> the entire _empire burlesque_ album is dylan's
> repudiation of jesus
> "i had to move fast
> but i couldn't with you around my neck"
> (the crucifix)
> but i can't figure out whether
> i'm too good for you
> or you're too good for me"
> (jesus)
I think it's questionable whether these lines are about Jesus at all, given that Dylan apparently took them from a Humphrey Bogart movie in which they were directed toward a woman.
But even if they do refer to Christ, you leave out a very important line
from your first quote:
"I said I'd send for you and I did, what did you expect?"
This hardly seems like "repudiation"; at most it suggests expediency and a failure to live up to ideals, along the lines of "People just do what's most convenient, then they repent."
> "never could learn to drink that blood
> and call it wine
> never could learn to hold your love
> and call you mine"
> (repudiation of jesus)
If this were somehow meant to repudiate Christianity (specifically Catholicism), it seems like Dylan would have written "never could learn to drink that WINE and call it BLOOD."
As it is, this line echoes "The railroad men just drink up your blood like wine," from Memphis Blues Again.
I think the line refers to people who *enjoy* preying on others, and the narrator of the song is asserting that, whatever he has done wrong, he has never reveled in hurting people or acted like such depredation is some sort of virtue.
This blood-drinking was alluded to again in an earlier version of "Tight Connection." when Dylan wrote: "I been to Babylon, I've got to confess/I can still here his voice crying in the wilderness."
In the Bible the people in Babylon are shown drinking the blood of saints and martyrs and enjoying it. So, if Dylan is repudiating anyone, it's people like the Babylonians (which, in the earlier version of the song, would include himself, to the extent that he's "been to Babylon").
This theme is echoed in "Dark Eyes," where the "gentlemen" are happily "drinking up and walking," while the narrator is troubled by the suffering he sees around him.
"i must be guilty of something
ou just whisper into my ear"
(original biblical sin)>
Even if this is an allusion to original sin, I don't think it is evidence of a repudiation of Jesus.
Judas is commonly depicted in art as whispering into someone's ear when he betrays Jesus. So it's hard to see why Dylan would be using this imagery to repudiate Jesus -- if anything he is identifying with him, and seems to be returning to the theme of persecution of the innocent (such as Jesus by Judas).
[Alternatively, Dylan may just be speaking in a non-symbolic, matter of fact way. In the mid-80s, he talked about "having to pay for sins that you didn't commit when all the while you were getting away with murder ... so it all evens out in the end." The lines from "Tight Connection" may just be another expression of this view.]
The theme of persecution of the innocent is brought up again in the verse about the guy who is being beaten and later will be shot for "resisting arrest."
When Dylan writes, "I can still hear his voice crying in the wilderness" he is referring to the Bible's account of John The Baptist, who told of the coming of Jesus and was executed.
So, here, you have the (probably) innocent guy in the powder-blue wig being hounded and killed by the authorities, which reminds the narrator of the martyrdom of Jesus and those who proclaimed his glory -- this is an affirmation of Jesus' life and continuing presence, not a repudiation of it.
somebody else added later:
I CORINTHIANS 11:25-29
After the same manner also He took the cup, when He had supped, saying, "This cup is the new testament in My blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of Me. For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye shall shew the Lord's death till He come."
Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink that cup. For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body."
Subject of the Post: Connection to Old Flicks/TV
william routhier wrote:
He also stole some lines from a Star Trek episode for Tight Connection to my Heart.
'I'll go along with this charade, until i can think my way out...'
julio wrote:
Actually, I'm pretty sure I heard this first in another Bogart movie. Either "Sirocco," or "Tokyo Joe."
Must be "Tokyo Joe." I think "Sirocco" is where he got "I can't figure out whether I'm too good for you or you're too good for me," from.
John Howells wrote:
Also in the same movie, "I have to move fast, and I can't with you around my neck".
