Dylan & Lightfoot

Cultural analysis, even popular cultural analysis, takes a great deal of, well, information. At bottom and it seems now at the top what is needed is tons and tons (read gigabytes & gigabytes) of information.

But this is surely no problem in what many have called “The Information Age.” Well, what ever happened to “The Computer Age”?; and for that matter, what ever happened to “The Atomic Age,” that dreaded Atomic Age when the atom had suddenly become to new fixture, an idée fixe in the American mind. And least we not forget, the American mind should be equally treasured along with the American heart which, so far, has surmounted every historic obstacle placed in its short path from its circa 1600 inception with the legendary Jamestown colony, which nearly perished.

Were it not that for, History seems to have it, the local Indian tribes took pity upon those White People whom had come to their shores. Yet the Aztecs were far less lucky, with the stout and determined Cortéz marching in with his men toward what later and perhaps had always been called Mexico City, in one form or another.

In the Puritanical north we have (at that time, roughly 1600) about half the 13 fabled colonies which would later become the benighted United States of America, a most chaotic and dis-united country.

At the same time on the other side of the world there was (and still is) of course, China, an enormous country as large if not larger than all of Russia. This would have been about midway between the Ming and Qing dynasties in China.

Alright, now let’s step out altogether from the Western Hemisphere and European perspective and try to look at the world from the perspective of some typical Han Chinese in either Beijing or Hong Kong or Tai Pei, or even Macao, or Singapore.

Well, the first thought which comes to mind is, WTF! What the Fuck! This is so much different. Holy Shit! I can’t believe it! How can so many people live like this, packed together in towering buildings reaching upwards of thirty stories, laundry drying right outside the living room and bedroom windows?

Now, what does all this historical business have to do with Bob Dylan and Gordon Lightfoot, American and Canadian balladeers respectively? Nothing, in particular. And popular music, including songs, always deal with the particulars of ordinary life. Like love, loss, and heartbreak.