30 April 2008

On (being) 'tangled up in blue'

So I posted a clip of KT Tunstall's cover of Bob Dylan's Tangled Up in Blue, watched/listened to it a few times and continued to be amazed, and then went to bed. Now, I'm up again. I can't sleep. So many things in my head right now, first of which is why I love Tangled Up in Blue to begin with when it's hardly a song with which I can identify, and second, why I'm fascinated by Bob Dylan, when I actually don't know very much about him and his music. I suppose this will be my attempt in finding some answers.

I believe my first real encounter with Bob Dylan was through the movie Dangerous Minds when Michelle Pfeiffer's (teacher) character came up with the Dylan (Thomas)/(Bob) Dylan contest to get her students to read poetry. As there was no internet at that time, I didn't have the means to look up the song or the artist easily--so I didn't--although I was already struck by the various interpretations of Mr. Tambourine Man, the Bob Dylan song used in the movie. I suppose, at that time, I was also more concerned about what Michelle Pfeiffer was doing in terms of how I could use it in my own classes, since I was then very young and was just in my first year of teaching, and not so much about the actual material that she used. In addition, I didn't have a context for Bob Dylan at that time. I had no knowledge of his iconic status in American music and culture, so, to a great extent, the significance of choosing Dylan in the context of the movie was lost on me.

I encountered Dylan again when I went to Virginia Tech. One of the two courses I had to teach was 'Critical Thinking and Writing.' In thinking and writing critically, students were to look at pop culture as text and use it in examining (mostly 'American') ways of thinking, perceptions of the world, and larger social practices. So we looked at pop songs, movies, icons, television shows, places/spaces such as Disneyland, and events such as the Olympics, and used these to talk about wider social issues and concerns. Now, it's clear to me that at that time this was the 'in' thing to do in academia, but at that time, it just felt new and exciting and fun. One of these new, exciting, fun things was discovering Bob Dylan. I remember receiving about seven to eight essays on Bob Dylan and/or any one of his songs, when the class was asked to do a critical analysis of pop music. I remember reading academic essays--those really deep-sounding ones--on Bob Dylan and his impact on American music and culture--how he inspired generations of musicians, how he stood for decency and freedom and a simpler time, how he was a revolutionary and genius songwriter whose lyrics were actually poetry.

When I told my students I wasn't aware of all these things about Bob Dylan, they lent me their CDs with notes of which ones were their favorite songs, which ones I should listen to first to begin my musical education, etc, etc. I was overwhelmed. But I listened to song after song after song. I didn't like all the ones I listened to, but there were some that I really liked.

One of these, I was happy to note, was Mr. Tambourine Man.



The other one was Like A Rolling Stone.



And also, It Ain't Me, Babe, which I was told wasn't really his. Still, I love this one, because, to me, it's the ultimate anti-love song:



When my students found out which ones I liked, they smiled sort of sheepishly and told me I liked the ones that were very 'pop'. I wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing, but I suppose, I was excused from such a judgment, because, well, to them, I was a foreigner anyway and didn't really understand the whole deal. (Knowing which songs I ended up liking probably also dissuaded them to get me to listen to bluegrass, which, I'd have to say, I was thankful for, especially after actually having experienced it all night in one of those Friday night events in a local bar). Besides, I'd always known I was a 'pop' kind of person--no shame in that--so it didn't really matter what they thought. I also realized one thing: Dylan wrote some really great songs, and it was perhaps this that really got me into him--and also that his voice seemed to exude a certain vulnerability, a rawness, which drew me in.

These lines, for instance, from Like A Rolling Stone, are just precious:

Princess on the steeple and all the pretty people
They're drinkin', thinkin' that they got it made
Exchanging all kinds of precious gifts and things
But you'd better lift your diamond ring, you'd better pawn it babe
You used to be so amused
At Napoleon in rags and the language that he used
Go to him now, he calls you, you can't refuse
When you got nothing, you got nothing to lose
You're invisible now, you got no secrets to conceal.


Then this chorus:


How does it feel
How does it feel
To be on your own
With no direction home
Like a complete unknown
Like a rolling stone?


And when these lines and his voice meet, I grow silent and become lost in the moment.

This leads me to Tangled Up in Blue. Note that I didn't really know if this song was on one of the CDs my students lent me, because the first version of the song I heard was a cover by the Indigo Girls, and I had no idea it was actually a Bob Dylan original. (I tried looking for a clip of the Indigo Girls covering this song, but I couldn't find one. Anyway, the cover was in their CD 1200 Curfews.) All I remember when I heard the song was how I couldn't get over how brilliant the phrase 'tangled up in blue' was to describe, well, the blues. The whole song was great, of course, especially the way the different narratives didn't seem to follow any coherent order, but it was the phrase that touched me. (I don't know what it is about me and certain phrases. I remember really liking Regine Velasquez's Dadalhin because of the phrase 'munting nagwawala' in 'At ng tinig mo'y/Parang musika/Nagpapaligaya sa/Munting nagwawala'. Until now, I'm not exactly sure what that phrase means, if it means anything at all, but I find it really charming, and that song will always be one of my favorites because of it. I do hope that a really stripped-down version of Dadalhin comes along soon though.) One could say 'I have the blues' or 'I am sad' but Dylan said '(I am) tangled up in blue'--and there's the difference. That phrase touched me to the point that I actually did an internet search of the song. (Google wasn't born yet at that time.) I found out it was actually Bob Dylan's. Here's one of his versions of the song--a version because, based on what I've read, this is the song he's kept revising through the years such that the contemporary version has actually become radically different from the original one.

Just to be clear, I'm not saying here that I'm an expert on Bob Dylan, not at all. I also don't think my appreciation for him can equal that of my previous students or other individuals who have followed his music through the years. I'm just trying to explain--probably, more to myself actually--my fascination for the artist and this particular song of his. As it is, I don't even know why I'm doing this now, when I haven't done so after all these years. In fact, I haven't thought of Bob Dylan and his music for some time, until tonight. And, actually, I can't even remember now why I went to youtube and started looking for him in the first place.

[must be what deadlines do to me: i start doing something else that's totally useless, like this post. hehe. oh well, good morning, world. another day, another set of possibilities.]

KT is tangled up in blue

I think one of the best things ever is discovering that one of your most favorite songs has actually been covered by one of your favorite artists. I'm therefore overjoyed to have found this clip of KT Tunstall doing a cover of Bob Dylan's 'Tangled Up in Blue' and doing it amazingly. I'm no musician, and I can't sing-- even if my life depended on it--but I think it's quite hard to do a cover of this song. Aside from the difficult melody (or the lack of it, as some critics often say about Dylan's songs), the song is so seeped into the whole Dylan mythology that I don't think many contemporary artists would actually venture to cover it. Oh well, anyway, KT is awesome here, and it's awesome to hear 'Tangled Up in Blue' like this.

06 April 2008

And Still I Rise

So I was feeling a little sad today and a little tired of people and their expectations. Good thing I had this waiting in my inbox. A friend sent it out, because it's Maya Angelou's 80th birthday today. (Wow, happy birthday, Ms. Maya Angelou!)

I'm not an absolute fan of Maya Angelou, but this particular reading of hers--of this particular poem--does something to me. It makes me smile, makes me hope, makes me rise. I don't really know why. Something about the phrasing, perhaps, the choice of words. Or maybe, it's simply because of the way she reads it. So much joy there, so much sass!




Favorite lines:

Does my sexiness upset you?
Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I've got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs?


Ok, now, I feel a little bit better. :-)