Bob Dylan - "Murder Most Foul"

I have always let it be known to all and any, that John F. Kennedy was my hero above all others. If he had lived, the standard of living and quality of life would be immeasurably higher for the working man.

I listened to the whole  "song" last night. I'm not going to be extreme in my comments, because then they would just be dismissed completely, especially by this audience. 

To begin with, the music part of it, which not surprisingly for contemporary Dylan work was almost nonexistent; sort of a bland, tired background presence. 

As far as the lyrics are concerned, I listened carefully, and to my mind, they were neither great poetry nor brilliant observation; just pretty ordinary, like many people might write, and of course rambling all over the place with expected allusions and phrases conjuring up images of the period to those of us at that age who remember.

As usual with Mr. Dylan, I don't see the king's new clothes. What was really surprising to me were the comments beneath the video. I read several dozen of them, and not one of them was critical...and this is you tube! 

An aside; after I listened to it, I looked up "Bob Dylan 2019" on you tube out of curiosity, and found a 2019 live performance of "Simple Twist of Fate". I was truly shocked. There was an excited audience there who had actually paid for tickets to see this. I am certainly not a Dylan hater. Like many people, I thought his early work was often very observant and clever, even poetic, and even up to Blood on the Tracks there was interesting work, but I think that it may be true that poets do their best work when they're young. 

Didn’t get through it on the first go. 9+ minutes in. Have yet to go back but might….

It’s long and disturbing and arguably 57 years late which makes the timing of the release given current events even weirder.

Strikes me as something that didn’t get on to The Tempest. I haven’t tried to research when it might have been recorded, so could be way wrong on that.

I’m not anyone needing to be convinced of RZ’s genius, but I don't genuflect either.

Props to roxy54 for his candor.

Interesting piece. The music is just there for accompaniment obviously. Not quite sure what to make of it or why released now of all times. I’m sure there is a reason. The insinuation seems to be that something sinister showed its face back then and has maintained a broad influence ever since.

@Everyone! - Thanks for your comments, so far. I made the original post, without comment, to see if it would elicit comments and opinions..... and it has. Thanks again, and keep them coming.

@mapman 

Interesting piece. The music is just there for accompaniment obviously. Not quite sure what to make of it or why released now of all times. I’m sure there is a reason. The insinuation seems to be that something sinister showed its face back then and has maintained a broad influence ever since.

I agree, the music is there for accompaniment, and I think it is very effective. It's melancholy and almost a drone. I think it is beautiful and it sets the mood very well.

I'm also not quite sure what to make of it, or why it was released now. A couple of thoughts I've had regarding that are: 

JFK's killing had a profound affect on Dylan and made him very sad (well documented). Maybe the current situation in the country, and the world, has has a similar affect on him and brought up the old feelings again.

Or, possibly, he thinks something sinister is about to show its face again.....

Who knows. Would be good to hear from him at some point.