Murder most foul-May sweep to my revenge

Murder most foul, as in the best it is; But this most foul, strange and unnatural. As meditation or the thoughts of love, May sweep to my revenge. William Shakespeare – Hamlet Act 1 Scene 5 |



One thing I'd note this morning is: Yknow the litany of evocative songs he turns into a story is one thing - and NPR has a pretty cool list of all the associations - streaming from one image to another... but there is subtext on a couple of things that I could feel that I wanted to mention.

He mentions:

Robert Johnson's "Crossroads"

and the old country piece "Deep Ellum Blues".

Deep Ellum is mere blocks from the Dallas School Book Depository. And Robert Johnson recorded in Dallas in that general area.

I think Dylan absorbed ghosts, and constantly studies literature, history, music and humans, and it continues to come out in his music.

I spent a few days in Dallas a couple of times on business, family and pleasure. I got a tremendous sense of dread when I went to the Schoolbook Depository museum. (It's at a Crossroads, no question there) Remembering his death - feeling the swelling lump in the throat again... the dreams of the Catholic (and all the) school kids reined in like horses pulled up in Westerns.

Then, got totally lost walking around and ended up as if by magnet at Parkland Hospital. With greater doom (blues?) yet coming down.

Deep Ellum was not the "put your money in shoes" place it had been, but on its edge was still skid row and skid row bars. I found the Robert Johnson recording studio address, and the building was still there. And all the time the feel of fear and loathing or something....

And this fear and loathing or something was reconjured to me listening to Dylan.

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Songs Referenced In Bob Dylan's "Murder Most Foul"
(Listen on Spotify and Apple Music)

Children's Music - "Hush Little Baby"
The Beatles - "I Want To Hold Your Hand"
Gerry & The Pacemakers - "Ferry Cross the Mersey"
Joni Mitchell - "Woodstock"
The 5th Dimension - "Aquarius/Let The Sunshine In (The Flesh Failures)"
Shirley & Lee - "Let The Good Times Roll"
Wanda Jackson - "There's A Party Goin' On"
Robert Johnson - "Crossroads"
The Grateful Dead - "Deep Ellum Blues"
Jr. Walker & The All Stars - "Shotgun"
Kay Kyser - "The Wise Old Owl"
The Who - "Tommy Can You Hear Me?"
The Who - "The Acid Queen"
Elvis Presley - "Long Black Limousine"
Roomful of Blues - "Backseat Blues"
John Michael King - "On the Street Where You Live"
Joan Baez - "Oh, Freedom"
Little Richard - "Send Me Some Lovin'"
Burt Bacharach - "Walk On By"
The Everly Brothers - "Wake up Little Susie"
Larry Williams - "Dizzy Miss Lizzy"
Billie Holiday - "You Go To My Head"
Patsy Cline - "Crazy"
The Kingston Trio - "The New Frontier"
Tom Jones - "What's New Pussycat?"
Ray Charles - "What'd I Say"
Wolfman Jack - "Dust My Broom"
Billy Joel - "Only the Good Die Young"
The Kingston Trio - "Tom Dooley"
Louis Armstrong - "St. James Infirmary (Gambler's Blues)"
Etta James - "Tell Mama"
John Lee Hooker - "Boom Boom"
Slim Harpo - "Baby Scratch My Back"
Guitar Slim - "The Things That I Used To Do"
Marilyn Monroe - "I Wanna Be Loved By You"
Nina Simone - "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood"
Warren Zevon - "Desperados Under the Eaves"
Eagles - "Take It to the Limit"
Elvis Presley - "Mystery Train"
The Platters - "Twilight Time"
Bob Wills - "Take Me Back To Tulsa"
Queen - "Another One Bites The Dust"
Jo Stafford - "The Old Rugged Cross"
Gaither Carlton - "Look Down That Lonesome Road"
Oscar Peterson - "Stormy Weather"
Stan Getz - "The Girl From Ipanema"
Dickie Betts - "Blue Sky"
Thelonious Monk -" 'Round Midnight"
Charlie Parker - "All The Things You Are"
Chicago Cast - "All That Jazz"
Charlie Chaplin - "Chaplin and Keaton Piano and Violin Duet"
The Allman Brothers Band - "Blue Sky"
Woody Guthrie - "Pretty Boy Floyd"
Ella Fitzgerald - "Cry Me A River"
The Beatles - "Revolution 9"
Nat King Cole - "Nature Boy"
Nancy Sinatra - "Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)"
Stevie Nicks - "Rooms on Fire"
Billy Joe Royal - "Down in the Boondocks"
Elvis Presley - "One Night Of Sin"
Miles Davis - "Stella By Starlight"
The Animals - "House of the Rising Sun"
Erroll Garner - "Misty"
Miles Davis Quartet - "That Old Devil Moon"
Eileen Rodgers - "Anything Goes"
Benny Goodman - "King Porter Stomp"
Little Richard - "Lucille"
Chet Baker - "Deep In A Dream"
Randy Newman - "Lonely at the Top"
Ludwig van Beethoven - "Moonlight Sonata (1st Movement)"
Little Walter - "Key to the Highway"
Tennessee Ernie Ford - "Marching Through Georgia"
The Corries - "Dumbarton's Drums"
Hoagy Carmichael - "Memphis In June"