{"id":805760,"date":"2020-03-27T10:30:44","date_gmt":"2020-03-27T16:30:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/?p=974147"},"modified":"2020-03-27T10:30:44","modified_gmt":"2020-03-27T16:30:44","slug":"beyond-jfk-20-historical-references-in-bob-dylans-murder-most-foul","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/music-news\/beyond-jfk-20-historical-references-in-bob-dylans-murder-most-foul\/","title":{"rendered":"Beyond JFK: 20 Historical References in Bob Dylan\u2019s \u2018Murder Most Foul\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Dylan.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\"><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/t\/bob-dylan\/\" id=\"auto-tag_bob-dylan\" data-tag=\"bob-dylan\">Bob Dylan<\/a> fans woke up this morning to the stunning news that the songwriter had released a<a href=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/music\/music-news\/hear-bob-dylans-new-song-973993\/\"> 17-minute epic titled \u201cMurder Most Foul.\u201d<\/a> \u201cGreetings to my fans and followers, with gratitude for all your support and loyalty over the years,\u201d Dylan wrote. \u201cThis is an unreleased song we recorded a while back that you might find interesting. Stay safe, stay observant, and may God be with you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s his first original song since 2012\u2019s <em>Tempest<\/em>, though he has released three albums of cover songs associated with Frank Sinatra since then. The closest analogue to \u201cMurder Most Foul\u201d in Dylan\u2019s vast catalog is <em>Tempest\u2019s <\/em>title track, a 14-minute song about the Titanic.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMurder Most Foul\u201d centers around another historic tragedy: the assassination of John F. Kennedy. It\u2019s packed with references only JFK buffs will likely recognize, like the \u201ctriple underpass\u201d near Dealey Plaza, the removal of his brain during the autopsy, and the \u201cthree bums comin\u2019 all dressed in rags\u201d captured on the Zapruder film that conspiracy theorists have been obsessing over for decades. Cleary, Dylan has spent a lot of time reading books and watching documentaries about this.<\/p>\n<p>As the song goes on, however, it veers away from JFK and touches upon several other historic events of the era. It\u2019s sort of like Billy Joel\u2019s \u201cWe Didn\u2019t Start the Fire\u201d mashed up with the Rolling Stones\u2019 \u201cSympathy for the Devil.\u201d Dylan fans will be picking this one apart for years, but here are 20 non-JFK references in the song.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"embed-youtube\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" type=\"text\/html\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/3NbQkyvbw18?version=3&amp;enablejsapi=1&amp;origin=https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com&amp;rel=1&amp;fs=1&amp;autohide=2&amp;showsearch=0&amp;showinfo=1&amp;iv_load_policy=1&amp;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\">[embedded content]<\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>1. \u201cLiving in a nightmare on Elm Street\u201d<\/strong><br \/>Elm Street is the actual road in Dallas where Kennedy was assassinated. Fifteen years later, Wes Craven\u2019s horror classic <em>Nightmare on Elm Street,<\/em> about a deranged psychopath who slaughters children in their dreams, hit movie theaters. The connection to JFK\u2019s death is most likely not a complete coincidence, though Craven never commented on the matter.<\/p>\n<p><strong>2. \u201cFrankly, Miss Scarlett, I don\u2019t give a damn\u201d<\/strong><br \/>This comes straight from the mouth of Clark Gable\u2019s character of Rhett Butler in <em>Gone With the Wind<\/em>. In the original Margaret Mitchell book, Butler says, \u201cMy dear, I don\u2019t give a damn.\u201d This was changed to, \u201cFrankly, my dear, I don\u2019t give a damn\u201d in the movie. In \u201cMurder Most Foul,\u201d Dylan puts yet another tiny spin on it.<\/p>\n<p><strong>3. \u201cTommy, can you hear me? I\u2019m the Acid Queen\u201d<\/strong><br \/>These are two lines from the Who\u2019s 1969 rock opera, <em>Tommy,<\/em> about a deaf, dumb, and blind pinball wizard. The Acid Queen is a woman hired by his family who tries to restore his senses, either by dosing him with LSD or having sex with him. The song isn\u2019t quite clear.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"embed-youtube\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" type=\"text\/html\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/C1rgF5hPwss?version=3&amp;enablejsapi=1&amp;origin=https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com&amp;rel=1&amp;fs=1&amp;autohide=2&amp;showsearch=0&amp;showinfo=1&amp;iv_load_policy=1&amp;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\">[embedded content]<\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>4. \u201cWake up, little Susie; let\u2019s go for a drive\u201d<\/strong><br \/>\u201cWake Up Little Susie\u201d is a 1957 hit by the Everly Brothers, written by Felice Bryant and Boudleaux Bryant. After the assassination of Kennedy, it seemed like a relic from a distant, innocent past.<\/p>\n<p><strong>5. \u201cI\u2019m just a patsy like Patsy Cline\u201d<\/strong><br \/>Lee Harvey Oswald told the press he was \u201cjust a patsy\u201d after he was apprehended. Patsy Cline is a country legend that also died tragically young in 1963.<\/p>\n<p><strong>6. \u201cWhat\u2019s new, pussycat? What\u2019d I say?\u201d<\/strong><br \/>\u201cWhat\u2019s New Pussycat\u201d is a 1965 Tom Jones hit written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David. \u201cWhat\u2019d I Say\u201d is a 1959 Ray Charles R&amp;B classic. Their only real connection is that their titles both pose a question.<\/p>\n<p><strong>7. \u201cWolfman Jack, speaking in tongues\u201d<\/strong><br \/>Wolfman Jack was a raspy-voiced radio DJ whose popularity peaked in the early Sixties. In 1973, he portrayed himself in the George Lucas film <em>American Graffiti<\/em> as the cultural embodiment of the era in which the film took place.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"embed-youtube\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" type=\"text\/html\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/S3zdE8bliGI?version=3&amp;enablejsapi=1&amp;origin=https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com&amp;rel=1&amp;fs=1&amp;autohide=2&amp;showsearch=0&amp;showinfo=1&amp;iv_load_policy=1&amp;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\">[embedded content]<\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>8. \u201cTake me to the place Tom Dooley was hung\u201d<\/strong><br \/>Tom Dula was a Confederate war veteran that was convicted of murdering a woman named Laura Foster. He was hanged in 1868, but questions linger to this day about his guilt. He was the inspiration for the folk song \u201cTom Dooley,\u201d which was covered by the Kingston Trio in 1958. Dylan\u2019s rise in the early Sixties made groups like them seem hopelessly pass\u00e9.<\/p>\n<p><strong>9. \u201cPlay \u2018Please, Don\u2019t Let Me Be Misunderstood\u2019<\/strong><br \/>\u201cDon\u2019t Let Me Be Misunderstood\u201d is a 1964 Nina Simone song that the Animals turned into a rock hit the following year. Animals keyboardist Alan Price left the group shortly after it was recorded. He appears alongside Bob Dylan throughout the documentary <em>Don\u2019t Look Back<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>10. \u201cPlay Don Henley, play Glenn Frey\/Take it to the limit and let it go by\u201d<\/strong><br \/>Don Henley and Glenn Frey are the main songwriting team in the Eagles who sang most of their hits. \u201cTake It To The Limit,\u201d however, features Eagles bassist Randy Meisner on lead vocals. He left the band in 1977 and the only time he\u2019s performed with them since then was their 1998 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.<\/p>\n<p><strong>11. \u201cPlay it for Karl Wirsum, too\u201d<\/strong><br \/>Karl Wirsum is a Chicago artist best known for his work in the surreal Sixties art collective The Hairy Who.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"embed-youtube\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" type=\"text\/html\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/uZt1xKtPbUQ?version=3&amp;enablejsapi=1&amp;origin=https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com&amp;rel=1&amp;fs=1&amp;autohide=2&amp;showsearch=0&amp;showinfo=1&amp;iv_load_policy=1&amp;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\">[embedded content]<\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>12. \u201cPlay Etta James, too. Play \u2018I\u2019d Rather Go Blind\u2019<\/strong>\u201c<br \/>Blues singer Etta James had a big hit in 1968 with \u201cI\u2019d Rather Go Blind,\u201d which she wrote with Ellington Jordan and Billy Foster.<\/p>\n<p><strong>13. \u201cPlay \u2018Blue Sky\u2019; play Dickey Betts\u201d<\/strong><br \/>\u201cBlue Sky\u201d is a 1972 Allman Brothers Band song from their album <em>Eat a Peach<\/em>. It\u2019s one of the last songs that Duane Allman worked on before his death. But as Dylan notes, it was written by Dickey Betts.<\/p>\n<p><strong>14. \u201cPlay something for the Birdman of Alcatraz\u201d<\/strong><br \/><em>The Birdman of Alcatraz<\/em> is a 1962 Burt Lancaster film about a real-life convicted murderer, Robert Stroud, that became fixated on birds after his arrest. Dylan may reference him in the song because he died one day before JFK. C.S. Lewis and Aldous Huxley died on the same day as Kennedy, though their deaths received almost no attention.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"embed-youtube\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" type=\"text\/html\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/TnRXqi6iPgc?version=3&amp;enablejsapi=1&amp;origin=https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com&amp;rel=1&amp;fs=1&amp;autohide=2&amp;showsearch=0&amp;showinfo=1&amp;iv_load_policy=1&amp;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\">[embedded content]<\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>15. \u201cPlay \u2018Down In The Boondocks\u2019 for Terry Malloy\u201d<\/strong><br \/>Terry Malloy is the dockworker that Marlon Brando portrayed in the 1954 classic <em>On the Waterfront<\/em>. \u201cDown in the Boondocks\u201d is a 1965 Billie Joe Royal song written by Joe South, who plays guitar on Dylan\u2019s<em> Blonde on Blonde.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>16. \u201cPlay \u2018Anything Goes\u2019 and \u2018Memphis in June&#8217;\u201d<\/strong><br \/>\u201cAnything Goes\u201d is a 1934 Broadway musical with lyrics by Cole Porter. \u201cMemphis in June\u201d is a 1945 Hoagy Carmichael song. Dylan previously referenced it in his 1985 song \u201cTight Connection to My Heart.&#8217;\u201d<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"embed-youtube\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" type=\"text\/html\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/cna4LHtW5ng?version=3&amp;enablejsapi=1&amp;origin=https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com&amp;rel=1&amp;fs=1&amp;autohide=2&amp;showsearch=0&amp;showinfo=1&amp;iv_load_policy=1&amp;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\">[embedded content]<\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>17. Play \u2018Lonely At the Top\u2019 and \u2018Lonely Are the Brave&#8217;\u201d<\/strong><br \/>\u201cLonely At The Top\u201d has been used as a title for songs by Randy Newman, Bon Jovi, Mick Jagger and even Chamillionaire. The Randy Newman title is, by far, the most famous and probably the one Dylan is referencing here. <em>Lonely Are The Brave<\/em> is a 1962 Kirk Douglas western based on Edward Abbey\u2019s novel <em>The Brave Cowboy<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>18. \u201cPlay \u2018Love Me Or Leave Me\u2019 by the great Bud Powe<\/strong>ll\u201d<br \/>Bud Powell was a wildly innovative jazz pianist of the Fifties and Sixties that died of tuberculosis in 1966 when he was just 41. \u201cLove Me or Leave Me\u201d is a 1928 Walter Davidson\/Gus Kahn song from the Broadway play <em>Whoopee!<\/em> It was covered by everyone from Nina Simone to Ella Fitzgerald to Ruth Etting. It\u2019s unclear, however, if there\u2019s a version by Bud Powell. He certainly didn\u2019t write it.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"embed-youtube\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" type=\"text\/html\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/9nEf2nuH_Xc?version=3&amp;enablejsapi=1&amp;origin=https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com&amp;rel=1&amp;fs=1&amp;autohide=2&amp;showsearch=0&amp;showinfo=1&amp;iv_load_policy=1&amp;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\">[embedded content]<\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>19 . \u201cPlay \u2018Marching Through Georgia\u2019 and \u2018Dumbarton\u2019s Drums&#8217;\u201d<\/strong><br \/>\u201cMarching Through Georgia\u201d is a Civil War-era song about William Tecumseh Sherman\u2019s March to the Sea, a brutal and destructive military campaign that crippled the Confederacy near the end of the war. \u201cDumbarton\u2019s Drums\u201d is a Scottish song dating back to the 18th Century.<\/p>\n<p><strong>20. \u201cPlay \u2018The Blood-stained Banner,\u2019 play \u2018Murder Most Foul&#8217;\u201d<\/strong><br \/>The \u201cBlood-Stained Banner\u201d is a nickname given to the third and final official flag of the Confederate. It was unveiled just weeks before Lee Surrendered to Grant at Appomattox Court House, ending the Civil War. \u201cMurder Most Foul\u201d is the title of this new Dylan song that is so long and epic it wraps up with a reference to itself.<\/p>\n<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/music\/music-news\/bob-dylan-murder-most-foul-jfk-references-974147\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">via:: Rolling Stone<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Bob Dylan fans woke up this morning to the stunning news that the songwriter had released a 17-minute epic titled \u201cMurder Most Foul.\u201d \u201cGreetings to my fans and followers, with gratitude for all your support and loyalty over the years,\u201d Dylan wrote. \u201cThis is an unreleased song we recorded a while back that you might [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[98],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-805760","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-music-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-07-18 03:11:09","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSMT The Mountain","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/805760","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=805760"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/805760\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=805760"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=805760"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=805760"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}