Hi again everyone! Here’s Part 2 of my take on NASHVILLE SKYLINE (podcast version).
EXTRACT FROM BOB DYLAN: NASHVILLE SKYLINE: ONE HELL OF A POET PART TWO
After the uncertainties displayed in the earlier songs, the final track on the album is a deliberate statement of intent. Whereas in earlier country-flavoured songs like One Too Many Mornings or Mama You Been On My Mind his narrators can be found on the open road, moving on from relationships and accepting their fate, Tonight I’ll Be Staying Here With You is a definitive assertion of fidelity and (possibly) of commitment. …Throw my ticket out the window!…The narrator begins …Throw my suitcase out there too!… He indulges in a well worn cliché: …Throw my troubles out the door/ I don’t need them any more… He asserts that his plans for moving on have changed, because leaving …was more than I could do…
He now waits for his lover to return, gleefully looking forward to what will presumably be a night of passion. In the bridge section he appears to be giving thanks for his luck at meeting this woman whose ‘love comes on so strong’: …Is it really any wonder… he asks …the love that a stranger might receive… He then indulges in conventional romantic language: …You cast your spell and I went under… could have appeared in any number of sentimental songs. But the triumphant and heavily emphasised …I find it so difficult to leave… is both a confession of love and an admission that, despitebeing attached to the ‘ramblin’ man’ persona so beloved of country and blues singers, he has been ‘bewitched’ by the woman.
This is emphasised in the third verse, where he hears the trains moving out but does not board the one he has bought a ticket for. Whether these statements indicate a long term commitment, however, is unclear. The narrator argues that he has been made to stay almost against his will. Maybe that travelin’ urge will reassert itself soon…
After the uncertainties displayed in the earlier songs, the final track on the album is a deliberate statement of intent. Whereas in earlier country-flavoured songs like One Too Many Mornings or Mama You Been On My Mind his narrators can be found on the open road, moving on from relationships and accepting their fate, Tonight I’ll Be Staying Here With You is a definitive assertion of fidelity and (possibly) of commitment. …Throw my ticket out the window!…The narrator begins …Throw my suitcase out there too!… He indulges in a well worn cliché: …Throw my troubles out the door/ I don’t need them any more…
Nashville Skyline…
He asserts that his plans for moving on have changed, because leaving …was more than I could do… He now waits for his lover to return, gleefully looking forward to what will presumably be a night of passion. In the bridge section he appears to be giving thanks for his luck at meeting this woman whose ‘love comes on so strong’: …Is it really any wonder… he asks …the love that a stranger might receive… He then indulges in conventional romantic language: …You cast your spell and I went under… could have appeared in any number of sentimental songs. But the triumphant and heavily emphasised …I find it so difficult to leave… is both a confession of love and an admission that, despitebeing attached to the ‘ramblin’ man’ persona so beloved of country and blues singers, he has been ‘bewitched’ by the woman.
This is emphasised in the third verse, where he hears the trains moving out but does not board the one he has bought a ticket for. Whether these statements indicate a long term commitment, however, is unclear. The narrator argues that he has been made to stay almost against his will. Maybe that travelin’ urge will reassert itself soon…
It is in the second and third verses that the song reaches heights of understatement. Dylan’s newly adopted soft crooning voice carries the light irony of the lyrics so well that the modestly expressed statements being presentedcannot fail to capture our sympathy. Both verses begin with a statement, then allow the narrator to make a confession. The second verse begins with the song’s most memorable lines: …Once I had mountains in the palm of my hand/ And rivers that ran through every day… Some commentators have identified these lines as consisting off rather crude sexual imagery. But this is a crass reading.
Despite the presence of other songs on the album which play around with innuendo, the combination of humble sincerity and vulnerability in Dylan’s voice makes the simple metaphor is a sincere and touching manifestation of loss. The performance epitomises the way that country music can turn such apparently clichéd imagery into genuinely heartfelt expression. When Dylan follows this with the unfussy confession that …I must have been mad/ I never knew what I had…the tone of regret is genuinely heartbreaking. But the genius of the song is that the singer never sounds in the least depressed. The realisation of his mistakes seems to have made him genuinely open hearted and ready to share what he has learned with his listeners.
LINKS…..
STILL ON THE ROAD – ALL DYLAN’S GIGSWIKIPEDIA
THE CAMBRIDGE BOB DYLAN SOCIETY
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