The Bob Dylan song that Anton Newcombe wishes he had written: “It paints a picture”
Bob Dylan once said that his songs “were almost magically written”, before reciting the opening lines of his Bringing It All Back Home classic ‘It’s Alright Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)’ during an interview in 2003 in what might be one of the foremost moments of his mystical being.
Staring straight at his interviewer, he states, “Darkness at the break of noon, shadows even the silver spoon; the handmade blade, the child’s balloon; eclipses both the sun and moon, to understand you knew too soon there is no sense in trying’”.
After a pause for thought, he added, “Well, try to sit down and write something like that. There’s a magic to that, and it’s not a Siegfried and Roy kind of magic, it’s a different kind of a penetrating magic. And I did it at one time. You can’t do something forever, I did it once and I can do other things now but I can’t do that”.
It wasn’t the first time he’d said something similar. As long ago as 1980, Dylan said that “I don’t think I could sit down now and write ‘It’s Alright, Ma’ again. I wouldn’t even know where to begin. But I can still sing it” (as the blistering renditions from his live shows that year can attest to). In 1997, he also told the New York Times, “I’ve written some songs that I look at, and they just give me a sense of awe. Stuff like, ‘It’s Alright, Ma,’ just the alliteration in that blows me away.”
Dylan is not alone in marvelling at the song, which has drawn superlative praise and examination from fans, scholars, critics and contemporaries alike since it was first released in 1965.
In 1976, Jimmy Carter even quoted the line from the track that “he not busy being born is busy dying” in his presidential nomination acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention. Former Vice-President Al Gore, a man who once said that Bob Dylan “shaped his political consciousness” and who Bob Dylan once described from the stage as his “buddy”, has also cited that particular lyric as one of his all-time favourites.
With its complex rhyme scheme (AAAAAB CCCCCB DDDDDB in the verses, moving to EEB in the chorus’) and even more complex images, wry and sophisticated socio-political commentary lyrics, ‘It’s Alright Ma’ is a dizzying, breathless and relentless series of thoughts that says more in its 667 words than most artists can manage in a lifetime of writing.
If even Bob Dylan himself looks back and wonders how he wrote such a song, then it should be no surprise to find out that the song is the envy of other songwriters, as well.
When asked to pick one song from another artist that he wishes he had written himself, Anton Newcombe of Brian Jonestown Massacre opted for ‘It’s Alright Ma’, explaining his decision by saying, “There are so many words; the way they’re tied together is amazing. It paints a picture that you can interpret, with plenty of points of reference to look up quotes and authors to think about. You can try and work out what he’s trying to communicate, if anything, and hidden meanings, if any”.
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