I hope IвЂ™ve managed to get across something of DylanвЂ™s skill here. Some of the lyrics seem now to be masterpieces of precision, the thematic richness being disguised by a sometimes extreme simplicity of language. Going back to it, IвЂ™ve realised how wrong IвЂ™ve been. Ever since I bought it forty-five years ago, IвЂ™ve suffered under the illusion that itвЂ™s thin both musically and lyrically. I started with the songs from New Morning, an album of quite amazing lyrical complexity. Far more likely the narrator is trying to turn us against the messenger so that he can continue in his own disreputable ways. ItвЂ™s very unlikely that GodвЂ™s representative would make a meal out of insignificant things (вЂthe smallest matterвЂ™), or вЂflatterвЂ™ his hosts. How do we know? Because Dylan tells us the messenger came from Eli (God). The narratorВ comes across as someone with a contemptuous attitude towards theВ messenger, and fearful of him. In вЂThe Wicked MessengerвЂ™, for example, the narrator is clearly untrustworthy when he characterisesВ the messenger as wicked. What a shame he included the final clause! In a similar way Dylan often gets his narrators to give things away about themselves. Like a thin clear bubble of blood, for the children to pick and sellвЂ™ вЂThe wild tulip, at the end of its tube, blows out its great red bell Here the narrator, in attempting to show his appreciation for the beauties of nature,В unintentionally informs usВ that his primary concern is with monetary value: Like the speakers in mostВ so-called dramatic monologues, they are duplicitous but in a way that the careful listener can see straight through.ДЄn example from outside DylanвЂ™s work which may serve as a model is the narrator in BrowningвЂ™s dramatic monologue вЂUp At A Villa, Down In The CityвЂ™. These narrators are not to be taken at face value. IвЂ™ve triedВ to show that in many songs the speakerВ is not Dylan himself, and indeed may beВ somebody he wouldnвЂ™t want to be. Nevertheless I think itвЂ™s important to get away from those interpretations which assume each song is only about some trivial aspect of DylanвЂ™s life вЂ“ drugs or meeting Elvis, say. And of course meaning will often be personal for each listener, or perhaps arise fromВ a transcendent beauty, orВ subtlety, created by the writing,В makingВ hopelessВ any attempt to pin itВ down.

IвЂ™m sure there will be other, often better, interpretations.

The focus is on meaning rather than style but IвЂ™m not claiming special insight into вЂthe meaningвЂ™ of the songs. This, then,В is an attempt to at least begin to plug what I see as a gaping hole. I can think of just a handful of sites andВ books IвЂ™ve found at all useful.

Close, literary analysis is something which doesnвЂ™t appear much on the internet or in books on Dylan, yet I canвЂ™t imagine IвЂ™m alone in regretting this. I should say that the overall aim of the site is to present literary interpretations of DylanвЂ™s lyrics. ThereвЂ™s a post on each song from New Morning, and IвЂ™ve begun toВ add posts on other albums. IвЂ™m glad youвЂ™ve found the siteВ and hope you find at least some things in it worthwhile.

Tweedle dee tweedle dum