how they're doing, the only major problem with this is that if this is the letter, it wasn't mailed from desolation row, even though the person is supposedly on it. But that problem doesnt totally destroy the theory I think, as the person could've moved before they mailed the letter, or just mailed it from somewhere else.
So there you go. verses 1, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 are about the society of control, while verses 2 and 3 are about desolation row - while verse 5 is just about 'einstein', though it does kind of give you an impression of the character of desolation row from the description & his history. The only thing I can't answer is what the 'rearranging faces' is about - that sounds ominously postmodern. Everything is an invention!
The wikipedia article on Desolation Row kind of has the idea, but has not fully grasped it.
http://www.bobdylan.com/songs/desolation.html
I have figured out the broad meaning behind Dylan's labyrinthine, 10.minute masterpiece, Desolation Row. It's very simple, which is what misleads people - the limitless strangeness and crazyness of the succession of characters and places confuses quite easily. The simple question is, what/where is Desolation Row, and what does it represent? Lots of people have tried to ask this also, but the answer involves two places, not one. Desolation row is only described in two or 3 verses of the song, while the second place is described in six.
The second place is the place that's not Desolation Row. You can tell which is which easily by the end of each verse - for instance, in the first, the line 'Lady and I look out tonight from Desolation Row' I take to mean they're on desolation row, looking out from it to the world outside, whereas the second verse's line, 'on Desolation row', obviously refers to the row itself. So, where is this second place if it's not desolation row? The only reasonable answer we can come to is, everywhere else - Society. Once you start looking for these two places, the answer to the question of what desolation row is/represents becomes quite clear, and we get another cool answer - what this 'society' is like. You can do it right now without the rest of this analysis! awesome!
But check it out - Society, the second place, is described in awesome but familiar kafka/orwellian images of control and torture. Authorities, officials, systems - the blind commissioner, the riot squat, the agents, religion, evil doctors, castles, the superhuman crew, heart attack machines, the captain's tower, the broken door. The society of Control. Desolation row isn't described much, the 2nd and 3rd, and to a certain extent 5th verses. But it's a wild place, strange and crazy but overall good & full of lifeblood. Cinderella smiles, there's a fortunetelling lady, everybody's making love, there's a carnival, einstein played the electric violin there - the only hint of negativeness is when Romeo says 'You belong to me, I believe' (belong - language of control) at which point a fight appears to start - implying lack of order, though there are ambulances. The authoritarian society doesnt want anybody to go to this wild place, but every individual who lives there longs to go (vs 4, 7, 8, 10) - apart from the privileged, represented in verse 9, which for me conjures up images of a constructed plastic world - calypso singers and mermaids.
The remaining mystery is, who is speaking, and how to explain the strange last verse? The best interpretation of the last verse that I've heard is that it's someone who lives in the society of control - 'when you asked me how I was doing, was that some kind of joke?' - who wants to find out the address of desolation row (from the letter mailed from there). But then, who is the person singing the first 9 verses, as this person is clearly currently on Desolation row? The best interpretation is that this first part of the song is the letter referred to in the last. Although it doesnt ask anyone how they're doing, the only major problem with this is that if this is the letter, it wasn't mailed from desolation row, even though the person is supposedly on it. But that problem doesnt totally destroy the theory I think, as the person could've moved before they mailed the letter, or just mailed it from somewhere else.
So there you go. verses 1, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 are about the society of control, while verses 2 and 3 are about desolation row - while verse 5 is just about 'einstein', though it does kind of give you an impression of the character of desolation row from the description & his history. The only thing I can't answer is what the 'rearranging faces' is about - that sounds ominously postmodern. Everything is an invention!
The wikipedia article on Desolation Row kind of has the idea, but has not fully grasped it.