BROOD ON THE TRACKS
BOB’S NEW BOOK!
EXCLUSIVE! In this extract from The Philosophy Of Modern Song, Bob Dylan puts Mose Allison’s Everybody Cryin’ Mercy under his musical microscope: “This song is all about hypocrisy. Hitting and running, butchering and exterminating…”
Bob Dylan in his Greenwich Village apartment, March 13, 1964, shortly after the release of The Times They Are A-Changin’; (inset) mercyful Mose Allison.
Ted Russell/ Polaris/ Eyevine, Getty
Photograph by Ted Russell
The greatest show on Earth: glimpses from behind the curtain in images from Bob Dylan's The Philosophy Of Modern Song.
“YOU’RE ON THE SPINE-TINGLING ROLLER COASTER OVER THERE AT THE AMUSEMENT PARK, WHILE ALL OF MANKIND CRIES MERCY.”
BOB DYLAN
NTHIS SONG YOU’RE HEMMED IN, GOING round and round the loop, doing full turns – emp-ty-headed, blind to where you’re going and stum-bling through the dark. You’re loaded to the rafters, smacking, and slapping at things, buttoned down, no holds barred, going non-stop in a direct line, and everybody’s patting you on the butt.
You’re on the spine-tingling roller coaster over there at the amusement park. Thumbing a ride on the Ferris wheel, shooting ducks and winning kewpie dolls, while all of mankind cries mercy – every race, creed, and colour – rich and poor, from all quarters, from all over creation.
Ball of confusion: Mose Allison (top) and (left) The Temptations, cooking up a “frenzied jumble”.
Getty (6), Ted Russell/ Polaris/ Eyevine
Funny thing you’re detached from it all, scoffing at everything you see, giving no credit, to whatever you hear. You’re being diplomatic, ask no favours, take people at their word, and you want to be treated the same. Even if you goof up, you’re not going to be one of those miserable rascals with his knees in the dust begging for mercy. You’re not a crybaby. You have no idea what the proper definition of the word is anyway. Whatever is going to happen, is going to happen, so let’s just get on with it.