Jakob Dylan (yes, Bob Dylan offspring) launched a great first album, Bringing Down the Horse with his band The Wallflowers in 1999. The much anticipated 2005 release, Rebel, Sweetheart, is sweet—sweet because it combines great folk rock with biblical theology. From “Days of Wonder,” to “All Things New,” Dylan provides a rich lyrical commentary influenced by great poets and the grand story of the creation project. Dylan comments on the album as a: “collection of songs that are meant to be together and they’re connected by similar (often apocalyptic) images and a consistent language, influenced by the poetry of Auden and Byron, among others.”
Whether or not you agree with his take on God, Man, Creation, Fall, Redemption, and New Creation, it’s worth picking up—the whole thing (apparently, he doesn’t even agree with all of it, bear in mind lyrics are often descriptive not prescriptive in nature).
Here is my take on the lyrics and canonical scope of the album, with lyrical excerpts and quotes from Dylan for support:
Wallflowers: Rebel, Sweetheart
Creation & Chaos: “Days of Wonder” –
“Standing by the wall, a rainbow made of stars, under seven different shade of grey, spreading out across the arc, days of wonder spent, out there killing time, now this may not leave a mark on me, but I sure as hell was there.”
“The Passenger” – “When Adam took the apple, I was not involved.”
God & Redemption: “God Says Nothing Back” (outstanding song):
“Jakob says of “God Says Nothing Back,” that’s “one of my proudest moments on the record. … Maybe I succeeded in getting across those four things –God, time, love, and death– that are endless. They’ve been there for thousands of years and they will be there tomorrow as well.”
“From the Bottom of My Heart” –
“From the bottom of my heart beats a rattling drum marching back up the steps into the rays of the sun.”
New Creation: “All Things New”
“All things are new again, within and without, sooner or later the ending begins, just then it can be said that all things are new again.”
