the Facebook poster notes
"Under the Red Sky" is one of several songs on Dylan's 1990 album "Under the Red Sky" that sounds quite a bit like a fairy tale - albeit a rather disturbing or at least unsettling one. I can't help wondering if this characteristic of his a number of his lyrics at the time was at least somewhat related to the fact that his daughter Desiree was a young child at that time. Despite its mild, innocent-sounding start, the song wanders through some rather sad, forlorn-sounding twists and turns. Although even at the start, the "red sky" that hangs over the little boy's and little girl's alley does sound kind of foreboding.
When I ponder the song's story, I also can't help being reminded of an anecdote I read a number of years ago, which described how for a while, Bob kept dropping into one of his grandson's kindergarten class to play for the kids. The children used to call him "scary guitar man" and after a while, the teacher asked his grandson's parent to tell him to please not come anymore, because the songs he sang frightened the children and made some of them cry.
Makes you wonder what exactly he was playing for the little ones. Probably not "Froggie Went A-Courtin' or "This Old Man," both of which Dylan recorded for release. I hope it wasn't something like "Precious Angel," with this verse: "Can they imagine the darkness that will fall from on high When men will beg God to kill them and they won’t be able to die?"
by Artur Artist presents "The Casper Collection"
