Walking in Dylanapatawpha
Dylan is a child of the north. He was born in the northernmost end of the Highway 61, Duluth Minnesota. Raised in Hibing, Minesota, he attended University of Minnesota for a few semesters. He went to join the Village in the Big City, and the rest is history.
Yet, he has a thing for the American South(West). Romance In Durango, Senor, Stuck in Mobile with Memphis Blues, and If You Ever Go to Houston from his most recent album all carry a certain feeling of a hot and moist mystery with them.
But in all of his Southern songs, Brownsville Girl is the most perplexing and addictive. It is a 11 minute southern saga, a real jewel out of what some call the worst album in Dylan's discography. It is a mix of three different stories: a Gregory Peck western, the story of the narrator's old love affair with a modern day Bonnie, a.k.a the Brownsville Girl, and the road story of the narrator and his current love. The stories mix seamlessly in this lovely song, in which characters of the different seem to melt into each other. It also contains few really striking philosophical observations from Dylan...
I had written recently about how I discovered the gist of Inception in another Dylan song (link to my previous post). It seems like I am not the only one who thinks Dylan's songs sometimes can contain enough material for a feature film. There are rumors about the pre-production efforts to make a movie out of Brownsville Girl (link to the article), with the cast including Brad Pitt. I was very excited when I heard the news of the pre-production Dylan movie "I am not there", and even more so when it actually played in theaters across the globe. I really hope this project becomes a reality.
I suggest you listen to the song online (Grooveshark link), or read the lyrics (links to the lyrics)
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