Desolation Row

So I'm a huge Bob Dylan fan because the man is a lyrical genius. His songs range from completely random such as "I Shall be Free" to philosophically deep anthems like "The Times They Are-A Changin'". What makes Dylan a truly great artist is that his music is transferable, transferable in the sense that it can jump genres easily and to great effect. By random chance I ended up listening to My Chemical Romance's version of "Desolation Row" and I am still in the process of being blown away! Although their music is drastically different than that of Dylan, they captured the essence of the song "Desolation Row" to such a great degree that it could be considered better than the original Dylan version.

This isn't the first time Dylan's music had done this. Consider "All Along the Watchtower." Dylan wrote this song, but it was Jimi Hendrix's music that made it famous and I will again argue that Jimi's music captured the essence of that song. It was Dylan's lyrics ringing through Jimi's music that created a winning combination. This encourages me because I feel like every story of life has already been told, and although I am living the same story as many people before me, I can have my own twist on the story (my own music) and thus embody the essence of life.

To that end, and the end of this post, I want to revisit some time I spent with my grandfather one day before he passed on. He told me a story of himself as a young man, and I found his stories to be eerily parallel to the situations I found myself in at the time. The pitfalls that he faced were the exact same as the pitfalls facing me then and today, and his story of how he overcame those situations, or succumbed to them, were an inspiration to me. Talking to him gave me hope that my song would follow the same lyrics as his, but my music would capture a different emotion. If I live my life, and live it like he lived his, I have succeeded in living a good life. To come full cycle, Bob Dylan's song "Gospel Plow" always makes me remember my granddad. My grandfather told me the story when he was 11 he had to plow between crops that were taller than him, and at the time he was too young to turn the plow himself, so his mules had to do it for him. He would work from sun up until dark six days a week, and when he finished, he had to start all over again the next week. To have that much resolve at such a young age is a testament to my grandfather's character, and I think of him often and drawn on his strength. I think it is true that no matter your current status and no matter your walk of life... "You'll Never Walk Alone."

--DoE