A life lived apart from the mainstream flow of things. A Tambourine Man stands apart already. And what does this life juxtapose with that of the civility of our times bring with it? Nothing short of the miraculous and the sublime.
An otherworldliness comes with following after the Tambourine Man. Moments of transcendence from the cares of this world. Moments of breaking away from a concept of reality such as time.
“I’m not sleepy, and there is no place I’m going to”
What exactly is Bob Dylan awake to? It’s as if he’s speaking in code. I believe he identifies as a member of the counterculture. He does this by signifying that he is current on the signs of his time. But there is always that lack of direction.
So we, just as Bob Dylan did, turn to a Tambourine Man. And we ask him to play a song in the jingle jangle in the morning. We have nowhere to go and everywhere to go.
“And but for the sky there are no fences facing”
It’s interesting how many times Bob Dylan refers to freedom. In this portion of the song, he compares us to animals or pets and says no fences are facing. You could argue that Bob Dylan called the masses pets, but that omits the stray and the runaway.
There is a sense of freedom in following a Tambourine Man. Although we may be chasing shadows, we can roam wherever we wander.
“Far from the twisted reach of crazy sorrow”
It was as if a nomadic life were the only life to live, one that escapes that twisted reach of crazy sorrow.
“I’ll come following you”
So, who is this Tambourine Man he’s following? The song starts by saying there is no place he’s going to, but he follows the Tambourine Man soon after. I suppose we could say that this man stands apart from the norm.
A musician has always been one who may mingle with the commoners but also stands apart. So, what are the prerequisites for following this Tambourine Man? A lack of a sense of belonging and a willingness to follow along.
That jingle-jangle morning is one in which all the desire is present. But it leads to the miraculous and awe-inspiring: “To dance beneath the diamond sky.” It’s a life of wonder, excitement, and contentment laced with the desire to experience the mystical and miraculous.
With an empire returning to sand, it’s as if all we know pales compared to the life lived following this Tambourine Man. “Waiting only for my bootheels to go wandering” is as if the one following the Tambourine Man does so mechanically; maybe it reaches into a portion of the soul that goes beyond the humdrum of our daily lives.
So do we dance to this beat without even knowing why we do so? All of the world works that way. If this is true, does this mean that it is something intrinsically tied to who we are? It’s as if an ingrained sense of belonging all started on a jingle jangle morning.
“Take me disappearing through the smoke rings of my mind”
Are we now exploring consciousness? Is this also a mental exercise? “Down the foggy ruins of time” Is time intrinsically tied to the smoke rings of a mind? And then we get to the diamond sky with all memory and fate driven deep beneath the waves.
So we, just as Bob Dylan did, turn to a Tambourine Man. And we ask him to play a song in the jingle jangle in the morning. We have nowhere to go and everywhere to go.
It’s a timeless moment he was after. Yes, I suppose we can venture past the confines of time. However, Dylan could at best describe the sense of the miraculous and the sublime with these poetic lines of his music.
But I suppose we’ve all had those moments where life seems to be pouring out. Filled with dopamine and plenty of toxins. Then we get to the jingle jangle mornings and another resolution to follow the Tambourine Man.
Editor’s Note: Bruce Langhorne, the guitarist on the track, wasn’t just strumming in the background. He was the muse behind Dylan’s “Mr. Tambourine Man.” Dylan himself admitted it. Langhorne used to haul around a massive, four-inch-deep Turkish frame drum—mistaken by many for a tambourine—which he brought to an earlier Dylan session, and the image clearly stuck.
This essay was written by Bryan Montijo, who primarily focuses on music, spirituality, and psychedelics. Bryan has written a few novels, which can be found at wattpad@CraftedTales. He also has his own blog, where he discusses everything he loves, from music to nature and writing. You can find it here at medium@bmontijo555.
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