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Bob Dylan says the stigma of slavery ruined America and he doubts the country can get rid of the shame because it was “founded on the backs of slaves.”

Bob Dylan told in a recent interview with Rolling Stone Magazine that in America “people are at each other’s throats just because they are of a different color, it will hold any nation back.” He went on to say that black people know that some white people  “didn’t want to give up slavery.”

Dylan continued with, “If slavery had been given up in a more peaceful way, America would be far ahead today.”

When asked on his opinion if President Barack Obama was helping to shift a change, Dylan said: “I don’t have any opinion on that. You have to change your heart if you want to change.”

My third choice of songs from Bob Dylan’s new album is the “angry speech”, Pay in Blood. I call it an angry speech because it is clearly a man with lot on his mind who vents his thoughts in this song, or maybe it is three men? It is not a story-song (as such), this is someone’s view of their world at a particular moment. This man is, Bob Dylan, on one level. It’s about his life, but it is also so much more. Again I think it paints a picture of Americas past and present.

I’ve read a lot about how people interpret this song on different web sites, it’s very fascinating. The Point of view can be several types of men, and I am not gonna list everyone here, but these are the ones I find most believable:

Bob Dylan himself
A Soldier comming home from war
A hitman/assassin kind of guy
The Crucifixion of Jesus

There are definitely biblical references in the song and the title Pay in Blood has to be a refernce to blood offerings in the Jewish religion or the importance of The Blood of Christ in Christianity, but my take on the song is that it is about what Bob Dylan recently told Rolling Stone, that USA was built on “the back of slaves” they (USA) paid in blood but not thir own.

Lyrics w/references:

I imagine three storytellers:

The Slave
The Master (USA)
Bob Dylan (The Commentator/The People of today) 

The Slave:
Well I’m grinding my life out, steady and sure
Nothing more wretched than what I must endure (1)
I’m drenched in the light that shines from the sun

The Master:
I could stone you to death for the wrongs that you done
Sooner or later you make a mistake,
I’ll put you in a chain that you never will break
Legs and arms and body and bone
I pay in blood, but not my own.

The Slave:
Night after night, day after day
They strip your useless hopes away (2)
The more I take, the more I give
The more I die, the more I live

The Master:
I got something in my pocket make your eyeballs swim
I got dogs could tear you limb from limb
I’m circlin’ around the Southern Zone (3)
I pay in blood, but not my own.

The Slave:
Low cards are what I’ve got
But I’ll play this hand whether I like it or not
I’m sworn to uphold the laws of God
You can put me out in front of a firing squad

The Master:
I’ve been out and around with the rowdy men
Just like you my handsome friend
My head’s so hard, must be made of stone (4)
I pay in blood, but not my own.

Bob Dylan (The Commentator/The People of today):
Another politician pumpin’ out the piss
Another ragged beggar blowin’ you a kiss
You’ve got the same eyes that your mother does
If only you could prove who your father was
Someone must’ve slipped a drug in your wine
You gulped it down and you crossed the line
Man can’t live by bread alone (5)
I pay in blood, but not my own.

The Slave:
How I made it back home, nobody knows
Or how I survived so many blows
I’ve been through hell, what good did it do?
You bastard! I’m supposed to respect you?

The Master:
I’ll give you justice, I’ll fatten your purse
Show me your moral virtue first
Hear me holler and hear me moan (6)
I pay in blood but not my own.

Bob Dylan (The Commentator/The People of today):
You pet your lover in the bed
Come here, I’ll break your lousy head
Our nation must be saved and freed
You’ve been accused of murder, how do you plead?
This is how I spend my days
I came to bury, not to praise (7)
I’ll drink my fill and sleep alone
I play in blood, but not my own.

notes:

(1) The Poems of Exile: Tristia and the Black Sea Letters by Ovid. The same page includes a line that Dylan used in the song “Workingman Blues #2” on his Modern Times album:

(2) In the previous example line two of the first verse of the Tempest song “Pay In Blood,” which is “Nothing more wretched than what I must endure,” comes from Ovid. In this example you can see Ovid being used to craft line two of verse two. Dylan’s line is, “They strip your useless hopes away.” This example comes from Book III of The Black Sea Letters:

I found the two Ovid references on Scott Warmuth’s Pinterest page, a big thank you to him.

 (3) “Snow-Bound” by John Greenleaf Whittier

There’s no coincidence that this man is quoted in a song with this topic, he was was an influential American Quaker poet and ardent advocate of the abolition of slavery in the United States.

Am I not a Man and a Brother – John Greenleaf Whittier

(4) Ezekiel chapter 3 verse 9. Ezekiel is told by the Lord to go to the house of Israel, a very stubborn and hard-headed people. The Lord promises to make Ezekiel as hard-headed as they are. If you continue to read this passage it goes on to say that Ezekiel is made a watchman by God. The watchman’s responsibility is to warn the people about impending disaster. If they don’t listen then the blood is on their own heads. If the watchman fails to warn the people their blood is on his head.

(5) Deuteronomy 8:3 ; Matthew 4:4 and Luke 4:4) We all need a deeper meaning.

(6) This could be from Willie Dixon’s – I can’t quit you baby. Bob Dylan has a long history of referencing old songs:

Whoa when you hear me moanin’ and groanin’, you know it hurts way down inside
Oh when you hear me hollrin’, ooh you know my love will never die, alright

(7) “I came to bury, not to praise” – ref. Mark Antony in Julius Caesar: “I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.” The Shakespeare connection again.

Well, this is how I see it, please comment and tell me about references that I’ve missed.

– Hallgeir