Subject of the Post: Possible Reference to Jack Kerouac's On the Road

andra wrote:

References to Juarez, from _On_the_Road_, Penguin, 1991 ed.:

pg. 162 "Straight ahead lay the distant lights of El Paso and Juarez, sown in a tremendous valley so big that you could see several railroads puffing at the same time in every direction, as though it was the Valley of the World. We descended into it."

pg. 163 "Across the river were the jewel lights of Juarez and the sad dry land and the jewel stars of Chihuahua."

This takes place in very early January, 1949. Though not "Eastertime," definitely a holiday season. As Nicola pointed out, it's raining in both scenes. I'm beginning to note some similarities...

Although this is not THE trip to Mexico (that comes in Part 3), "Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues," and the Mexican trip present many of the same images and concepts. As I think back about this book, the trips tend to run together, and it is reasonable to think that the trips would have run together in Dylan's mind as well. So I suppose there's no reason why this song could not have references to both the trip down south very near Mexico (the town name of Juarez and the weather/atmosphere), and the one actually to Mexico.

One of the first things that Sal, Dean, and Stan did when they crossed the border was Mexico was go to a whorehouse. "Tom Thumb's Blues" includes several references to prostitutes (Angel, Sweet Melinda). But I think the greatest evidence of similarities comes in the last verse:

"I started out on burgundy but soon hit the harder stuff,
Everybody said they'd stand behind me when the game got rough,
But the joke was on me there was nobody even there to call my bluff,
I'm going back to New York City, I didn't even had enough."

These lines could have very well come straight from Sal's mouth (ok, well probably not as a rhyme, but the same content nevertheless). Sal probably assumed that he, Dean, and Stan would stay together for the duration of the trip, but alas "when the game got rough" (Sal came down with dysentery), Dean took off. Just like that--without warning, Dean announced one day that he was leaving for the states within a few hours. When Sal recovered, though he "didn't even had [sic] enough" of the kicks he was expecting to have in Mexico, he left for New York.

Now before I realized the connection of "Tom Thumb's Blues" with _On_the_Road_, I always assumed that the line, "I started out on burgundy but soon hit the harder stuff," meant that he (or the "I," whomever that would be), started out drinking, then progressed to some harder drugs. But in the context of the lines that follow, and the likely connections to _On_the_Road_, perhaps Dylan is saying that "I" started out drinking with friends, but after a bit things turned for the worse. The friendships became more complicated--for one reason or another, something changed. The friendship headed for harder and more complex issues.

Now, I'm not suggesting that "Tom Thumb's Blues" is just a retelling of _On_the_Road_, or even has a great deal to do with it. But the song clearly shows that Dylan not only read the book, but that he was influenced enough by it that he chose to mix images from the novel into the song.

Andra

Subject of the Post: Who is Angel

John Mulligan & Clarie Piper wrote:

My take on Angel, for what it's worth, has always been that the line simply refers to one of Bob's hipster friends; in my minds eye a young (as Bob himself was when he wrote the line) pretty boy. Dylan was hugely influenced by the Beats and Kerouac made use of the term angel quite a bit. remember Desolation Angels? In this kerouac book Jack and his friends, notably one based on poet Gary Snyder, climb and spend time in the Desolation Mountains. To Kerouac, his friends the Beats are beatified, hence they are angels, hence Angel.

catherine yronwode wrote in response:

I agree with you 100%, John. Kerouac's "Desolation Angels," coming as it did so long after the first wave of his work, made a HUGE impact in American bohemian circles (pre-hippy, post beatnik) shortly before Dylan wrote that song.

Dylan's Angel never seemed to me to be a woman, as some here have theorized, because at that time in his life Dylan's women (except for Louise) were usually remote or victims or adversaries -- and Angel was a friend, a buddy, hence male.

I believe that Don McLean specifically references the Angel line from "Tom Thumb's Blues" in "American Pie" when he inverts Dylan's coast/ghost rhyme and sings of "the father, son, and holy ghost" who "caught the last train for the coast."

catherine yronwode
cat@luckymojo.com

Subject of the Post: Possible Reference to Jack Kerouac's On the Road

John Mulligan & Claire Piper wrote:

My take on Angel, for what it's worth, has always been that the line simply refers to one of Bob's hipster friends; in my minds eye a young (as Bob himself was when he wrote the line) pretty boy. Dylan was hugely influenced by the Beats and Kerouac made use of the term angel quite a bit. remember Desolation Angels? In this kerouac book Jack and his friends, notably one based on poet Gary Snyder, climb and spend time in the Desolation Mountains. To Kerouac, his friends the Beats are beatified, hence they are angels, hence Angel.

catherine yronwode wrote:

I agree with you 100%, John. Kerouac's "Desolation Angels," coming as it did so long after the first wave of his work, made a HUGE impact in American bohemian circles (pre-hippy, post beatnik) shortly before Dylan wrote that song.

Dylan's Angel never seemed to me to be a woman, as some here have theorized, because at that time in his life Dylan's women (except for Louise) were usually remote or victims or adversaries -- and Angel was a friend, a buddy, hence male.

I believe that Don McLean specifcally references the Angel line from "Tom Thumb's Blues" in "American Pie" when he inverts Dylan's coast/ghost rhyme and sings of "the father, son, and holy ghost" who "caught the last train for the coast."

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