EXTRACTS
Black Rider, from Rough and Rowdy Ways, consists of a direct address to an ominous figure which Dylan performs against the sparse but highly atmospheric backing of a single, flamenco-flavoured acoustic guitar. The track is reminiscent of some of the more intimate cuts on his ‘Sinatra’ albums such as Melancholy Mood or Some Enchanted Evening (which is referenced here). It is a near-spoken recitation, with judicious use of dramatic pauses. Subtle variations in tone are used to convey confusion, surprise, jealousy, shock, sarcasm and anger. It sounds like it has been recorded in a large and empty room, using natural echo on the vocals. At one point one can hear what sounds like a penny dropping to the ground in the distance. This creates a suitably eerie effect, as if what we are really listening to is a conversation which is being amplified within an echoey ‘cavern’ of the narrator’s mind.
There has naturally been much speculation over the identity of the ‘rider’. It may be tempting, given the frequent apocalyptic references in Dylan’s work, to identify him with the third horseman of the apocalypse from Revelations, the bringer of famine who rides a black horse. Perhaps he is even the third ‘rider’ who did not appear in All Along the Watchtower. Some commentators have concluded that Dylan is conducting a conversation with death. Or perhaps the narrator could be addressing the Devil, contemplating a Faustian pact. The song is not, however, a comic gothic fantasia like My Own Version of You. The language used is surprisingly straightforward, with only very sparing use of metaphor or symbolism. As the character and nature of the ‘rider’ shifts continually, Dylan uses subtle variations in tone to convey confusion, surprise, jealousy, shock, sarcasm and even anger, without ever over-emoting
In the second verse, there are no pauses within the lines. Dylan’s tone is now a little more assured: …You’ve seen it all… he tells the rider …You’ve seen the great world and you’ve seen the small… The diction is a little awkward here, as if the narrator is nervous in the figure’s presence. But then he becomes rather fevered: …You fell into the fire and you’re eating the flame… and then even slightly apprehensive: …Better seal up your lips if you want to stay in the game… The image he now sees in the mirror, as he realises the extent to which the ‘black rider’ has damaged himself, is literally hellish. He pleads for mercy: …Be reasonable Mister, be honest, be fair… In the final line of the verse he seems to be closing his eyes and trying to wish the vision away: …Let all of your earthly thoughts be a prayer… Dylan emphasises the last three words by slowing down and stretching out the syllables, conveying what sounds like real fear for the first time.
Despite the narrator’s efforts to ‘walk away’ it is clear now that he is under the rider’s spell …I’m walking away… he declares …You try to make me look back… He continues, rather pathetically to plead: …My heart is at rest, I’d like to keep it that way/ I don’t want to fight, at least not today… Then he becomes decidedly petulant: …Go home to your wife, stop visiting mine… he tells him. Then he whispers: …One of these days, I’ll forget to be kind… The threat is barely veiled, if rather unconvincing. But it is clear by now that the black rider is a version of himself which he is ashamed of – the one who goes home to his wife. There are strong intimations that the wife may be being abused or mistreated and that the narrator is trying to avoid responsibility for indulging in this fantasy.
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