How Bob Dylan Ended The World, Twice

25 Million New & Used CDs / Vinyl Records

Music Forum

My Account / Login

How Bob Dylan Ended The World, Twice
by Norm Geddis - March 24, 2009

Dylan and Hendrix seeing nice Sci-Fi residuals

. . . and it all looked swank while it happened.

Rock and Roll and Science Fiction are respectively the cool kid and the dweeb of pop Culture. And if they ever get in bed together, everybody cringes. Cool/Geek porn isn't a fetish niche; I Googled it.

To do a quick run Down of shotgun weddings there's first Alejandro Jodorowsky's attempt in 1972 to film Dune, with Pink Floyd providing the soundtrack. The final scene was to have Paul Atreides riding a planet around the galaxy like he was Ben-Hur at Hollywood Park. The backers withdrew. Next, Fritz Lang's Metropolis was re-released in 1984 with a new soundtrack of music provided by the likes of Pat Benetar, Billy Squier and Adam Ant. Everybody already had their MTV. And then there was Mick Jagger in Freejack -- not unwatchable, but . . . why didn't these two crazy kids want to get together?

Finally, in March of this year the marriage happened, and willingly, with Bob Dylan as the shadkhen and Jimi Hendrix as the rabbi. They did it twice, both times during the apocalypse, just to make sure the Cool Kid and the Dweeb understood, "you're married now. If Phil Lesh and Friends ever cover All Along The Watchtower again, it'll be you two everyone's thinking of."

So . . . why did iconic Rock music go amazingly well with Science Fiction this time - in both Watchmen and Battlestar Galactica? Thus far, I've associated Bob Dylan with the apocalypse, porn and a Jewish matchmaker mainly because I still can't figure out why this time I didn't cringe. Here both films use Jimi Hendrix’s version of “All Along The Watchtower” as the essential musical motif.

Given the exponential possibilities of triteness since both movies used the Jimi Hendrix "Watchtower" in their climactic scenes, I would not expect to feel the "wow" moment that I rarely get anymore from a movie. But damn, I did.

I've thought of one possibility, a quote I've remembered. I'll paraphrase badly here because its been at least twenty years since I read whatever book the quote's from. William Burroughs once wrote that writing, and here he was talking about novels, lags behind music by about twenty-five years. So maybe in that area of movies and television, where before the story comes the need to fill the theater seats and sell things to make you Sleep and smell better, it takes much longer before the story that is told can catch up with a song like "All Along The Watchtower".

And he's why I'm sure the music worked perfectly both times - the blogs and reviews I've come across that criticize either that the Dylan song was used, or how it was used, almost without exception claim insipidness. Arguments about Watchtower say that it was too obvious to use the song since it was referenced in the graphic novel. About BSG it's been about verisimilitude; how could that song be in the Cylons heads when it turns out they didn't come from Earth, at least the Earth we call our Earth?

The problem with those arguments is that they lack the imagination they claim the story creators lack. Equally, fans would have been upset if Watchmen didn't use "Watchtower" since it was referenced in the touchstone that is Alan Moore's graphic novel. In matters of taste there’s no argument. As for why the Cylons had a Dylan song in their head 150,000 years before Dylan was born. Well, if you have the ability to suspend your disbelief healthily, and only for the sake of bringing a meaningless twinkle to your own eye, think about where Bob Dylan was born, read up on Egyptian cosmology, and then turn a map of the United States upside Down.

Oh . . . I’ll be playing a much lesser known version of “All Along The Watchtower” on my show, Accidental Nostalgia, this Thursday at 7:00pm Eastern on Radio Dentata.

Norm Geddis
Along with his wife Jane, Norm owns Counter-Clock Records and co-hosts the show, Accidental Nostalgia, on Radio Dentata every Thursday at 7pm EST.

Subscribe to Latest Articles

Recent Postings

New Music Releases – November 24, 2009 - Nov 24

New Music Releases – November 17 - Nov 16

New Music Releases – November 10, 2009 - Nov 9

New Music Releases – November 3, 2009 - Nov 2

New Music Releases - October 27, 2009 - Oct 27

New Music Releases - October 20, 2009 - Oct 19

Happy 40th Birthday To Abbey Road - Oct 1

New Music Releases – September 29, 2009 - Sep 29

Ask Mr. Music - September 29, 2009 - Sep 29

Bird and Animal Names In Rock and Roll History-part thirty-two - Sep 27

Categories

Recent Postings

Recent Comments