The basement types; interpreted essay

He portrays the album as an America where the puritans were against the pioneers, suggesting the Puritans settled the land where they were free to practice religion while pioneers settled the land in hopes of a better America where dreams could come true without religion and politics being the motivation. My view of the Basement Tapes album by Bob Dylan, is that many of the songs in the album have to do with relationships- break-ups, broken promises, and commitments. The characters in many of his songs- “ Bessie Smith”, “ Odds and Ends”, and “ Orange Juice Blues”, Just to name a few, all have to do with being treated poorly in a relationship, being over a allegations, or wanting a relationship back. I feel like the songs are trying to accomplish the concept of a healthy, happy relationship. According to Marcus, the mood of the music implies people’s feelings while waiting on the world to end.

He suggests people are lingering in fear and curiosity as to when the time will come. Sense of visitation, the smell of fear, the appearance of the unwanted, ten nights in a barroom and the thrill of waiting around for the end of the world” (65), explaining why Marcus would involve Judgment Day to his interpretation. “… Every now and then tit visions hanging in the sky before them, Judgment Day or Just weather they can’t tell” (64), Marcus suggests the Puritans and pioneers would envision either the weather or Judgment Day, because they were unsure as to when it would come.

Marcus feels as if several artists felt the effects of what America once was in the past. Dylan wrote in 1994 of Peter Guardrails Last Train to Memphis: The Rise of Elvis Presley, “ in an America that was wide open, when anything was possible” (66), claiming that America was where dreams could possibly and rather easily come true, ND Dylan was still lost in the past where it was possible. “ When was it, to his mind, in his voice, that America began to go into the past, changing shape from flesh to ghost? ” (67), Marcus questions when Dylan started veering more toward the past, where instead of singing about the present. What they took out of the air were ghosts” (84), suggesting they took the past (which is now the ghost) out of air. Marcus explains how in 1967, many artists’ music pertained to America, and how the “ American past and future slowly turned” (67), meaning the past was slowly becoming he present again and the present is being forgotten like the past usually does. The mood of the artists’ music referred to the past, where the question of America going back to the past was uncertain and back when the Puritans over ruled the pioneers.

Time is longer than rope… It unwinds lazily, snaps back in an instant, shocking you awake in a bed you cannot remember entering”(66), Marcus states, implying that time goes by unnoticeable, then in an instant it can all come back to the present. Marcus insists that Dylan wears a mask over his face, which Constance Rouse lamas is a “ portable heirloom” (46), in his book American Humor: A study of the National Character, recommending it to be “ handed down by the pioneer.

(47) Marcus is insisting that Dylan hides behind a mask that once covered the pioneer’s face, basically making the Puritans believe that the pioneers were leading the same Christian-like lifestyle, in which they were Just trying to please the Puritans to make them get off their backs. Marcus argues, “ the actor’s mask not settling into the singer’s skin” (41), because the feelings in the song don’t match the singer’s vocals or instrumentation used, therefore shielding his face with a mask to hide expressions, feelings, emotions. Marcus also implies that the album shows the clash between the puritans and the pioneers. ” ..

. The Puritan climbs down from the pioneer’s back, here that the pioneer bucks the Puritan off…

“(64), implying that the songs in the album have to do with wanting the Puritan, who still has power and bases everything off religion, to Jump off the pioneers back, who want to live the American dream. Marcus shows how religion started changing music and artists started revising folk music, “… Sock steady revision of “ Like a Rolling Stone,” Dylan huge hit of the summer before.

.. Ewe verses written as if straight from the Old Testament Apocrypha. ” (69), Marcus feels that it’s important to include in the book, because it shows how religion, or the Puritans, had an effect on music.

The Puritans also had an effect on some artists, changing folk music to what seemed to be music out of the Old Testament. The pioneers want the Puritans to stop pushing religion on them so they can live the lifestyle they chose, which is to explore and find a new life- which is where the American dream comes into play. The pioneers were out to find the American dream, a place where dreams come true. In the song “ Bessie Smith”, the character is unsure about his feelings for Bessie, now that their relationship has ended.

While the relationship is done and over, the character decides he wants to rekindle their past relationship. The man decides he is ready to settle down and make a commitment with Bessie, “ When I get there I wonder what she’ll do”-the character is unsure how she will react when he approaches her. Their relationship seems to have ended dramatically, which is why in turn he is questioning her response to seeing him gain. The character also realizes that his relationship with Bessie was the best thing he has ever been a part of. “ Now in my day Eve made some foolish moves… But back then I didn’t worry ’bout a thing”, the man wants Bessie to understand him and to explain that he realizes what a fool he has made of himself in the past, even though he wasn’t worried about his actions in the past.

All the while, he is still unsure about the attraction he had to her, “ Was it her sweet love or the way she could sing”, but there must be some quality that she possesses to make him go back for a second hence. In “ Odds and Ends”, the character is tired of being walked on and used. He is telling this woman he is over the relationship and he is poised off by the way she treated him. He is tired of her breaking promises, where he says, muff promised to love me but what do I see? Instead of the character being depressed and a loner, he tells the woman he is ready to move on and is no longer willing to waste any more time on her, considering she is always, “ spilling Juice on me like you got someplace to go’, therefore spilling Juice on him pertains to disabling him to go out with her, king him feel as if she only wants him around when he is benefiting her. The Juice symbolizes the baggage she has carried along the way and how it has been dumped on to him since he’s in a relationship with her.

He tells her, “ From now on you’d best get on someone else”, allowing the character to show that he is ready for her to move on as well. In “ Orange Juice Blues”, the song is about a male who is sick of his woman’s friends putting him down. He also wants this woman to “ get right”, while the next line he expresses that he is walking out the door. People that aren’t involved in their allegations are negatively influencing the relationship, “ they keep bringing me down”, explaining their relationship as a group instead of two people, where her friends have had a crucial effect on their relationship, and all they see is negative in him. He is fed up with her friends “ hanging around all the time” as one line says, so he decides it’s best if he walks away from the relationship. “.

.. L can see it in your empty eyes… But there’s no need for talking.

.. ” Allowing me to believe that the male sees no point in working things out, because what they had is already gone. “ Cause I’m tired of everything… And I mint coming back no more” proves that the character has been willing to talk to the woman about their problems, but they can’t come to an agreement, therefore the problems they have with her friends and things always being her way have been foregoing.

He is completely done trying, and ready to move on with his life. The idea is to commit yourself in a relationship where promises are made, commitments aren’t an issue, and where everything is equal in a relationship. The songs are trying to accomplish the concept of a healthy relationship by exiting the legislations in which the characters in the songs are involved in. The idea is to have a relationship which is opposite of the songs “ Orange Juice Blues” and “ Odds and Ends”, where the character in “ Orange Juice Blues” is facing the woman’s friends whom think negatively of him and are ruining their relationship, and “ Odds and Ends” because of the broken promises and his woman using him. Marcus says the album contains music dated back to the old, weird past America, when the Puritans settled the land based on religion and the pioneers settled the land in hopes of living the American dream. Marcus uses the song “ Lo and Behold! By Bob Dylan, in a way to argue how the clash between the Puritans and the pioneers affected America.

He also argues that Dylan had a mask covering his face, in order to hide his true feelings pertaining to the clash and the rise of events that took place in the past. I say the album contains many songs regarding poor relationships. I feel as if the album is trying to grasp the concept of how a healthy relationship should be. The songs I chose all contain stories of relationships where commitment, broken promises, and break ups all tie together to show poor relationships.