In his book Tangled Up In The Bible, Michael J. Gilmour draws two connections between lines in What Good Am I? and lines of Scripture. He compares the themes of “ignoring the cries of others/saying foolish things/laughing at others’ sorrows” to Proverbs 21:13:

Whoso stoppeth his ears at the cry of the poor, he also shall cry himself, but shall not be heard.

And he links the line, “If I turn a deaf ear to the thunderin’ sky,” to Biblical references to the voice of God being like thunder, e.g. Psalms 18:13:

The LORD also thundered in the heavens, and the Highest gave his voice; hail stones and coals of fire.

Click here for a clip of Bob Dylan performing What Good Am I? in Sarasota, Florida on November 9th, 1992.

Funnily enough, in the live version I linked to, Dylan leaves out the verse that includes “thunderin’ sky,” (or “thunder in the sky”) and changes the line, “If I shut myself off so I can’t hear you cry,” to “If I just turn my back every time you go by.” No matter; I like the version for Dylan’s poignant vocal. Also worth noting is his (then) very characteristic acoustic guitar picking which drives the final instrumental half of the performance.

The “message” of the song is in any case clearly rooted in the Bible throughout — you could link it also to Matthew, Chapter 22:

“Master, which is the great commandment in the law?”

Jesus said unto him, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

This is the first and great commandment.

And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”

Jesus’ words echo passages from Deuteronomy and Leviticus.

You can also hear the Sermon on the Mount in What Good Am I?, and indeed quite a bit more, as Ronnie Keohane does in her meditation on it from 2001.

All of this might seem like excessive consideration of what comes across as a very simple song, but then simplicity shouldn’t be mistaken for lack of depth. The recorded version, on Oh Mercy, actually emphasizes the simplicity and nakedness of the lyric, with an arrangement full of pauses and space. The sense of soul-searching comes through loud and clear. The live version linked above has a different effect; to me, it sounds more like a lament. And so it’s also a great example of how Dylan has gone at his songs from different angles in live performance, sometimes striking gold, and sometimes not, but always making the effort to stretch rather than just reproduce.

...................
Share this!

Posts which might be related to this one based on a mysterious algorithm:

• Mister Pitiful
• The Murmur of a Prayer
• Good Friday