Pod Dylan #123 – Murder Most Foul

POD DYLAN

Episode 123 - Murder Most Foul

Rob welcomes back fellow Bobcat Tara Zuk to discuss "Murder Most Foul", Bob Dylan's first new song in eight years.

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13 responses to “Pod Dylan #123 – Murder Most Foul

  1. lovely exuberant discussion of Murder Most Foul for the 3rd weekend at home (and the 2nd happy one)! Thanks with love to Rob and Tara.

  2. Great discussion….Like James Joyce said about “Ulysses” : “I’ve put in so many enigmas and puzzles that it will keep the professors busy for centuries arguing over what I meant, and that’s the only way of insuring one’s immortality.”

  3. I can’t resist Just a few other observations :

    Guy Banister and David Ferry were linked to Oswald

    “Don’t say Dallas don’t love you, Mr. President” : supposedly last words spoken to Kennedy by Mrs. Connally

    “Deep Ellem Blues” was a song Dylan sang at Gerde’s Folk City before he even wrote his own songs

    leaning to the left : Kennedy’s politics ?

    cross the Trinity River : Chimes of Freedom was germinated from the song Chimes of Trinity

    33 times : I’ve heard it has some reference to conspiracy theories

    “Love me or Leave Me” : “love it or leave it” is a right wing epithet meaning “Agree with me or go away, your opinion is not valid.”

    “The Blood-Stained Banner” refers to the Confederate Flag

    1. Yes 33 is one of the most important masonry numbers , high order . JHC lived 33 years was crucified at 3:00pm and rose on the 3 day .

  4. Fantastic discussion. I have one comment regarding Altamont…I think that is in part an oblique reference to the Rolling Stones’ “Sympathy For The Devil”. Most obviously one of the most famous lines of that song is, “I shouted out ‘Who killed the Kennedys?’ // Well after all, it was you and me”. But also that song is about the invisible hand of evil taking the listener on a tour of historical events it was behind, sort of like MMF

    Your take on the deliberately heavy handed rhymes at times is brilliant. It’s as if he’s writing it for children who won’t remember it unless it’s easily remembered (and I think he does view his audience as naive about how power works and too trusting of establishment media). Lastly the nursery rhyme “Rub-a-dub-dub” is apparently about the respected people of a town being caught peeping lasciviously at a naked woman–catching the powerful with their pants down, so to speak

  5. This was a most excellent discussion! Thank you Rob and Tara for providing me a guide to listening! Tara, regarding American politics at that time, civil rights as an issue was not something that can be easily understood along party lines. Although President Truman, a Democrat, and President Eisenhower, a Republican, had both made incremental strides against discrimination, there was still a great amount of opposition. The presidency had gone to both parties, but the majority of Congress was Democratic. This did not ensure unanimity on all issues. The Democratic members of Congress who represented states of the Confederacy were adamantly opposed to civil rights. At that point they had been Democrats because President Lincoln was a Republican. Likewise, most Black Americans were Republicans for that same reason. President Kennedy had a very narrow needle to thread to get any civil rights motions through, which is why he went to Dallas in 1963. He would need some support from Southern Democrats, and he was going to have to do a lot of coddling and vote swapping. After President Johnson was able to enact sweeping civil rights legislation, he acknowledged, accurately, that the South would no longer be Democratic. Racism in America is yet endemic.

  6. Rob, your suggestion about a movie display of things mentioned in the song is perfect. I have my own little display shelf at the library where I work and I think I will do that for my November 22 display!

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