A very long time ago, relatively speaking, there was a group of us that met Tuesday nights on the internets, on Yahoo, and sang Bob songs & stuff. The place was called Small Talk At The Wall, or STATW for short. One year one of our Brazilian participants started an idea to tag us to write up an explanation/interpretation/story of a Bob song. When the turn got to me, I was tagged with Tambourine Man. I was not of very good frame of mind then and kinda cheated. Here is what I wrote back then:
(takin the safe way out)
so i'm hangin around one night with a few of my buddies & we Suddenly Decide to go to new orleans. we warnt thinkin too hard at the time, fortunately, & so this idea just takes us over lock stock & barrel, no buts about it, we gotta go. the Hunk, now he's shakin up & down crazy. whatever sanity might've been lingerin in our small student heads is banished to the winds as we join him in unabashed excitement. but the problem hits us quickly that we only got one car & it aint got no Brake One. then this Condition hits us instead as an extreme advantage! of course, in no time at all we tumble on out the door & tumble on over to the said vehicle, belonging to our youngest buddy, Harley, who agrees to drive. we make sure to load up on all manner of hazardous chemicals & musical weaponry that we can bring to bear upon such a scheme. then we tumble on in & make a screech outta the driveway with a dangerous gleam in our eyes.
...[lots of descriptive text about how the various setbacks we encountered along the way were utterly futile in their lofty & noble attempts to discourage our merry band, now escalating to Full-Strength Voltage, are mercifully DELETED here to save some electrons * ]...[cut to the ARRIVAL on 2 flat tires from some really, really intense curb-rubbing, no headlights due to a certain ambitious tree limb in a convenient field of tall momentum-killing grass & a crumpled trunk held shut with coat hanger wire, but now missing a guitar]....
Harley switches off the engine & it takes several minutes of gaspin & chokin & wheezin to finally die & stop shakin the car all over. we slowly creak open the doors and cautiously step out with a smirk. the rain had stopped a few miles back, but the sky is still overcast. Bourbon Street lies in front of us, lookin so strangely empty somehow. far off, a couple of blocks away, a faint jinglin sound. then it's rudely interrupted by an empty beer can fallin out of our car. the Hunk whirls around at us with a glare & goes "SSShhh!!" & soon we can all hear it again, about 2 blocks down & hidden from our sightline. just a faint jinglin....
then, the Hunk - he sings out:
Hey! Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me, I'm not sleepy and there is no place I'm going to. Hey! Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me, In the jingle jangle morning I'll come followin' you.
we all turn to look at him like he's suddenly become some dangerous murderous psychopath, but he aint done yet:
Though I know that evenin's empire has returned into sand,
damn! we missed some Dream Party!...the street's empty. they all gone home long ago. how did the Hunk kneaux? we blame it on the chemicals. some kinda sandcastles in the air... bits of trash blowin softly along the curb.
Vanished from my hand, Left me blindly here to stand but still not sleeping.
we rub our eyes, but - with all them hazardous chemicals steadily a-pulsin through our veins - we just aint a-gonna do no sleepin now, either. hard to stand up though.
My weariness amazes me, I'm branded on my feet, I have no one to meet And the ancient empty street's too dead for dreaming.
now, hey, wots inta that Hunk now? he turnin all sing-songey on us. the jinglin seems now to have moved away, leavin us standin in the middle of the street like uncaged whiskey bottles. we step towards the last known jangle, drawin even with a street heading towards the levees. the Hunk is pickin up the pace, turnin down the street with us in tow. again! a jingle somewhere's ahead. again he calls out:
Hey! Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me, I'm not sleepy and there is no place I'm going to. Hey! Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me, In the jingle jangle morning I'll come followin' you.
we let him get on ahead of us a bit, in case we gotta split fast...
Take me on a trip upon your magic swirlin' ship, My senses have been stripped, my hands can't feel to grip, My toes too numb to step, wait only for my boot heels To be wanderin'. I'm ready to go anywhere, I'm ready for to fade Into my own parade, cast your dancing spell my way, I promise to go under it.
Hey! Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me, I'm not sleepy and there is no place I'm going to. Hey! Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me, In the jingle jangle morning I'll come followin' you.
we start to snicker at the Hunk, not so eager to go dancin as he appears to be. we all blame the chemicals again. we pass around another joint & break out into some more laughter. the Hunk looks back at us, eyes all lit up, runnin up to take a huge hit, givin it back us with a raised fist - "come on!" he hoarsly whispers & then he's back up in front, searching deep in the shadows under porch roofs & down alleys for this guy none of us seen at all. i hear one of us in back mutterin on about gettin back t' the car. but, no, we all follow the Hunk jaggedly down this unknown street. listenin for another jingle, my ears start playin a trick on me & i hear waves. i look up & the cloud cover is breakin up. the sun will be coming back soon.
Though you might hear laughin, spinnin, swingin madly across the sun, It's not aimed at anyone, it's just escapin' on the run And but for the sky there are no fences facin'. And if you hear vague traces of skippin' reels of rhyme To your tambourine in time, it's just a ragged clown behind, I wouldn't pay it any mind, it's just a shadow you're Seein' that he's chasing.
Hey! Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me, I'm not sleepy and there is no place I'm going to. Hey! Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me, In the jingle jangle morning I'll come followin' you.
the Hunk is truly spacin out now! leapin up & down, beatin his chest, pushin on towards the jinglin. any second he gonna break into some kinda cartwheel or somethin. we aint never seen him so possessed. we smoke another joint in pursuit and decide we'd better pass around another round of crossroads. houses drop off until we're on some dirt road. trees are now hidin the little jingle still faintly up ahead, then tall grass. this is what we _think_ we hear him come out with next:
Then take me disappearin' through the smoke rings of my mind, Down the foggy ruins of time, far past the frozen leaves, The haunted, frightened trees, out to the windy beach, Far from the twisted reach of crazy sorrow.
cool man! we've reached some kind of beach. just how long have we been walkin? the horizon beyond is gettin lighter & lighter. there's some unfamiliar bird calls. this cant be possible. i've seen maps. should be mucky mud swamps. above, the cloud layer is now all broken up into a million pieces. ahead, the Hunk has reached the water & now he's in over his shoes. then he's back out & headin west along the foam. we catch little snippets of his words on the strong on-shore breeze:
Yes, to dance beneath the diamond sky with one hand waving free, Silhouetted by the sea, circled by the circus sands, With all memory and fate driven deep beneath the waves, Let me forget about today until tomorrow.
Hey! Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me, I'm not sleepy and there is no place I'm going to. Hey! Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me, In the jingle jangle morning I'll come followin' you.
then again, on the wind, another snippet, another tiny jingle from somewhere way up the beach as the dawn arrives.... we watch the Hunk dance up the western side as we all collapse around some old logs. then Harley puts his face in his hands. then he takes them off & slaps his knees. "dang it all. he better have a good explanation when he gets back."
...[more snippage to save electrons]....
Epilogue:
later on in the day he's back with us at the logs & we're passin yet another joint around. we'd fetched some guitar & are tryin to play the Hunk's new song. but none of us can remember a thing. finally, at some point Harley remembers t' ask him what he was doin out there.
the Hunk holds it in awhile, then slowly exhales, "aw, nuthin, yunno. i jest needed t' get me some _NEW_ ideas...."
Harley looks away for a second, then looks back up at him, "yeah, but - but..... _who_ was that guy?!"
the Hunk lets a wry grin cross his face, "ah, kid - someday i'll let you in on it."
- nate * some other day
|