Daily Ramblings:
Jim Jones ...01/18/2005 02:38:05 pm
Those interested in such things know that some
live recordings of Dylan's 1993 tour have appeared in
trading forums recently - so called
"preboard" recordings; i.e. not soundboard
but drawn from various mikes. That results in strange
mixes, so you're not hearing what the crowd actually
heard. Too esoteric to spur much interest on my part,
but I nevertheless have crossed paths with such a
recording of Dylan's June 1993 gig in Tel-Aviv,
Israel. I particularly like his performance of the
traditional song Jim Jones
at that gig (mp3 here for awhile, may be unreliable).
The mix is such that it's as if you're standing
behind Dylan's left shoulder. His guitar is right out
in front, and his vocal is loud and clear. There's
some pedal steel guitar licks from Bucky Baxter
shimmering ghost-like in the background, and that's
about all you hear from the band. That's OK, since
this is essentially an acoustic number. I like the
performance a lot, and it made me think about the
song a little more.
Dylan sings this old tune in some way that's
deeply and completely convincing - yet without the
slightest stretch or strain. The song is the story of
a convicted criminal, Jim Jones, banished from
England to the other side of the world: Botany Bay in
New South Wales, Australia. It's a place the pitiable
convict has not reached yet, but it exists in his
mind already as a place of ultimate torment, where
gladness of any kind cannot even be contemplated.
As the judge tells him:
"Oh, for life, Jim Jones, I'm
sending you
Across the stormy sea
But take a tip before you ship
To join the iron gang
Don't get too gay in Botany Bay
Or else you'll surely hang
Or else you'll surely hang", says he
"And after that Jim Jones
It's high above on the gallows tree
The crows will pick your bones".
His dread of the destination is
such that when a pirate ship attacks the convict ship
that carries him, he is dismayed when the soldiers
fight the pirates off. He then wishes for the ship to
sink in the tempest tossed sea.
With the storms ragin' round us
And the winds blowin' gales
I'd rather have drowned in misery
Than gone to New South Wales
There's no time for mischief there they say
Remember that, says they
Or they'll flog the poaching out of you
Down there in Botany Bay.
In the third and final part we arrive at the
present time when Jim Jones is "writing"
the song, so to speak. It seems to me that he's still
within the bowels of the convict ship itself, not
arrived at the horrible place itself but imagining
himself there. He even knows the name of a famed
escaped convict who came before him, Jack Donohue
(maybe from another song he's heard). He is also now
nursing a bitter desire for vengeance that gives him
the barest breath to carry on, while his fellows die
around him.
Now it's day and night the irons
clang
And like poor galley slaves
We toil and toil, and when we die
Must fill dishonored graves
And it's by and by I'll slip my chains
Into the bush I'll go
And I'll join the brave bushrangers there
Jack Donohue and co
And some dark night, when everything
Is silent in the town
I'll shoot them tyrants one and all
I'll gun the floggers down
Oh, I'll give the land a little shock
Remember what I say
They'll yet regret they've sent Jim Jones
In chains to Botany Bay.
It's really a pretty terrifying song of a human
being beyond the edge. It's hell on earth, and fear
and hopelessness, where hatred and a bitter pride are
the only source of strength. And yet it's poignant -
you can cry for this desperate Jim Jones.
It's a song that Dylan connects with and wears
like a comfortable old pair of boots. He lives in it.
Every anguished nuance of the tale is held within his
voice, and he plays his guitar with every ounce of
expression that is called for, and yet the whole
performance is at the same time a model of restraint.
Anyway, I just like it. The performance on Good
As I Been To You is equally great.
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