Scarlet Town (song)

Last updated
"Scarlet Town"
Song by Bob Dylan
from the album Tempest
ReleasedSeptember 10, 2012
RecordedJanuary–March 2012
Studio Groove Masters
Genre Folk, Rock and roll
Length7:17
Label Columbia Records
Songwriter(s) Bob Dylan
Producer(s) Jack Frost (Bob Dylan)
Tempest track listing
10 tracks
  1. "Duquesne Whistle"
  2. "Soon After Midnight"
  3. "Narrow Way"
  4. "Long and Wasted Years"
  5. "Pay in Blood"
  6. "Scarlet Town"
  7. "Early Roman Kings"
  8. "Tin Angel"
  9. "Tempest"
  10. "Roll on John"

"Scarlet Town" is a folk song written and performed by Bob Dylan that appears as the sixth track on his 2012 studio album Tempest. Like much of Dylan's 21st-century output, he produced the song himself using the pseudonym Jack Frost.

Contents

Composition and recording

In their book Bob Dylan All the Songs: The Story Behind Every Track, authors Philippe Margotin and Jean-Michel Guesdon discuss the song as one that, in spite of its references to traditional folk music, is "pure Dylan". They synopsize it as describing "a damned city" and note that the "nostalgic tone" of Dylan's vocal "gives a hypnotic force to the song and makes it one of the triumphs of the album". They also praise the musicianship, claiming that Donnie Herron's banjo and David Hidalgo's accordion "confer a country style on the song" and that Charlie Sexton plays "an excellent guitar solo" beginning at the 4:09 mark. [1] The song is performed in the sounding key of C minor. [2]

Themes

Historian and Harvard Latinist Richard F. Thomas, taking a cue from Dylan (who spoke about Julius Caesar possibly being "transfigured" in a Rolling Stone interview to promote Tempest [3] ), sees the title location of the song, ostensibly American, as being the city of Ancient Rome "transfigured". Thomas interprets the line "In Scarlet Town you fight your father's foes" [4] as a reference to Augustus Caesar, the adoptive son of Julius and the future Emperor of Rome, who had to fight and defeat his father's enemies. Thomas also claims that the song's sixth verse "points in its entirety to Rome and adds a new ingredient, that of Christians under Rome or in Rome: 'On marble slabs and in fields of stone You make your humble wishes known / I touched the garment but the hem was torn / In Scarlet Town where I was born'. 'Marble slabs and in fields of stone' has an ancient world feel to it, perhaps the Roman Forum, while the next lines point toward biblical lands and to the woman in the Gospel of Luke 8.43–48 who makes her humble wishes known by touching the hem of Jesus’s garment as Jesus passes by, and is immediately cured of her chronic bleeding". [5]

Critical reception

Greil Marcus has cited "Scarlet Town" as the song on Tempest that's "most remarkable" to him. Marcus observed that, although it has its origins in the traditional British folk ballad "Barbara Allen", which begins with the line "In Scarlet Town where I was born" and ends with the double suicide of the protagonists, Dylan is painting a very different and even darker picture: "He’s talking about what it would be like to grow up in a town where that horror overshadows absolutely everything. It has an allure, maybe a kind of beckoning toward your own annihilation, or an allure of romance that, along with the ugliness and fear and terror, makes it a place that’s impossible ever to forget". [6]

Spectrum Culture included the song on a list of "Bob Dylan's 20 Best Songs of the '10s and Beyond". In an article accompanying the list, critic Jacob Nierenberg describes the title location as "a creepy and surreal place – you can still see the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World – yet it’s not so different from our current world, where angels’ clothes are torn and the dead keep dying. Dylan sings of economic ruin ('Gold is down to a quarter of an ounce') and generational cycles of violence ('In Scarlet Town, you fight your father’s foes'); he even haunts a bar, drinking away his regrets over a 'flat-chested junkie whore' and barking at the performer to play Ernest Tubb’s twangy lament 'Walking the Floor Over You'. It all makes his repeated declaration that he was born in this damned place that much more haunting". [7]

A 2021 Guardian article included it on a list of "80 Bob Dylan songs everyone should know". [8]

Cultural references

The line "Set 'em up, Joe" is a quote from the Vern Gosdin song of the same name (the song being a tribute to country music icon Earnest Tubbs life who is cited in the following line) and simultaneously a reference to Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer's song "One for My Baby (and One More for the Road)", which is best known for the version by Frank Sinatra on his Frank Sinatra Sings for Only the Lonely album. [9] Dylan had previously alluded to "One for My Baby (and One More for the Road)" with his original song "One for the Road", which he recorded with The Band during the sessions for The Basement Tapes in 1967. [10]

The line that immediately follows it, "Play 'Walking the Floor", is a reference to one of country singer Ernest Tubb's biggest hits but it also interestingly foreshadows Dylan's own "Murder Most Foul" (with its narrator's repeated requests to "Play X for me"). [11]

The line “In Scarlet Town, where I was born”, which the song takes its name from, is also the opening line in many versions of the British and Appalachian folk ballad “Barbara Allen”.

"Scarlet Town" played over the end credits of the season premiere of the Cinemax television show Strike Back: Vengeance on August 17, 2012 prior to the release of Tempest. [12]

It was also featured in the fourth episode of the Syfy television series Defiance, originally broadcast on May 6, 2013. [13]

Live performances

Between 2012 and 2019, Dylan performed the song live 365 times on the Never Ending Tour. [14] The live debut occurred at the Bell MTS Place in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada on October 5, 2012 and the last performance (to date) took place on July 10, 2019 at Jazzopen in Stuttgart, Germany. [15]

Related Research Articles

<i>World Gone Wrong</i> 1993 studio album by Bob Dylan

World Gone Wrong is the twenty-ninth studio album by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released on October 26, 1993, by Columbia Records.

"Talkin' World War III Blues" is a song written and performed by the American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan that was first released as the tenth track of his 1963 album The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan. Like nearly every song on the album, it is performed by Dylan solo, accompanying himself on acoustic guitar and harmonica played in a rack.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Love Sick (Bob Dylan song)</span> 1998 single by Bob Dylan

"Love Sick" is a minor-key love song by American musician and Nobel laureate Bob Dylan. It was recorded in January 1997 and appears as the opening track on his 30th studio album Time Out of Mind (1997). It was released as the second single from the album in June 1998 in multiple CD versions, some of which featured Dylan's live performance of the song at the 1998 Grammy Awards. The song was produced by Daniel Lanois.

"Spirit on the Water" is a love ballad written and performed by the American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released in 2006 as the second track on his album Modern Times. The title is a reference to a passage in the Book of Genesis. It is notable for being the only song on Modern Times to feature a harmonica solo. As with much of Dylan's 21st-century output, he produced the song himself under the pseudonym Jack Frost.

"When the Deal Goes Down" is a love song written and performed by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, originally released as the fourth track on his 2006 album Modern Times and anthologized on the compilation albums Dylan in 2007 and reissues of The Essential Bob Dylan beginning in 2010. As with much of Dylan's 21st-century output, he produced the song himself under the pseudonym Jack Frost.

"Nettie Moore" is a folk love song written and performed by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released in 2006 as the eighth track on his album Modern Times. As with much of Dylan's 21st-century output, he produced the song himself under the pseudonym Jack Frost.

"Ain't Talkin" is a song written and performed by the American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, appearing as the tenth and final track on his 2006 album Modern Times. As with most of Dylan's 21st century output, he produced the song himself under the pseudonym Jack Frost.

"Sugar Baby" is a song written and performed by the American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released in 2001 as the 12th and final track on his album Love and Theft. Like most of Dylan's 21st century output, he produced the song himself under the pseudonym Jack Frost.

"High Water " is a song written and performed by the American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released as the seventh track on his 31st studio album "Love and Theft" in 2001 and anthologized on the compilation album Dylan in 2007. Like much of Dylan's 21st century output, he produced the track himself under the pseudonym Jack Frost.

"Workingman's Blues #2" is a song written and performed by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released as the sixth track on his 2006 album Modern Times. As with much of Dylan's 21st-century output, he produced the song himself under the pseudonym Jack Frost.

"Summer Days" is an uptempo twelve-bar blues/rockabilly song written and performed by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan that appears as the third song on his 2001 album Love and Theft. It was anthologized on the compilation album The Best of Bob Dylan in 2005. Like most of Dylan's 21st century output, he produced the song himself under the pseudonym Jack Frost.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Political World</span> 1989 song by Bob Dylan

"Political World" is an uptempo folk rock song written and recorded by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released as the opening track on his 1989 album Oh Mercy and as a single in Europe in 1990. It was produced by Daniel Lanois.

"Forgetful Heart" is a minor-key blues song written by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan that appears as the fifth track on Dylan's 2009 studio album Together Through Life. Like much of Dylan's 21st century output, he produced the song himself using the pseudonym Jack Frost.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Silvio (song)</span> 1988 single by Bob Dylan

"Silvio" is a folk rock song written by Bob Dylan and Robert Hunter and released by Dylan as the seventh track of his 1988 album Down in the Groove. Performed alongside the Grateful Dead, the song was released as the album's only single and spent eight weeks on Billboard's Mainstream Rock chart, peaking at #5 on July 1, 1988.

"Soon After Midnight" is a song written and performed by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan that appears as the second track on his 2012 studio album Tempest. Like much of Dylan's 21st-century output, he produced the song himself using the pseudonym Jack Frost.

"Long and Wasted Years" is a song written and performed by Bob Dylan that appears as the fourth track on his 2012 studio album Tempest and was anthologized on the 2016 reissue of The Essential Bob Dylan. Like much of Dylan's 21st-century output, he produced the song himself using the pseudonym Jack Frost.

"Pay in Blood" is an uptempo rock song written and performed by Bob Dylan that appears as the fifth track on his 2012 studio album Tempest. Like much of Dylan's 21st-century output, he produced the song himself using the pseudonym Jack Frost.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Early Roman Kings</span> 2012 single by Bob Dylan

"Early Roman Kings" is a blues song written and performed by Bob Dylan that appears as the seventh track on his 2012 studio album Tempest. It was also released as the album's lead single through Columbia Records on August 7, 2012. Like much of Dylan's 21st-century output, he produced the song himself using the pseudonym Jack Frost.

"Roll On John" is a song written and performed by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan that appears as the tenth and final track on his 2012 studio album Tempest. Like much of Dylan's 21st-century output, he produced the song himself using the pseudonym Jack Frost.

"Po' Boy" is an acoustic folk/jazz song written and performed by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan that appears as the tenth song on his 2001 album Love and Theft. It was anthologized on the compilation album Dylan in 2007. Like most of Dylan's 21st century output, he produced the song himself under the pseudonym Jack Frost.

References

  1. ↑ Margotin, Philippe (27 October 2015). Bob Dylan : all the songs : the story behind every track. Guesdon, Jean-Michel (First ed.). New York. ISBN   978-1-57912-985-9. OCLC   869908038.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  2. ↑ "Scarlet Town | dylanchords". dylanchords.com. Retrieved 2021-05-28.
  3. ↑ Gilmore, Mikal (2012-08-01). "Bob Dylan on His Dark New Album, 'Tempest'". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2021-02-25.
  4. ↑ "Scarlet Town | The Official Bob Dylan Site". www.bobdylan.com. Retrieved 2021-02-25.
  5. ↑ Egil (2018-02-09). "Bob Dylan's Best Songs: Scarlet Town". All Dylan - A Bob Dylan blog. Retrieved 2021-02-25.
  6. ↑ Wiener, Jon (2012-10-02). "Bob Dylan's 'Tempest': A Q&A with Greil Marcus". ISSN   0027-8378 . Retrieved 2021-02-20.
  7. ↑ "Bob Dylan's 20 Best Songs of the '10s and Beyond". Spectrum Culture. 2021-02-19. Retrieved 2021-05-28.
  8. ↑ "Beyond Mr Tambourine Man: 80 Bob Dylan songs everyone should know". the Guardian. 2021-05-22. Retrieved 2021-05-22.
  9. ↑ "So set 'em up, Joe". Genius. Retrieved 2021-02-25.
  10. ↑ "One for the road, Bob Dylan remembers Fred Astaire and one of the greatest ever dance routines. | Untold Dylan". 2017-10-20. Retrieved 2021-04-04.
  11. ↑ Ernest Tubb – Walking The Floor Over You , retrieved 2021-02-25
  12. ↑ "'Strike Back' trailer features all-new Bob Dylan song". EW.com. Retrieved 2021-03-06.
  13. ↑ "Bob Dylan". IMDb. Retrieved 2021-03-18.
  14. ↑ "Bob Dylan Tour Statistics | setlist.fm". www.setlist.fm. Retrieved 2021-01-01.
  15. ↑ "Setlists | The Official Bob Dylan Site". www.bobdylan.com. Retrieved 2021-05-28.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.