PODCAST: BOB DYLAN A HEADFUL OF IDEAS Season Two 7) Dig Yourself: Subterranean Homesick Blues

Subterranean….

The song is infused with Dylan’s characteristically sly and ambiguous humour. One of the key distinguishing marks of his work is the way in which his distinctive turns of phrase have passed into common usage. In no other song is this more true than Subterranean Homesick Blues …You don’t need a weather man to know which way the wind blows… …Twenty years of schooling and they put you on a day shift… and …The pump don’t work ‘cause the vandals took the handles… have acquired deep resonance over the years, capturing the essence of the anti-establishment attitudes of the mid 1960s with Dylan’s uniquely pithy, barbed wit. Whereas Maggie’s Farm lambasts conventional world views by means of the creation of larger than life, symbolic characters, Subterranean Homesick Blues achieves the same effect by presenting a series of sly, knowing aphorisms. It appears to be speaking in its own code, to an audience which shares its values. There is no ‘moral lesson’ to be drawn here, just a series of wry observations on the limitations of modern life as well as its chaotic nature. What it conveys most eloquently over all is a certain streetwise attitude.

The song has been called the first ‘rap’. It certainly ‘kicks ass’ as Dylan crams in the syllables breathlessly. In terms of composition, execution and use of language it is a giant step away from the story-songs and ‘protest songs’ that made his name. Despite the identification of this recording with his ‘going electric’ it is not his first attempt at a rock song. Towards the end of 1962 he recorded the single Mixed Up Confusion with an electric guitarist, bassist and drummer. But the track had little substance and the single soon vanished into obscurity. As is revealed on Disc One of the extremely comprehensive Bootleg Series release The Cutting Edge 1965-66, Dylan initially cut an acoustic version of Subterranean Homesick Blues. Although this recording has the same basic rhythm as the final take, it is clearly crying out for full band backing. Once the musicians – John Hammond Jr. and Bruce Langhorne on guitars, Frank Owens on piano, John Sebastian on bass and Bobby Gregg on drums – are added, Dylan nails the definitive version in two more takes. There is no question that this is rock’n’roll…

Subterranean…

The basic musical and lyrical structure is borrowed from Chuck Berry’s Too Much Monkey Business, a similarly tongue-in-cheek catalogue of the narrator’s woes in which he laments having to do a menial job for a living …Workin’ in the fillin’ station, too many tasks/ Wipe the windows, check the tires, check the oil, dollar gas… He complains about a woman who is trying to tie him down: …Blonde haired, good lookin’, tryin’ to get me hooked/ Want me to marry, get a home, settle down, write a book… The narrator also refers to fighting in World War Two: …Been to Yokohama, been fightin’ in the war/ Army bunk, army chow, army clothes, army car, aah… Berry’s song (which was covered by Elvis Presley, The Beatles and many others) is notable for its lyrical precision, its wry humour, its anti-establishment attitude and its offhand use of short phrases which build up to create a cumulative effect. It expresses similar frustrations to that of the narrator of Eddie Cochran’s Summertime Blues, which cheekily includes a politician dismissing the narrator’s appeal for help in finding a job with the tersely cynical …Like to help you son, but you’re too young to vote…