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Erano passati oramai 10 anni dalla domanda "Come ci si sente ad essere come una pietra che rotola?". Erano passati 10 anni dai quei mitici dischi che lo lanciarono nella leggenda. Il vento che prima lo ispirava, ora imperversa contrario e "idiota". Gli ultimi dischi non soddisfano più i suoi fans, disorientati ed ncomprensibilmente infastiditi dai suoi continui cambi di direzione artistica. La moglie, come se non bastasse, lo lascia, solo, un matrimonio in forte crisi, il poeta è perduto, "aggrovigliato nella trsitezza", "con un dolore che va e viene/ come un cavatappi nel cuore".
Bob Dylan è, ora, chiamato a dover rispondere a quel durissimo interrogativo, lanciato allora contro tutto e contro tutti. E la risposta non si fa attendere: fulgida, chiara, geniale, dura, lirica, un viaggio a vele spiegate nei meandri dell'Inferno di Dylan. La risposta è "Blood On The Tracks", ove il sangue che copre le note ed i versi del disco non è più quello della lotta sociale per i diritti, ma è quello dello stesso cantautore, ed anche il nostro stesso sangue, che sgorga dalle ferite aperte dei cuori, che brucia ed arde alla ricerca del Paradiso, anche se disilluso per tutti quei "semplici scherzi del destino" che finiscono per farci soffrire ed a cui diamo inesorabilmente la colpa.
A Bob Dylan è sempre piaciuto rimescolare le carte, ma ora non ha più scuse, ora non cerca comromessi, ora è costretto a svelare la sua cruda verità. E' sorprendente osservare i vari espedienti utilizzati per compiere questa sublime ed intima confessione: il poeta torna indietro nel tempo, ripesca il Viaggio letterario salvifico per eccellenza, la "Divina Commedia", che incornicia lo sfondo di tutta l'opera.
Il viaggio del poeta ha inizio. Mentre lui è "aggrovigliato nella tristezza", è Lei che:
poi aprì un libro di poesie
e me lo porse
Era scritto da un poeta italiano del Duecento
Ed ognuna di quelle parole suonò vera
e splendente come un carbone ardente
trasudando da ogni pagina
come fosse scritta nella mia anima da me per te
A chi dare la colpa di questa sofferenza? La prima risposta è: "semplice scherzo del destino". Questo, però, non è sufficiente ad alleivare la sofferenza ed il dolore gridati in "You're a Big Girl Now". La sofferenza, come spesso accade, si tramuta in rabbia: Dylan esplode in "Idiot Wind", inveisce a più riprese contro di Lei che lo ha lasciato, che non gli crede più, ma poi stremato, nel finale ammette che il vento idiota soffia anche per lui:
Vento idiota che soffia tra i bottoni dei nostri cappotti
che soffia tra le lettere che abbiamo scritto
Vento idiota che soffia tra la polvere sui nostri scaffali
Siamo degli idioti, babe
E' un miracolo persino che riusciamo a nutrirci da soli.
Dopo lo sfogo e le imprecazioni di impeto senza ritegno alcuno, è il momento della retorica, il picaresco momento della tautologica rivelazione:
Ho brancolato nel buio troppo a lungo
Quando una cosa non è giusta è sbagliata
Mi renderai solo quando te ne andrai
Il poeta sa che rimarrà solo, ma prova ugualmente a riconquistare la sua amata con una magnifica lirica ispirata dalle Muse dell'Olimpo:
Fiori sul crinale della collina, che sbocciano in modo bizzarro
grilli che parlano in rima avanti e indietro
un fiume che tristemente scorre lento e pigro
Potrei restare con te per sempre
e non rendermi conto dello scorrere del tempo
Già, il tempo... Il giorno che passa inesorabilmente lento, lentissimo senza di Lei. Una giornata tristemente dipinta in "Meet me in the morning", dove la luce e la speranza del mattino lasciano ben presto il posto all'oscurità ed al ricordo della sera.
Dicono che l'ora più scura è appena prima dell'alba
Ci sarà ancora quest'alba o vivrò per sempre nell'oscurità in cui sono piombato? Questo dubbio amletico imperversa nell'animo del dannato, che spera comunque di trovarsi nel Purgatorio, quando l'attenzione si sposta improvvisamente su un piccolo teatrino di provincia dove sta andando in scena il dramma di "Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts". Una pausa decisamente shakespeariana, in cui il dramma dell'amore e della sua fine si compie. Il metateatro va in scena. La poesia esplode! Chi è il "Fante di Cuori"? Dylan? Un amante? Il destino? la colpa? Il rimorso? Tutti questi?
Usciti di scena gli attori, il poeta usa un altro stratagemma teatrale: si rivolge direttamente al pubblico. Il monologo alla Molière ci chiede sommessamente di salutargli l'amata, qualora la incontrassimo. Ci chiede di portarLe il suo saluto, così come un'anima dannata farebbe amichevolmente con Dante.
Ora il viaggio riprende. Lui rivuole la sua amata, Colei che lo salvò, Colei che gli offrì "riparo dalla tempesta". Dylan La ritrae così:
Improvvisamente mi voltai e lei era lì
con braccialetti d'argento ai polsi e fiori nei capelli
Venne verso di me con grande grazia e mi tolse la corona di spine
"Entra" - disse lei - "Ti darò riparo dalla tempesta"
Questa visione divina pare aprirgli la mente ed il cuore, pare offrirgli una rivelazione: il destino non c'entra più. Il poeta recita, infatti, un breve mea culpa, dall'alto del suo orgoglio che oramai è totalmente infranto.
Ora c'è un muro tra di noi, qualcosa è andato perso
io ho dato troppo per scontato, tutto mi si è complicato
Giunto a questo punto, egli sa che ora tocca a Lei decidere, perdonandogli le sue colpe e tornando da lui. Lei diviene perciò alla pari di Dio, poichè governa il suo futuro.
Vivo in un paese straniero ma sto per attraversare il confine
la bellezza cammina sul filo del rasoio, un giorno la farò mia
Se solo potessi tornare indietro all'ora in cui Dio e lei nacquero
"Entra" - disse lei - "Ti darò riparo dalla tempesta"
Indietro, però, non si può tornare. La tempesta riempie Dylan fino alle orecchie, poichè senza quel riparo sacro che egli amava e continua ad amare ed amerà per sempre. Lo ribadisce, forte, anche nell'ultima traccia, "Buckets Of Rain". Questi "secchi di pioggia" non lasciano scampo. Apparentemente sembra la fine. La disperazione, però, trova un ultimo insperato conforto, non sufficiente a riempire l'anima ed il cuore, nè per alleviare il dolore, ma abbastanza utile a dare un senso alla vita, o forse solo per continuarla dignitosamente. Ciò che si fa e ciò che si deve fare, ecco il sottile appiglio finale a cui aggrapparsi. In fondo, anche se tutto pareva crollargli addosso, lo stesso Bob Dylan ci ha regalato un preziosissimo capolavoro, intimo ma di tutti, senza fiato e senza tempo:
La vita è triste
la vita è un pasticcio
Tutto ciò che puoi fare è fare ciò che devi
Fà quello che devi e fallo bene
Così faccio io per te, dolcezza,
non lo sai?
Elenco tracce testi samples e video
01 Tangled Up in Blue (05:42)
Early one mornin’ the sun was shinin’
I was layin’ in bed
Wond’rin’ if she’d changed at all
If her hair was still red
Her folks they said our lives together
Sure was gonna be rough
They never did like Mama’s homemade dress
Papa’s bankbook wasn’t big enough
And I was standin’ on the side of the road
Rain fallin’ on my shoes
Heading out for the East Coast
Lord knows I’ve paid some dues gettin’ through
Tangled up in blue
She was married when we first met
Soon to be divorced
I helped her out of a jam, I guess
But I used a little too much force
We drove that car as far as we could
Abandoned it out West
Split up on a dark sad night
Both agreeing it was best
She turned around to look at me
As I was walkin’ away
I heard her say over my shoulder
“We’ll meet again someday on the avenue”
Tangled up in blue
I had a job in the great north woods
Working as a cook for a spell
But I never did like it all that much
And one day the ax just fell
So I drifted down to New Orleans
Where I happened to be employed
Workin’ for a while on a fishin’ boat
Right outside of Delacroix
But all the while I was alone
The past was close behind
I seen a lot of women
But she never escaped my mind, and I just grew
Tangled up in blue
She was workin’ in a topless place
And I stopped in for a beer
I just kept lookin’ at the side of her face
In the spotlight so clear
And later on as the crowd thinned out
I’s just about to do the same
She was standing there in back of my chair
Said to me, “Don’t I know your name?”
I muttered somethin’ underneath my breath
She studied the lines on my face
I must admit I felt a little uneasy
When she bent down to tie the laces of my shoe
Tangled up in blue
She lit a burner on the stove
And offered me a pipe
“I thought you’d never say hello,” she said
“You look like the silent type”
Then she opened up a book of poems
And handed it to me
Written by an Italian poet
From the thirteenth century
And every one of them words rang true
And glowed like burnin’ coal
Pourin’ off of every page
Like it was written in my soul from me to you
Tangled up in blue
I lived with them on Montague Street
In a basement down the stairs
There was music in the cafés at night
And revolution in the air
Then he started into dealing with slaves
And something inside of him died
She had to sell everything she owned
And froze up inside
And when finally the bottom fell out
I became withdrawn
The only thing I knew how to do
Was to keep on keepin’ on like a bird that flew
Tangled up in blue
So now I’m goin’ back again
I got to get to her somehow
All the people we used to know
They’re an illusion to me now
Some are mathematicians
Some are carpenters’ wives
Don’t know how it all got started
I don’t know what they’re doin’ with their lives
But me, I’m still on the road
Headin’ for another joint
We always did feel the same
We just saw it from a different point of view
Tangled up in blue
02 Simple Twist of Fate (04:19)
They sat together in the park
As the evening sky grew dark.
She looked at him and he felt a spark
Tingle to his bones.
'Twas then he felt alone
And wished that he'd gone straight
And watched out for a simple twist of fate.
They walked alone by the old canal.
A little confused, I remember well,
And stopped into a strange hotel with a neon burning bright.
He felt the heat of the night hit him like a freight train
Moving with a simple twist of fate.
A saxophone someplace far off played
As she was walking on by the arcade
As the light bust through a beat up shade
Where he was waking up.
She dropped a coin into the cup of a blind man at the gate
And forgot about a simple twist of fate.
He woke up; the room was bare.
He didn't see her anywhere.
He told himself he didn't care; pushed the window open wide;
Felt an emptiness inside to which he just could not relate
Brought on by a simple twist of fate.
He hears the ticking of the clocks
And walks along with a parrot that talks.
Hunts her down by the waterfront docks
Where the sailors all come in.
Maybe she'll pick him out again. How long must he wait
One more time for a simple twist of fate.
People tell me it's a sin
To know and feel too much within.
I still believe she was my twin, but I lost the ring.
She was born in spring, but I was born too late.
Blame it on a simple twist of fate.
07 Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts (08:53)
The festival was over, the boys were all plannin' for a fall,
The cabaret was quiet except for the drillin' in the wall.
The curfew had been lifted and the gamblin' wheel shut down,
Anyone who had any sense had already left town.
He was standin' in the doorway lookin' like the Jack of Hearts.
He moved across the mirrored room, "Set it up for everyone," he said,
Then everyone commenced to do what they were doin' before he turned their heads.
Then he walked up to a stranger and he asked him with a grin,
"Could you kindly tell me, friend, what time the show begins?"
Then he moved into the corner, face down like the Jack of Hearts.
Backstage the girls were playin' five-card stud by the stairs,
Lily had two queens, she was hopin' for a third to match her pair.
Outside the streets were fillin' up, the window was open wide,
A gentle breeze was blowin', you could feel it from inside.
Lily called another bet and drew up the Jack of Hearts.
Big Jim was no one's fool, he owned the town's only diamond mine,
He made his usual entrance lookin' so dandy and so fine.
With his bodyguards and silver cane and every hair in place,
He took whatever he wanted to and he laid it all to waste.
But his bodyguards and silver cane were no match for the Jack of Hearts.
Rosemary combed her hair and took a carriage into town,
She slipped in through the side door lookin' like a queen without a crown.
She fluttered her false eyelashes and whispered in his ear,
"Sorry, darlin', that I'm late," but he didn't seem to hear.
He was starin' into space over at the Jack of Hearts.
"I know I've seen that face somewhere," Big Jim was thinkin' to himself,
"Maybe down in Mexico or a picture up on somebody's shelf."
But then the crowd began to stamp their feet and the house lights did dim
And in the darkness of the room there was only Jim and him,
Starin' at the butterfly who just drew the Jack of Hearts.
Lily was a princess, she was fair-skinned and precious as a child,
She did whatever she had to do, she had that certain flash every time she smiled.
She had come away from a broken home, had lots of strange affairs
With men in every walk of life which took her everywhere.
But she'd never met anyone quite like the Jack of Hearts.
The hangin' judge came in unnoticed and was being wined and dined,
The drillin' in the wall kept up but no one seemed to pay it any mind.
It was known all around that Lily had Jim's ring
And nothing would ever come between Lily and the king.
No, nothin' ever would except maybe the Jack of Hearts.
Rosemary started drinkin' hard and seein' her reflection in the knife,
She was tired of the attention, tired of playin' the role of Big Jim's wife.
She had done a lot of bad things, even once tried suicide,
Was lookin' to do just one good deed before she died.
She was gazin' to the future, riding on the Jack of Hearts.
Lily took her dress off and buried it away.
"Has your luck run out?" she laughed at him, "Well, I guess you must
have known it would someday.
Be careful not to touch the wall, there's a brand-new coat of paint,
I'm glad to see you're still alive, you're lookin' like a saint."
Down the hallway footsteps were comin' for the Jack of Hearts.
The backstage manager was pacing all around by his chair.
"There's something funny going on," he said, "I can just feel it in the air."
He went to get the hangin' judge, but the hangin' judge was drunk,
As the leading actor hurried by in the costume of a monk.
There was no actor anywhere better than the Jack of Hearts.
No one knew the circumstance but they say that it happened pretty quick,
The door to the dressing room burst open and a Colt revolver clicked.
And Big Jim was standin' there, ya couldn't say surprised,
Rosemary right beside him, steady in her eyes.
She was with Big Jim but she was leanin' to the Jack of Hearts.
Two doors down the boys finally made it through the wall
And cleaned out the bank safe, it's said they got off with quite a haul.
In the darkness by the riverbed they waited on the ground
For one more member who had business back in town.
But they couldn't go no further without the Jack of Hearts.
The next day was hangin' day, the sky was overcast and black,
Big Jim lay covered up, killed by a penknife in the back.
And Rosemary on the gallows, she didn't even blink,
The hangin' judge was sober, he hadn't had a drink.
The only person on the scene missin' was the Jack of Hearts.
The cabaret was empty now, a sign said, "Closed for repair,"
Lily had already taken all of the dye out of her hair.
She was thinkin' 'bout her father, who she very rarely saw,
Thinkin' 'bout Rosemary and thinkin' about the law.
But, most of all she was thinkin' 'bout the Jack of Hearts.
08 If You See Her, Say Hello (04:49)
If you see her, say hello, she might be in Tangier
She left here last early spring, is livin' there, I hear
Say for me that I'm all right though things get kind of slow
She might think that I've forgotten her, don't tell her it isn't so.
We had a falling-out, like lovers often will
And to think of how she left that night, it still brings me a chill
And though our separation, it pierced me to the heart
She still lives inside of me, we've never been apart.
If you get close to her, kiss her once for me
I always have respected her for doing what she did and gettin' free
Oh, whatever makes her happy, I won't stand in the way
Though the bitter taste still lingers on from the night I tried to make her stay.
I see a lot of people as I make the rounds
And I hear her name here and there as I go from town to town
And I've never gotten used to it, I've just learned to turn it off
Either I'm too sensitive or else I'm gettin' soft.
Sundown, yellow moon, I replay the past
I know every scene by heart, they all went by so fast
If she's passin' back this way, I'm not that hard to find
Tell her she can look me up if she's got the time.
09 Shelter From the Storm (05:02)
'Twas in another lifetime, one of toil and blood
When blackness was a virtue the road was full of mud
I came in from the wilderness, a creature void of form.
"Come in," she said,
"I'll give you shelter from the storm."
And if I pass this way again, you can rest assured
I'll always do my best for her, on that I give my word
In a world of steel-eyed death, and men who are fighting to be warm.
"Come in," she said,
"I'll give you shelter from the storm."
Not a word was spoke between us, there was little risk involved
Everything up to that point had been left unresolved.
Try imagining a place where it's always safe and warm.
"Come in," she said,
"I'll give you shelter from the storm."
I was burned out from exhaustion, buried in the hail,
Poisoned in the bushes an' blown out on the trail,
Hunted like a crocodile, ravaged in the corn.
"Come in," she said,
"I'll give you shelter from the storm."
Suddenly I turned around and she was standin' there
With silver bracelets on her wrists and flowers in her hair.
She walked up to me so gracefully and took my crown of thorns.
"Come in," she said,
"I'll give you shelter from the storm."
Now there's a wall between us, somethin' there's been lost
I took too much for granted, I got my signals crossed.
Just to think that it all began on a noneventful morn.
"Come in," she said,
"I'll give you shelter from the storm."
Well, the deputy walks on hard nails and the preacher rides a mount
But nothing really matters much, it's doom alone that counts
And the one-eyed undertaker, he blows a futile horn.
"Come in," she said,
"I'll give you shelter from the storm."
I've heard newborn babies wailin' like a mournin' dove
And old men with broken teeth stranded without love.
Do I understand your question, man, is it hopeless and forlorn?
"Come in," she said,
"I'll give you shelter from the storm."
In a little hilltop village, they gambled for my clothes
I bargained for salvation an' she gave me a lethal dose.
I offered up my innocence and got repaid with scorn.
"Come in," she said,
"I'll give you shelter from the storm."
Well, I'm livin' in a foreign country but I'm bound to cross the line
Beauty walks a razor's edge, someday I'll make it mine.
If I could only turn back the clock to when God and her were born.
"Come in," she said,
"I'll give you shelter from the storm."
Carico i commenti... con calma
Altre recensioni
Di ilsuonatorejones
"Blood On The Tracks è un'equazione. Bob Dylan è il più grande e questo è il suo album migliore."
"Il risultato è un capolavoro immortale."
Di j&r
Il lirismo sconvolgente ed impetuoso di quest’album scuote, smuove, commuove nel profondo dell’animo umano.
Probabilmente l’album più maturo della storia del rock.
Di villagevoice
Amor perduto... è proprio questo il tema principale di questo splendido album, la gemma più luccicante degli anni 70 Dylaniani.
Shelter from the storm è un quadro che raffigura un immagine sacra che da protezione a un debole.
Di GabrielTripaldi
Il Dylan amaro e amareggiato, armonica a cucire i tagli, chef di parole come serpenti, suono definitivo e chiarificatore mette la marcia e si ubriaca da solo.
Che disco. Se non ce l'avete, be', io vi ho avvisato.
Di Hungry
Le linee di chitarra acustica di questo disco, sono a mio parere le migliori della carriera di Bob.
I testi, poi, credo abbiano contribuito in modo sostanziale al Nobel per la Letteratura.
