Workingman's Blues: Like Achilles?
Donald Davison
Thucydides gets quoted in Chronicles. Then there's Temporary like Achilles,
where the homoerotic aspect of Achilles (good friend of Patroclus) makes a
comic appearance:
Achilles is in your alleyway,
He don't want me here,
He does brag.
He's pointing to the sky
And he's hungry, like a man in drag.
How come you get someone like him to be your guard?
One of the things Archibald McLeish tells Dylan in Chronicles is that
"Homer, who wrote the Iliad, was a blind balladeer and that his name means
'hostage'."
Homer's Achilles also seems to be central to Workingman's Blues #2. Book 9
of the Iliad, in which Achilles rejects requests for him to re-join the
fight against the Trojans, includes not only phrases that are very familiar
from Workingman's Blues, but a situation that is reminiscent of the
disillusioned stage the song's narrator has reached. Read the following
excerpt and see what you think.
No, what lasting thanks in the long run
for warring with our enemies, on and on, no end?
One and the same lot for the man who hangs back
and the man who battles hard. The same honour waits
for the coward and the brave. They both go down to Death,
the fighter who shirks, the one who works to exhaustion.
And what's laid up for me, what pittance? Nothing --
and after suffering hardships, year in, year out,
staking my life on the mortal risks of war.
Like a mother bird hurrying morsels back
to her unfledged young -- whatever she can catch --
but it's all starvation ages for herself.
So for me.
Many a sleepless night I've bivouacked in harness,
day after bloody day I've hacked my passage through,
fighting other soldiers to win their wives as prizes.
Twelve cities of men I've stormed and sacked from shipboard,
eleven I claim by land, on the fertile earth of Troy.
And from all I've dragged off piles of splendid plunder,
hauled it away and always gave the lot to Agamemnon,
that son of Atreus -- always skulking behind the lines...
...watch, my friend,
if you'll take the time and care to see me off,
and you will see my squadrons sail at dawn,
fanning out on the Hellespont that swarms with fish,
my crews manning the oarlocks, rowing out with a will...
This is from Robert Fagles' translation, which would seem to be the one
Dylan was reading. Here are the lines that strike me, at least:
Homer:
One and the same lot for the man who hangs back
and the man who battles hard.
...And from all I've dragged off piles of splendid plunder,
hauled it away and always gave the lot to Agamemnon,
that son of Atreus -- always skulking behind the lines...
Dylan:
You can hang back or fight your best on the frontline
Homer:
They both go down to Death,
the fighter who shirks, the one who works to exhaustion.
Dylan:
Some people never worked a day in their lives.
Homer:
Like a mother bird hurrying morsels back
to her unfledged young -- whatever she can catch --
but it's all starvation ages for herself.
Dylan:
They say low wages are a reality
If we want to compete abroad
Homer:
...and you will see my squadrons sail at dawn,
fanning out on the Hellespont that swarms with fish,
my crews manning the oarlocks, rowing out with a will...
Dylan:
Well, I'm sailin' on back, ready for the long haul
Tossed by the winds and the seas
(I am tempted to make a connection too between "I got a brand new suit" and
the new armour his divine mother Thetis gives him, but that occurs later in
the poem.)
But more than these specific phrases are the shared situation of both
characters. There is a brutal war going on outside (All across the peaceful
sacred fields, They will lay you low. They'll break your horns and slash you
with steel.) Achilles has withdrawn from the fighting (My cruel weapons have
been put on the shelf). He has abandoned his fellow-Greeks to defeat by the
Trojans, and is staying quietly in his tent (I'll drag 'em all down to hell
and I'll stand 'em at the wall. I'll sell 'em to their enemies.I'm tryin' to
feed my soul with thought. Gonna sleep off the rest of the day ). Without
Achilles to be afraid of, the Trojans have begun to attack the Greek
encampment (Now the place is ringed with countless foes).
And more even than the shared situations is the shared outlook on life:
disillusioned, world-weary, proud of the work they have done which hasn't
been valued properly, contemptuous of those who haven't worked so hard.
What doesn't seem to fit in so well is the person the narrator in Dylan's
song is addressing. That part of it actually reminds me of another Homeric
situation, when Odysseus is reunited with his wife Penelope. It wouldn't be
beyond Dylan's syncretising tendencies in recent albums to unite Achilles
and Odysseus, in the one narrator (it is actually a speech by Odysseus that
brings about Achilles' response that I think the song refers to), but I
wouldn't want to push that one too far.
I am sceptical of "sources" that don't seem to add anything to your
understanding of the song, but I do think the image of Achilles, proudly
withdrawing from a battle he has been the foremost warrior in, helps with
Workingman's Blues -- and maybe with recent Dylan more generally.
Donald Davison
"Donald Davison" <donald....@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:47b692e9$0$20217$5a62...@per-qv1-newsreader-01.iinet.net.au...
> but it's all starvation ages for herself.
>
That should be starvation "wages", not "ages"... As Homer also said, Doh!
DD
Babs
Interesting read!
Mike Daugherty
"Donald Davison" <donald....@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:47b692e9$0$20217$5a62...@per-qv1-newsreader-01.iinet.net.au...
Really enjoyed reading your analysis. Thanks.
Mike
Jumbo
> We know Dylan knows the classics: Ovid plays a big part in Modern Times,
Whoa whoa whoa there tiger. Care to cite?
Donald Davison
"Jumbo" <ch...@cupolagallery.com> wrote in message
news:06c53c87-3176-4e5b...@p43g2000hsc.googlegroups.com...
> On Feb 16, 7:37 am, "Donald Davison" <donald.davi...@gmail.com> wrote:
>> We know Dylan knows the classics: Ovid plays a big part in Modern Times,
>
> Whoa whoa whoa there tiger. Care to cite?
Certainly. The following are from:
http://www.atrium-media.com/rogueclassicism/Posts/00004567.html
(Some of them, now you send me back to them, are from Workingman's Blues,
including one that I related to the Iliad, so maybe there's a whole
classical studies thing going on in that song. The original link with Ovid
was noticed by a New Zealander with the dangerous name of Cliff Fell,
although before that I suppose a lot of people at least wondered about
sitting down studying The Art of Love.)
Bob Dylan "Ain't Talkin'" -
"Every nook and cranny has its tears"
Ovid - Tristia, Book 1, Section 3, Line 24 -
"every nook and corner had its tears"
----------------------------------------------
Bob Dylan - "Ain't Talkin'" -
"all my loyal and my much-loved companions"
Ovid - Tristia, Book 1, Section 3, Line 65 -
"loyal and much loved companions, bonded in brotherhood"
----------------------------------------------
Bob Dylan - "Ain't Talkin'" -
"I'll make the most of one last extra hour"
Ovid - Tristia, Book 1, Section 3, Line 68 -
"let me make the most of one last extra hour"
----------------------------------------------
Bob Dylan - "Workingman's Blues #2" -
"My cruel weapons have been put on the shelf"
Bob Dylan Ovid - Tristia, Book 2, Section 1, Line 179 -
"Show mercy, I beg you, shelve your cruel weapons"
(notice how Bob has reworked this line to make it rhyme with "You are dearer
to me than myself/As you yourself can see ," which he also borrowed from
Ovid)
----------------------------------------------
Bob Dylan - "The Levee's Gonna Break" -
"Some people got barely enough skin to cover their bones"
Ovid - Tristia, Book 4, Section 7, Line 51 -
"there's barely enough skin to cover my bones"
----------------------------------------------
Bob Dylan - "Ain't Talkin'" -
"I practice a faith that's been long abandoned"
Ovid - Tristia, Book 5, Section 7, Lines 63-64 -
"I practice terms long abandoned"
----------------------------------------------
Bob Dylan - "Ain't Talkin'" -
"They will tear your mind away from contemplation"
Ovid - Tristia, Book 5, Section 7, Line 66 -
"tear my mind from the contemplation of my woes"
----------------------------------------------
Bob Dylan - "Ain't Talkin'" -
"In the last outback at the world's end"
Ovid - Black Sea Letters, Book 2, Part 7, Line 66
"I'm in the last outback, at the world's end"
---------------------------------------------------------------
Bob Dylan - "Ain't Talkin" -
"They approve of me and share my code"
Ovid - Black Sea Letters, Book 3, Part 2, Line 38 -
"who approve, and share, your code"
------------------------------------------------------------------
Here are the lines that Cliff Fell mentioned in his article:
Bob Dylan - "Working Man's Blues #2" -
"No one can ever claim/That I took up arms against you"
Ovid - Tristia, Book 2, Lines 51-53 -
"no one can claim that I ever took up arms against you"
----------------------------------------------
Bob Dylan - "Workingman's Blues #2" -
"To lead me off in a cheerful dance"
Tristia, Book 5, Section 12, Line 8 -
"or Niobe, bereaved, lead off some cheerful dance"
----------------------------------------------
Bob Dylan - "Workingman's Blues #2" -
"Tell me now, am I wrong in thinking/That you have forgotten me?"
Ovid - Tristia, Book 5, Section 13, Line 18 -
"that I'm wrong in thinking you have forgotten me!"
----------------------------------------------
Bob Dylan - "Workingman's Blues #2" -
"You are dearer to me than myself/As you yourself can see"
Ovid - Tristia, Book 5, Section 14, Line 2 -
"wife, dearer to me than myself, you yourself can see"
Jumbo
Excellent. Thanks very much for these. (I was drunk when I posted my
question, so I'm sorry if it came over a bit rude!) I'll digest this
stuff and get back to you later.
Martin
That's fascinating, thanks. I'll just wolf down a big plate of
scrambled eggs and be right with you!
Donald Davison
>
> Excellent. Thanks very much for these. (I was drunk when I posted my
> question, so I'm sorry if it came over a bit rude!) I'll digest this
> stuff and get back to you later.
Not at all. I had forgotten that some of the Ovid quotes came from
Workingman's Blues. They are such direct quotes too (unlike the Iliad
references, which are more oblique) that they might make one wonder if the
Iliad ones are genuine. But I do still think they are.
Another classical thing I forgot is the Virgil quote from Lonesome Day
Blues:
'I'm going to spare the defeated, boys, I'm going to speak to the crowd,
I'm going to teach peace to the conquered, I'm going to tame the proud'.
Gemini Jackson
Outstanding. Shame I'm not familiar with Ovid.
-GJ
Jumbo
You bet. And Martin's STILL wolfing those eggs, the pig.
Gemini Jackson
<ch...@cupolagallery.com> wrote:
>> >Bob Dylan - "Workingman's Blues #2" -
>> >"You are dearer to me than myself/As you yourself can see"
>>
>> >Ovid - Tristia, Book 5, Section 14, Line 2 -
>> >"wife, dearer to me than myself, you yourself can see"
>>
>> Outstanding. Shame I'm not familiar with Ovid.
>> -GJ
>
>You bet. And Martin's STILL wolfing those eggs, the pig.
When I finish 'Gorky Park', I guess I have my next itenerary.
-GJ
Treadleson
Don't you think Ovid's Metamorphosis should have been called YOU'RE A-
GONNA CHANGE OR I'M A-GONNA LEAVE?
Jumbo
>
>
> Don't you think Ovid's Metamorphosis should have been called YOU'RE A-
> GONNA CHANGE OR I'M A-GONNA LEAVE?
Well, treadle, I don't think that title would cover all the angles.