Each and Every Door

A depressing topic?  Mal and Jay do not think so.  Not when the themes are explored as Dylan does on Rough and Rowdy Ways.  Mal unpacks the art of the 17-minute epic song, "Murder Most Foul" and Jay adds a few comments about the biblical background behind the opening lyrics.  

On June 19th, 2020, Bob Dylan released "Rough and Rowdy Ways," his first studio album in eight years.  The album has found widespread appreciation by critics -- though many of them do not mention or notice the abundant religious themes on the album.  Needless to say, Jay and Mal find the album very compelling and important work of art.  In fact, they have so much to say that they make a valiant (though not perfectly executed) attempt to talk for no more than two minutes about each song on the album.  

After some Bob News, Mal interviews Jay about how and why he came to join this strange collection of people known as Dylan Fans, especially given his first Dylan concert experience.  

"All Along the Watchtower" is one of the greatest songs Bob Dylan ever wrote, according to many.  By that measure, it is one of the great songs of the late twentieth century.  But few people recognize the Scriptural inspiration for this song and why that biblical basis may actually infuse it with its haunting power.  Mal and Jay discuss these themes and more, with a bit of Jimi Hendrix thrown in, for good measure.   

Why would a person become a Dylan freak?  And what might it have to do with religion?  Mal explains how he got hooked on Dylan as a lad in Hull, England.  He also gives insight into his first Dylan concert in London in June, 1981, a concert that made it onto a bootleg album.  Maybe you can hear him cheering in the crowd.  Finally, are you bothered by the obscure Dylan reference in the title?  Well, it's all right, ma.  

Fresh from a Dylan concert in Akron, Mal and Jay discuss odd, unsettling, and moving aspects of the evening.  Mannequins, mysterious forests, F. Scott Fitzgerald, celebrity affection, mystery, Igor Stravinsky, death -- it's all here.  And more.  The two decide that concert-goers who attend a Dylan concert simply to experience exciting rock and roll moments must have been frustrated, but those who were willing to go beyond the moment to consider deeper questions beyond themselves were richly reward.  

Episode 4 introduces a new segment:  "What was he thinking?"  They mean Dylan, of course.  In this case, it's a song that one critic calls the worst thing Dylan ever recorded.  But our hosts rather like it and have a theory for what Dylan was...thinking.  

Mal and Jay detail the origins of their intro and what it has to do with Dylan concerts and the Pittsburgh Steelers.  Then they make a valiant attempt to figure out what is going on inside Dylan's head with the selection of songs he is performing in his latest concert tour, which started on October 12.  

In Episode 2, Mal updates us with some Bob News and Jay explains what he learned from Episode 1.  The two also discuss more background to the 1966 "Judas" event, including the appeal and power of Dylan's early political songs, how the British Communist Party acted like a religion, and what Communists and Baptists had in common.