Some of you know by now, or have gathered from my writings and covers, that I'm a huge Bob Dylan fan. What may surprise all of you is that it wasn't a specific song or album that 'sold' me on Dylan's genius, but a poem. It was a poem titled, “Last Thoughts on Woody Guthrie.” If you have seven minutes please stop what you are doing and listen to it. If you'd like to read it click on this link.

What does it mean?

I will give you my interpretation of this poem, but first I need to cover who Woody Guthrie was, and why he was/is so important to Bob Dylan. Woody Guthrie was a folk singer that played music from 1930 – 1956. His most famous song, “This Land is Your Land,” has become an American tradition for children to sing in school. He was a rambler and genius in his own right. His autobiography, “Bound for Glory,” was a vivid picture of what it was like to grow up in the dust bowl, during the Great Depression. It chronicles how he picked up the guitar and started to ramble from town to town, playing music, then moving on. The book ends with him refusing to play at Carnegie Hall, because average people couldn't afford tickets to that show.

What Woody Meant to Dylan

That's all fine and great, but why did Dylan care so much about a folk singer from the 1930's? It was because Dylan idolized Woody. By the 1960's, folk music had made a resurgence, and a folk scene had emerged in Greenich village, New York. A young Dylan was quickly making a name for himself. What most people didn't know at the time was that Dylan was mirroring himself after Woody. He dressed like Woody, he talked like Woody, he even played and sang like Woody. As Dylan became established, he decided he wanted to meet his idol, but alas, his idol was dying in a Brooklyn State hospital from Huntington's disease. Dylan went to meet his idol, an event that would leave him looking at the world in a different way.

What the Poem Means to Me

I listen to this poem whenever I feel my negative about my own creativeness. The poem starts off about doubt. When that moment of doubt creeps in and shakes your confidence. The imagery that Dylan paints is just masterful.

And yer whole world's a-slammin' and bangin'

And yer minutes of sun turn to hours of storm

And to yourself you sometimes say

I never knew it was gonna be this way

Why didn't they tell me the day I was born”

There is such a rhythm and tempo with how he phrases the words, it just flows. The poem continues with painting a picture of nothing going right. Every line, every verse, describes a feeling or complex feeling we've all felt before.

This segways into having an idea, but the frustration of not being able to express it. That inability to express it turns to anxiety. That's what makes any creative medium so difficult. Look, everything you've every felt or thought has been felt or thought by billions of other people throughout history. It's the way those emotions are expressed that makes them unique. Look, I'll prove it to you.

Think of your favorite love song ever. Do the lyrics just go:

“I love you,

You love me,

Love, Love, love

YAY!”

No, I'd wager that the lyrics are complex and make you relate to those lyrics on a very intimate level. That's what Dylan is trying to convey during this part of the poem.

Eventually he leads the listener to what we all need in these times of self doubt, and that's hope. The poem shifts its focus to this point, or rather, where you can't or won't find hope. It's here that an artist can really relate. Dylan points to talentless performers who get all the attention.

The ending is where Bob ties it all together. He states you can only find hope in two places; in the church of your choice, or Brooklyn state hospital where Woody Guthrie is. What does he mean by this? Well to me, it means hope is not something that is easy to come by. Many people find it at the church of their choice. Others who are not religious might find it in a form of truth, which is how Dylan saw Woody Guthrie.

Anyhoo, it's only my opinion, I could be totally off.

Take it easy, but take it.

NickelNDime Out!

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