MURDER MOST FOULBy John Nogowski
Published May 28, 2024.
“When E.F. Hutton talks, people listen.” Some of usremember that vintage TV commercial, where twobusinessmen are retrieving their bags at a luggageclaim. As soon as one of them begins to speak, everyonestops to listen, hanging on his every word.
Bob Dylan had a moment like that, probably his last,on March 27, 2020, four long years ago. Somehow itseems even longer than that.
It was late on a Friday night in March of that year,a fearful nation hiding inside their homes, wonderingif the plague of COVID might strike them, whenunannounced, Dylan quietly decides to slip out hisfirst new composition in eight years, a haunting 16:56elegy for all he – and we – had seen and heard sincethat fateful November afternoon in Dallas whenassassins – nobody knows how many – snuffed out thelife of our youthful president. Dylan then issues abrief statement on Twitter.
“Greetings to my fans and followers with gratitudefor all your support and loyalty across the years,”Dylan tweeted that Friday night. “This is an unreleasedsong we recorded a while back that you might findinteresting. Stay safe, stay observant and may God bewith you. Bob Dylan”
Stay safe. Stay observant. May God be with you, anabsolutely unexpected blessing from one of our greatvoices of freedom. To some, it was a reminder to allthat we’d been through impossibly awful, ugly momentsbefore and we could – and would – carry on. To others,it was Bob Dylan’s conscience speaking up for everyone,telling all of us we’d be OK.
America was listening. Even at almost 17-minutesplus – an unspeakable length for radio – “Murder MostFoul” went to No. 1 on Billboard. A first for a79-year-old! And also his first No. 1 record after allthose years! Imagine that.
Turning 83 on Thursday, Dylan will resume his 2024tour in Atlanta on June 21 as part of the Outlaw MusicFestival, sharing the stage with Willie Nelson, RobertPlant (formerly of Led Zeppelin) and Alison Krauss andwill play on through the summer. He’s done 24 showsthis year so far, 76 last year, 82 the year beforethat. In all, 3,066 going all the way back to when hestarted in the early 60’s, a precocious, whiny-voiced20-year-old from Minnesota singing about “A Hard Rain’sGonna Fall” or “Blowin’ In The Wind” or “The Times AreA-Changin’.” They certainly were.
To many, he was the voice of that change, speakingout against war, injustice, racism, the politics of theera before picking up the beat from The Beatles andleaving his acoustic anthems behind and creating hisown distinctive, influential brand of poetic rock androll in the mid-sixties and was booed for it. “Judas”one unbeliever cried in an British ballroom.
From there, Dylan ventured into country music, abrief swipe at middle-of-the-road music, then thestarting confessional “Blood On The Tracks”, apatriotic “Rolling Thunder Revue” tour and shows andmovies and more shows all the way through now.
Along the way, he won the Nobel Prize forLiterature, an Academy Award for the wry tune “ThingsHave Changed,” was awarded the Presidential Medal ofFreedom, toured the world, wrote a couple of acclaimedbooks, dj’d 100 episodes of a fabulously imaginativeradio show (“Theme Time Radio”) for Sirius, created abrand of whiskey, paintings and iron gates (!), made afew movies that, at best, were quirky, and whetheryou’re a fan or not, Dylan has been an unrelenting,unstoppable creative force in American popular culturefor, why, half a century now.
And you can still go see him, like I did inJacksonville about a month ago. Sure, I admit that eventhough I knew the song list, few of his songs wererecognizable from the first few notes, some wereunfamiliar halfway through but that’s Bob. Havingwritten three books about the guy, followed him for50-plus years, he’s not trying to please anybody. Neverhas.
As he sang on one of his most popular and recentsongs “Goodbye Jimmy Reed” – “Never pandered, neveracted proud, never took of my shoes, threw them intothe crowd.”
Instead, he’s followed his own, often inexplicablepath through the world of popular music, even when itseemed America wasn’t listening. Which is why, to me,that moment in March, four years back, was so poignant.Imagine having the nerve to release a 17-minute song,your first original material in eight years, thosehaunting, elegiac words and hypnotic music echoing fromcoast-to-coast…
It was like, well, dammit, Bob Dylan had somethingimportant to say and share. One more time.
John Nogowski is the author of "Bob Dylan: ADescriptive, Critical Discography and Filmography:1961-2022, (3rd edition)" available on amazon.com - .co.uk - .de
