An ancient soul hears "Thunder On The Mountain"

(note: lyrics and mp3 file are at bottom of this post)

In "Modern Times" (2006), Dylan's first CD in the five years since the September 11 attacks, Dylan wraps up "Thunder On The Mountain" with the line

For the love of God, you ought to take pity on yourself

Sean Curnyn, my own "Matthew Henry" of Dylan lyrics,
wonders when self-pity is not a vice but a virtue.

"...maybe the kind of self-pity being talked about here is not the kind you wallow in self-destructively, but rather that kind that is allied to understanding and compassion. To pity oneself can be merely to comprehend one's own mortal predicament. It's one that deserves pity. Another Dylan reference reflects off of it — one of his references in Chronicles to something his "grandma" told him. She had "instructed me to be kind because everyone you'll ever meet is fighting a hard battle." Everyone is fighting a hard battle. No exception made there for people who happen to have a lot of money, or good looks, or great power. According to grandma, they're all fighting a hard battle — everyone you'll ever meet. Including, of necessity, yourself."


He continues, after quoting from James

"For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away."


that, ..."Absent this comprehension of one’s human predicament — absent this self-pity — one indeed might have little reason for the “love of God,” i.e. for one’s own love of God. If you look in the mirror and see only someone strong, self-sufficient and fearless, then maybe that is someone who isn’t inclined to prostrate himself to an Almighty — to humble himself before God.

If, on the other hand, one looks in the mirror and sees a pitiable bag of bones that will amount to exactly nothing at the end of it all, then one might begin to contemplate the lengths to which God has gone to reveal Himself and to show His love for such passing vapors of the earth as oneself, and one might begin feeling the kindling of a reciprocal love for that same loving God. "
_____
Now the song has my attention too and I've broken my rule again and looked up the lyrics. To my amazement, this tune, which is rollicking and to your first hearing, apparently Jerry-Lee-Lewis-comical, is actually a heartbreak and a revival.

That Dylan would be writing about 9-11 seemed unlikely. A serious artist doesn't write about current events, except perhaps to immortalize someone of his own day and age (as in "Joey", "Hurricane", and "Catfish"...or even William Zantzinger and Hattie Carroll.)

But good lord, it was the day of our age, wasn't it.

As I read the lyrics, now the song is like a series of nervous twitches, running, turning around to look, scrambling again, in shock with the most amazing challenge to Faith, and then a new resolve, all on that fateful day.

Just to establish the day, read

"Thunder on the mountain heavy as can be
Mean old twister bearing down on me
All the ladies in Washington scrambling to get out of town
Looks like something bad gonna happen, better roll your airplane down "


The music and lyrics are at first apparently wry and sardonic. They mock. Gabriel blows his horn! But to the writer it's a trombone: an instrument from the circus.

Then, this famous lyric about Alicia Keyes which everyone seemed to think was just a cute hello to a young, rising singing star he admired:

"I was thinkin' 'bout Alicia Keys, couldn't keep from crying
When she was born in Hell's Kitchen, I was living down the line
I'm wondering where in the world Alicia Keys could be
I been looking for her even clear through Tennessee"

Now everyone remembers those first hours and days, even in fly-over country we all knew there was a terrible chance we would discover that we knew one of the missing. One of the dead...

But the song's topic isn't all that moves me to write here (nor is Sean's essay, which wraps itself up nicely and is to my mind quite moving and correct).

No, I'm noticing some other, really wonderful, seemingly careless lyrical quirks to Dylan's song-writing, now that I'm reading Thunder On The Mountain.

For instance, how he is at one moment addressing you and me, and at another he's addressing himself to his "King", and then later even to the Jihadists.

As if singing a psalm, and as if he were of the mind-set of the the earliest Old Testament days, we hear

"You brought me here, now you're trying to run me away
The writing on the wall, come read it, come see what it say"

And

"Thunder on the mountain, rollin' like a drum
Gonna sleep over there, that's where the music coming from
I don't need any guide, I already know the way
Remember this, I'm your servant both night and day"


It strikes me that this "thunder on the mountain" alarms the writer as if some other god, not of our image, has made itself known and presented itself as some alternative to worship and submit to. And he writes sarcasticly,

"Everybody going and I want to go too
Don't wanna take a chance with somebody new "

He remembers then to do right:

"Gonna forget about myself for a while, gonna go out and see what others need"

He falters and then gets his foothold again, in his faith.

"Some sweet day I'll stand beside my king
I wouldn't betray your love or any other thing"

He remembers he has already given his life, that he has already "confessed"

"I did all I could, I did it right there and then
I've already confessed - no need to confess again"

And then he is determinedly furious at what happens and makes this declaration that makes me smile, not just for the outrageous rhyme!

"Gonna raise me an army, some tough sons of b*tches
I'll recruit my army from the orphanages"

Next he is humble remembering he's no saint to lead an army. But he curses the Jihadists.

"I'll tell you one thing, I don't give a damn about your dreams."

He wonders at how the world has changed.

"I want some real good woman to do just what I say
Everybody got to wonder what's the matter with this cruel world today"


I may have enrolled in litrachure school but I didn't actually go, so don't' be surprised at my naivete, how poems are written. I see that I presume too easily that once the writer/ singer starts to tell, he may not be addressing the same person through out the poem.

Also, he may not be rooted in modern sensibilities at all, he may be from Abraham's time, an Ancient so ancient he could be impressed by a false god's "mean old twister bearing down on me". (And that towering cloud of dust was a twister all right, the worst imaginable, composed of extinguished life and turning corners with awesome rapid speed, right towards you, impossible to outrun).

Anyway, here is the song, (a live version from Sean's site) and the lyrics:

Thunder On The Mountain by Bob Dylan

Thunder on the mountain, and there's fires on the moon
A ruckus in the alley and the sun will be here soon
Today's the day, gonna grab my trombone and blow
Well, there's hot stuff here and it's everywhere I go

I was thinkin' 'bout Alicia Keys, couldn't keep from crying
When she was born in Hell's Kitchen, I was living down the line
I'm wondering where in the world Alicia Keys could be
I been looking for her even clear through Tennessee

Feel like my soul is beginning to expand
Look into my heart and you will sort of understand
You brought me here, now you're trying to run me away
The writing on the wall, come read it, come see what it say

Thunder on the mountain, rollin' like a drum
Gonna sleep over there, that's where the music coming from
I don't need any guide, I already know the way
Remember this, I'm your servant both night and day

The pistols are poppin' and the power is down
I'd like to try somethin' but I'm so far from town
The sun keeps shinin' and the North Wind keeps picking up speed
Gonna forget about myself for a while, gonna go out and see what others need

I've been sittin' down studyin' the art of love
I think it will fit me like a glove
I want some real good woman to do just what I say
Everybody got to wonder what's the matter with this cruel world today

Thunder on the mountain rolling to the ground
Gonna get up in the morning walk the hard road down
Some sweet day I'll stand beside my king
I wouldn't betray your love or any other thing

Gonna raise me an army, some tough sons of b*tches
I'll recruit my army from the orphanages
I been to St. Herman's church, said my religious vows
I've sucked the milk out of a thousand cows

I got the porkchops, she got the pie
She ain't no angel and neither am I
Shame on your greed, shame on your wicked schemes
I'll say this, I don't give a damn about your dreams

Thunder on the mountain heavy as can be
Mean old twister bearing down on me
All the ladies in Washington scrambling to get out of town
Looks like something bad gonna happen, better roll your airplane down

Everybody going and I want to go too
Don't wanna take a chance with somebody new

I did all I could, I did it right there and then
I've already confessed - no need to confess again

Gonna make a lot of money, gonna go up north
I'll plant and I'll harvest what the earth brings forth
The hammer's on the table, the pitchfork's on the shelf
For the love of God, you ought to take pity on yourself

Music and words by Bob Dylan
Copyright 2006 Special Rider Music