Bob Dylan’s Planet Waves album is a fascinating tapestry of emotions and musical styles. Within it, nestled amongst tracks brimming with introspection, lies “Wedding Song,” a piece that stands in stark contrast to its album companion, “Dirge.” While “Dirge” grapples with self-loathing in love, “Wedding Song” emerges as a powerful declaration of enduring affection. This song, recorded towards the end of the Planet Waves sessions, offers a glimpse into Dylan’s artistry that is both raw and deeply considered.
Returning to Dylan’s acoustic roots, “Wedding Song” shares a kinship with his earlier, more folk-oriented work. Like “Dirge,” it seems to echo a time before the electric revolution, a sonic landscape where the guitar takes center stage. This acoustic approach, combined with its strophic structure – a verse-after-verse format devoid of a bridge or middle eight – further emphasizes its connection to Dylan’s formative years. The musical variation comes subtly, in the chord progression’s shift in the third line of each verse, providing a gentle ebb and flow to the song’s unwavering message.
Lyrically, “Wedding Song” is a cascade of images and emotions, a torrent of thought pushing aside the previous one, yet anchored by an unshakeable conviction. Dylan, through the song’s narrator, explicitly rejects the role of a leader or revolutionary, stating, “It’s never been my duty to remake the world at large / Nor is it my intention to sound a battle charge.” This echoes the sentiment of “It Ain’t Me Babe,” but with a crucial difference. Here, it’s “It is me babe” in the context of profound love, a love declared “more than ever, more than time and more than love.” This powerful affirmation culminates in the poignant line, “I love you more than ever now that the past is gone,” suggesting a liberation from past burdens and a complete embrace of the present love.
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The placement of “Wedding Song” within Planet Waves, following “Dirge,” is crucial to understanding its purpose. It’s not simply a straightforward love song, but rather, as argued, a necessary counterpoint to the darkness of “Dirge.” It’s an act of artistic balancing, a demonstration of Dylan’s capacity to explore the full spectrum of human emotion. Just as novelists don’t always write autobiography and actors don’t always play themselves, Dylan, in “Wedding Song,” is crafting a persona, an emotional landscape, rather than a direct personal confession.
The power of “Wedding Song” lies in its raw, almost unpolished delivery. The recording feels urgent, a spontaneous outpouring. Chord changes might seem almost accidental, lines stumble slightly – yet these imperfections contribute to its authenticity. It embodies the spirit of “tell it like it is,” a direct, unfiltered expression captured in a single take. This rawness enhances the sense of liberation and strength found in the lyrics, particularly in lines that bid farewell to “haunted rooms and faces in the street, To the courtyard of the jester which is hidden from the sun.” These lines evoke a shedding of past torments and artificiality, a move towards a new life where “I love you more than ever and I haven’t yet begun.”
While not every line is a stroke of lyrical genius – “Your love cuts like a knife,” is a familiar trope – the sheer force of emotion carries the song. The musical structure, beginning in A minor and resolving to G at the end of each verse, creates a feeling of a long sigh, a reflective pause. This musical sigh underscores the narrator’s sense of humility and devotion, positioning himself as secondary to the woman he loves, acknowledging her as the source of his enrichment.
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The closing lines of “Wedding Song” are a powerful testament to this devotion: “I’d sacrifice the world for you and watch my senses die / But happiness to me is you and I love you more than blood.” These declarations escalate, culminating in the timeless vows: “And if there is eternity I’d love you there again / And I love you more than ever with that love that doesn’t cease / ‘Cause I love you more than ever now that the past is gone.” The narrator presents himself as utterly consumed by this love, his existence defined by it.
Musically, “Wedding Song” evokes a “roughened version of Dark Eyes,” another Dylan track known for its stark beauty. Both songs share a sense of intimacy and vulnerability, standing apart from the more varied sonic textures of their respective albums. Within Planet Waves, “Wedding Song,” alongside tracks like “Dirge” and “Forever Young,” delves into the depths of human emotion, creating a rich and complex album experience. “Forever Young,” in this context, might even be reinterpreted as a desire to remain untouched by the emotional complexities explored in the album’s darker corners.
Dismissing interpretations that solely link “Wedding Song” to Dylan’s personal life, particularly his wedding, is crucial when considering its placement and context within Planet Waves. It’s not an isolated piece, but part of a larger artistic statement. To view it as a simple autobiographical confession or a “Hail Mary shot at reconciliation” diminishes its artistic depth. Instead, “Wedding Song” should be understood as a deliberate artistic choice, a powerful exploration of love and devotion crafted to stand in contrast to the album’s darker themes, showcasing the multifaceted nature of Dylan’s songwriting prowess. It’s a raw, emotionally charged performance, capturing the essence of heartfelt expression in an age of polished production, making it all the more potent and enduring.
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- First image alt text: Planet Waves album cover artwork, showcasing Bob Dylan’s introspective musical period.
- Second image alt text: Bob Dylan wedding photograph, representing common but potentially misleading interpretations of “Wedding Song”.
