Lately in my classics course we have been discussing Utopian works that reveal the incredible inventiveness and madness of man in his pursuit of the ideal society. Perhaps one of the most popular ways of highlighting a perfect society is by creating one and having a doe like creature stumble upon this society -- the fish out of water premise. One of the most notable examples of this approach is Jonathan Swifts Gullivers Travels. The satyr finds its hero perplexed by the ways different societies embrace him, whether hes the size of a midget or a giant the result is always amusing.

That is about the extent of my Gullivers Travels knowledge. But this concept of The Miraculous Voyage is how I like to view the career of Bob Dylan. To me, Dylan was an alien. Why else would his poetry appear so deceivingly simple? Because he is an outsider always being deceived, he needed to keep it simple like Guthrie did. Theres a cosmic pragmatic feel to the way Dylan sang his verses. What is known of Dylan is what society made him--a giant. The war generation wanted him as their poet laureate. But Dylan just wanted to be.

Martin Scorceses No Direction Home documentary aired last week on OETA and it perfectly illustrates this point. As Scorcese said, the movie is primarily the story of the artists journey. In the film we see Dylan rustle and fidget in the spotlight. We see him smirk with great ideas. We see the music that turned him to music (Bobby Vee, Odetta, Woody Guthrie, Blind Willie McTell). This is probably Scorceses greatest touch as the assembler to focus on the music that formed Dylans landscape. After all that is what made Dylan the man that we have known him to be. But thats the rub, no one will ever know him; not the way we want to know him--as the more prophetic side of ourselves. The documentary ends cryptically telling us after a near fatal motor cycle accident Dylan wont play again live for another six years. The End. No fireworks, no forays into Dylans Christian years, just a black screen and a new beginning.

The film is one of the best of the year, and to accompany its release the bootleg series has also made public unreleased Dylan tracks from the Newport Folk Festival and alternate takes. Rolling Stone described them as a musical odyssey (a la Swift!) and I would like to point to some of the more exemplary never before released tracks on this musical odyssey.

This Land is Your Land (Track 3, Disc 1): Yup, this one should touch face with all you Okies. The strings are plucked a little slower than Woodrow Guthries here. You can hear a very young Dylan savoring each moment and adopting his own approach to verse through Woodys. Theres no pomp here, as Dylans post electric tracks can be accused. Hearing Dylan trying to sound hoarse is almost cute, but at the end its just plain touching.

Man of Constant Sorrow (Track 9, Disc 1): Some may be surprised by the life of this ole timey anthem. Dylan brings some fine harmonica work to this adaptation. A grainier version than the Soggy Bottom Boys.

A Hard Rains A-Gonna Fall (Track 12, Disc 1): A Hard Rains A-Gonna Fall means something is going to happen, Dylan tells a polite Carnegie Hall audience (all flea claps!). This is where people got Dylan wrong. He wasnt proscribing solutions. He didnt know the missile crisis was going to scare the hell from folks; he was just painting these terrible, beautiful landscapes. I listened to a good friends second pressing Freewheelin LP over the summer and I, maybe all of us, realized this was our favorite Dylan song, ever. Its tone is somber and true, more powerful heard through the sandstones of vinyl. Someday I will steal that record from her. It provides a great exercise for poets as well. The verses where Dylan says he sees a multitude of images (example: where the people are many and their hands are all empty) could be powerful poetic calisthenics--like a mad lib where you plug in whatever creative metaphor you got in the arsenal.

And after all Dylans images have left your mind pirouetting around itself he leaves with this: And Ill tell it and think it and speak it and breathe it/ And reflect from the mountain so all souls can see it. You cant beat that.

Maggies Farm at Newport (Track 2, Disc 2): The first thing a supervisor at the Brad Carson campaign headquarters told me was that he saw Dylan play an anniversary show at Newport a few years back, opening with this song. Its easy to see why his eyes gleamed when telling me he was a part of such tradition; Newport was where Dylan went electric. What a rollicking sound this version of Maggies Farm packs. Without the context of the Newport three song set (cut short by Dylan thanks to crowd booing), this is just an old slave song. But put within the context we hear Dylan squealing a metaphor for the suffocation he felt within the folk tradition. They say sing while you slave I Just get bored/I aint gonna work on Maggies farm no more, he says over nasty guitar riffs and lighting fast drums. The audience didnt know what hit them and unfortunately we cant hear the shower of boos on this version, but the message is there. Have your friends provide the boos if you must.

Ballad of a Thin Man (Track 11, Disc 2): The piano feels like a walk down death row. Once again its hard to imagine Dylan getting any less a haunting sound out of the organ. The vocals are strained as it describes the evil of doing nothing at all. Still somethings happening but you dont know what it is do you? Mr. Jones.

Beat that Ben Folds.

Like a Rolling Stone (Track 12, Disc 2): I Dont Believe you, Youre a liar, Dylan barks after being called Judas. This immaculate journey through a folkie dystopia ends where Dylans second wind began, on Like a Rolling Stone. Here he screams about having no home, and yes the blues band is just as messy. But listen to Highway 61 Revisited, Blonde on Blonde and Bringing It All Back Home and youll see that Dylan and his band got it oh so terribly right in the studio. This compilation isnt the prettiest, but its where it all started. The most precious relics arent supposed to glisten.

Danny Marroquin is a professional writing junior who is currently blowin in the wind.
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