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Dylan mentions FERRIE and BANISTER in his lyrics!!!


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Deciphering Dylan [selected EXCERPTS]:

"Slide down the [GUY] banister, go get your coat

[DAVID] Ferry 'cross the Mersey and go for the throat

 

There's three bums comin' all dressed in rags [THE THREE TRAMPS]

 

There's a party going on behind the Grassy Knoll [CONSPIRACY/SHOOTERS PLURAL]

 

Put your foot in the tank and then step on the gas

Try to make it to the triple underpass [GREER AND THE SLOWING OF THE LIMO]

 

Being led to the slaughter like a sacrificial lamb

He said, "Wait a minute, boys, you know who I am?"

"Of course we do, we know who you are!" [SECRET SERVICE...BETRAYAL?]

 

What is the truth, and where did it go?

Ask Oswald and Ruby, they oughta know

 

We've already got someone here to take your place [LBJ]

 

Thousands were watching, no one saw a thing

It happened so quickly, so quick, by surprise

Right there in front of everyone's eyes

Greatest magic trick ever under the sun

Perfectly executed, skillfully done

 

Hold on, I've been led into some kind of a trap

 

They mutilated his body and they took out his brain

What more could they do? They piled on the pain [LIFTON BODY ALTERATION THEORY]

 

Throw the gun in the gutter and walk on by [STORM DRAIN THEORY]

 

That magic bullet of yours has gone to my head [SINGLE BULLET THEORY]

 

I'm just a patsy ["I'M JUST A PATSY"-LHO] like Patsy Cline

 

Never shot anyone from in front or behind ["I DIDN'T SHOOT ANYONE, NO SIR"]

 

Zapruder's film I seen night before

 

They killed him once [ASSASSINATION] and they killed him twice [CHARACTER ASSASSINATION]

 

Play it for that strip club owner named Jack [RUBY]

 

Don't worry, Mr. President, help's on the way

Your brothers are comin', there'll be hell to pay [AG RFK, TEDDY]

Edited by Vince Palamara
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7 minutes ago, Chuck Schwartz said:

Note the reference to "Wolfman" Jack... could relate to a German nazi commando hit team (called the Werewolf commandos) supposedly in Dallas for the Big Event

Interesting!

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Obviously Dylan was deeply,deeply affected by the JFK assassination and has been so for the rest of his life.

To create and include this particular subject song/poem/message into his life's work at the end of his career exposes how concerned he has been ( and still is ) about it. 

Ike Eisenhower gave us his MILITARY, INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX warning speech as his farewell one.

Something about end of life confessionals, warnings? 

E.Howard Hunt gave us his BIG EVENT confessional as well just before he died.  But, nobody believed it.

 

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2 hours ago, Chuck Schwartz said:

Note the reference to "Wolfman" Jack... could relate to a German nazi commando hit team (called the Werewolf commandos) supposedly in Dallas for the Big Event

Please, tell me more Chuck. Are you referring to Skorzeny?

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Those are really good comments Vince.  And I did miss those buried references.

 

Dylan is to songwriting what Frank Lloyd Wright was to home architecture.

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Still, it's hard to beat "I ain't gonna work on Maggie's farm no more." (A hidden reference to, uh, I don't know what. Giving up the weed or something? I've heard that "Mr. Tambourine Man" was a dope peddler.) Dylan was all over the place, tried country music (Nashville Skyline), even became a born-again Christian for a time ("Gotta Serve Somebody"). He's quite a phenomenon. I wonder how much exposure "Murder Most Foul" will get. The industry has changed so much, I don't even know how people get their music anymore. I listened mainly to country before they killed it years ago. "Murder Most Foul" is just one song so it won't be an album, and there are no more 45s. I sure miss the days of vinyl.

 

 

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I’m going to see Dylan perform in Berkeley this June, providing we are not still quarantined. It’ll be like a bookend for me, as the only other time I saw him live was during his first tour with the Band. I do wonder if he’ll perform this song live.

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6 hours ago, Ron Ecker said:

Still, it's hard to beat "I ain't gonna work on Maggie's farm no more." (A hidden reference to, uh, I don't know what. Giving up the weed or something? I've heard that "Mr. Tambourine Man" was a dope peddler.) Dylan was all over the place, tried country music (Nashville Skyline), even became a born-again Christian for a time ("Gotta Serve Somebody"). He's quite a phenomenon. I wonder how much exposure "Murder Most Foul" will get. The industry has changed so much, I don't even know how people get their music anymore. I listened mainly to country before they killed it years ago. "Murder Most Foul" is just one song so it won't be an album, and there are no more 45s. I sure miss the days of vinyl.

 

 

I remember noticing one of these on I-25 near Colorado Springs last fall.

https://www.maggiesfarmmarijuana.com/

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The favorite Dylan show I saw was July 10, '87, in JFK Stadium in Philadelphia. Backed by my personal favorite band, the Grateful Dead. Garcia even broke out his pedal steel guitar for "I'll Be Your Baby Tonight."  Now I wonder if Dylan had a hand in them playing that venue in particular.

The Dead returned to JFK stadium in 1989. It was noticeably in poor shape. For an encore they played "Knocking On Heaven's Door." That was the last performance, the stadium was condemned just days later.

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  1. Paul, yes, I believe this relates Skorenzy. Kenn Thomas used the phrase werewolf commando's for the JFK Assassination.  I have never seen supporting data on this, though. Some say the Torbitt document supports this , but I don't know.
  2. Mae Brussell did show a possible connection between Nazi's such as Skorenzy and the JFK hit. ( I doubt this connection was real)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 
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For those not old enough to remember the music and personalities of the 60's, which Dylan certainly wrote about in his new JFK song, you might want to recall the movie American Graffiti....certainly the "wolfman" reference in the song is to the DJ we all thought of at the time as simply the Wolfman.....more fully known as Wolfman Jack

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolfman_Jack

Dylan was never very happy about the pop music scene but he knew it well

 

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I think its likely that Wolfman is Jack. We can argue all day about who the "best" DJ of the era was (most arguments would probably be regional). But American Graffiti sort of cemented Wolfman Jack as the voice of the era, whether one likes his style and voice or not. With all of the other references of the era, I think trying to assume knowledge deeper than that may be assuming a lot. I think Larry has it pegged. Again, like him or not, I think Wolfman Jack is the voice of the era (if you don't count Dick Clark, who also has a long list of detractors in radio). Personally, I like both and still stream their syndicated repeats today, but Ive long been a fan of radio and know that both had a list of enemies as long as their list of fans.

 

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Just for a little more pop music history of the period,  if you were listening to nighttime AM across most of the nation you picked up Chicago's WLS and DJ's Art Laboe,  Art Roberts and Dick Biondi....but none as famous as the Wolfman and none with their own song, by the Guess Who no less. 

 

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