Murder Most Foul

[Mark Kohut]

murder most foul
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On Fri, Jun 25, 2021 at 3:15 PM Joseph Tracy <brook7 at sover.net> wrote:

> Lyrics to Murder Most Foul
> Underlined lines are pretty much Dylans core description of, and asertions
> about the Kennedy Killing. The bolded text have reference to the importance
> of the event and the Conspiritorial nature of the event. Both the
> underlined and bolded lines are  also poetically and rhetorically
> important/provocative .
>
>
> [Verse 1]
> 'Twas a dark day in Dallas, November '63
> A day that will live on in infamy
> President Kennedy was a-ridin' high
> Good day to be livin' and a good day to die
> Being led to the slaughter like a sacrificial lamb
> He said, "Wait a minute, boys, you know who I am?"
> "Of course we do, we know who you are"
> Then they blew off his head while he was still in the car
> Shot down like a dog in broad daylight
> Was a matter of timing and the timing was right
> You got unpaid debts, we've come to collect
> We're gonna kill you with hatred, without any respect
> We'll mock you and shock you and we'll grin in your face
> We've already got someone here to take your place
> The day they blew out the brains of the king
> Thousands were watching, no one saw a thing
> It happened so quickly, so quick, by surprise
> Right there in front of everyone's eyes
> Greatest magic trick ever under the sun
> Perfectly executed, skillfully done
> Wolfman, oh Wolfman, oh Wolfman, howl
> Rub-a-dub-dub, it's a murder most foul
>
> [Verse 2]
> Hush, little children, you'll understand
> The Beatles are comin', they're gonna hold your hand
> Slide down the banister, go get your coat
> Ferry 'cross the Mersey and go for the throat
> There's three bums comin' all dressed in rags
> Pick up the pieces and lower the flags
> I'm goin' to Woodstock, it's the Aquarian Age
> Then I'll go over to Altamont and sit near the stage
> Put your head out the window, let the good times roll
> There's a party going on behind the Grassy Knoll
> Stack up the bricks, pour the cement
> Don't say Dallas don't love you, Mr. President
> Put your foot in the tank and then step on the gas
> Try to make it to the triple underpass
> Blackface singer, whiteface clown
> Better not show your faces after the sun goes down
> Up in the red light district, like a cop on the beat
> Living in a nightmare on Elm Street
> When you're down on Deep Ellum, put your money in your shoe
> Don't ask what your country can do for you
> Cash on the barrelhead, money to burn
> Dealey Plaza, make a left-hand turn
> I'm going down to the crossroads, gonna flag a ride
> The place where faith, hope, and charity died
> Shoot him while he runs, boy, shoot him while you can
> See if you can shoot the invisible man
> Goodbye, Charlie, goodbye, Uncle Sam
> Frankly, Miss Scarlett, I don't give a damn
> What is the truth, and where did it go?
> Ask Oswald and Ruby, they oughta know
> "Shut your mouth," said a wise old owl
> Business is business, and it's a murder most foul
>
> [ Verse 3]
> Tommy, can you hear me? I'm the Acid Queen
> I'm riding in a long, black Lincoln limousine
> Ridin' in the back seat next to my wife
> Headed straight on in to the afterlife
> I'm leaning to the left, I got my head in her lap
> Oh Lord, I've been led into some kind of a trap
> Where we ask no quarter, and no quarter do we give
> We're right down the street, from the street where you live
> They mutilated his body and they took out his brain
> What more could they do? They piled on the pain
> But his soul was not there where it was supposed to be at
> For the last fifty years they've been searchin' for that
> Freedom, oh freedom, freedom over me
> I hate to tell you, mister, but only dead men are free
> Send me some lovin', then tell me no lie
> Throw the gun in the gutter and walk on by
> Wake up, little Susie, let's go for a drive
> Cross the Trinity River, let's keep hope alive
> Turn the radio on, don't touch the dials
> Parkland Hospital, only six more miles
> You got me dizzy, Miss Lizzy, you filled me with lead
> That magic bullet of yours has gone to my head
> I'm just a patsy like Patsy Cline
> Never shot anyone from in front or behind
> I've blood in my eye, got blood in my ear
> I'm never gonna make it to the new frontier
> Zapruder's film, I've seen that before
> Seen it thirty-three times, maybe more
> It's vile and deceitful, it's cruel and it's mean
> Ugliest thing that you ever have seen
> They killed him once and they killed him twice
> Killed him like a human sacrifice
> The day that they killed him, someone said to me, "Son
> The age of the Antichrist has just only begun"
> Air Force One comin' in through the gate
> Johnson sworn in at 2:38
> Let me know when you decide to throw in the towel
> It is what it is, and it's murder most foul
>
>
> [Verse 4]
> What's new, pussycat? What'd I say?
> I said the soul of a nation been torn away
> And it's beginning to go into a slow decay
> And that it's thirty-six hours past Judgment Day
> Wolfman Jack, he's speaking in tongues
> He's going on and on at the top of his lungs
> Play me a song, Mr. Wolfman Jack
> Play it for me in my long Cadillac
> Play me that "Only the Good Die Young"
> Take me to the place Tom Dooley was hung
> Play "St. James Infirmary" in the Court of King James
> If you want to remember, you better write down the names
> Play Etta James, too, play "I'd Rather Go Blind"
> Play it for the man with the telepathic mind
> Play John Lee Hooker, play "Scratch My Back"
> Play it for that strip club owner named Jack
> Guitar Slim going down slow
> Play it for me and for Marilyn Monroe
>
> [Verse 5]
> Play "Please Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood"
> Play it for the First Lady, she ain't feeling any good
> Play Don Henley, play Glenn Frey
> Take it to the limit and let it go by
> Play it for Carl Wilson, too
> Looking far, far away down Gower Avenue
> Play "Tragedy", play "Twilight Time"
> Take me back to Tulsa to the scene of the crime
> Play another one and "Another One Bites the Dust"
> Play "The Old Rugged Cross" and "In God We Trust"
> Ride the pink horse down that long, lonesome road
> Stand there and wait for his head to explode
> Play "Mystery Train" for Mr. Mystery
> The man who fell down dead like a rootless tree
> Play it for the reverend, play it for the pastor
> Play it for the dog that got no master
> Play Oscar Peterson, play Stan Getz
> Play "Blue Sky," play Dickey Betts
> Play Art Pepper, Thelonious Monk
> Charlie Parker and all that junk
> All that junk and "All That Jazz"
> Play something for the Birdman of Alcatraz
> Play Buster Keaton, play Harold Lloyd
> Play Bugsy Siegel, play Pretty Boy Floyd
> Play the numbers, play the odds
> Play "Cry Me a River" for the Lord of the gods
> Play Number nine, play Number six
> Play it for Lindsey and Stevie Nicks
> Play Nat King Cole, play "Nature Boy"
> Play "Down in the Boondocks" for Terry Malloy
> Play "It Happened One Night" and "One Night of Sin"
> There's twelve million souls that are listening in
> Play "Merchant of Venice", play "Merchants of Death"
> Play "Stella by Starlight" for Lady Macbeth
> Don't worry, Mr. President, help's on the way
> Your brothers are comin', there'll be hell to pay
> Brothers? What brothers? What's this about hell?
> Tell them, "We're waiting, keep coming," we'll get them as well
> Love Field is where his plane touched down
> But it never did get back up off the ground
> Was a hard act to follow, second to none
> They killed him on the altar of the rising sun
> Play "Misty" for me and "That Old Devil Moon"
> Play "Anything Goes" and "Memphis in June"
> Play "Lonely at the Top" and "Lonely Are the Brave"
> Play it for Houdini spinning around in his grave
> Play Jelly Roll Morton, play "Lucille"
> Play "Deep in a Dream", and play "Driving Wheel"
> Play "Moonlight Sonata" in F-sharp
> And "A Key to the Highway" for the king on the harp
> Play "Marching Through Georgia" and "Dumbarton's Drums"
> Play "Darkness" and death will come when it comes
> Play "Love Me or Leave Me" by the great Bud Powell
> Play "The Blood-Stained Banner", play "Murder Most Foul"
>
> So those are the lyrics, the dark content of which is sung in his  rough
> but perfectly tuned voice. Some might say spoken voice but I hear a
> definite melodic content.The words are clear throughout   with  beautiful
> keyboard playing (Benmont Tench Alan Pasqua, Fiona Apple, which gently
> rises and recedes, somber , lamenting, insistent, tender, exquisitely
> lovely.  Also Blake Mills on Guitar which is more in the background to my
> hearing.
>
> First there can be no doubt that Dylan is saying as boldly as possible
> that JFK was shot in a carefully planned multiparty conspiracy involving
> money, revenge, and plans to replace him with a more compliant ‘leader’.
> He even says the same people killed Robert.
>
> My second main point so far is that this changed the meaning of America
> and the way I read the song he is describing an outcry for comfort from
> Wollfman Jack but somehow all the comforting and lamenting and faithful and
> brave songs cannot heal the wound.  whether this cry is is from Kennedy or
> America or both is not clear to me. I may be missing a clue.
>
> Verses that demonstrate the change in the meaning of america and democracy
> and truth:
>
>  A day that will live on in infamy; I'm going down to the crossroads,
> gonna flag a ride,
> The place where faith, hope, and charity died;
>
>  goodbye, Uncle Sam;
>
>  What is the truth, and where did it go? Ask Oswald and Ruby, they oughta
> know
> "Shut your mouth," said a wise old owl
> Business is business, and it's a murder most foul;
>
> Freedom, oh freedom, freedom over me
> I hate to tell you, mister, but only dead men are free;
>
> They killed him once and they killed him twice
> Killed him like a human sacrifice
> The day that they killed him, someone said to me, "Son
> The age of the Antichrist has just only begun”;
>
> I said the soul of a nation been torn away
> And it's beginning to go into a slow decay
> And that it's thirty-six hours past Judgment Day
>
> These above lines make it pretty cear to me that  Dylan sees the Kennedy
> killing as a dark  turning point whose importance for the nation is hard to
> overstate.
>
> Right after this line about the soul of a nation torn away and its 36
> hours after judgement day Wolfman Jack makes his second appearance in the
> song. His first appearance is  in the first verse.
> Wolfman, oh Wolfman, oh Wolfman, howl
> Rub-a-dub-dub, it's a murder most foul
>
> I see this as Kennedy , now a  ghost like Hamlet’s father telling Wolfman
> Jack it is murder most foul. Kennedy’s voice appears throughout  along with
> the primary  narrator who I assume is Dylan, Oswald, a secodary narrator
> offering false comfort , and Kennedy’s killers
> The rub-a-dub -dub is an odd choice implying the second line,”3 men in a
> tub”??? There are several 3s in the song.
>
> The second appearance of the famous howling, gravel voiced border radio DJ
> is in the 4th verse and asks Wolfman Jack for a long list of pop culture
> material, mosty songs to be played  and singers , but also charcters like
> Lady Macbeth or real people like Bugsy Siegel,  Buster Keaton. How do you
> play a person?
> “Wolfman Jack, he's speaking in tongues
> He's going on and on at the top of his lungs
> Play me a song, Mr. Wolfman Jack
>
> One wonders at this point in the song what Wolfman’s broadcast after the
> Kennedy killing was actually like. 1963 was the very year he had moved to
> the most powerfu radio station in North America XERF AM on the  Mexican
> border across from Texas.  One might also wonder what is intended by this
> coincidence of time and name( Jack), beginning and ending.
>
>
> Play it for me in my long Cadillac ( this may be Kennedy in his hearse as
> part of the request is to comfort Jacqueline) but who this is  all to be
> payed for gets shifty
> Play "Mystery Train" for Mr. Mystery
> The man who fell down dead like a rootless tree
> Play it for the reverend, play it for the pastor
> Play it for the dog that got no master
>
> Play it for that strip club owner named Jack
> Play it for me and for Marilyn Monroe
> There's twelve million souls that are listening in
>
> also Dylan interrupts this song and culture list to insert more of the
> narrative
>
>  Play "Stella by Starlight" for Lady Macbeth
> Don't worry, Mr. President, help's on the way
> Your brothers are comin', there'll be hell to pay
> Brothers? What brothers? What's this about hell?
> Tell them, "We're waiting, keep coming," we'll get them as well
> Love Field is where his plane touched down
> But it never did get back up off the ground
> Was a hard act to follow, second to none
> They killed him on the altar of the rising sun
>
> This last line seems to me a  dual reference first to the house of the
> rising sun in the blues song and the implication that the house of
> democracy will become a house of whoredom; and second to the Flag with the
> rising sun that symbolized   the rise of fascism for Kenndy, who fought in
> the Pacific.  Fascism requires  blood sacrifice, hence an altar, and what
> is more fascist than a bllody coup against a popular leader and a takeover
> by the secret police and capitalists.
>
> There’s a lot more here, references to race relations that will suffer, to
> war,  the mob and to the drug wars to come,  te new frontier that wil never
> be reached, and doubtless many more references and hints that I am
> missing.  There is a Pynchonian aspect in that one is rewarded by
> following  and thinking about or researching the references. Cumulatively
> it has similar effect as Howl or the Waste Land on the psyche.  More than I
> intended to write about, but the song is worthy of attention. To me this
> worthiness has more to do with the impliction of a murderous coup and the
> deep repurcussions of the murder of a president followed by many official
> lies, many easily exposed as lies, to support a non credible narrative.
> While thre is more to the artfulness and multi-dimensionality of the song
> than that issue, I feel that issue is obviously the central unifying
> narrative. Read the words of the song, read some of the investigations into
> the event. It was a dark day in Dallas.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> --
> Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
>