ESSAY: Self-description and False Ending

In the chorus and first two verses of Dylans Mr. Tambourine Man the speaker of the lyric makes a repeated request for the Tambourine Man to play him a song and to transport him out of his weary, numb, aimless state. The second verse ends with the speaker promising to go under the Tambourine Mans spell if he casts it (i.e. plays his song). After the repeated requests and the promise, the speaker then tells the Tambourine Man of what might happen if he plays his song. The Tambourinist might hear laughter and traces of rhymed lyrics in time with his tambourine and might find a clown following behind him (Pied Piper style?). The speaker doesnt say explicitly who would laugh, or who the ragged clown is who sings to the tambourine song and chases shadows. Yet, the best guess is the speaker himself. The speakers request to the Tambourine Man is consistently personal. Its a song for me not for a group, a song that will relieve his particular languor, which he delineates in detail to show its specificity. And the song is to lead into his own parade. I will assume then that the laughter and reels of rhyme are the speakers own. I want to focus on the latter. Consider the lines describing this rhyme: And if you hear vague traces of skipping reels of rhyme To your tambourine in time, its just a ragged clown behind, I wouldnt pay it any mind, These lines are somewhat self-descriptive (or autological). Like the words polysyllabic, wee, recherch, sesquipedalian, Latinate. The property that the words pick out is possessed by the words themselves. The words semantics (i.e. what it means) correspond in a special way to its non-semantic features (e.g. the number of characters that make it up, its sound, its etymology, etc.). Similar case here. A certain sort of lyric is described (skipping reels of rhyme to your tambourine in time) and the lyrics used for this description have the properties they describe. onomtapoeia: the word when pronounced has in a very loose sense property that the word picks out. buzz when pronounced sounds a bit like a buzz. rustle sounds a bit like a rustle. here its more exact. this really is a skipping reel of rhyme. not in a loose sense but in a strict sense. just as pollysayllabic is pollysylabic in an absolute sense.

First, the lyrics used for the description are in time to music (not to a tambourine but to a slightly jingly acoustic guitar---and a folkish arrangement that would fit well with a tambourine sound). More significantly, the phrase skipping reels of rhyme has the sort of skipping quality that it describes. The quality is especially emphasized by contrast with the first half of the line. The first half of the line is notable in placing three stressed syllables in sequence And if you hear vague traces. This makes skipping reels of rhyme with its regular alternation of stressed and unstressed syllables sound especially regular in its meter and so more like the typical rhymed lyric the phrase describes. The regular alternation of stresses matches the rhythm of skipping (an OFF-ON rhythm). This skipping rhythm is also brought out by the word skipping itself. This word has two short syllables, and so trips off the tongue very easily. In contrast, the long stressed vowel sounds of vague and traces and the repeated ay sound draw out the first line and give it a slurred quality. [ricks: as ricks notes, in the line we also hear vague traces of skipping rope and spinning reel, esp. as weve just heard spinning, swinging. though: jump rope?] Dylans delivery on the Bringing It All Back Home recording brings out these features. The first half of the line is drawn by his singing, and he puts a little extra stress on the r sound in reels, giving it more skip as if putting spin on a ball as one throws it. The line is self-descriptive in its sound and rhythm. The phrase skipping reels of rhyme, especially when contrasted with the first part of the line, possesses the skipping lyric-like quality that it describes. The self-description goes further. The skipping reels are not of any old poetic form, but of rhyme. The whole of Mr. Tambourine Man, like most songs in its genre, is written in rhyme, and so it is not very significant that this line describing lyrics that rhyme is itself a rhymed lyric. What is significant is that the word rhyme is one of the words on which the poems rhyme falls. It is first rhymed with time, another word that forms part of the description of the singing accompanying the tambourine. It is then rhymed with two additional words (behind and mind). Thus the number of rhymes gives this rhyme particular emphasis.

Note mere onomatopoeia: onomatopoeia: the word when pronounced has in a very loose sense property that the word picks out. buzz when pronounced sounds a bit like a buzz. rustle sounds a bit like a rustle. here its more exact. the line tells us to expect skipping reels of rhyme and the line telling us to expect such lyrics is itself a skipping reel of rhyme. Similar case: expect sentences containing more than four words, expect sentences containing no fancy words. Hence the better analogy on the level of words is not to onomatopoeic words but to self-descriptive ones. Whereas rustle when spoken makes a vaguely rustle-like sound, polysyllabic is polysyllabic in the strictest sense. : Thi just as pollysayllabic is pollysylabic in an absolute sense. (Is ono correctly described? Evidence that different languages have very different animal sounds. Probably very different words ono for same sound. Maybe very crude low resolution resemblance. There is also association: we come to interpret a sound as a buzz. Or maybe some low level synaesthesia of the Nabokov/language perception type.

Ive pointed out that these lines describe a lyric as having qualities (rhyme, skipping rhythm, in time to music) that the lines themselves possess. What is the significance of these lines being self-descriptive? One possibility is that these lines themselves are to be taken as part of the reels of rhyme sung in time to the tambourine. That is, these words do not just constitute part of the speakers plea to the Tambourine Man set to music. Instead, they are part of what the speaker sings once the Tambourine Man has started playing his song. The use of self-describing phrases therefore functions to draw attention to this possibility that the lyrics of Mr. Tambourine Man can be taken as the lyrics the speaker sings to the tambourine song. By making the lyrics self-descriptive, Dylan makes it possible for them to both narrate the events of a Tambourine Man playing his song on request and the speaker singing along, and also to exhibit the very songs that the speaker sings. I dont know that this interpretation does much to illuminate and make sense of the songs third verse. The interpretation is suggested by the self-descriptive elements of this verse, but not forced on us by them, and it doesnt apply in any obvious way to the first

three lines of the verse. Moreover, the interpretation does not fare better when extended to previous verses and to the chorus. First, it doesnt make sense of any ambiguities in these sections. Second, it doesnt sit easily with their content. If the sections are to be taken as what the speaker sang to the Tambourine Mans tune, then why should they include a recapitulation of the speakers plea to the Tambourine Man, including an evocation of the speakers exhausted, jaded, feckless state? This depressed state does not fit well with music that inspires dancing, parading and exuberant laughter. Ive been considering an interpretation on which the lyrics of Mr. Tambourine Man are taken as the lyrics sung by the speaker to the tambourine music he requests. This interpretation has a broad version, on which the entire song is seen as the speakers lyrics to the tambourine music, and a narrow version, on which it is only the later verses of the song which are to be taken in this way. The self-descriptive lyrics themselves dont suggest one version of the interpretation over the other, and so one must look elsewhere to decide between them. I noted a problem for the broad version of the interpretation. This version struggles to explain why the speaker would sing of his depressed state once the tambourine music gets going. The narrow version does not have this problem. The content of the later verses could much more plausibly be what the speaker would sing about in accompanying the tambourine. What is more, there is some circumstantial evidence that positively supports the narrow interpretation. My discussion of the narrow interpretation will focus on the final verse. Ill ask whether the final verse is to be taken as the speakers words to the tambourine song. If it were, it would make the final verse quite distinct from the first two verses. The first two verses would be the speakers request, which may have been originally spoken, set to music. The final verse would be the speakers song, though maybe set to a different tune. False Endings: the distinctness of the last verse This distinction between the final verse and the previous verses would fit well with other features of the song that distinguish these verses. I will discuss how the final verse is marked out as distinct from the previous verses and offer a theory about this before returning to how the narrow version of my interpretation of the self-descriptive lines applies to the final verse. The final verse is strongly set off from the previous verses by

an instrumental section. This section is one of Dylans false endings: the music creates the expectation of an imminent ending that does not occur and the song goes on with another verse or chorus. As happens quite often near the end in Dylans songs, the harmonica comes in. The acoustic guitar becomes soft and simple (played lightly in background). The harmonica plays as if to bring the song to a close. Its tune is simple and blends easily with the rest of the composition, and the mellow repetitions of the tune seem on multiple occasions to be trailing off into an ending. After this it is a surprise to hear the guitar grow louder again and start up another verse. To reiterate: the instrumental sets the last verse off from the previous verse for two reasons. First, whereas the other verses are separated only by a chorus and very short instrumental sections, the last verse is separated from the previous one by a long instrumental in which the harmonica makes its only appearance in the song. Second, the instrumental functions as a false ending. Whereas in the first section of the song the verses flow from one into another in a predictable way, the last verse comes as a surprise. Why should this final verse be set off by a false ending from the previous verses? My theory is that the setting off helps to mark an important shift in the narrative. The first three verses involve the plea to the Tambourine Man, explaining the speakers state (weary, branded), saying what he wants (magic swirling ship, parade) and then describing what the player can expect (laughing, skipping reels of rhyme). The long instrumental section marks the transition from the Tambourine Mans song being requested to the music starting and the spell being cast. The instrumental represents the start of the Tambourine Mans song, with the harmonica being like the Pied Pipers Pipe. Hence in the final verse the speaker is not making his plea to the Tambourine Man for the spell to be cast, he is describing his experience after the Tambourine Man has started playing the song and casting the spell. The descent down the foggy ruins of time, the dancing beneath the diamond sky, and the other events mentioned in this verse are the experiences of the speaker. They are not just more requests by the speaker, like the magic swirling ship or the fading into the parade. The idea of a shift in the lyrics from covering the speakers request to the Tambourine Player to constituting a description of where the Players song transports him is supported by the content of the verse. In first two verses, we had only a vague description of what might happen once the spell is cast. Magic ship, parade, dancing. Now we get a lot more detail. Frozen leaves, one hand waving free, silhouetted, etc.

Although this description is put as part of a request to the Tambourine Man, it would be an oddly specific request, esp. given the lack of specificity of the previous requests (Im ready to go anywhere) and so it seems more plausible to see it as description. The instrumental and false ending thus function to further highlight a way of reading the last verse that is suggested by the content of the verse itself. The long instrumental sets off the last verse in time, implying that time has moved on and significant events have occurred, and so readying us for a shift in content for the final verse. The false ending works like the death of a phoenix. When, to our initial surprise, the guitar comes in again at the end of the instrumental, we hear it as a new beginning---despite the falsity of the ending it follows. This new beginning again readies us for a shift in content. But it suggests a certain sort of shift: a closing of the previous chapter and the start of a new one. Since in previous verses the speaker has been asking for a song that will transport him from his weariness to a place of gaiety and excitement, the salient candidate for this new beginning is the beginning of the Tambourine Mans song, thus fulfilling the request of the previous verses. The Narrow Version and the Final Verse Suppose Im right in taking the last verse as a description of the speakers experiences once the tambourine song has started, rather than as a further request for specific experiences directed at the Tambourine Man. As Ive just noted, this reading of the last verse supplies us with an account of the function of the long instrumental and false ending. But how does this reading relate to the interpretation of the self-descriptive lines introduced above? On that interpretation, the lyrics of Mr. Tambourine Man should be taken as forming part of the skipping reels of rhyme sung by the speaker to the Tambourine Mans song. I wrote above that this interpretation doesnt work well when applied to the earlier verses, because it would be odd for the speakers song to contain a recapitulation of his request to the Tambourine Man. However, the interpretation works much better when applied to the final verse as read in my way. On this reading, the final verse is distinct from the previous verses in describing what happens once the spell is cast (rather than a request concerning the spell). And a description of what happens once the spell is cast is the sort of thing that the speaker might sing about to the Tambourine Mans music. Just as on a beautiful morning walk in the country, we might sing a song or

recite a poem about a beautiful morning in the country, we can imagine the speaker singing of the experiences he has while he has them. Of course, the fact that the content of the final verse (on my reading) is consistent with the interpretation of the self-descriptive lines is hardly strong evidence for the interpretation. There is, however, a piece of circumstantial evidence relating the selfdescriptive lines of the third verse to the final verse. The first rhyme of the final verse is on mind and time. The word time is not only part of the self-descriptive clause to your tambourine in time but is the very word that is rhymed with rhyme to create the most overt self-descriptive feature of these lines. And not only is time again rhymed upon in the final verse, but it is rhymed with a word, mind, that was itself rhymed with rhyme and time in the self-descriptive section of the third verse. Admittedly, the sense of both of both time and mind differs between the third and final verses. But still, it is hard to see the repetition of these words in the very first rhyme of the final verse as a complete coincidence. It is therefore natural to see the choice of this rhyme in the final verse as intended to draw attention to the self-referential lines and associate them with this verse. The association I suggest is that the lines of the final verse are some of the skipping reels of rhyme described in the previous verse.