Jeanie Dean

What is Kesey summoning in this passage? He calls up our better selves and perhaps our denied selves like the Hungarian resistance.  He calls for the promise of youth,  the joy of youth and particularly joy of youth in the 1950-60s, he calls on spent youth and the uncompleted life.  Finally Kesey reminds us of then fledgling heroes of the day: Mailer, Miller and Clay, Dylan and Lennon; now august giants of their time.  However Dylan's cache of cataloging in "Murder Most Foul" is not directly named. 

Kudos to you Martin Black, Dylan does share Kesey's style, a laconic off-the-cuff, out-of-the-side-of-the-mouth, off-hand, multiple-conversations-at-once manner of speaking.  Kesey's writing in this piece is beautiful.  Yes, both works have in common this litany of icons in a postmodern dirge of remembrance for the dead. And Dylan and Kesey both call up emblems of collective presence in time. 

I venture to suggest that the mosaic of things and people Kesey summons and releases are more unified and recognized as emblems of a particular time or attitude in culture, whereas Dylan's litany is less easily located.   Billy Joel's "Start the Fire" is comparable too to Kesey's and Dylan's litanizing.   Billy Joel's list is particularly predictable and reliable as everybody's-top-ten-list-of-everything-we-like-to-recall-about-the-late-20th-century; his list fails to surprise. Dylan does intrigue and surprise us with his uncanny interjections. He calls on songs from the 1920s to the the 21st century, with "Dumbarton's Drums" from another century,  though we are not sure which one.  

Kesey's and Billy Joel's mantras are recognizable,  but it is hard to situate Dylan's allusions in time, maybe place, or theme or style. Dylan reconfigures well known cliches and figures-of-speech from various eras and contexts and re-images on a whole new screen.  In this respect Dylan is not like Kesey.  With Kesey we know those heroes and icons, know what they represent and we know how they fit together. With Dylan we don't easily discern how the many allusions connect. Do they fit together at all? Perhaps its too soon.  Ultimately the unity or themes that connects Dylan's mosaic is not so obvious; its not a clear shot to an identifiable target.

This mystification is like the infinite ambiguity and perfection of Dylans' most splendid and universally understood line, "It's not dark yet, but it's getting there."   We know what it is, but we can't say it precisely. 

In "Murder Most Foul," Dylan seems to be saying look at these other things, instead of the "Kennedy blues."  By the way did you know the blues album  Can't Keep from Crying was immediately released in 1964 by ten Blues artist to honor JFK. 

Is Dylan saying look away from JFK and the JFK problem? Why is he saying look away from JFK?  What are those other allusions telling as a message or as a unity?  Is it something idiosyncratic and unique to Dylan's experience?  Possibly.    

 Kesey's story is indeed a strong comparison to Dylan's newest song.  Both works remember the dead and summon icons of our collective cultural heritage in a unique  sideways and off-hand voice that expresses grief without saying so.  

Kudos to you Martin Black, Dylan does share Kesey's style, a laconic off-the-cuff, out-of-the-side-of-the-mouth, off-hand, multiple-conversations-at-once manner of speaking.  Kesey's writing in this piece is beautiful.  Yes, both works have in common this litany of icons in a postmodern dirge of remembrance for the dead. And Dylan and Kesey both call up emblems of collective presence in time. 

I venture to suggest that the mosaic of things and people Kesey summons and releases are more unified and recognized as emblems of a particular time or attitude in culture, whereas Dylan's litany is less easily located.   Billy Joel's "Start the Fire" is comparable too to Kesey's and Dylan's litanizing.   Billy Joel's list is particularly predictable and reliable as everybody's-top-ten-list-of-everything-we-like-to-recall-about-the-late-20th-century; his list fails to surprise. Dylan does intrigue and surprise us with his uncanny interjections. He calls on songs from the 1920s to the the 21st century, with "Dumbarton's Drums" from another century,  though we are not sure which one.  

Kesey's and Billy Joel's mantras are recognizable,  but it is hard to situate Dylan's allusions in time, maybe place, or theme or style. Dylan reconfigures well known cliches and figures-of-speech from various eras and contexts and re-images on a whole new screen.  In this respect Dylan is not like Kesey.  With Kesey we know those heroes and icons, know what they represent and we know how they fit together. With Dylan we don't easily discern how the many allusions connect. Do they fit together at all? Perhaps its too soon.  Ultimately the unity or themes that connects Dylan's mosaic is not so obvious; its not a clear shot to an identifiable target.

This mystification is like the infinite ambiguity and perfection of Dylans' most splendid and universally understood line, "It's not dark yet, but it's getting there."   We know what it is, but we can't say it precisely. 

In "Murder Most Foul," Dylan seems to be saying look at these other things, instead of the "Kennedy blues."  By the way did you know the blues album  Can't Keep from Crying was immediately released in 1964 by ten Blues artist to honor JFK. 

Is Dylan saying look away from JFK and the JFK problem? Why is he saying look away from JFK?  What are those other allusions telling as a message or as a unity?  Is it something idiosyncratic and unique to Dylan's experience?  Possibly.    

 Kesey's story is indeed a strong comparison to Dylan's newest song.  Both works remember the dead and summon icons of our collective cultural heritage in a unique  sideways and off-hand voice that expresses grief without saying so.  

This reminds me of the story of Alan Ginsberg meditating on his blanket in the middle of  a protest riot in downtown Chicago during the presidential election convention (Democratic party). Chicago Police are busting heads, hauling protesters into paddy wagons and Ginsberg is remaining still chanting  Om .  People warned him to leave but he continued holding his space.  

Thanks for the details.  For the nonmilitary general public lingo of the postwar 1950s and 1960s the generic term was fighter pilot, without distinctions about aircraft,  models or names,  rank ect. Meia culpa.   

Thanks for the excellent details. He is still a fighter pilot to me as was the parlance of the post war regular non military public. He was the pilot too, not the gunner or navigator.  Right?  If GHWB could fly a Grumman Avenger,  I am sure its a fair assumption he could pilot a private plane for fun or profit.  I would be quite surprised if he could not.

On 4/7/2020 at 9:51 AM, Norman T. Field said:

IIRC, he was a bomber pilot. 

I'm sorry is there a difference? They were called fighter pilots  back then.

On 4/2/2020 at 5:49 PM, James DiEugenio said:

Here you go Jeanie:

https://www.amazon.com/-/es/Jeanie-S-Dean/dp/0615911161

 

168 pages of poems and its blurbed by Mike Parenti.

I checked Amazon for my book The Whole World Stopped  (kind of what is happening now), and a reseller offers the book for a hefty collector price.  My seller account is inactive.

If anyone would like my book below list price, message or email me and you can have it shipped for $17. Oh yes, Scarlett Hart (not me) is the first review.  And that  would make another left field reference to Dean's book in Dylan's lyric: "Frankly Miss Scarlet I don't give a damn."
There you have it support the arts,  try something new during this quarantine. 

Speaking of the alien invasion theory for the corona virus quarantine, consider Line 55 of Dylan's "Murder Most  Foul." 
Speaking of the Kennedy grandchildren video post singing "Timber Going Down" the day before Dylan's MMF song release, consider line 55 of Dylan's lyric.

Dylan line 55 says  
"Shut your mouth," said the wise old owl
Business is business, and it's a murder most foul

"Shut Your Mouth" is a 2012 song by the punk metal band Pain about a low key space alien invader, who crashes at the dude's house and they worry about germs. The song, "Shut your Mouth" says, "its going down, "  as in the Kennedy kids "Timber" song. 

What more could Dylan and the JFK grandchildren be telling us?    I am going to burn a bonfire. Pluto conjunct Jupiter in Capricorn.

lyrics https://www.google.com/search?client=opera&q=pain+shut+your+mouth+yrics&sourceid=opera&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8

On 8/4/2018 at 10:12 PM, Denis Morissette said:

Fetzer's M.O. is to provide people with as fuzzy as possible images. Compare his images with mine. The man on the sidewalk does not look like Bush at all. He got a lot of people with his methods. The man he labeled as Lansdale does not look like him at all.

These particular photos look altered compared to others versions I have seen of this image.  No one you are skeptical.  it looks brighter and of course text is added, but the heads and hair are awful smudged, you know  the Photoshop tool. 
Has anyone considered the man standing next to the alleged Bush is Ted Shackley,  CIA blonde ghost and compadre in various Bush operations.  What are Shackley's and Lansdale's heights?

To respond to Bauer's question,  I don't know why JFK truth seekers are so dog gone poor?  There many legitimate citizen scientist in every field of inquiry world wide.  Sooo  Your question is for fill in the blank..  

In regard to Landsdale's presence on Dealey plaza. I believe someone posted years ago on this site  and if not her on the world wide web a renegade release of an FBI file photograph of Lansdale standing  shoulder to shoulder with George Bush on Elm street in front of the grassy knoll at the kill site. 

This is a link to the earlier post on this Forum  W. Niederhut topic in JFK Assassination Debate  August 2, 2018 with the picture said to be Lansdale and Bush that is altered.  Here are pictures from google now. The tall figure with the flat hair cut is said to be a tall lean George Bush with a shorter Lansdale; his back to the camera. 

If you pull back on the entire photograph,  the location of the two figures is on Elm street right about where JFK was killed.  They are literally standing in front of the kill zone.

What is also important other so-called FBI picture of Bush at the doorway of TSBD book depository.  This left side of the picture is cropped and Bush is addressing that person cropped outa the shoulder. This cropped figure is about same height as the man standing beside Bush in the Elm street photo. Who is Bush talking to in the TSBD picture? Why is that figure cropped out?   

For the youngest fighter pilot of WWII, George Bush, it would be easy enough to fly a fast private plane to Tyler, TX in 15 minutes,  to be seen and fly on in another 15 minutes to his next point of call. 

Johnson was part of a consortium who agreed to do it. He certainly had a great deal to gain. 

Have you heard this pandemic is due to an alien off-planet colonization and like the Native Americans our immune systems are vulnerable to colonist DNA. Just kidding
What is  going on? The JFK coup stopped the whole world for 4 days, this wide world stoppage is going on for weeks.  

in regard to Landsdale's presence on Dealey plaza. I believe someone posted years ago on this site  and if not her on the world wide web a renegade release of an FBI file photograph of Lansdale standing  shoulder to shoulder with George Bush on Elm street in front of the grassy knoll at the kill site. 

I'm listening  over and over to Óró Sé Do Bheatha Abhaile (Gaelic)
Sung and released on March 17, 2020 by Ireland's great Gaelic singer Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh on a crossroads in an Ireland village after a St. Patrick’s day anti-Trump mummery. Her voice is perfection.

This song is the Irish anthem of liberty and resistance about he 16^th century patriot Grace O’Malley,  later revised by poet Paedrig Pearce calling Ireland’s folk to return home for the 1916 Easter Uprising.

Other versions of note are:
Seo Linn  a young Irish band
Connemara Stone Cutters  
Finale at Christ Church Dublin led by John Spillane

ORO - wake up  

4 hours ago, W. Niederhut said:

IMO, Hendrix's version of All Along the Watchtower is the greatest cover in history.

That Reprise 45 rpm of All Along the Watchtower was the first Hendrix recording I ever heard back in the day.

I probably played it a thousand times.

Howwwwwwwl

The multiple references to Wolfman Jack are not to be overlooked as repetition is a poetic pointer.  "Wolfman" is potentially significant in light of Robert Wheeler's comment that the secret service code-name for Poppy George Bush Sr. is "Timber Wolf."   The name pair of  "Wolf" and "Jack" might also be significant. Does Dylan know that obscure bit of history about George Bush?  Who knows?    

My poem "Tall Lean Lone Man on the Scene" in the  book,  The Whole World Stopped observes a similar mystery man in Dealey Plaza that day

Another possibility is Dylan heard the actual "Wolfman Jack playing nationwide a 50,000 watt radio elegy for JFK on his midnight show from radio XERB during some 36 hours after JFK's assassination.  David Andrews points out, Dylan spent four days after the assassination in a New York apartment like everyone listening to the news.   

You might like this rewrite of the traditional Irish ballad Spancil Hill (1870) by Irish Immigrant Michael Considine who longs for home.  it's an irish tradition to rewrite ballads. Mine is called Sad Grassy Knoll.  I pasted Shane McGowan's fast punk version.  I am looking for someone to sing my version.  Just imagine my words to McGowan's singing.    

Sad Grassy Knoll

Last night as I was thinking of a sad day the world once knew
Me mind been bent on wondering to Dallas, Texas I flew
I went there sadly seeking truth wanting all to know
Where freedom fell on Elm Street by the sad Grassy Knoll

It be November twenty-two, nineteen sixty-three
The nation came to greet President John Kennedy
The black the white the left and right to see and hear their hero
Down on Dealey Plaza just past the Grassy Knoll

Waving hello, shaking his hand each wanted to be so near
The smiling leader inspired all to live without fear
They saw his vision for peace, a good and simple goal
Shot at noon by snipers under the Grassy Knoll

I went to see the people, to hear what they would say
Old ones cried conspiracy, not one lone shooter that day
A script, played to deceive, but the young ones just didn’t know
Cynics, called it theory, those killers on the Knoll

If John Kennedy lived would we have a peace
His “Open society” with justice for all increased
Not greed not hate nor traitors in a land that lost its soul  
No one would know the sorrow of the sad Grassy Knoll

* Kennedy spoke of  “OPEN SOCIETY”  often; it was changed to ”Great Society by L.B. Johnson’s staff.
Jeanie Dean 2013
Sean McGowan Spancill Hill

  gritty version

Oh yes Dylan's voice can be great. I wonder why he sings falsetto so much. 2 years ago i saw him from row 2 and most of the concert was falsetto.   grrr

Thanks Jim for the link to my book and Michael Parenti's comment.  He and I have had excellent conversations about the instruments of Empire.  Our research was in parallel.  In my unpublished book Poems of the Washerwoman, she scrubs away 400 years of British veneer to reveal the instruments.  

Thanks Jim for the link to my book and Michael Parenti's comment.  He and I have had excellent conversations about the instruments of Empire.  Our research was in parallel.  In my unpublished book Poems of the Washerwoman, she scrubs away 400 years of Britaish veneer to reveal the instruments.  

Speaking of Dylan's singing voice for his rendition of Murder Most Foul,  he used a very righteous and solemn baritone, and not his Topo Giggio falsetto. 

Great references by everyone

Hello All,

Dylan's "Murder Most Foul" lyrics are of course interesting and a powerful  stream of codified impressions. After all Dylan is the Shakespeare of the 20th century. or as I like to say "one more cup of coffee for the literati," to allude to his wonderful song.  Its not surprising to see Dylan's work allude to other poets. Of course there are few poets, who have written specifically on JFK; Jeanie Dean being one is pretty obscure even to members of this forum. Up until  Dylan's trope, the  idea of poetry  about JFK and th assaination has seemed  rather insignifcant or unimportant.  Now that we ar looking at poetics,  these are insider views on parallel language and themes in Dylan's and Dean's lyrics. 
Dean's  fifteen minute anthem poem "Abortion of the American Dream"  in the book The Whole World Stopped, says JFK was sacrificed on the altar of greed.  Dylan repeats the sacrifice theme in each stanza of his "Murder Most Foul"  There are several common riffs between Dylan's voicing and Dean's poems including Elm street and crossroads, that will be mentioned here. Read on it might be interesting. 

Forum member Andrews quotes Dylan about the topic crossroads and death:  
Dealey Plaza, make a left-hand turn
I’m going down to the crossroads, gonna flag a ride
The place where faith, hope, and charity died

Dylan's word, "died" echoes the premise of Dean's "Abortion  of the American Dream"

This stanza by Dylan recalls Dean's poem: "Crosshairs of History:"
the presidential motorcade 
turned the corner 
slowed for the marksmen
at the crossroads 
of idealism and corruption 
to JFK's inevitable
rendezvous with destiny 
where the whole world stopped 
and life was never the same.

The crossroads is also of course a ubiquitous metaphor for the meeting place for the proverbial deal with the devil,  with many more possible interpretations.

In the same stanza above, Dylan references "Ellum," street, which seem to echo another poem by Dean: "Tall Lean Lone Man on the Scene,"  that depicts the turn on Elm Street as a signifying moment in the assassination; the poem is spoken with a repeating, even hypnotic stop-action rhythm:
"as the President's limousine turns onto Elm
a lone man, tall and lean
tall enough to be seen on the scene
tall lean lone man steps out 
as the limousine turns onto Elm
the tall lean lone man steps out ..."

This poem continues repeating and sustains attention on the pivotal turn on Elm Street, an idea that Dylan recapitulates with his garrulous lyric.  

Check  out Dean's unique book if you like poetry, metaphor, symbol, and research.  Or let it remain another marginalized and scoffed at unknown work in this significant inquiry;  Ignore it but pay homage to the super stars.  Yours, Jeanie Dean