Jokerman
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| Analytical Commentary |
|---|
| Who is the Jokerman? This commentary proposes that the Jokerman is Dylan the Jew: An individual blessed with charisma and cursed with turbulence, aware of
God's commands but unsure of their reality and of his ability to respond. Is this Dylan the Jew before Jesus or after Lubavitch? I believe the latter. |
| Standing on the water... while the eyes of the idol: To understand this song, it is important to separate the Jokerman who is "standing on the water" from all
that is going on around him. The world of the Jokerman -- of all of us in the late 20th century -- is full of idols with iron heads, stalkers, molotov cocktails, men
placing orphans at the feet of harlots. Amid this chaos stands the Jokerman, with great power and greater confusion. |
| Jokerman Lyrics | Biblical Commentary
Thanks to Susan Isserman for the insight and
inspiration |
|---|
| Your bread: A key principle by which Dylan is interpreted is
that "you" and "he" is Dylan, singing to himself, about himself. | Standing on the water
Casting your bread
While the eyes of the idol with
the iron head
Are glowin' | Cast your bread upon the waters, for you shall find
it after many days (Ecclesiastes 11:1). There is faith
in this, but it is a different, less intense, wiser faith
than that of the God-intoxicated ba'al teshuva, the
born-again penitent. It is a faith that good deeds will
be repaid in kind -- but with a hint of doubt as well.
"Thou knowest not the the works of God who
makes all," cautions Ecclesiastes, the preacher in
Jerusalem, four verses later. |
| Born with a snake: Microphones in his fists, the emblems of
Dylan's power as a central figure in American culture in the
generation following the war -- the hurricane -- the Holocaust
-- which raged at his birth. | Distant ships sail into the mist
You were born with a snake in
both of your fists
While a hurricane was blowin'
Freedom
Just around the corner from you
But with truth so far off
What good will it do
|
| The setting sun has religious significance in Judaism. Sunset
marks the time for evening prayers. Sunset marks the
transition to, or from, the Sabbath or holiday. Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik, may his memory be for a
blessing, used a sunset to exemplify the head space of the
"Halachic Man" -- someone living, breathing, thinking the
categories of Jewish law -- in contradistinction to an artist or
scientist. A scientist, he wrote, sees the sun set and observes
the scattering of light through the atmosphere and the
operations of orbital mechanics. An artist sees the interplay of
color and light. And the Halachic man sees the obligation to
pray.
When the sun sets on Saturday evening, you rise up and say
goodbye to the Sabbath. To no one? Well, there's nobody
there, nothing real, nothing concrete. Is this a befuddled
description of Jewish practice by a naive narrator? Is this a
Christian mocking Jewish rituals? Or is this the song of
someone observing the Sabbath and the parting havdalah
ritual, but full of doubt and uncertainty?
| Chorus:
Jokerman dance to the
nightingale tune
Bird fly high by the light of
the moon
Oh, Jokerman
|
So swiftly the sun
Sets in the sky
You rise up and say goodbye
To no one. |
| Fools and angels: The dualities that Dylan has again
discovered inside himself. Both of their futures could be his as
leaves behind the Christian certitudes, shedding off one more
layer of skin. | Fools rush in where angels fear
to tread
Both of their futures
So full of dread
You don't show one.
Shedding off one more layer of
skin
Keeping one step ahead of the
persecutor within. | The story of Jacob is alluded to very strongly in this
stanza. Jacob wrestled with the angel; he is called
"ish tam" -- a simple man, a fool. Both of their
futures, Jacob and twin Esau. The layer of goat
skin Jacob wrapped on his arm to fool his father as
he cheats his brother out of the blessing. Running in
flight, watching the angels rise as the sun sets. |
| A man of the mountain country of Minnesota, a
manipulator of crowds, he is going back to the Sodom and
Gomorrah that is the world. Ain't nobody there who
would marry his (Jewish) sister. | You're a man of the mountains,
you can walk on the clouds
Manipulator of crowds, you're a
dream twister.
You're going to Sodom and
Gomorrah
But What do you care? Ain't
nobody there would want to marry
your sister.
Friend to the martyr, a friend
to the woman of shame,
You look into the fiery furnace,
see the rich man without any
name. | A story from the age of Abraham. Cast into the fiery
furnace as a boy. A man of the mountains (Hebron
is the hill country). Defender of Sodom and
Gomorrah -- home to his nephew, Lot. He did
marry his sister (by some Rabbinic accounts) or at
least passed his wife off as a sibling. Friend to God
-- Hebron means friend, in Arabic it is known as al
Halil, the friend (of God). |
| The Book of Leviticus: Here we have the troubled Jew,
armed on the one hand with the Jewish Bible (Leviticus and
Deuteronomy being the most legalistic books of the
Pentateuch, the least meaningful for Christians unconcerned
with the Commandments) and with the uncertainties and
confusions of the lawless on the other hand. (These are
certainly not the "only" teachers of Jesus.) For Dylan King David (the righteous king who wrote psalms
besides moonlit streams) has exemplified this intoxicating
combination of the sacred and the profane. Should we be
surprised? David seemed to have it all -- the bedrooms and
the battles, the songs and the sacred, fame that endured for
3,000 years. Is it any surprise that as Dylan emerges from a
period of Born Again renunciation he looks to David?
Like David fleeing King Saul, Dylan is still on the run, unsure
of his relation to the turbulent stage on which he has been
thrust, knowing -- hoping? -- that however much he wants to
find peace, he will end up in bed with sin.
| The book of Leviticus and
Deuteronomy
The law of the jungle and the
sea
Are your only teachers
In the smoke of the twilight on
a milk-white steed
Michelangelo indeed could have
carved out your features
Resting in the field far from
turbulent space
Fast asleep 'neath the stars
with a small dog licking your
face | King David is in these verses. His features carved
by Michelangelo, ancestor of the Messiah,
prophesied to enter Jerusalem on a milk-white
donkey. Sleeping under the stars while on the run
from King Saul. |
| Who'll get there first is uncertain: Salvation is no longer
guaranteed. Faith is not what it used to be. Is it up to the
Jokerman to save the sick and the lame? Will he make the
effort? The political world is full of strife, of violent uprisings
(the Palestinian Intifada begun in 1987 was not the first time
in the decade that Israel hosted nightsticks, tear gas,
Molotov cocktails and rocks). And it will get worse, the
apocalypse is at hand. Only a matter of time until night comes
stepping in. (Or is this only a false-hearted judgement of a
web spinner?) | Rifleman stalking... |
| Shadowy world, skies are slippery gray: The world isn't
fully evil, heavens aren't fully white. If, as the Tradition has it,
the Messiah will come when the world is fully good or fully
evil, then he isn't coming soon. A prince today: Ok, so here the Jewish interpretation
breaks down and one concedes that Dylan has been reading
too much from the Book of Revelation. The prince of evil is
being born; the devil is at hand. Or is it? Is the priest really
the good guy? Is the harlot really the wicked woman? Isn't
the Jokerman a friend to the woman of shame?
But whatever the circumstance, we come back to the
Jokerman. Which path is he going to follow? Will he stop the
prince? Oh, Jokerman, you don't show any response.
| It's a shadowy world
Skies are slippery gray
A woman gave birth to a prince
today and dressed him in scarlet
He'll put the priest in his
pocket
Put the blade to the heat
Take the motherless children
And place them at the feet of
the harlot
Oh, Jokerman, you know what he
wants,
Oh, Jokerman, you don't show any
response. |
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