now i remember... what i was going to say yesterday. it's a little thing... nothing really... just another bump in the road... a little more sand in the vaseline... a minor irritation... so...

you already know that i have a possibly unreasonable enthusiasm for the work of bob dylan. you may know that i like to watch west wing on wednesday evenings (9 eastern/8 central). well, this past wednesday we were well-launched into the show... it must have been the second or third commercial break... i hear the timid sad pulse of a familiar organ, laid over the pretty, burlesque (as in soft-porn) stylings of a victoria's secret commercial... then:

i'm walking..... through streets that are dead
i'm walking ...... walking with you in my head

it's dylan.

it's the sound of dylan cashing in.

it's - i believe - the first dylan tune to be tossed out onto the street... a sad-eyed, fine-painted lady of the lowlands... giving the eye to passers-by.

o... you might think i'd jump up and cry out NO! this cannot must not be... JUDAS!

but i didn't... i don't think... i only got a little sad. cuz you see something had just ended... a little bit of something slipped away. but that's ok... i'm a big boy now... i been there before... and so has mr. dylan

you told yourself a lie
that's alright mama i told myself one too

the great stark, bent poetry of the recent two albums makes it clear that there are no more illusions to buoy up a listener's faint dreams... you must lose everything... and you will....

so i'm here trying to talk myself into some place where i can understand that casting out a fine tune for the sale of sexy women's undergarments is some kind of necessary spiritual practice... another gesture toward the ultimate renunciation of all material concerns..... but... o... bob.... underwear?

but... why not? why not underwear....

i've looked all around the dylan sites, searched the discussion groups, and haven't found a word about this commercial. i'd think i dreamed it (the dreams have been kind of wild lately)... but jay saw it too. maybe it's just too much for us all... maybe we need some time to think about this...

ah well...

it's not dark yet, but it's getting there....

The rich man . . . is always sold to the institution which makes him rich. Absolutely speaking, the more money, the less virtue.

Henry David Thoreau

 

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