THROWING ALL MY MEMORIES IN A DITCH SO DEEP

Bob Dylan released a new song on Thursday.  It’s title is “Murder Most Foul,” a phrase originally spoken by ghost.  It comes from HAMLET, where  Shakespeare gave the phrase to the Ghost of Hamlet’s father, who demands that his son avenge his death.  Dylan’s voice – his characteristic 21st century croak – sounds a bit like it’s coming from beyond the grave, as one of his “voices in the night trying to be heard.”  But the mood of the song is elegiac rather than vengeful.  To borrow a line from the Grateful Dead, Dylan seems to be meditating on “what a long, strange trip it’s been.”

This particular trip began in Dallas on November 22, 1963.  Dylan looks back at American history and sees everything that led up to the Kennedy assassination, and everything that came after as well.  And everything reminds him of a song.  That really resonates with me. 

The two songs sound nothing alike, but in its narrative strategy, “Murder Most Foul” reminds me of Don McClain’s “American Pie.”  A life-changing event happens, and dominoes begin falling.  There are cryptic references to decipher – “the Jester on the sidelines in a cast” – that keep your interest up.   

What I find fascinating about “Murder Most Foul” is that Dylan name-checks at least 74 songs in the lyrics.  He can do that because the new song clocks in at just under 17 minutes (or almost twice as long as “American Pie”).  Maybe that sounds off-putting, and if you’re sheltering in place while trying to work from home and take care of your family at the same time, free 17-minute blocs are probably hard to find, and perhaps better spent in napping.  Otherwise, it’s well worth your time.

https://www.npr.org/2020/03/27/822413049/bob-dylan-releases-epic-new-song-murder-most-foul