BOB DYLAN: MURDER MOST FOUL
To save you the effort of wading through the torrents and tirades of racist filth that is and has become the comments section in the website Big O (Before I Get Old) here's another review of Bob's new album Rough And Rowdy Ways. . . .well one song interview review . . . . . . . worth a read and Jefferson Morley writes from a point of really knowing his chops
In “Murder Most Foul,” Bob Dylan could not have been more explicit in his rejection of the dubious official story which holds John F Kennedy was killed by one man for no reason. The Nobel Laureate has taken the skeleton out of the closet. But does anybody still care? By Jefferson Morley.
“Bob Dylan Has a Lot on His Mind,” the New York Times reported on June 12. That’s for sure. In late March, as the Covid-19 pandemic shut down America, the 79-year-old singer-songwriter released “Murder Most Foul,” an epic, 17-minute song-poem about the assassination of President John F Kennedy. [Ed: On June 19, 2020, Bob Dylan released his 39th studio album, Rough And Rowdy Ways, which contained the single, Murder Most Foul. The song was released on March 27, 2020. Lasting 16 minutes, 56 seconds, it is the longest song Dylan has released.]
Since “Who killed JFK?” is one of the central questions of American history, you might think that the Times interviewer, historian Douglas Brinkley would ask the Nobel laureate about how he came to compose his dark and brooding take on November 22, 1963. You might think Brinkley, a CNN commentator, would ask Dylan why he decided to release the song as the country and the world reeled from a plague.
You might think wrong. Brinkley asked Dylan four questions about “Murder Most Foul,” none of which concerned Dylan’s thoughts about how and why the liberal president was shot dead in broad daylight, and no one was ever brought to justice for the crime.
In “Murder Most Foul,” Dylan could not have been more explicit in his rejection of the dubious official story which holds Kennedy was killed by one man for no reason. Over a rippling guitar and piano accompaniment, Dylan growls out a biting dissent from the conventional “lone nut” wisdom.
The day they blew out the brains of the king
Thousands were watching; no one saw a thing
It happened so quickly, so quick, by surprise
Right there in front of everyone’s eyes
Greatest magic trick ever under the sun
Perfectly executed, skillfully done
Wolfman, oh wolfman, oh wolfman howl
Rub-a-dub-dub, it’s a murder most foul
In a telling display of the intellectual denial that dumbs down media discussion of JFK’s assassination, Brinkley did his best to evade the challenge of Dylan’s deeply political art. Brinkley (or perhaps the Times editors) did not care to mention the dread word of “conspiracy,” even though Dylan’s belief that JFK was killed by powerful enemies propels his stream of consciousness song from beginning to end.
Historian Douglas Brinkley asked Bob Dylan four questions about “Murder Most Foul,” none of which concerned Dylan’s thoughts about how and why the liberal president was shot dead in broad daylight, and no one was ever brought to justice for the crime.
Questions Dumb and Dumber
Dylan, who is clearly well-versed in the case of the murdered president, makes his point obvious with cutting couplets. About the official story, he snarls,
I’m just a patsy
like Patsy Cline
Didn’t shoot nobody
from in front or behind.
Brinkley, adept at missing the point, begins by asking an odd question: “Was ‘Murder Most Foul’ written as a nostalgic eulogy for a long-lost time?”
That’s a weird description of an unsentimental song about the awful impact of a bloody deed. Dylan punted the question politely.
“To me it’s not nostalgic,” Dylan said. “I don’t think of ‘Murder Most Foul’ as a glorification of the past or some kind of send-off to a lost age. It speaks to me in the moment. It always did, especially when I was writing the lyrics out.”
“Somebody auctioned off a sheaf of unpublished transcripts in the 1990s that you wrote about JFK’s murder,” Brinkley went on. “Were those prose notes for an essay or were you hoping to write a song like ‘Murder Most Foul’ for a long time?”
“I’m not aware of ever wanting to write a song about JFK.” Dylan replied, reminding Brinkley that ‘Murder Most Foul’ is about a crime, not a politician. (Dylan added, “A lot of those auctioned-off documents have been forged. The forgeries are easy to spot because somebody always signs my name on the bottom.”)
When it comes to JFK’s assassination, Bob Dylan has a lot on his mind, but the New York Times doesn’t dare talk about it.
Brinkley continued to dance around the subject of JFK’s murder in favor of two themes, technology and hyper-industrialization, that appear exactly nowhere in Dylan’s song.
“There is a lot of apocalyptic sentiment in ‘Murder Most Foul,’ Brinkley said. “Are you worried that in 2020 we’re past the point of no return? That technology and hyper-industrialization are going to work against human life on Earth?
Dylan chided Brinkley for his solipsism.
“Sure, there’s a lot of reasons to be apprehensive about that,” he said, “There’s definitely a lot more anxiety and nervousness around now than there used to be. But that only applies to people of a certain age like me and you, Doug. We have a tendency to live in the past, but that’s only us. Youngsters don’t have that tendency. They have no past, so all they know is what they see and hear, and they’ll believe anything.”
A competent interviewer might have followed up by asking Dylan why he still cares about JFK’s death or what young people should believe about November 22. Instead, Brinkley closed by asking a question so lame as to be ludicrous
“Your mention of Don Henley and Glenn Frey on ‘Murder Most Foul’ came off as a bit of a surprise to me,” Brinkley said. “What Eagles songs do you enjoy the most?”
Huh? The greatest poet of his generation writes a complex lyric about the most important assassination of the 20th century and releases it amid the biggest catastrophe of the 21st century–and this tenured historian enquires about the man’s taste in 1970s soft rock. Now that is denial.
Never patient with clueless interviewers, Dylan replied facetiously.
“‘New Kid in Town,’ ‘Life in the Fast Lane,’ ‘Pretty Maids All in a Row.’ That could be one of the best songs ever,” he deadpanned. Brinkley probably thought he was serious.
When it comes to JFK’s assassination, Bob Dylan has a lot on his mind, but the New York Times doesn’t dare talk about it.
Note: Jefferson Morley, author of The Ghost: The Secret Life of CIA Spymaster James Jesus Angleton, is the editor of The Deep State blog. He is a member of the Truth & Reconciliation Committee, founded to reopen the investigations of the assassination of JFK, MLK, RFK, and Malcolm X. The above article was posted at CounterPunch.
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