Desolation Row

Dylan ( a marionette crafted by roderick smith) discovers desolation row as he combs over Brueghel's cryptic etchings in this film noir-esq short. A montage of Breughel's chilling etchings is well balanced by smith's puppetry. This film is amusing and well worth showing fellow Dylan fans.

From the description, even the reviewers couldn't really persuade me that I'd agree that this video rated 5 stars. But oh, was I wrong.

It's creepy, but exceptionally creative. It's macabre, but positively mesmerizing. It's a bit perverse, but also a bit profound. And, with all that, it's high comedy, and great fun, if also somewhat disquieting. Add this to your collection. You'll be showing it to all your Dylan-loving friends, and most likely some of your other friends, too.

This disc is very interesting! The concept of the link between "Desolation Row" and Bruegel's art is well-developed and clear to any who view it. This is worth acquiring and represents an intriguing addition to the unofficial Dylan DVD canon.

Joe

Some folks may be familiar with a book by Getty Trust publications entitled "Superhuman Crew" an illustrated copy of Desolation Row by painter James Ensor. Where that book tries, this film achieves. When I first saw this DVD I was taken aback. The classic Dylan song, the unexpected visuals, the magical marionette are layered against the renderings of artist Peter Bruegel the Elder and the effect is impossible to fully describe. It's a mesmerizing must see film. Bruegel's ancient images provoke the lyrics of the live Bob Dylan performance. You feel like you are peering into the creative act itself. It gets five stars and a thanks to artist(s) that put this together.

I must endorse what others have already said. This is a brilliant work of art. Enhancing the original performance, here we are led into another world of imagery, another world which provokes our mind to further adventures ....
Given the number of 'credits' in Dylan's lyrics, it is strange that he has never mentioned Breughel or Bosch.

D519 READY FOR THE SHOW?

What's Bob's best song? Ask 20 people and you’ll probably get 20 different answers. Ask me and I'll say Desolation Row. I can even tell you my favourite verse - it's the Einstein one, which, in 12 short lines witheringly indicts scientists (whom Einstein stereotypically represents) before deftly pointing up the malign and suppressive influence of science (the quest for useless and pointless knowledge) on both religious belief and art. Just in case you thought that wasn't enough, its four-word eighth line, in dismissing e=mc2 as reciting the alphabet, bequeathes us one of the most devastatingly elegant put-downs you're ever likely to find. One of several highlights on BS7 is an early electric take of Des Row with a lyric almost but not completely finalised and the subsequent revision that springs quickest to mind concerns Casanova and what the poor bloke is or isn't spoon-fed. (Do you think he was upset at being deprived of his boiled guts? No, me neither.) But note, too, Einstein's changed look: the relatively bland so immaculate becomes - poet at work! - the sharper, closer and brilliantly conceived so immaculately frightful. Have you seen those wild-haired pictures? Einstein did look like that! Strangely, the words describe with almost equal precision their 24-year-old author. And, finally, the song's opening line is one of the most arresting and immediately recognisable in the canon, but did you ever stop to wonder about its provenance? I mean, what hanging? Did D have a specific event in mind or just conjure the concept out of nothing? What follows is adapted from Wikipedia:

Duluth, June 1920: the circus is in town and, after the rape of a local girl, three of its crew - Isaac McGhie, Elias Clayton and Elmer Jackson - are picked up and detained. But, on the night of the 15th, before any trial can take place, a ten thousand-strong mob storms the jailhouse, seizes the suspects and proceeds to lynch them at the corner of First Street and Second Avenue East. Postcards with a photo of the incident are later sold as souvenirs. Duluth native Abe Zimmerman would have been just eight years old in June 1920. In May 1941 his first son Robert will be born in St. Mary's Hospital on Third Street, a stone's throw north of the where the hangings took place. And 400 yards from Highway 61...

The definitive H61R take has ten verses. Since he's been singing it again, D usually sings verses one, two and three in order, then eight (At midnight...) and invariably the tenth and final verse last of all. But before that one we get either one or two of the others, chosen seemingly at random and not necessarily in song-order. Einstein often figures, but is sometimes dropped in favour of Dr Filth (thus sparing science but giving both barrels instead to the medical profession). And sometimes, as here, both of those are passed over, so allowing old maid Ophelia a look-in. As for this very wonderful little film, don't pause to rue Einstein's absence. I guarantee that, whatever you may have thought of Desolation Row before seeing it, your take on Bob's epic 1965 masterpiece thereafter won't be quite the same, for, if nothing else, in considering this one aspect of the song's cultural heritage, the film thereby places it comfortably into a continuum of great art spanning back nearly 500 years. And, lest you think such a claim pretentious or over-egged, watch first and then decide.

If you care anything for Dylan's art, this film positively and absolutely must not be missed.

THANKS To V, who started me off - just because I asked - with D011 and this little gem, and to Roderick Smith too.
STARS Five

This vid kicks ass. Peak into the murky chasms of this surreal animate where Bob Dylan discovers they're selling post cards of the hanging. Be prepared to be spooked. And also laugh your gord out.

A creative miracle indeed. An amazing feat of puppetry and rostrum camerawork allied to the best ever version of "Desolation Row". Once you've seen it, the imagery will stay with you, and I'm sure that, like me, you'll keep coming back to re-view it...

This was a great little video before it was authored.

It is now "cool."

Kudos and thanks to the author!

I'm with Mary on this one - 10 stars if they were available. I still have the old QuickTime version of this and have probably watched it 30 times in the last few years. Everytime you watch it you see something else in it that you missed before.

I love the way the marionette dances, too. He's got that knee wiggle thing that Dylan does down pat.

Truly amazing, and one of the prizes of my collection.

I'd rate this film as 10 if there were 10 stars here, one star for each minute of performance.

This Rocking Lantern Production of Desolation Row may not be the corporal Bob on video but it one essence of Bob and his wonderful song from 40 years ago- with visual imagery from 500 years ago to compliment the verbal imagery . When I received the quicktime file of this film last year - I put it to VCD and watched it about 50 times over a week's time, the performance of the marionette is truly captivating. The artwork of Peter Bruegel The Elder was unknown to me at the time, is still unknown except for this video.

The performance of the puppet/marionette is... mesmerizing - that doesn't read so well but I recommend this DVD highly, a MUST HAVE on my list. I look forward to the next Rocking Lantern Production starring Bob and ???