Pope of Eruke

Bob Dylan's 115th Dream / Bringing It All Back Home / 1965


Well, I got back and took 
The parkin' ticket off the mast 
I was ripping it to shreds 
When this coastguard boat went past 
They asked me my name 
And I said, "Captain Kidd" 
They believed me but 
They wanted to know 
What exactly that I did 
I said for the Pope of Eruke 
I was employed 
They let me go right away 
They were very paranoid 


Not a real person, just a jokey made up name.  Eruke is Greek for
restrain, curb, hold back.  The Pope of Restraint.  The song,
Bob Dylan's 115th Dream, aka Bob Dylan's Later Dream, is not
about restraint!



From: routhier@tiac.net
Date: Thu, 04 Jun 1998 17:55:46 -0400
To: karlerik@monet.no
Subject: Pope of Eruke

...
The actual pronunciation on the record is Uruk, as if 'your-ook', in
phonetic English. I post the following refferring to Gilgamesh and Uruk, 
as it is probably what Dylan was referring to. The tale is classic and is
written in poetic verse. Dylan doubtlessly was aware of it and likely had
read it. that could possibley be investigated. But it makes much more sense
that Bob was referring to the powerful shephard/king Gilgamesh in his
'115th Dream' re-history lesson, than a translation of the Greek word for
restraint. Curiously, Gilgamesh's city is anything but restrained. Whether
this was an ironic pun in the Gilgamesh tale is for etymological scholars
to figure out. 

(As far as the 'official' spelling in the 'Bob Dylan - Lyrics and Drawings'
book as criteria for investigation, we all know the Bob has been
notoriously lackadasical with checking it and has been inconsistant with
different versions of songs. In other words, many mistakes have been
included in it.) 

William Routhier

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