- What or where is "Desolation Row"?
- The first line is "They're selling postcards of the hanging" Whose hanging? Who is "they"?
- Mark Polizzotti makes connections between the carnivalesque elements of this song and Fellini's films (p. 135). (Keep this in mind b/c we'll return to it when we watch Fellini's La Strada laster in the term.) How is this song carnivalesque (like a carnival)?
- What is the tone of this song? Is the tone in keeping w/ the album or different?
- Why does the song end w/ a harmonica solo? (Why does Todd Haynes' film end this way too?)
Tuesday, September 26, 2017
Desolation Row
This is the last song on Highway 61 Revisited. It's also the longest song. Why do you think Dylan chose to end his song this way? Other questions:
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Desolation row is a place where one can have fun and forget the sorrows he or she has. Everyone wants to go there and have some good time. But it seems like going there is not considered a good habit by society as Dylan mentioned "Casanova is just being punished for going to Desolation Row". But obviously this place is very significant to Dylan that's why he said "don't send me no more letters no
ReplyDeleteNot unless you mail them from Desolation Row".
I see where you're coming from Asma but I had a different approach. I believe that in some of the versus in the song are referring to desolation row as a good place, when it is clearly not so. The word desolation means a place of emptiness or destruction. I believe that desolation row is a reference to where people want to be, but when there, it is not all that it seems.
DeletePolizotti discusses the harmonica solo at the end of his book. I think this is a crucial moment, as he writes, that shows that intersection between "old music" (folk, country, roots) and rock/pop. I think that's what Todd Haynes is getting at too in his film. We have all these different actors playing Dylan, performing him in the way that he performed himself for so many years, switching personas as he did. And, in the end, it comes down to this, it's just music. Despite all the wordplay, the pyrotechnics of the lyrics of this song, it's just about making music, about jamming w/ two musicians and creating something that wasn't there before.
ReplyDeleteI think desolation row means a destination where things are different and you might not even where you end up. It also sounds like he is describing different events in the songs.like in the book polizzoti says the opening might be connected to a lynching of three black males who's pictures were taken and posted on postcards. sounds acoustic. It's just bob Dylan with the harmonica and a guitar which gives a different vibe to the other songs. It might be to end the album at a more peacful tone and to just go back to his folk roots maybe.
ReplyDeleteAs Polizzotti mentioned in his review, Bob Dylan changed his style right before Highway 61 was released. The change was from FOLK to ROCK. But I can't clearly differentiate his songs from folk especially his lyrics of any song in Highway 61. The lyric is sarcastic, defiant and rebellious. But I agree that music sounds rock in most songs. Only the exception is the last song "Desolation Row". Harmonica sound with dirge lyric makes me feel this song more folky.
ReplyDeleteWhen looking at the lyrics for "Desolation Row," and the various annotations made about the song, it seems as if Desolation Row has less ties to any literal sense. Instead, it feels metaphorical and more of a state of mind then a tangible location. Looking at the phrase, it reminds me a lot of "Skid Row" from the musical Little Shop of Horrors. Considering the characters depicted in "Desolation Row," the resemblance seems befitting since there is an illustration of these wanderers, or "freaks" who aren't representative of any "normal" way of living.
ReplyDeleteWith that said, I can see how Mark Polizzotti can describe "Desolation Row" as carnivalesque. Instrumentally, it feels like a merry-go-round that insists on spinning. The song doesn't have much progression and seems to break the rules when it comes to a "classic" structure of a song. (There isn't any climb, or chorus, or crescendo of any kind. It's rather very flat). Not only does it seems continuous, and dizzying at times, but Desolation Row also seems to put on a show of "oddities." There's references to "freaks" such as The Hunchback of Notre Dame in the song which also give it it's carnivalesque tone. Also, there are literal references to classic carnival imagery, such as "tightrope" and "the circus is in town."
I believe the song, as well as the film, end with a harmonica solo to still show Dylan's roots in folk music. Throughout Highway 61 there aren't many songs that are inherently folk; they songs all seem to grab from different genres. On ending the final song of the album with a harmonica solo, I believe, it's a nod to Dylan's roots and how folk music will always stay with him. This translates into the film as we only ever see the real Bob Dylan when he's performing a harmonica solo.
Desolation row is a nightmarish carnival. Three men in Duluth were pulled out to a lamp post and hanged, where the people in the town stood in front for a picture and creating postcards. The police turned a blind eye...
ReplyDeleteto me it seem like everyone is stuck on the desolation road, the desolation road is a symbol of sadness .... where everyone hope for the better but they seem to not be able to escape.
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ReplyDeleteI think that Desolation Row is a place of un happyness,maybe emotio nal pain, bad memories. According to the book Al Kooper said that Desolation Row was a stretch of eight ave: in Manhattan that was infected with whore houses,sleazy bars and prono supermarket.
ReplyDeletePolizzotti mentions that several men belonging to the John Robinson Circus got arrested on charges for sexual assault. The men were removed, beaten and hanged. There was photo graphed taken, a later on there was a post card going around of the mob happy about the dead men. I believe that in this song in the beginning lines Dylan is speaking about the situation and the situation that he remembers from his childhood.
ReplyDeleteI believe Dylan ended the album with Desolation row because it is show or tell all of his critics or fans that "I know you guys are going to judge on style of music changing but you have no idea how empty I was feeling and why the change was necessary for me in order to keep writing and singing music." Desolation means state of complete emptiness, so I believe that he is just saying that the whole folk music thing no longer served a purpose for him and that's why he needed the change. Also he ends it with the harmonica show his critics that hey I am still here and I know what got me here to begin with.
ReplyDeleteI think he ends the song with an Harmonica to tie all of his music together. Saying that there is only one Bob Dylan, that has transformed from Folk music to Rock n Roll. But after all that Rock n Roll he still has folk inside of him. It will always be in him. I think it lets people know not to forget the folk but embrace his folk and rock n roll together. He is a great artist.
ReplyDeleteCarnivals are a event i feel like there is a lot of amusement and wonder but all there there honestly are just games that are rigged, feel good junk food, and cheap rides. So this song feels a lot like that a looking at the song on a surface level it seems fun and a chill song but once you look at the lyrics it becomes a different song entirely.
ReplyDeleteThere are selling postcards of the hanging. I guess this story really troubled Bob Dylan for him to sing about it.According to the book Dylan was not even born yet when these three men were accused if rape. I think that was just a terrible time in society. I can't imagine how the police could have turn a blind eye. After the men were murdered then they stepped in. I would call this Desolation Row. Nothing good about this.
ReplyDeleteThere are selling postcards of the hanging. I guess this story really troubled Bob Dylan for him to sing about it.According to the book Dylan was not even born yet when these three men were accused if rape. I think that was just a terrible time in society. I can't imagine how the police could have turn a blind eye. After the men were murdered then they stepped in. I would call this Desolation Row. Nothing good about this.
ReplyDeletedesolation row is a place where you find people that are miserable and lonely. In the song, Dylan mentions fictional and actual people that have lived. Most of them qualify as people that were miserable and lonely. The others were people that stood out or lived life on their own terms. he mentions Cinderella and the hunchback of notre dame. Cinderella lives with her stepmother and stepsisters and they treat her horribly. the hunchback of notre dame doesn't fit in to society because of the deformities of his face and his body. he also mentions people that died tragically like Romeo and Abel. At the end of the song, he says the he only wants to get letters from desolation row. I believe that means that he only wants to talk to his fans that are depressed, lonely, or discontent with life
ReplyDeleteThis was an awesome way for Bob Dylan to share what was going on in the world at the time he wrote this song. The criminal acts the inhumane unfairness and there was no justice for the hangings. Examples of Einstein, Cinderella and Phantom of the Opera are describes the desolation in their lives and yet they still found a way to pick up the pieces and go on about their lives. The lyrics also compares with the world we live in today, but as a people we pick up the pieces and support one another during all the desolation of storms.
ReplyDeleteI think desolation row is a place where people think they want to be, but when they get there its not what the expected. a place of loneness, a depressing place.
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