What Can I Do For You? ...8:54 am
Some people who haven’t read it assume that Christopher Ricks’ 2003 book, Dylan’s Visions of Sin, is about religious elements of Dylan’s work. It isn’t — it’s essentially an exploration of poetic elements, sources and strengths in Dylan’s oeuvre. Yet, the ways in which Ricks (a self-described atheist) does deal with some of Dylan’s songs of faith is notable and worthy. One of my favorite passages in that book is about Dylan’s song What Can I Do For You?. Below is some of what Ricks writes:
Addressed to God, then, the question “What can I do for You?” does not just allow, it demands, the immediate recognition of two opposite answers.
From one point of view … the answer to “What can I do for You?,” when addressed to the Absolute Being Who is God, is “absolutely nothing.” Not “relatively nothing.” But from another point of view … the answer is “everything.” T.S. Eliot wrote of such a condition with a hush that is audible in those sheltering parentheses of his that admit the point:
A condition of complete simplicity
(Costing not less than everything)
(Little Gidding)What can I do for You? Nothing. This is the answer granted by humility. If this may be humiliating as an admission, it is none the worse for that, since without the possibility of humiliation there would never be the possibility of humility. What Can I Do For You? seeks humility, and so it comprehends pride. For Pride, alone of the seven deadly sins, has a good side. This isn’t a matter of distinguishing a vice from an adjacent virtue (foolhardiness may look like courage but isn’t truly courage) but of the distinction that attaches to pride in itself: that it is the word for a virtue, too. The sin that is Envy must often envy Pride this. We do well to have pride in, to take pride in, the right things. Which is where the other answer to the question “What can I do for You?” comes in. Everything. By the saving grace that’s over me, this goes without saying — though not without praying.
The double assurance, nothing and everything, is an intensification of an interrogative urging of which Dylan has long heard the urgency. He has always felt the force of such questions as must be answered both yes and no — the force, not the convenience of this, because having to give two answers, yes and no, is not at all the same as having recourse to the slurred syphonation of yes-and-no, evasively lazy in its lackadaisical lack of convictions. … “I’m not askin’ you to say words like ‘yes’ or ‘no’” (Mama, You Been on My Mind) — but I may be asking you to say both the words yes and no.
From February 5th, 1980, in Knoxville, Tennessee, here’s a sample of Dylan performing this song with feeling (and some pretty far out harmonica blowing).
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Saturday, June 24, 2006
“Let’s Drop the Big One Now” ...2:17 pm
It’s amusing to see such “serious” Democratic Party policy experts as former VP Walter Mondale and former Clinton administration Secretary of Defense Willam Perry advocating a pre-emptive strike on North Korea’s potential ICBM launch site.
Is this a foray into opening a new Democratic front against the Bush administration? That is, to continue describing the war in Iraq as a pointless mistake but to demonstrate national defense gonads by saying that Bush is being too easy on North Korea and should attack now?
And if this assault on North Korean territory should suffice to set off Kim Jong Il’s hair trigger and send a million DPRK troops over the border, what do they say then? “Whoops?”
Perry anticipates such a scenario thusly:
Though war is unlikely, it would be prudent for the United States to enhance deterrence by introducing U.S. air and naval forces into the region at the same time it made its threat to strike the Taepodong. If North Korea opted for such a suicidal course, these extra forces would make its defeat swifter and less costly in lives — American, South Korean and North Korean.
Ah, just as easy as that, huh? And the millions of South Koreans in Seoul who are sitting in the cross-hairs of the biggest pre-arranged artillery barrage on planet Earth? I guess they should just take a few days off and go to the beach!
And what do you tell the people of America, who are hardly prepared to deal with the deaths of unknowable thousands of American soldiers in a new war on the Korean peninsula (potentially a nuclear war) that would be just about certain to make the Iraq war look like — if I may use the term — “a cake walk?”
One line of VP Dick Cheney’s response to this garbage, I must say, is worth all the paper that William Perry’s opinion piece was printed on.
“If you’re going to launch strikes at another nation,” Cheney told CNN in an interview, “you’d better be prepared to not just fire one shot.”
Indeed. Intercepting the missile after launch is another story. It would be only prudent to to do that if the trajectory is pointing towards the United States. Doing it would both deny the North Koreans the full data they would like on the missile’s performance, as well as discouraging further development. On the other hand, if it were known that the U.S. attempted to shoot the missile down and failed, that would be both a propaganda victory and a source of encouragement to Kim Jong Il.
None of these decisions are easy ones. Thankfully, there are currently adults in the White House to make them.
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FATHER ...1:28 pm
RWB hopes that the bard of Hibbing is taking delight in doing and producing so much these days that all the world’s annoying Dylanologists simply can’t keep up. (… continue reading …)
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Friday, June 23, 2006
Kuwaiti Ballot Boxes ...8:22 am
Been unconscionably busy and distracted these past few days. I know I’m behind on not one but two “Theme Time Radio Hours” and will catch up for sure certain this weekend. Those things can’t be rushed, as you would well understand.
Just a quick link here to Amir Taheri’s column in this morning’s New York Post, in which he writes about the election taking place in Kuwait next week (where women will be voting and standing for office) and the continued steady pressure that tyranny is experiencing in the Arab world generally.
Some of this new interest in elections is due to the impact of Iraq on the broader Arab imagination. With a mixture of admiration and terror, Arab ruling elites saw how Saddam Hussein’s regime - regarded as the strongest of the Arab despotic structures in recent memory - collapsed within three weeks. The message was clear: An Arab regime without some mandate from the people is never more than a house of cards.
Next, the Arab masses saw millions of Iraqis lining up to cast ballots in several local elections, a referendum and two general elections, all within a couple of years.
Even several radical Islamist movements have converted to elections, as opposed to armed jihad, as a means of winning power. How sincere that conversion proves to be in the long run remains an open question; still, groups that had always claimed that elections were nothing but a “plot hatched by Jews and Crusaders” to confuse Muslims have been forced to admit that the Arab masses, given the chance, take to elections like ducks to water.
Not all Arab elections held since the Bush Doctrine burst into the Middle East can be regarded as genuine. Some despotic regimes have held votes that amounted to little more than a compliment that vice pays to virtue. In some countries, however - Yemen, Algeria, Morocco, Kuwait and Iraq are the main examples - each election has been more credible than the one before, with prospects of further improvements in future.
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Persuading and, when necessary, forcing Arab states to hold elections is important for another reason. Throughout history, Arab states claimed legitimacy based on divine mandate. In more recent times, regimes built around military juntas developed another theory of legitimacy - this time based on the myth of revolution. Both theories denied lesser mortals the right to bestow or withdraw legitimacy.
The holding of elections, however, is a clear admission that the principal basis for legitimacy is the will of the people as freely expressed through ballot boxes. In well-established democracies, this may sound trite; in Arab societies, it is a revolutionary idea. Thus, every election held in any Arab country must be regarded as a major event.
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Tuesday, June 20, 2006
Preserved In Desire ...10:46 am
Thanks to reader Jay for the links to two stories in NorthJersey.com (one and two)which ruminate on the case of Hurricane (… continue reading …)
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Saturday, June 17, 2006
Modern Times ...3:08 pm
Well, it’s too late to put up a flashing siren on this story, and that pains me a great deal, but of-course it’s been announced that (… continue reading …)
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Alive ...12:45 pm
Apologies for the longer than expected lapse in blogging. Somehow, the world seems to have kept turning, but no doubt much has gone awry and RWB will strive to set it to rights. Some have wondered where one might go in this day and age where there is no connectivity and no ability to put up blog posts. Well, someday I may share details of my trip into that heart of darkness, but only after the deaths of certain key players and the assuredness of precipitating neither indictments nor international ruptures.
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Thursday, June 8, 2006
Incommunicado ...4:00 pm
RWB is unlikely to be in a position to post for the next 7 days. By all means enjoy the break, along with this picture of my dog Billie.
P.S.: This also means I won’t be able to provide the usual prompt rundown on Dylan’s next “Theme Time Radio Hour” on Wednesday, June 14th, but rest assured it will be delivered when ready.
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Real Gone ...9:58 am
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is dead. Intelligence value be damned — it’s much better to know he’s finished. Given his druthers, I think that there’s no doubt he would have joined the long list of al-Qaeda bigs who proved themselves curiously unwilling to fight to the death, when faced with an opportunity for martyrdom: people like Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Abu Zubaydah, and Ramzi Binalshibh. Then, we’d even now be hearing the usual voices calling for him to be treated fairly, and no doubt expressing indignation at the photos of him being led away roughly by insensitive soldiers.
But even the most cowardly piece of scum has difficulty surrendering to a 500 pound bomb.
Congratulations to the U.S. Armed Forces, who are doing such brave and incredible work every day, and whose persistence has achieved this victory and every other.
Via AllahPundit, this link to a story on reaction in Baghdad.
Joy filled Baghdad’s hot streets, as gun shots sounded through the air, and cars packed with overjoyed Iraqi’s roamed the streets. Iraqis were sharing sweets with people outside their homes.
Civil organizations paraded as they condemned violence chanting “death to Zarqawi and Saddamites.” Thursday’s celebrations could be compared to the jubilation in Baghdad’s streets the day Saddam Hussein was captured.
…
Addendum: As a reader reminded me, if there was ever someone over whose grave you would like to stand to make sure that he’s dead, the late Abu definitively qualifies. Audio sample here..
Addendum II: Hot Air has the airstrike video here.
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Wednesday, June 7, 2006
JAIL ...1:49 pm
Dylan appears only to be getting looser as he continues his radio career. Today’s “Theme Time Radio Hour” on XM Radio flowed especially naturally — perhaps an indication (… continue reading …)
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Tuesday, June 6, 2006
Still Supposed To Feel Bad? ...12:27 pm
Via LGF, I see the BBC is asking whether Israel was right to bomb the Osirak nuclear reactor in Iraq twenty-five years ago.
Maybe the lyric that sums it up best at this point is from Lorenz Hart: “This funny world is making fun of you.”
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Sunday, June 4, 2006
One More Cup of Coffee ...5:18 pm
On the excellent basis of “Why not?” — here’s a few more cracks I picked up and noted down from Dylan’s last “Theme Time Radio Hour,” the one about coffee:
“A lot of people compared songwriters Chris Difford and Glenn Tilbrook to Lennon and McCartney. But they were much younger.”
…
About Curtis Gordon (after playing his record “Caffeine and Nicotine”): “Had great players on his records. Those boys were designing nuclear weapons.”
…
“Caffeine can release fatty acids from fatty tissue, without using a wrench.”
…
“Y’know, at one time coffee was believed to be the drink of the devil. When Pope Vincent the Third heard about this, he decided to taste the drink before banning it. In fact, he enjoyed coffee so much, he wound up baptizing it, stating, ‘Coffee is so delicious, it would be a pity to let the infidels have exclusive use of it.’ I also feel that way about coffee. And about TV. And about Blur.” (before playing Blur’s song, “Coffee and TV.”)
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In the Summertime ...1:57 pm
Not sure of the exact date and location of this performance of In the Summertime, but it’s from Dylan’s 2002 U.S. tour. It’s a jaunty take on the song from his 1981 album, Shot of Love, with the added color of backing vocals from the band. Mp3 sample here.
In the summertime, ah in the summertime,
In the summertime when you were with me.
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Saturday, June 3, 2006
Lucky Strike ...4:27 pm
Getting back to coffee and cigarettes: RWB happened to be whiling away some time listening to a Jack Benny radio show from April of 1952, when some interesting arguments in favor of smoking presented themselves. Click below to be enlightened:
What I’m wondering is: Why aren’t these things still used as selling points?
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Addendum: Audio files of many old Jack Benny radio shows can be found here. The International Fan club is located here (and dig the campaign to put Jack on the U.S. 39 cent stamp).
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Friday, June 2, 2006
The Dust of Rumors ...3:52 pm
Iraqi blogger Omar has an interesting post on a big rumor circulating in Baghdad lately; namely that the U.S. is going to stage a military coup and install a Sunni general to crack down on everybody and allow for an early withdrawal of American troops. He analyzes how this rumor has spread due to its serving the purposes of both sides: The Sunnis, who like to fantasize that they will be ascendant again with a single blow, and the Shi’ites, who use the story as justification for maintaining their large, armed militias.
This reflects that there’s still a big chunk of the population here in the Middle East that is having a hard time believing that the change has happened, understanding democracy and throwing behind the old conspiracy theory mentalities; a tough but essential struggle for establishing a new system.
What worries me a lot is hearing people in Iraq in particular and in the Middle East in general saying that this region not good enough a land for democracy and that these countries will always need dictators to put things in order and preserve security and stability; these are remarks I hear all the time and some even go as far as saying that Saddam’s reign was good for Iraq.
The indisputable fact is that dictatorship did not lead us to become an advanced nation and I never heard of a dictatorship that was able to make a nation free and advanced and the results we reached from decades of dictatorship was nothing we could ever be proud of.
Some here say that Saddam managed to control the country but they admit he was bad and they think that if only he looked after economy better than he did then things would’ve been way better … maybe the common dream among my people of generation is to become the one good ruler who can fix all the mistakes of the previous bad rulers but reality proves that everyone who came to power in any of the earlier nationalist tyrannical governments turned out to be “bad”.
In fact this has nothing to do with the individuals in power and perhaps that’s the core of the problem; here in the Middle East we need to understand that it’s all about the system we choose for our countries and we’re yet to absorb this.
It’s a fascinating view from someone in the thick of it — by all means read it all.
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