When the Deal Goes Down

I'd like to think Bobby Dylan and I go back a long way. After all, I first got to know him in a real low-point of his career. I've still got it some where -- a cassette tape of 1990's "Under the Red Sky"-- probably Dylan's worst outing. Why I didn't just give up on him and put more effort studying for the 'O' levels, had a lot to do with a handsome copy of his complete lyrics that the National Library had in its Reference section. Reading through it, I couldn't imagine how he'd even recorded that horrible 1990 album.

Of course I quickly got acquainted with the rest of his earlier and much earlier work and he's been a constant companion ever since. Anyway, I came across this video from his new album "Modern Times". It's a pretty listenable ballad that manages to turn quite a mundane line: "When the Deal Does Down" into a rather lyrical refrain. One of the central features of Dylan's work, the "choric" nature of that last line to each verse. Anyway, here's the video, drenched in nostalgia (the man's 65!) with references to his roots (born in Minnesota) and influences ("Bound for Glory"). It's all about Scarlet Johansson with Dylan's haunting voice back there somewhere. Some of the video was supposedly shot at Coney Island on the Cyclone(though this footage doesn't make it to the video, she's there at the amusements and the beach) and opens with a shot of the Statue of Liberty!





"We eat and we drink, we feel and we think
Far down the street we stray
I laugh and I cry and I'm haunted by
Things I never meant nor wished to say
The midnight rain follows the train
We all wear the same thorny crown
Soul to soul, our shadows roll
And I'll be with you when the deal goes down"