Down the foggy ruins of time, far past the frozen leaves
The haunted, frightened trees, out to the windy beach
Far from the twisted reach of crazy sorrow
Yes, to dance beneath the diamond sky with one hand waving free
Silhouetted by the sea, circled by the circus sands
With all memory and fate driven deep beneath the waves
Let me forget about today until tomorrow
~ Bob Dylan
So whose version is playing in your head? Bob Dylan's? Or The Byrds'? Just please don't tell me William Shatner's! Take a minute to read the lyrics again and focus on rhyme. Somewhat unpredictable, yes? But there's no doubt that the driving force of these lyrics is imagery. I hope there are pictures in your mind.
Dylan wrote this song in February 1964 after celebrating Mardi Gras in New Orleans. It appeared on Bringing It All Back Home in 1965. Shortly thereafter, The Byrds recorded it, and their version stands as the only song Dylan ever wrote that went to #1 in America. Despite popular belief, Dylan claims the song is not about drugs. (I know, I know, they all say that.) He recalls musician Bruce Langhorne, who carried a tambourine "as big as a wagon wheel" around Greenwich Village. Dylan says the image of Bruce and his tambourine stuck in his head. Roger McGuinn (who was still known as Jim McGuinn when The Byrds recorded the song) had his own interpretation of the lyrics. "Underneath the lyrics to Mr. Tambourine Man, regardless of what Dylan meant, I was turning it into a prayer . . . I was singing to God and I was saying that God was the Tambourine Man, and I was saying to him, 'Hey, God, take me for a trip and I'll follow you.'"
A firm believer in the Rumi adage, There are a hundred ways to kneel and kiss the ground, I can buy McGuinn's interpretation of the song as a prayer. I am not the only one. These lyrics were suggested to me by a close friend. When I asked him why, he had this to say:
It just touches me. Personally. Internally. I cannot hear (or even read) the line 'to dance beneath the diamond sky with one hand waving free' without my chest tightening and tears involuntarily coming to my eyes. An image of a jubilant, ecstatic, carefree dancer on a starlit beach, completely free of any 'crazy sorrow' just makes my heart soar with joy. A momentary escape from life's trials and tribulations?
Well, we sure could use an escape these days, couldn't we? On my drive home from the park this morning, I listened to a song by Will Courtney about the current state of music and filed away these lyrics: Where was the phrase that gives you a lift? / Or the chilling ways a guitarist played a rift? / I remember the days when bands could make you cry.
Me, too. And this is one of those songs.
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