A lyrical sequence is a remarkably consistent genre, with regards to its internal tone, theme, and point of view. It’s rare to find a modern musical album that is as homogeneous. Bob Dylan’s Blood on the Tracks is not entirely in the first person, like Sideny’s Astrophil and Stella or Spenser’s Amoretti. However, most of the songs do share the first person perspective of those lyrical sequences. More importantly though, Dylan’s album shares themes: first person or not, the songs deal with the difficulty of love and of a love falling apart. Unlike many lyrical sequences, the narrators in Dylan’s songs don’t appear to be the same person, but their melancholy tone and deep sadness is the same. Blood on the Tracks is a lyrical sequence in a way because all the songs address the same issues of an old lover, the desire to regain love, and the sadness of time apart slipping by.
*Dylan played with point of view a lot on this album and in this version he uses "he" and "they" instead of "I" and "we." But the original album version of the song is first person.
I couldn't find good videos on youtube, but I also recommend: "You're Going to Make Me Lonesome When You Go," "You're a Big Girl Now," "Simple Twist of Fate," "If You See Her, Say Hello,"
Hey I just checked out some of the songs that you listed at the bottom of your post - specifically "If you see her, say Hello". Thank you for sharing! I really feel like these songs tie into your post in terms of falling in love and eventually having that love crumble. While the voice of each of these songs changes from song to song, the same somber, saddening tone is evident in all of them.
ReplyDeleteI really appreciated this post, and I think this album is a stellar example of lyric sequence. It's interesting because I know all of the songs on this album very well individually, however I've never listened to them collectively so as to appreciate the deeper overall theme. I also find this to be a very good example because it isn't an obvious concept album like say, Cat Stevens' "Numbers." One must be truly listening to the words of each song to recognize the distinct lyric sequence that emerges. ... this is just an aside, but how appropriate a precursor does "It Ain't Me Babe," ten some-odd years earlier, seem to be for this album of melancholy lovelessness....shouldn't have played so hard to get Bob!!
ReplyDeleteI love Bob Dylan. I feel like the songs you picked represented the sonnets we've been reading really well. I enjoyed listening to the music too.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed this post. I don't listen to Bob Dylan often, so it was nice to hear a different genre than I would have normally expected.
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