A crowd of about 150 students, professors and Bob Dylan lovers sat in Mugar Memorial Library on Monday listening to the sounds of Dylan's "He Was a Friend of Mine."
As the harmonica faded out, renowned Dylan scholar and Boston University professor Christopher Ricks told the crowd that the song was "of the utmost simplicity, but not simple-minded because of what it says about friendship."
His lecture, entitled "Friendship: "Positively 4th Street' &' "He Was a Friend of Mine'," was the first in a four-part series presented by the Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center this year.
"The difference between love and friendship is reciprocity," Ricks said. "I can't be a friend of yours unless you're a friend of mine."
He noted the "terrible sense of loss" that defines many of Dylan's songs, in particular the songs he analyzed in the lectue.
0 "Death is a test for everything, especially friendship," Ricks said.
Ricks compared "He Was a Friend of Mine" to a funeral dirge, although he said it didn't sound like one melodically.
"Part of Dylan's genius is that the music sounds comforting, but the words pull you out of complacency," he said.
Ricks said the concept of friendship also applied to the relationship between Dylan's voice and the words of the song.
Next Ricks played "Positively 4th Street," a song viewed as a sort of kiss-off to a former friend, he said.
Ricks said it is an "astonishingly unremitting retaliatory song" and "terrifically negative."
The song sparked much debate among audience members.
Attendees argued about whether or not there are any positive connotations in the song at all and discussed whether the song urged empathy from its listeners or represented - as one audience member put it - "the solitude of enlightenment."
To shed light on the many interpretations of the song, Ricks played a different version, which was recorded live in 1996. The song was sung much more slowly, which nearly doubled its length.
Ricks said by doing this, Dylan turned "Positively 4th Street" into "a great love song."
Although many audience members agreed that this version sounded more intimate, another debate ensued over the meaning of the lines: "No, I do not feel that good/ When I see the heartbreaks you embrace/ If I was a master thief/ Perhaps I'd rob them."
Many attendees said they appreciated Ricks' explanation of Dylan's lyrics.
Natalie De Biasi, a visiting scholar from France, said she just discovered Dylan's music recently and found some of his lyrics confusing.
"I came tonight because I thought if someone explained the lyrics, I would like the songs more," she said.
De Biasi said she had read some of Ricks' books about Dylan and that she particularly enjoyed his comments on poetry.
College of Communication freshman Rachel Schowalter said she was reading Ricks' book entitled "Dylan's Visions of Sin" for her Writing 100 class on Dylan's lyrics, taught by professor Kevin Barents.
Schowalter said she was required to attend at least two Dylan-related events for her class.
"I'm not the biggest Dylan fan, but as an artist and musician, he set a lot of milestones and influenced a lot of modern artists," she said.
However, some attendees, such as College of Arts and Sciences sophomore Emily Bornhop, came because they are truly big Dylan fans.
""Positively 4th Street' is one of my favorite songs, so I was really excited to come," she said. "I had never thought about how Dylan views friendship, so it was really interesting to talk about and analyze that with other people."
A crowd of about 80 students, professors and Bob Dylan lovers sat in Mugar Memorial Library on Monday listening to the sounds of Dylan's "He Was a Friend of Mine."
As the harmonica faded out, renowned Dylan scholar and Boston University professor Christopher Ricks told the crowd that the song was "of the utmost simplicity, but not simple-minded because of what it says about friendship."
His lecture, entitled "Friendship: "Positively 4th Street' &' "He Was a Friend of Mine'," was the first in a four-part series presented by the Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center this year.
"The difference between love and friendship is reciprocity," Ricks said. "I can't be a friend of yours unless you're a friend of mine."
He noted the "terrible sense of loss" that defines many of Dylan's songs, in particular the songs he analyzed in the lectue.
0 "Death is a test for everything, especially friendship," Ricks said.
Ricks compared "He Was a Friend of Mine" to a funeral dirge, although he said it didn't sound like one melodically.
"Part of Dylan's genius is that the music sounds comforting, but the words pull you out of complacency," he said.
Ricks said the concept of friendship also applied to the relationship between Dylan's voice and the words of the song.
Next Ricks played "Positively 4th Street," a song viewed as a sort of kiss-off to a former friend, he said.
Ricks said it is an "astonishingly unremitting retaliatory song" and "terrifically negative."
The song sparked much debate among audience members.
Attendees argued about whether or not there are any positive connotations in the song at all and discussed whether the song urged empathy from its listeners or represented - as one audience member put it - "the solitude of enlightenment."
To shed light on the many interpretations of the song, Ricks played a different version, which was recorded live in 1996. The song was sung much more slowly, which nearly doubled its length.
Ricks said by doing this, Dylan turned "Positively 4th Street" into "a great love song."
Although many audience members agreed that this version sounded more intimate, another debate ensued over the meaning of the lines: "No, I do not feel that good/ When I see the heartbreaks you embrace/ If I was a master thief/ Perhaps I'd rob them."
Many attendees said they appreciated Ricks' explanation of Dylan's lyrics.
Natalie De Biasi, a visiting scholar from France, said she just discovered Dylan's music recently and found some of his lyrics confusing.
"I came tonight because I thought if someone explained the lyrics, I would like the songs more," she said.
De Biasi said she had read some of Ricks' books about Dylan and that she particularly enjoyed his comments on poetry.
College of Communication freshman Rachel Schowalter said she was reading Ricks' book entitled "Dylan's Visions of Sin" for her Writing 100 class on Dylan's lyrics, taught by professor Kevin Barents.
Schowalter said she was required to attend at least two Dylan-related events for her class.
"I'm not the biggest Dylan fan, but as an artist and musician, he set a lot of milestones and influenced a lot of modern artists," she said.
However, some attendees, such as College of Arts and Sciences sophomore Emily Bornhop, came because they are truly big Dylan fans.
""Positively 4th Street' is one of my favorite songs, so I was really excited to come," she said. "I had never thought about how Dylan views friendship, so it was really interesting to talk about and analyze that with other people."
<em>This article has been updated to correct attendance figures.</em>
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