Bob's Cherries..
bobette
not have meant on Po' Boy when he sings:
"Poor boy, layin' 'em straight - pickin' up the cherries fallin' off
the plate"
Is this another literary reference?
My thought was that cherries are seen as rich, the best. As in 'cherry
picking'. Could be that his wealth is in decline - (a bit like Like A
Rolling Stone).
Or he is scrounging from the rich.
My father said that his cherry plate could be overflowing with
richness.
Anyone have any thoughts?
Mr Jinx
The cherry is often used in literature as a symbol of innocence and
purity. The expression 'To lose one's cherry' means to lose one's
virginity or innocence. This symbol may be a reference to the loss of
innocence of the po' boy as he makes his ham-fisted deal. Wasn't his
father a travelling salesman? Not a very innocent profession, that. No
offence any travelling salesmen/women reading this.
Mr Jinx
bobette
Presumably saving one's cherry is saving one's best too?
gabriel
It could be just coincidence, but I was reading recently about cherries
as an anti-inflammatory, good for those suffering arthritis or gout.
bobette
Grrrr!
Temporary Like Achilles
Dylan does make literary references, of course, but he also frequently
alludes to paintings. Often, he places paintings into a context of
movement or inability to move. I wondered if he was referring to
Cezanne's "Still Life Of Plate Of Cherries".
Temporary
bobette
Interesting point and below is the still life but why do you think they
would be falling and being picked up?
http://www.artchive.com/artchive/C/cezanne/cherries.jpg.html
Barbara
"bobette" <counsel...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:1149069383.6...@i39g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
waiting for the scraps of food to fall, because even the scraps of something
are good. It doesn't have to be food, when one is in want of anything, even
the left overs are of value.
If he(the subject of the song, not Dylan, cuz he ain't poor, unless poor in
another way, not in material things) is a po' boy, maybe he too is waiting
for the cherries to fall off the plate. Cherries, usually represent
something very good, the best of, and maybe it could also represent good
fortune, or something similar.
~Barbara~
Temporary Like Achilles
Well, it's interesting that the plate in Cezanne's painting is, in
fact, tilted. While I'm not going to speculate about Dylan's thought
processes, it is possible that if one were to imagine what will happen
to the cherries in the future they could be pictured as falling. In the
context of the song, picking up the cherries falling off the plate
indicates someone who is a quasi-servant -- much like the one who is
"washin' them dishes, feedin' them swine." Washing the dishes is
self-explanatory, I think; feeding the swine is more complicated. For
me, it calls to mind the story of the prodigal son and also calls to
mind the injunction against throwing one's pearls before swine. In
either case, the song ends in a disturbing way: the joke of the first
two lines and the brightness of the third line are gone, replaced with
an image of someone who must do another's bidding. I find this to be a
strange song, actually, because there is a constant dichotomy between
good humour and bad luck, good intentions and bad results. In this
sense, "things will [not] be all right, by and by" -- they will get
worse.
Or not, of course ...
Temporary
khematite
Life Is Just A Bowl Of Cherries (George Gershwin)
People are queer, they're always crowing, scrambling and rushing about;
Why don't they stop someday, address themselves this way?
Why are we here? Where are we going? It's time that we found out.
We're not here to stay; we're on a short holiday.
Life is just a bowl of cherries.
Don't take it serious; life's so mysterious.
You work, you save, you worry so,
But you can't take your dough when you go, go, go.
So keep repeating it's the berries,
The strongest oak must fall,
The sweet things in life, to you were just loaned
So how can you lose what you've never owned?
Life is just a bowl of cherries,
So live and laugh at it all.
Life is just a bowl of cherries.
Don't take it serious; it's too mysterious.
At eight each morning I have got a date,
To take my plunge 'round the Empire State.
You'll admit it's not the berries,
In a building that's so tall;
There's a guy in the show, the girls love to kiss;
Get thousands a week just for crooning like this:
Life is just a bowl of . . . aw, nuts!
So live and laugh at it all!
Mike Terry
If you live here you will understand.
"bobette" <counsel...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:1149069383.6...@i39g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
Nate Smith
Othello told Desdemona, "I'm cold, cover me with a blanket,
By the way, what happened to that poisoned wine?"
She said, "I gave it to you, you drank it."
Po' boy, layin' him straight,
Pickin' up the cherries fallin' off the plate.
the cherries appear to fallen off the plate during Othello's
spasm of death. perhaps Othello was in the process of eating
them when the poison kicked in. Po' Boy, being a servant there,
is picking them up after laying the body out straight.
- nate
bobette
So many possibilities of interpretations in this song and so many other
Bob songs. This is really what singles him out. Who else's songs
question and debate the the lyric content?
His words are like great paintings to me..
>
> Temporary
bobette
I'm not sure what you're talking about! Is it a sport's team or a pub
or something? I am looking forward to taking my parents to see Bob in
Bournemouuth though (their first time since '78 and '81) and seeing him
the night before in Cardiff. I have never seen him two nights in a row
so I am really excited!
Wilbur Slice
wrote:
>So many possibilities of interpretations in this song and so many other
>Bob songs. This is really what singles him out. Who else's songs
>question and debate the the lyric content?
Don McLean
gabriel
"...trust me: Life is not a bowl of cherries."
- Bob Dylan, Rolling Stone interview, 1991
bobette wrote:
bobette
gabriel wrote:
> okay, maybe you'll like this one better :
>
> "...trust me: Life is not a bowl of cherries."
> - Bob Dylan, Rolling Stone interview, 1991
>
Yes - thank you for that!
badlands420
> The cherry is often used in literature as a symbol of innocence and
> purity. The expression 'To lose one's cherry' means to lose one's
> virginity or innocence. This symbol may be a reference to the loss of
> innocence of the po' boy as he makes his ham-fisted deal.
When I hear the line in question, I get a mental image of the cover of Paul
McCartney's first solo album, in which the spilled bowl of cherries depicts
the breakup of the Beatles. If Dylan's context is the same, then I'd
interpret the line as being about trying to avert a bad event which is
already taking place.
bobette
Yes someone else mentioned this. I suppose it all depends on your frame
of reference..