I don’t disagree that he is a poet…but I do disagree that all of his songs have meaning. Especially in the mid-sixties I think he was more interested in piecing together words that sounded good phonetically over having any real meaning to them (ex. Subterranean Homesick Blues, Leopard Skin Pillbox Hat) Then a lot of people will take every line and over-analyze and give some kind of meaning to it and come up with their own interpretation but if you asked Mr. Dylan himself, he would probably say something like whatever you think it means or I have no idea what it means. But yes, many of his songs are layered with deep meaning. Especially his earlier work and then Blood on the Tracks and Desire
Nobody is saying Bob Dylan isnt a poet...nobody who is taken seriously or is mainstream enough to be quoted. Still, it's hard to pose the question if everybody agrees on the answer.
For me Bob Dylan is a poet. Listen to Desolation row and Hard rains gonna fall. His songs/poems is often an allegory to something important along side history and culture.
Desolation Row has to be one of the greatest long poems of modern time. There is no one way to interpret it, it is up to the listener or reader to decide. The call outs to grim historical events, and yet that isn't even the focus of the song.
Desolation Row is such a haunting work of art, it's insane. Its like going in trance with every listen. No wonder it inspired Watchmen. Greatness inspires greatness.
I think my favorite Dylan lyric is: _I ain't saying you treated me unkind_ _You coulda done better, but I don't mind_ _You just kinda wasted my precious time_ _But don't think twice, it's all right_ But… _And take me disappearing through the smoke rings of my mind_ _Down the foggy ruins of time, far past the frozen leaves_ _The haunted, frightened trees, out to the windy beach_ _Far from the twisted reach of crazy sorrow_ _Yes, to dance beneath the diamond sky with one hand waving free_ _Silhouetted by the sea, circled by the circus sands_ _With all memory and fate driven deep beneath the waves_ _Let me forget about today until tomorrow_ … Those might be the most beautiful lyrics ever.
@@CipherSerpico don't know but the rich want everything from everyone. Me, I will settle for the love of a good woman, and peace of mind! Btw I have both. Peace and love 😘! The funnest thing was singers who sung don't think twice as a love song, but it is a breakup song. Sonny and Cher comes to mind. Go way from my window! 😂. I always thought mr tambourine was his dealer.
@@billh.1940 The poor have it; The rich _think_ they need it… “If this is not poetry, what is”? _Nothing._ The answers to your question, and to my “riddle” - are both _”Nothing”._ There’s a longer version of that “Riddle”, but i heard that when I was very young, and it always stayed with me, because-similar to what you said: I’ve never cared about being rich; I’ve always only cared about “love”, “beauty”, and all that jazz. So yeah, for whatever reason, that riddle popped in my head when I read your comment. 👊 Also… Two of my favorite covers of all time, are two Dylan covers. • “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue” by *Dion* (DiMucci): ruclips.net/video/X6cE-uQanfs/видео.html • And, *Jon Martyn’s* version of “Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright”: ruclips.net/video/zwnskM2Bsrw/видео.html I think both of them did a brilliant job of reinterpreting the song. I would definitely recommend checking those out.
I'm 14 and I've been a fan of your work for a while, I watched this video not knowing much about Bob Dylan or his music, and I liked this song so much I decided to learn it on guitar since I've started learning guitar again recently, I learnt to sing it aswell and once I'd gotten good at it I went to my mom and asked if she wanted to hear this song I'd learnt. I was a bit shaky at first but I got into it pretty good and realised she was crying, turns out this was a song her mom used to play for her when she was a kid, her mom had died recently and she'd been quite depressed but it made her so happy. This is the effect music can have and I'm glad I have found your channel so that I can appreciate music more.
It is a thing of hope to know that there's young kids learning about Dylan, there are millions who wouldn't care less about this side of cultural history, many people even Hate Bob's voice and music, but really he has never aimed at singing "pretty" , he just wanted to get his words through it.
For me, mister tambourine is Bob himself, but I actually always interpreted the song as man walking down an ampty street after a great night, insisting that he isn't sleepy, not realising that he is already asleep as the world around him becomes more and more 'dream like'
Dylan admitted he wrote it to describe his wait for a pot dealer one night. Maybe not a drug dealer but that's what the song's about. Waiting for weed. Bwahaha ha ha ha.
Great video. I think Dylan is a songwriter who writes very poetic songs. The lyrics in Mr Tambourine Man are my favourite of any song in particular the last verse 'to dance beneath the diamond sky with one hand waving free......etc' sends a shiver through my spine each time I hear it. I think the 'Mr Tambourine Man' is a spirit from Dylan's unconscious mind. It's inspiration, but it's free inspiration, not the inspiration of a political event or even a relationship. The song to me is about freedom, true freedom, beyond time. Once you leave childhood it's rare to reach that place more than a few times in your life time, but for the rest of your life you know it's still there somewhere.
Mr. Tambourine Man has always hovered just overhead, a few yards away, bathed in colored light, and casting his spell out to the crowd. He is the artist on the stage.
The album Desire is pure poetry. The way he sings about Sara or his adventure on Isis. Also One moe cup of coffee is as beautiful as dark The music is on that album is so rare I’ve never heard anything like it. One of the greatest albums ever made in my opinion
I completly agree. That album has a very unique sound, and the lyrics were just as good. To me, 1975-1976 is Dylan at his second peak. His first being 64-66.
@@zackzallie8735 I think that one is actually a tribute to Dylan, not making fun of him. The whole song is in Dylan's style. And in the lyrics he makes fun of a guy that doesn't know Bob Dylan from Dylan Thomas. Now this one is a funny parody of Dylan. ruclips.net/video/JUQDzj6R3p4/видео.html
maybe it's all about that vagueness of tambourine man figure. when you imagine it, you're not seeing someone, or even dylan himself. you're seeing a vague figure of an anonymous musician who we will never know. and that's poetry. that's music. that's bob dylan. thank you for the video. it was indeed brilliant.
Everything said here I affirm, but even his most direct is poetry unto itself. Hurricane Forever Young, Murder Most Foul, just to name the few. Though his most poetic I can say is All Along The Watchtower and Desolation Row.
There isn't, really. Poets can be pretty gatekeepy with what is and isn't poetry. But to me, the mere existence of free verse poetry means that if strings of sentences sound musical and beautiful when put together, they can be considered poetry in some way.
I always thought that it was something like "a square is a rectangle but a rectangle is not a square" scenarios. Like lyricism is a form of poetry, but poetry is not lyricism.
@@jamesdean9183 Yeah, not all poems can be put to song, but by definition, songs with lyrics must be poems for the simple fact that they're broken down to meters and beats.
Here from.indonesia ......real dylan fans since 1961 ......speak indonesian ....ok , bob dylan adalah sosok seorang yg sangat tinggi kemamouannya membuat puisi yg dituangkan ke setiap lagu2 nya ,tdk perlu debat atas hal.itu , dng ksesederhanaan nada pada setiap lagunya namun ditutup oleh bunyi puisi atau seruan yg membuat hti setiap orang tergugah dan berpikir .....daya magnit power lagunya justru dr isi puisinya yg di aransir hingga jadi sebuah lagu yg punya arti dlm dan indah ....love to dylan , ever n forever , dewa musikku slmnya , disini dr indonesia jakarta sweet regard for you guys
To me, Mr. Tambourine Man has always been myself, not only because of how the lyrics demand so much of the listener but because of how the song drew me personally into the making of music. It was my central driving force into the learning of guitar, the craft of lyric writing, and of songwriting. The song made me into Mr. Tambourine Man. I like to imagine Dylan would be pretty happy with that.
I think the song is about transcendence. I always felt like Mr Tambourine Man was the muse - or maybe God if you will. I think it's about desire to have purpose - to be open and willing to take the ride, or see the vision - or follow the path. I feel like what he's asking for transcends music or art of any kind in a way - it's more like he's asking to understand the moment in a way that can't be described by words or pictures. I think this song - as well as many of his songs exist on many levels, and it's probably best to not think about them too much. I have a feeling Dylan himself probably didn't think about them too much when he was writing them - at least the really good ones. Only a poet can write stuff like this - but Dylan also said, "Anybody that calls themselves a poet - isn't a poet." So there's that.
I agree with this totally about transcendence (or the sacred). However I do think Dylan i knew quite well what he was writing about. However because it was so, much a gestalt, a flow, I agree he probably did not want everything dissected like a frog on a table. which we do anyway
For me It’s alright ma I’m only bleeding exemplifies everything I love about Dylan’s sharp, humorous and absurdist writing and contains better bars than 99% of anything any rapper today has written
But it's alright ma... it's life and life only. Thank you I wanted to make sure someone posted about it's alright ma. Imo, his best work and just as relevant today as it was upon its release. Hard rain gonna fall is amazing as well as far as a "poem" goes. His writing was just magical.
My Tambourine Man , a musician who can take me out of reality and into a different world, discribed by lyrics and music , is Jimi Hendrix. To me no other musical poet can envelop me in his musical world quite as Hendrix. I can hear songs like ,,Castles Made Of Sand'' or ,,1983...'' for the hundreth time and be immediately pulled in the song ; simply by his lyrical work beyond his musical interpretation and underlining of those very lyrics. It's just like re-reading a good book like ,Lord of the Rings': You know the story and know whats coming but halfway through the first page you're straight back in this world.
I had only ever listened to the "The Byrds" version of Mr. Tambourine Man up until earlier today. I discovered that it was originally a Bob Dylan song, and when I listened to a recording of Bob Dylan playing it live, I was absolutely amazed by the songwriting. I wish I could write something 2% as good as it. I absolutely love it.
Bob Dylan is undoubtedly a poet, you listen to his album span from those released in 1960s - 1970s, you will find one of the best pieces of songwriting and lyricism. Forever Young Bob Dylan !
I’m not discounting your opinion but I’ll share mine as well. I don’t think Tarantula is poetry. It’s really just avant-garde stream of consciousness writing. 99% of it can’t be tied into the entirety as a whole, there’s very little to derive or analyze from it. I’ve really tried connecting the dots and it’s just impossible. I’m a huge English literary analysis nerd so I used a lot of techniques I like to use when analyzing books, none of it worked. I really do believe it’s just drugged up stream of consciousness writing. Not to say it’s bad, I don’t. think it’s good either though. It’s extremely interesting to read and it was a fun challenge to try to analyze though I found very little to make conclusions from.
I think Tarantula is a brilliant piece of work, but its hard to really think of it as poetry. It's an amphetamine driven stream of complete and utter nonsense yet beatifully intriging and engaging.
Mr Tambourine Man is a muse - yours, mine, Dylan's, anyone's, everyone's... It's that moment of inspiration that leads to creation, that moment you lose yourself in the Zen timelessness that follows
Im speechless… I get just as emotional listening to your comments as I do when I listen to the songs themselves!!! 😍😍😍 I found myself going on about my day listening to your videos in the background, but paying attention to every single one of your words!!! And I find myself answering out loud when you bring up a question and my heart literally skips a beat every time I hear your answer as I’m answering .. and our answer is the same!!! So far on every video I’ve watched I thought to myself « Wow! That’s it! This guy knows exactly what it is! » you are amazing!!! How you paint with words the beautiful métaphores from these amazing songs takes my breath away!!! 😍😍😍
All lines are open for interpretation. One of my favorite lines: "...forget about today until tomorrow" I think means to allow yourself the freedom to live in the moment.
I love this song (Mr. Tambourine Man) and the way the cascading lyrics with his rhythmic phrasing produce (in me at least) and almost trance-like altered state of consciousness. Especially the final verse... And take me disappearing through the smoke rings of my mind Down the foggy ruins of time, far past the frozen leaves The haunted, frightened trees, out to the windy beach Far from the twisted reach of crazy sorrow Yes, to dance beneath the diamond sky with one hand waving free Silhouetted by the sea, circled by the circus sands With all memory and fate driven deep beneath the waves Let me forget about today until tomorrow
i rarely comment but this video is a true masterpiece in every sence of the world. the mapping to prove your claim using countless different sources astonished me. i have rarely seen videos this well put together. thank you and please protect this :>)
You're absolutely right. Anyone who has ever been in a night they never wanted to end would recognize these lyrics. These night could be drug-fueled or just energy-fueled but the end is always the same: the night dies as the next day is being born and you're left wanting it to go on just a little bit longer.
@@keepthefaith6909No. poems are poems and songs are songs. Songs with poetic lyrics are ……… songs! Poems sung aloud are ? Of course this debate is semantic nonsense.
For me, Mr tambourine man is the friend I had in high-school who first introduced me to this song. I can't hear it without thinking about her, and the many road trips we went on together.
The last verse in this song is the most beautiful I've ever heard. It's pure Magic, it always takes my mind on a trip of wonder, fantasy, and imagination. I want this song played at my funeral .
My favorite verse is the last one. Not only is the poetry beautiful, but I think it's about re capturing one's youthful energy, enthusiasm and zest for life. The one hand waving free line speaks to me. I visualize riding a horse without a saddle and living entirely in the moment. In other words, to hell with inhibitions.
Beautiful. Insightful. Unpretentious. I usually avoid anything that hints at explaining the meaning of a song. This one doesn't impose any interpretation on the listener. It just enhances whatever this great song already means to you.
He's a poet in the original sense of the word: a maker, a troubadour. His words are more impactful when sung than on the page. But poetry is written to be sung.
Excellent work. A loving look at this poet’s deep love of the world of language and music that he is immersed in and is simultaneously inventing as he lives. This beauty is well worth the contemplations and your efforts have born fine fruit.
Mr Tambourine Man is music itself....a nameless personification of music. We who take refuge in music's sheltering arms are the observer. I have heard the many drug references/interpretations, but I would ask you to (just once) see music as that "mood changing" substance and listen to the song again. Whether it is discomfort, boredom, happiness, depression, or celebration....many of us look for a tambourine man in that situation. The music isnt magical, but our need of it in those moments makes it seem like a drug/trip/magic.
Beautiful analysis!! I loved how your posting focused on Dylan’s ode to music itself as an expression of one’s path in life. And of course he did receive a Nobel Prize in literature (apparently the award he has most valued). That being said, he has remarked that in order to fully grasp and appreciate his work you have to actually hear it sung. And IMHO it’s his actual voice that brings the song to life! (No offense meant to the talented singers who have covered his songs). Thanks so much for posting this! Sherrie
Amazing. AMAZING. As a huge Bob Dylan fan myself, I really look forward to seeing your future videos on him. Would love to see a deconstruction of "Jokerman".
Your work is marvelous and you seem to have the same passion for Dylan's music and poetry as I do. It would be great if one day you did a similar approach to "Its alright, ma (I'm Only Bleeding)" - probably my favourite lyric of him. Big love from Brazil!
This was such a fantastic video. The artistry in your animation perfectly matches the subject matter, you set the perfect tone and maintained a level of quality which didn't overshadow the analysis but effectively partnered with it. Damn great job, you earned a subscription.
For me Mr. Tambourine Man always has this special place in my heart, because I could easily relate to the meaning it had my mind. The song is about Dylan and some friends, being up late and just making interesting conversations (Something my friends and I do a lot). The verses being the conversations about random subjects, such as politics (the empire in the sand), loneliness (empty streets and having nowhere to go) and adventure (I'm ready to go anywhere). Everytime we reach the chorus, someone decides they're not tired yet and they ask the tambourine man to play another song. The songs being a new conversation all together, so they don't have to go home yet. For me this song is just a metaphore for all the late nights, me and my friends have spent at bars, talking about whatever comes to mind. We even discussed Mr. Tambourine Man and came up with this meaning for the song!
THANK YOU. This song means so much to me, I think it's the perfect unison between 60's pop and everlasting poetry-Dylan at his peak. I always pictured mr. Tambourine Man as sort of a beautiful performer in a foreign town, just like you said, calming the worries and sorrows of the song's narrator.
I belive that MR tamburin man is the feeling from just flying away in music those early mornings after being out with friends, the cigarets lying all aorund, emot bottelse and all that
Dylan was a huge fan of New Orleans, so much so, he went back and recorded his album Oh Mercy there. Saying he was pulling from inspiration of days past
I was born in the same hospital St Mary's, Du 7:38 luth Bob Dylan was born in, but 9 years later... (But none of his talent rubbed off on me) My father had a friend whose name was Mrs edelstein in Superior Wisconsin she would tell him of her nephew in New York who is doing very well in the music business. His name was Robert Zimmerman. Found this out later in 1962
For me the song always conjured up the image of a sad drunkard in a quiet old-time bar talking to a guitarist in the early hours of the morning; The tambourine man in my mind was the only person that drunkard had left to talk to, to keep his spirits up, to bring him any sort of happiness after a long night. I feel that, much like with most every song of Dylan's, it's a song that's deeply personal to each and everyone who hears it for different reasons, and I feel that that's what he truly wanted his music to be.
I’m really happy that I’ve happened across your channel. Your videos are very enjoyable and so well done. I absolutely love the focus on the powerful combination of music and poetry. Personally I feel like they go hand in hand. Thank you for the excellent content. 🤘
yo this was very well done. subscribed! thanks friend.. bob is so often misunderstood and i feel like you really get it. its all about the art for dylan
Wow, just WOW! I felt it, really, when you said "let me forget about today until tomorrow" as an explanation of YOUR experience with Dylan's music, using HIS words. Truly beautiful, I'm really hoping on more vids on Dylan. Keep up the good work :))
For me Mr. Tambourine Man has always been any musician you hear after a prolonged period of elation that ended too soon for you. Be that a busker on the street, someone jamming in the park or someone on a stage in a small pub in the wee small hours
Thank you for everything you do with this channel Polyphonic! Out of all the RUclipsrs I'm subscribed to, I get the most excited whenever I see that you've released a new video! You're a master at what you do!
As someone who has written and published (and, of course, read) a lot of poetry the answer, for me, is yes. And I don't know any literary academicians who would say otherwise.
What? Who in their right mind would doubt he's a poet? 😦 Mr. Tambourine Man has always been one of the most special songs to me personally. It's also the reason why I started playing the guitar.
I think you nailed it. And here is my guess: the tambourine man is a personification of musical inspiration. If so, then the song is an attempt to describe what is like to welcome that muse and to follow it wherever it takes him. The lyrics illustrate what he imagines in a stream of consciousness form -- you notice how he leads off with an image and revises it in the verse, and then revises it again. Even the verses are variations and revisions. Dylan said in an interview a number of years ago that he could no longer create songs of that depth and complexity. He said that he had lost the ability -- it was simply gone. I am reminded of Yeats, Rimbaud, other poets -- many musicians, many artists -- who found their muse early but later felt it had abandoned them.
i read somewhere that mr. tambourine man was based in part on the fellini movie la strada. a lot of the imagery does line up: circus sands, ragged clown. but as your video illustrates, there are a lot of ingredients that make up this particular brew. i hadnt heard the story about his night of revelry in nola so this video was very enlightening to me and greatly expanded my appreciation of this song. but i think the best song to illustrate his poetic prowess is desolation row in which he uses and then dismantles modernist persona technique used extensively by t.s. eliot, who he hysterically name drops, all the while dismantling the society around him, including both fans and critics. i think it's his magnum opus. or at least one of them. mr. tambourine man being another.
It is about "Je est un autre." Professor Aidan Day (RIP) points out the duality in his book Jokerman. Paying attention to the rhyming "he" in verse three suggesting that the Tambourine man is the rhyming lyricist, and the fact that the singer has one hand waving free (presumably because his other hand is holding a tambourine).
This song is art dripping like honey. We cannot contain it in the confines of poetry or music or anything worldly for that matter; anything definable. Dylan combines elements of our ragged world and manages to transcend it effortlessly.
In Brazil there's a very similar instrument to the tambourine called pandeiro. Once in a while you can spot an old man, sitting on a sidewalk and playing one of those completely alone. A memory of a time when samba was very popular, and the instrument had its strength, now ignored by the younger generations. I always imagined Mr. Tambourine man that way...
Talking about lyricists and poets it would be great to explore others like Nick Cave and violence; Morrissey and intimate deprecation; Leornard Cohen on mortality and the agony of love or Ian Curtis and isolation. Great video as always.
Thanks Polyphonic. For some reason I had brushed this song off. Perhaps because of the Byrd's famous cover version. For the record, my favorite Dylan song is "Visions of Johanna". Just gorgeous. And yes, he is most certainly a poet.
He's a poet (as his lyrics work as poetry outside of the context of being lyrics) AND a great lyricist who writes great poetic lyrics. I love studying his music because much of it goes against the songwriting axiom of making lyrics "conversational", in that it is so dense with imagery that it's hard to grasp at first. It's somewhat rare that this dense of music would be successful in a conventional sense, IE commercial success. Yet it also serves as a reminder for all of us to use more imagery in our music and less clichés which is so helpful in making us try harder in making music that stands out more.
What masterful analysis! Thank you very much! Your thoughts on Dylan's writing are really inspiring on themselves and take his songs to a new level for me, going deep into meaning and context (specially because English isn't my first language). Once again thank you very much for sharing your thoughts.
I've always understood this song, and Mr Tamborine Man himself, to be intimately tied to the story of the Pied Piper somehow, only with tamborine instead of pipe. I like what you said about it being an "ode to any musicians who can tear us away from the malaise of the world and let us disappear into dream and fantasy". I think it is that, and sometimes that musician is Dylan himself. I also think Mr. Tamborine Man may just be that inherent power within music to deliver us into ecstasy for at least a moment here and there. But in any case it is from the point of view of one of the children of the village, not coerced into following the Pied Piper- that mysterious and hypnotizing force of nature- but begging to be put under his spell.
i remember when i listened to it’s alright ma i’m only bleeding for the first time ever and was genuinely dumbfounded by how incredible the wordplay was. dylan is as much a poet as he is a musician
For me The Tambourine Man is music itself. I feel like ther is no other art that can take you on a "trip" like music. One chord, one sound and you're already going on a journey, even though you don't know it. The second chord would have another meaning left alone, but yet put next to the first it gains a purpose, a meaning. And not only through the songs, but through the music a person can make you understand and empathize. One sound after another, one rythm after the other we can gain so much if we just listen. Even if it is only fun, even if it's because it has a meaning, even if you just want someone to understand you. And yet there is so much space for the personal interpretation. Every person is different and so the music will mean something different to everyone. Through the music we can build stories, journeys and feelings using imagination alone. You will find someone to understand you, someone to go on a journey with, someone to feel the most disparate feelings with.and It will be yourself, even though you won't notice, just thanks to the music.
I like yr video and my favorite song of bob dylan is love minus zeros / no limit, I like the lyric "she speaks like silence", the combination of "speak" and "silence" is really subtle. and "bridge at midnight tremble" reminds me of SHakespere. He is undoutedly a poet
i cant imagine how anyone could say Bob Dylan isn't a poet, all his songs are so layered with mystery and meaning.
I mean, he has won the Nobel price of literature...
He's popular, mainstream. Nothing that a lot of people like can have deep meaning.
/s
I don’t disagree that he is a poet…but I do disagree that all of his songs have meaning. Especially in the mid-sixties I think he was more interested in piecing together words that sounded good phonetically over having any real meaning to them (ex. Subterranean Homesick Blues, Leopard Skin Pillbox Hat)
Then a lot of people will take every line and over-analyze and give some kind of meaning to it and come up with their own interpretation but if you asked Mr. Dylan himself, he would probably say something like whatever you think it means or I have no idea what it means.
But yes, many of his songs are layered with deep meaning. Especially his earlier work and then Blood on the Tracks and Desire
Nobody is saying Bob Dylan isnt a poet...nobody who is taken seriously or is mainstream enough to be quoted. Still, it's hard to pose the question if everybody agrees on the answer.
He's not a poet
For me Bob Dylan is a poet. Listen to Desolation row and Hard rains gonna fall. His songs/poems is often an allegory to something important along side history and culture.
one of the best of all time at that
Desolation Row has to be one of the greatest long poems of modern time. There is no one way to interpret it, it is up to the listener or reader to decide. The call outs to grim historical events, and yet that isn't even the focus of the song.
Visions of Johanna and its alright ma are 2 of my favs
Was just thinking Desolation Row would have been a better study
Desolation Row is such a haunting work of art, it's insane. Its like going in trance with every listen. No wonder it inspired Watchmen. Greatness inspires greatness.
I think my favorite Dylan lyric is:
_I ain't saying you treated me unkind_
_You coulda done better, but I don't mind_
_You just kinda wasted my precious time_
_But don't think twice, it's all right_
But…
_And take me disappearing through the smoke rings of my mind_
_Down the foggy ruins of time, far past the frozen leaves_
_The haunted, frightened trees, out to the windy beach_
_Far from the twisted reach of crazy sorrow_
_Yes, to dance beneath the diamond sky with one hand waving free_
_Silhouetted by the sea, circled by the circus sands_
_With all memory and fate driven deep beneath the waves_
_Let me forget about today until tomorrow_ …
Those might be the most beautiful lyrics ever.
“Yes, to dance beneath the diamond sky
With one hand waving free”
So imba. This line(s) is poetry unto itself.
If this is not poetry what is?
@@billh.1940 The answer is:
Poor people have it.
Rich people think they need it.
What is it?
@@CipherSerpico don't know but the rich want everything from everyone. Me, I will settle for the love of a good woman, and peace of mind!
Btw I have both. Peace and love 😘!
The funnest thing was singers who sung don't think twice as a love song, but it is a breakup song. Sonny and Cher comes to mind.
Go way from my window! 😂. I always thought mr tambourine was his dealer.
@@billh.1940 The poor have it;
The rich _think_ they need it…
“If this is not poetry, what is”?
_Nothing._
The answers to your question, and to my “riddle” - are both _”Nothing”._
There’s a longer version of that “Riddle”, but i heard that when I was very young, and it always stayed with me, because-similar to what you said: I’ve never cared about being rich; I’ve always only cared about “love”, “beauty”, and all that jazz.
So yeah, for whatever reason, that riddle popped in my head when I read your comment.
👊
Also…
Two of my favorite covers of all time, are two Dylan covers.
• “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue” by
*Dion* (DiMucci):
ruclips.net/video/X6cE-uQanfs/видео.html
• And, *Jon Martyn’s* version of “Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright”:
ruclips.net/video/zwnskM2Bsrw/видео.html
I think both of them did a brilliant job of reinterpreting the song.
I would definitely recommend checking those out.
Polyphonic: This video was brought to you by Brilliant.
Me: Yes, I'm listening to the brilliant's voice right now.
I'm 14 and I've been a fan of your work for a while, I watched this video not knowing much about Bob Dylan or his music, and I liked this song so much I decided to learn it on guitar since I've started learning guitar again recently, I learnt to sing it aswell and once I'd gotten good at it I went to my mom and asked if she wanted to hear this song I'd learnt. I was a bit shaky at first but I got into it pretty good and realised she was crying, turns out this was a song her mom used to play for her when she was a kid, her mom had died recently and she'd been quite depressed but it made her so happy. This is the effect music can have and I'm glad I have found your channel so that I can appreciate music more.
Beautiful
Awesome 👏 👏
Young man.!!! Keep learning
You are a lucky young man. You are just beginning to discover the music of a true genius. There is a huge amount of incredible music to take in....
I have a similar story, except that it was my dad whose mom had recently died.
It is a thing of hope to know that there's young kids learning about Dylan, there are millions who wouldn't care less about this side of cultural history, many people even Hate Bob's voice and music, but really he has never aimed at singing "pretty" , he just wanted to get his words through it.
Another Dylan video by Polyphonic! Life is good right now!
For me, mister tambourine is Bob himself, but I actually always interpreted the song as man walking down an ampty street after a great night, insisting that he isn't sleepy, not realising that he is already asleep as the world around him becomes more and more 'dream like'
A drug deal.
@@diamondcomplex2376 No.
I understand this song.
Dylan admitted he wrote it to describe his wait for a pot dealer one night. Maybe not a drug dealer but that's what the song's about. Waiting for weed. Bwahaha ha ha ha.
@@JoeKoOhNo trolling. Classic Dylan
Great video. I think Dylan is a songwriter who writes very poetic songs. The lyrics in Mr Tambourine Man are my favourite of any song in particular the last verse 'to dance beneath the diamond sky with one hand waving free......etc' sends a shiver through my spine each time I hear it. I think the 'Mr Tambourine Man' is a spirit from Dylan's unconscious mind. It's inspiration, but it's free inspiration, not the inspiration of a political event or even a relationship. The song to me is about freedom, true freedom, beyond time. Once you leave childhood it's rare to reach that place more than a few times in your life time, but for the rest of your life you know it's still there somewhere.
Who even thinks that Bob isn't a poet? That man's lyrical skills are beyond anyone I've ever listened to.
Mr. Tambourine Man has always hovered just overhead, a few yards away, bathed in colored light, and casting his spell out to the crowd. He is the artist on the stage.
That's pretty good Mike.
The album Desire is pure poetry. The way he sings about Sara or his adventure on Isis.
Also One moe cup of coffee is as beautiful as dark
The music is on that album is so rare I’ve never heard anything like it.
One of the greatest albums ever made in my opinion
I completly agree. That album has a very unique sound, and the lyrics were just as good. To me, 1975-1976 is Dylan at his second peak. His first being 64-66.
Dylan and Paul Simon are wonderful poets. Blowin in the wind is a masterpiece of poetry.
True, although Paul Simon keeps mocking Dylan in lot of songs. lol
@@zackzallie8735 Really? What songs ?
@@rman52 The song A Simple Desultory Philippic (or How I Was Robert McNamara'd into Submission) by Simon and Garfunkel is one of the funny examples.
@@zackzallie8735 I think that one is actually a tribute to Dylan, not making fun of him. The whole song is in Dylan's style. And in the lyrics he makes fun of a guy that doesn't know Bob Dylan from Dylan Thomas. Now this one is a funny parody of Dylan. ruclips.net/video/JUQDzj6R3p4/видео.html
@@zackzallie8735 One song with only two recordings back in the 60s hardly counts as "keep" mocking but okay xD
maybe it's all about that vagueness of tambourine man figure.
when you imagine it, you're not seeing someone, or even dylan himself.
you're seeing a vague figure of an anonymous musician who we will never know.
and that's poetry. that's music. that's bob dylan.
thank you for the video. it was indeed brilliant.
Very true! He's like "The Stranger" archetype.
Maybe it’s all about that swirling ship.
I've always said Mr Tamborine Man is Dylans best piece of poetry
very important song in the development of psychedelic music
It's very good, but i'd have to say it's "Ballad of a Thin Man"
Tangled up in blue is a perfect example of Dylan's lyrical genius
Visions of Johanana is my favourite
Everything said here I affirm, but even his most direct is poetry unto itself. Hurricane Forever Young, Murder Most Foul, just to name the few.
Though his most poetic I can say is All Along The Watchtower and Desolation Row.
Ngl I always thought all lyricism was automatically poetry, didn't realize there was controversy lol
His Nobel Lit prize a couple years ago really brought the question back
honestly same
There isn't, really. Poets can be pretty gatekeepy with what is and isn't poetry. But to me, the mere existence of free verse poetry means that if strings of sentences sound musical and beautiful when put together, they can be considered poetry in some way.
I always thought that it was something like "a square is a rectangle but a rectangle is not a square" scenarios. Like lyricism is a form of poetry, but poetry is not lyricism.
@@jamesdean9183 Yeah, not all poems can be put to song, but by definition, songs with lyrics must be poems for the simple fact that they're broken down to meters and beats.
Here from.indonesia ......real dylan fans since 1961 ......speak indonesian ....ok , bob dylan adalah sosok seorang yg sangat tinggi kemamouannya membuat puisi yg dituangkan ke setiap lagu2 nya ,tdk perlu debat atas hal.itu , dng ksesederhanaan nada pada setiap lagunya namun ditutup oleh bunyi puisi atau seruan yg membuat hti setiap orang tergugah dan berpikir .....daya magnit power lagunya justru dr isi puisinya yg di aransir hingga jadi sebuah lagu yg punya arti dlm dan indah ....love to dylan , ever n forever , dewa musikku slmnya , disini dr indonesia jakarta sweet regard for you guys
Mr. Tambourine Man is my favourite Dylan’s song. Finally some attention to this overlooked lyrical masterpiece!
To me, Mr. Tambourine Man has always been myself, not only because of how the lyrics demand so much of the listener but because of how the song drew me personally into the making of music. It was my central driving force into the learning of guitar, the craft of lyric writing, and of songwriting. The song made me into Mr. Tambourine Man. I like to imagine Dylan would be pretty happy with that.
I think the song is about transcendence. I always felt like Mr Tambourine Man was the muse - or maybe God if you will. I think it's about desire to have purpose - to be open and willing to take the ride, or see the vision - or follow the path. I feel like what he's asking for transcends music or art of any kind in a way - it's more like he's asking to understand the moment in a way that can't be described by words or pictures. I think this song - as well as many of his songs exist on many levels, and it's probably best to not think about them too much. I have a feeling Dylan himself probably didn't think about them too much when he was writing them - at least the really good ones. Only a poet can write stuff like this - but Dylan also said, "Anybody that calls themselves a poet - isn't a poet." So there's that.
I agree with this totally about transcendence (or the sacred). However I do think Dylan i knew quite well what he was writing about. However because it was so, much a gestalt, a flow,
I agree he probably did not want everything dissected like a frog on a table. which we do anyway
can you try to do a writing analysis of bowie's literary style? imo his choice of words is second to none
That's be sick
Why dont you do it? :3
So true, this would make for a great video
something seems off about calling it second to none as well
@@JaN-Pigeon you're right, changing it. my bad I didn't notice it
It would be really cool if he made it into a series. Bowie, Dylan, Paul Simon, Townes Van Zandt, Leonard Cohen, would all be good editions
For me It’s alright ma I’m only bleeding exemplifies everything I love about Dylan’s sharp, humorous and absurdist writing and contains better bars than 99% of anything any rapper today has written
“He not busy being born is busy dying.” Great song.
It sure is a foreign sound to some ears.
But it's alright ma... it's life and life only.
Thank you I wanted to make sure someone posted about it's alright ma. Imo, his best work and just as relevant today as it was upon its release. Hard rain gonna fall is amazing as well as far as a "poem" goes. His writing was just magical.
Visions of Johanna and Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands is downright poetry!
My Tambourine Man , a musician who can take me out of reality and into a different world, discribed by lyrics and music , is Jimi Hendrix. To me no other musical poet can envelop me in his musical world quite as Hendrix. I can hear songs like ,,Castles Made Of Sand'' or ,,1983...'' for the hundreth time and be immediately pulled in the song ; simply by his lyrical work beyond his musical interpretation and underlining of those very lyrics. It's just like re-reading a good book like ,Lord of the Rings': You know the story and know whats coming but halfway through the first page you're straight back in this world.
Jimi Hendrix was basically trying to write like Dylan
I had only ever listened to the "The Byrds" version of Mr. Tambourine Man up until earlier today. I discovered that it was originally a Bob Dylan song, and when I listened to a recording of Bob Dylan playing it live, I was absolutely amazed by the songwriting. I wish I could write something 2% as good as it. I absolutely love it.
Bob Dylan is undoubtedly a poet, you listen to his album span from those released in 1960s - 1970s, you will find one of the best pieces of songwriting and lyricism.
Forever Young Bob Dylan !
Freewheelin changed my life, then I listened to the rest.
His book, Tarantula, is a really intriguing read. It was definitely interesting reading his poetry that was not meant to be put to song.
I’m not discounting your opinion but I’ll share mine as well. I don’t think Tarantula is poetry. It’s really just avant-garde stream of consciousness writing. 99% of it can’t be tied into the entirety as a whole, there’s very little to derive or analyze from it. I’ve really tried connecting the dots and it’s just impossible. I’m a huge English literary analysis nerd so I used a lot of techniques I like to use when analyzing books, none of it worked. I really do believe it’s just drugged up stream of consciousness writing. Not to say it’s bad, I don’t. think it’s good either though. It’s extremely interesting to read and it was a fun challenge to try to analyze though I found very little to make conclusions from.
It's meaningless and it sucks. I wasted forty-five minutes reading that piece of shit. Try Joyce if you want "intriguing" literature.
I think Tarantula is a brilliant piece of work, but its hard to really think of it as poetry. It's an amphetamine driven stream of complete and utter nonsense yet beatifully intriging and engaging.
Mr Tambourine Man is a muse - yours, mine, Dylan's, anyone's, everyone's... It's that moment of inspiration that leads to creation, that moment you lose yourself in the Zen timelessness that follows
Im speechless… I get just as emotional listening to your comments as I do when I listen to the songs themselves!!! 😍😍😍 I found myself going on about my day listening to your videos in the background, but paying attention to every single one of your words!!! And I find myself answering out loud when you bring up a question and my heart literally skips a beat every time I hear your answer as I’m answering .. and our answer is the same!!! So far on every video I’ve watched I thought to myself « Wow! That’s it! This guy knows exactly what it is! » you are amazing!!! How you paint with words the beautiful métaphores from these amazing songs takes my breath away!!! 😍😍😍
All lines are open for interpretation. One of my favorite lines: "...forget about today until tomorrow" I think means to allow yourself the freedom to live in the moment.
I love this song (Mr. Tambourine Man) and the way the cascading lyrics with his rhythmic phrasing produce (in me at least) and almost trance-like altered state of consciousness. Especially the final verse... And take me disappearing through the smoke rings of my mind
Down the foggy ruins of time, far past the frozen leaves
The haunted, frightened trees, out to the windy beach
Far from the twisted reach of crazy sorrow
Yes, to dance beneath the diamond sky with one hand waving free
Silhouetted by the sea, circled by the circus sands
With all memory and fate driven deep beneath the waves
Let me forget about today until tomorrow
i rarely comment but this video is a true masterpiece in every sence of the world. the mapping to prove your claim using countless different sources astonished me. i have rarely seen videos this well put together. thank you and please protect this :>)
My all time favorite song. The imagery in his final verse takes you somewhere else
You're absolutely right. Anyone who has ever been in a night they never wanted to end would recognize these lyrics. These night could be drug-fueled or just energy-fueled but the end is always the same: the night dies as the next day is being born and you're left wanting it to go on just a little bit longer.
Yes, he's a poet. Look at something like Desolation Row, that's a masterpiece
^ This guy Dylans!
So you are Peter Gabriel?
Desolation Row is a song. It is a masterpiece, but it’s not a poem.
@@TheMarshmelloKingPoems are songs
@@keepthefaith6909No. poems are poems and songs are songs. Songs with poetic lyrics are ……… songs!
Poems sung aloud are ?
Of course this debate is semantic nonsense.
For me, Mr tambourine man is the friend I had in high-school who first introduced me to this song. I can't hear it without thinking about her, and the many road trips we went on together.
You captured perfectly what the song has always meant for me. Beautifully put. That song is just pure bliss
The last verse in this song is the most beautiful I've ever heard. It's pure Magic, it always takes my mind on a trip of wonder, fantasy, and imagination. I want this song played at my funeral .
My favorite verse is the last one. Not only is the poetry beautiful, but I think it's about re capturing one's youthful energy, enthusiasm and zest for life. The one hand waving free line speaks to me. I visualize riding a horse without a saddle and living entirely in the moment. In other words, to hell with inhibitions.
I love your style of editing so much, it's always on point!
I was waiting and searching for this for some years now... thank you
I personally believe that Bob Dylan is a poet, he is my favorite singer/songwriter. Great video as always Polyphonic.
I love this channel. Would love to see you cover the poetry of Tom Waits.
Beautiful. Insightful. Unpretentious. I usually avoid anything that hints at explaining the meaning of a song. This one doesn't impose any interpretation on the listener. It just enhances whatever this great song already means to you.
So perfectly well said! Great observation!
Great video, Bob Dylan really is a fascinating character and one of the greatest lyricists of all time.
12:56 is a brilliant poem in a poem about what Dylan’s work meant to the author. I’m in awe!
He's a poet in the original sense of the word: a maker, a troubadour. His words are more impactful when sung than on the page. But poetry is written to be sung.
Excellent work. A loving look at this poet’s deep love of the world of language and music that he is immersed in and is simultaneously inventing as he lives. This beauty is well worth the contemplations and your efforts have born fine fruit.
Mr Tambourine Man is music itself....a nameless personification of music. We who take refuge in music's sheltering arms are the observer. I have heard the many drug references/interpretations, but I would ask you to (just once) see music as that "mood changing" substance and listen to the song again. Whether it is discomfort, boredom, happiness, depression, or celebration....many of us look for a tambourine man in that situation. The music isnt magical, but our need of it in those moments makes it seem like a drug/trip/magic.
Beautiful analysis!! I loved how your posting focused on Dylan’s ode to music itself as an expression of one’s path in life. And of course he did receive a Nobel Prize in literature (apparently the award he has most valued). That being said, he has remarked that in order to fully grasp and appreciate his work you have to actually hear it sung. And IMHO it’s his actual voice that brings the song to life! (No offense meant to the talented singers who have covered his songs). Thanks so much for posting this!
Sherrie
Amazing. AMAZING. As a huge Bob Dylan fan myself, I really look forward to seeing your future videos on him. Would love to see a deconstruction of "Jokerman".
Fun fact: T.S Eliot won the literature nobel prize, just like bob dylan.
Fun fact: TS Eliot is an anagram of toilets, just like Bob Dylan is an anagram of bony bald.
W.B.Yeats too
@@Eggbutts
Or Bland Boy
@@Eggbutts or nobby lad
Kissinger and Obama won the Peace Prize so it is worthless. He is not a poet. Neruda is. Come on.
Mr. Tambourine Man is my favorite song of all time. So happy it resonates with others too :D.
Your work is marvelous and you seem to have the same passion for Dylan's music and poetry as I do. It would be great if one day you did a similar approach to "Its alright, ma (I'm Only Bleeding)" - probably my favourite lyric of him.
Big love from Brazil!
This was such a fantastic video. The artistry in your animation perfectly matches the subject matter, you set the perfect tone and maintained a level of quality which didn't overshadow the analysis but effectively partnered with it. Damn great job, you earned a subscription.
For me Mr. Tambourine Man always has this special place in my heart, because I could easily relate to the meaning it had my mind.
The song is about Dylan and some friends, being up late and just making interesting conversations (Something my friends and I do a lot). The verses being the conversations about random subjects, such as politics (the empire in the sand), loneliness (empty streets and having nowhere to go) and adventure (I'm ready to go anywhere).
Everytime we reach the chorus, someone decides they're not tired yet and they ask the tambourine man to play another song. The songs being a new conversation all together, so they don't have to go home yet.
For me this song is just a metaphore for all the late nights, me and my friends have spent at bars, talking about whatever comes to mind. We even discussed Mr. Tambourine Man and came up with this meaning for the song!
This College English paper would have gotten an A+ back in the 1970's... Loved it! Thanks! :)
Bob Dylan is definitely a poet. His storytelling is one of a kind.
THANK YOU. This song means so much to me, I think it's the perfect unison between 60's pop and everlasting poetry-Dylan at his peak. I always pictured mr. Tambourine Man as sort of a beautiful performer in a foreign town, just like you said, calming the worries and sorrows of the song's narrator.
I belive that MR tamburin man is the feeling from just flying away in music those early mornings after being out with friends, the cigarets lying all aorund, emot bottelse and all that
Dylan was a huge fan of New Orleans, so much so, he went back and recorded his album Oh Mercy there. Saying he was pulling from inspiration of days past
Minnesotan here. He’s a damn legend!
Brazillian here. He's a damn legend !
his consciousness is far beyond.
I've been wanting to go to Duluth and Hibbing to see where he was born and raised.
I was born in the same hospital St Mary's, Du 7:38 luth Bob Dylan was born in, but 9 years later... (But none of his talent rubbed off on me)
My father had a friend whose name was Mrs edelstein in Superior Wisconsin she would tell him of her nephew in New York who is doing very well in the music business.
His name was Robert Zimmerman.
Found this out later in 1962
For me the song always conjured up the image of a sad drunkard in a quiet old-time bar talking to a guitarist in the early hours of the morning; The tambourine man in my mind was the only person that drunkard had left to talk to, to keep his spirits up, to bring him any sort of happiness after a long night. I feel that, much like with most every song of Dylan's, it's a song that's deeply personal to each and everyone who hears it for different reasons, and I feel that that's what he truly wanted his music to be.
I’m really happy that I’ve happened across your channel. Your videos are very enjoyable and so well done. I absolutely love the focus on the powerful combination of music and poetry. Personally I feel like they go hand in hand. Thank you for the excellent content. 🤘
This channel never fails to amaze me
"I don't call myself a poet, because I don't like the word. I'm a trapeze artist."
-Bob Dylan
He’s the best darn trapeze artist in rock n’ roll haha
Liked his 60’s take on his writing. ‘It’s mathematical music’
yo this was very well done. subscribed! thanks friend.. bob is so often misunderstood and i feel like you really get it. its all about the art for dylan
The human, the musician, the artist in me ..is very grateful for your work ..I love you, your channels and these videos ..💙
Wow, just WOW! I felt it, really, when you said "let me forget about today until tomorrow" as an explanation of YOUR experience with Dylan's music, using HIS words. Truly beautiful, I'm really hoping on more vids on Dylan. Keep up the good work :))
For me Mr. Tambourine Man has always been any musician you hear after a prolonged period of elation that ended too soon for you. Be that a busker on the street, someone jamming in the park or someone on a stage in a small pub in the wee small hours
Thank you for everything you do with this channel Polyphonic! Out of all the RUclipsrs I'm subscribed to, I get the most excited whenever I see that you've released a new video! You're a master at what you do!
I always enjoy your analyses, especially of Dylan’s songs. Thanks for this.
This video is a masterpiece
Thank you for making a video about Mr. Tambourine Man. Dylan, to me, is unquestionably a poet. As always, your videos are unquestionably brilliant.
As someone who has written and published (and, of course, read) a lot of poetry the answer, for me, is yes. And I don't know any literary academicians who would say otherwise.
What? Who in their right mind would doubt he's a poet? 😦
Mr. Tambourine Man has always been one of the most special songs to me personally. It's also the reason why I started playing the guitar.
One of my favourite songs… Mr Tambourine Man. One verse in particular is just awesome. ❤️
I think you nailed it. And here is my guess: the tambourine man is a personification of musical inspiration. If so, then the song is an attempt to describe what is like to welcome that muse and to follow it wherever it takes him. The lyrics illustrate what he imagines in a stream of consciousness form -- you notice how he leads off with an image and revises it in the verse, and then revises it again. Even the verses are variations and revisions.
Dylan said in an interview a number of years ago that he could no longer create songs of that depth and complexity. He said that he had lost the ability -- it was simply gone. I am reminded of Yeats, Rimbaud, other poets -- many musicians, many artists -- who found their muse early but later felt it had abandoned them.
i read somewhere that mr. tambourine man was based in part on the fellini movie la strada. a lot of the imagery does line up: circus sands, ragged clown. but as your video illustrates, there are a lot of ingredients that make up this particular brew. i hadnt heard the story about his night of revelry in nola so this video was very enlightening to me and greatly expanded my appreciation of this song. but i think the best song to illustrate his poetic prowess is desolation row in which he uses and then dismantles modernist persona technique used extensively by t.s. eliot, who he hysterically name drops, all the while dismantling the society around him, including both fans and critics. i think it's his magnum opus. or at least one of them. mr. tambourine man being another.
It is about "Je est un autre." Professor Aidan Day (RIP) points out the duality in his book Jokerman. Paying attention to the rhyming "he" in verse three suggesting that the Tambourine man is the rhyming lyricist, and the fact that the singer has one hand waving free (presumably because his other hand is holding a tambourine).
Thanks for making this video - my son Dylan and I enjoyed it thoroughly
I would love it if you could analyse ballad of a thin man.
It's my favourite
This song is art dripping like honey.
We cannot contain it in the confines of poetry or music or anything worldly for that matter; anything definable. Dylan combines elements of our ragged world and manages to transcend it effortlessly.
In Brazil there's a very similar instrument to the tambourine called pandeiro. Once in a while you can spot an old man, sitting on a sidewalk and playing one of those completely alone. A memory of a time when samba was very popular, and the instrument had its strength, now ignored by the younger generations. I always imagined Mr. Tambourine man that way...
Talking about lyricists and poets it would be great to explore others like Nick Cave and violence; Morrissey and intimate deprecation; Leornard Cohen on mortality and the agony of love or Ian Curtis and isolation. Great video as always.
One of my favourite videos in a while! Very good!!
Lemme just say how detailed and passionate these videos are well done bro well done 👍
Thanks Polyphonic. For some reason I had brushed this song off. Perhaps because of the Byrd's famous cover version. For the record, my favorite Dylan song is "Visions of Johanna". Just gorgeous. And yes, he is most certainly a poet.
Been listening to the great Dylan since pre-teen !!! Learned much then and still today he reveals truth & spiritual mysteries!
Bob the greatest EVER
He's a poet (as his lyrics work as poetry outside of the context of being lyrics) AND a great lyricist who writes great poetic lyrics.
I love studying his music because much of it goes against the songwriting axiom of making lyrics "conversational", in that it is so dense with imagery that it's hard to grasp at first. It's somewhat rare that this dense of music would be successful in a conventional sense, IE commercial success. Yet it also serves as a reminder for all of us to use more imagery in our music and less clichés which is so helpful in making us try harder in making music that stands out more.
What masterful analysis! Thank you very much! Your thoughts on Dylan's writing are really inspiring on themselves and take his songs to a new level for me, going deep into meaning and context (specially because English isn't my first language). Once again thank you very much for sharing your thoughts.
I've always understood this song, and Mr Tamborine Man himself, to be intimately tied to the story of the Pied Piper somehow, only with tamborine instead of pipe. I like what you said about it being an "ode to any musicians who can tear us away from the malaise of the world and let us disappear into dream and fantasy". I think it is that, and sometimes that musician is Dylan himself. I also think Mr. Tamborine Man may just be that inherent power within music to deliver us into ecstasy for at least a moment here and there. But in any case it is from the point of view of one of the children of the village, not coerced into following the Pied Piper- that mysterious and hypnotizing force of nature- but begging to be put under his spell.
I enjoyed this thoroughly! I'm from New Orleans and never knew there was a connection, thanks.
Great video! One of my favourites you’ve done so far
i remember when i listened to it’s alright ma i’m only bleeding for the first time ever and was genuinely dumbfounded by how incredible the wordplay was. dylan is as much a poet as he is a musician
It’s always a good day when it’s a Bob Dylan video
For me The Tambourine Man is music itself. I feel like ther is no other art that can take you on a "trip" like music. One chord, one sound and you're already going on a journey, even though you don't know it. The second chord would have another meaning left alone, but yet put next to the first it gains a purpose, a meaning. And not only through the songs, but through the music a person can make you understand and empathize. One sound after another, one rythm after the other we can gain so much if we just listen. Even if it is only fun, even if it's because it has a meaning, even if you just want someone to understand you. And yet there is so much space for the personal interpretation. Every person is different and so the music will mean something different to everyone. Through the music we can build stories, journeys and feelings using imagination alone. You will find someone to understand you, someone to go on a journey with, someone to feel the most disparate feelings with.and It will be yourself, even though you won't notice, just thanks to the music.
As a songwriter, here and there I get a line that makes me happy, but they flowed from Bob in an endless torrent.
Loved it. Agree: Dylan is a brilliant poet. Thank you.
I like yr video and my favorite song of bob dylan is love minus zeros / no limit, I like the lyric "she speaks like silence", the combination of "speak" and "silence" is really subtle. and "bridge at midnight tremble" reminds me of SHakespere. He is undoutedly a poet