The first thing that I want to compliment about the song is the title has good worse use because the writer makes it apparent that it's a bluesy subterranean song about being homesick. Or it could mean his home was subterranean, I'm not sure. The song itself is sung without many pauses or taking breathes. A whole verse in the song is an enjambment itself it seems. The way he uses this technique makes the song sounds like he's going on and on and on in a bouncy non stop rhythm. This makes the song sound less bluesy than a normal blues song would because it's sped up and has more energy in it. There is a good bit of assonance in the song and it sort of changes by the verse. Thoughout the song as a whole; however, he seems to constantly makes the aye and eh sounds when using vowels by his dialect. Examples for aye and eh being; laid , paid, basement, pavement, says, Johnny (john-eh) medicine, way, friend, eleven, face, bed, anyway, say, they, May, DA, better, stay, away, plain, wheather, well, hang, sell, tell, jailed, bailed, fails, and a good bit more and he uses a few of these words multiple times like well and way. As far as consonance go he uses g and k an awful lot but I'm not gonna list a huge page of examples to spare time so just trust me with this one.
Enjambment also occurs in this song especially before the chorus (not necessarily a chorus because it changes wording each time). He will be talking about what's happening in a home and it suddenly goes to the "look out kid" line. It seems as when the song moves on that becomes more common and happens almost every 2 lines and the subject totally changes to another character. There is also only very few lines that don't have a rhyme. The one I especially have that sticks out the most is "The pump doesn't work, the scandals took the handles". Which is just a noticeable free verse in the entire song. Just saying.
Reading Times:
Sunday - 45 minutes
Wednesday - 30 minutes
Thursday - 30 mintutes
Friday - 30 minutes
Saturday - 30 minutes
Well Anthony, interesting post, although I agree, definitely not finished.
ReplyDeleteyea, that's why I'm gonna finish it. Good job doing your homework right after school though.
DeleteGreat song! And it's tough to analyze, but you get a good bit out of it. (Dylan can be so clear when he wants to be and so random and confusing at other times - have you read his book of poems?).
ReplyDeleteThat last line does rhyme with lines a few before: candle, sandals, scandals, and it's got the internal rhyme of vandals/handles, but it definitely changes the rhyme as a whole.
I heard this song for the first time in years in my car a few weeks ago and decided maybe there's a Hamlet connection happening here, but that's a whole other post.