Tempest

Bob Dylan has just released his 35th album, Tempest. What's astounding is that, at 71, he's enjoying a renaissance that is unprecedented in contemporary pop. For about 25 years Dylan was largely irrelevant on the music scene except for what he had accomplished, but this is his fourth record in the last ten years or so that seems fresher and more energetic than what musicians a third of his age are doing.

As befitting a man in his eight decade, death is on Dylan's mind. While there are some up-tempo songs--"Duquesne Whistle" is perhaps the peppiest song he's ever recorded, with an intro that I defy anyone to resist, and proves my theory that songs about trains are inherently good--the rest of the album is more morose. Dylan, not exactly acting on headlines ripped from the morning paper, has turned to events long ago. He has written an elegy to John Lennon called "Roll On, John," and as if that weren't aged enough, the title song is about the sinking of the Titanic. Just for good measure, he titles another song "Early Roman Kings."

Dylan's voice, long a butt of jokes, still has that nasal whine, but now has an added element that could drive some to distraction--it's like gravel mixed in a Cuisinart. On some of the songs, like "Pay in Blood," which contains the great line, "I pay in blood, but not my own," you may get a vicarious sore throat just listening to it. But I've always been on the opinion that Dylan has complete knowledge of the limitations of his vocal abilities, and his worked his songs accordingly. He sings in key, and the qualities of his voice have only added to the power of his work. It certainly does here.

On "Tempest," a 14-minute long poem set to music, Dylan tries to capture a moment that has been raked over by many. He may have captured more about the event that James Cameron did in three hours (although Dylan gives the movie a shout out with a line about Leo and a sketchbook). The song has no chorus, just verse after verse about the sinking. I could quote almost any of them at random, but these two may be the best:

When the Reaper's task had ended
Sixteen hundred had gone to rest
The good, the bad, the rich, the poor
The loveliest and the best

They waited at the landing
And they tried to understand
But there is no understanding
On the judgment of God's hand

There are a few other epics here, such as a mysterious song about "Scarlet Town":

Scarlet Town, in the hot noon hours,
There's palm-leaf shadows and scattered flowers
Beggars crouching at the gate
Help comes, but it comes too late
By marble slabs and in fields of stone
You make your humble wishes known
I touched the garment, but the hem was torn
In Scarlet Town, where I was born

There's also a long ballad about a murder called "Tin Angel," and the aforementioned "Early Roman Kings,

In their sharkskin suits
Bow ties and buttons
High top boots
Drivin' the spikes in
Blazin' the rails
Nailed in their coffins
In top hats and tails

Musically, Dylan doesn't particularly stretch himself. Much of the songs sound as if they could have been written a hundred years ago--"Early Roman Kings" uses a rhythm that has been around for centuries. If I'd been told that "Duquesne Whistle" was some lost song by an early folk singer, I'd have believed it.

But Bob Dylan has transcended what most pop singers do. He is a poet, yes, but he's more a troubadour, a man who puts into words the emotions of the age, the time, and the place he lives. While others of his generation are dead, singing standards, or repeating themselves ad nauseum, he continues to invent. In another quote from "Early Roman Kings":

I ain't dead yet
My bell still rings
I keep my fingers crossed
Like them early roman kings