Friday, April 3, 2009

ANOTHER WORD FOR WORD



He does what he must do and he does it well. His songs are homeopathic medicine for me.

homeopathy, n. the method of treating disease by drugs, given in minute doses, which would produce in a healthy person symptoms similar to those of the disease.

homeo-,
similar, like.

-pathy,
suffering, feeling, ...often used with the meaning "morbid affection."

(from THE RANDOM HOUSE DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, THE UNABRIDGED EDITION, 1981)

When I took a look at the lyrics for "Buckets of Rain" in my copy of BOB DYLAN: LYRICS 1962-2001, I noticed that this is yet another song for which the lyrics have been changed from the original recording. You is changed to I, and I is changed to you in the first verse. Hips is changed to lips in the third verse. Then it occurred to me that I was almost sure that Bob Dylan had written something previous to 1962. Sure enough, on the page facing "Talking New York" (1962) are handwritten lyrics to a song he wrote previous to 1962 and titled Big City Blues.

"Buckets of Rain" ends with another of Dr. Bob's koans:

Can't you tell?

And from South Korea?:

6 comments:

The Solitary Walker said...

'Life is sad/Life is a bust/All you can do/Is do what you must/You do what you must do, and you do it well...'

Well, you can't put it better and more succinctly than that, can you?

am said...

Amazing grace, isn't it?

Bella said...

Really enjoyed this post - I'm considering getting the Dylan lyrics book because I just can't stop reading the lyrics online.

R.L. Bourges said...

Don't know where I was when that album came out, but it's some discovery. Thanks tons, am. Love the lyrics. (The overlay in Russian on the first clip says something like "no matter where I am, you're always in my thoughts". It almost felt like being on the train and listening to the song on headphones.)

(Are you going the homeopathic route for your treatment? I don't know if shingles can be treated that way or not. But it does work for some things - whether through auto-suggestion or otherwise. Considering the minute quantities of active ingredients involved, at least it does no harm.)

am said...

R.L. -- Thanks so much for translating the Russian. The only homeopathic medicine I use is Bob Dylan's music (-:

The combination of Bob Dylan's music and allopathic Valtrex is working. I'm feeling much better. Still tired, though.

When I googled Bob Dylan+homeopathy, I found this:

http://www.hpathy.com/interviews/VD-Kaviraj.asp

R was in Vietnam in 1970, which is also the year I first heard of Anais Nin. I read most of her books during that year. After R came home, I couldn't bear reading her books. I was introduced to the word "homeopathy" in one of her books. My memory is that it is on the last page of one of her books, that she wondered if there was a homeopathic cure for the consequences of loving someone. Something like that. I puzzled over her words. Still do.

R.L. Bourges said...

Valtrex + Dylan - the nice part about the Bob Dylan music is you can use it ad libitum :-)

The Kaviraj interview was a fascinating read. There's no fooling around with Monsanto, huh?

The whole notion of homeopathic treatment for plants makes a lot of sense to me, if you stop to think of how minute changes in soil condition can really affect a plant's health. Very interesting.

I read a cool story recently by Machado de Assis, featuring a homeopath. It was a hoot. It was in the Winter Edition of the Hudson Review. HR has a website but the story isn't available online, unfortunately.

Anais Nin - I don't recall that reference, I'm guessing it must have been in her diaries which I haven't read since the seventies - I guess it was an Anais era :-). I'm not sure I understand what she means, either. 'Curing' the consequences of loving someone' - sounds a bit like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, doesn't it?

Best, am, thanks for the read and the music.