Lenny Bruce Never did make it out of Babylon

Bob Dylan likes to update and change up his lyrics from time to time.  Sometimes there are major changes; sometimes it is not all that significant.  He likes to rearrange the instrumentation as well so that he is never really singing or playing the same song twice in the same way.  A new arrangement of his song Lenny Bruce appeared last week (October 12th, 2019) and it is pretty good for a 78-year-old man.  It was the first performance of the song in 11 years according to the official Bob Dylan site:  https://www.bobdylan.com/setlists/?id_song=26130.  The new performance is posted here:  https://youtu.be/i3-eq8EEK7o  by a poster known as Jack Frost with comments turned off.  Jack Frost of course is the pseudonym of  Bob Dylan when he is working as a producer.   

But we are rewarded with some interesting insights by paying very close attention to some of what at first glance may seem to be minor lyric changes that have emerged in the new arrangement of "Lenny Bruce" (© 1981).  The song was reborn and unveiled last week on October 11th, 2019 in Irvine, California.  But for us to understand the significance of the lyric changes we really need to be familiar with the original lyrics first which we can find on the official Bob Dylan website:

"Lenny Bruce is dead but his ghost lives on and on
Never did get any Golden Globe award, never made it to Synanon (i.e. initially a drug rehabilitation program in Santa Monica before becoming one of the “most dangerous and violent cults in America.”)
He was an outlaw, that’s for sure
More of an outlaw 
than you ever were
Lenny Bruce is gone 
but his spirit’s livin’ on and on
Maybe he had some problems, 
maybe some things that he couldn’t work out,

But he sure was funny and he sure told the truth 
and he knew what he was talkin’ about
Never robbed any churches (This was an important theme in this era, corrupt religious leaders)

nor cut off any babies’ heads  (More on this important lyric in a minute)
He just took the folks in high places 
and he shined a light in their beds
He’s on some other shore, 
he didn’t wanna live anymore."

Now the reference to "cutting off babies heads" is surely an allusion to the barbaric practice of partial-birth abortion where even the description of the enormity of the procedure is too gruesome even to be described.  It is probably best to just let the poet summarize it for us as he does here.  So we have updated our post (below) on Bob Dylan as a pro-life advocate to now include this important reference.

But now, today, the new reborn version has:

"Lenny Bruce is dead 

but his ghost lives on and on
Never made it to the promised land, 

never made it out of Babylon"
He was an outlaw, so sad but true,
More of an outlaw than even he ever knew."

So what is the significance of these minor lyric (marked in bold) changes?  Well, first of all, these are not minor lyric changes!  Now they have become a declaration regarding the probable eternal state of Lenny Bruce.  No longer are we just talking about whether he ever picked up any old Golden Globe award, instead, we are discussing Lenny’s eternal reward!  Poor Lenny never "made it to the promised land," he "never made it out of Babylon."  This change also adds poignancy and clarification to the original final lines in the song:

"Lenny Bruce was bad, he was the [spirtual] brother that you never had." 

Wow!  There is a lot to ponder there.  And while Lenny's outlaw status remains unchanged in the new version, now it is "so sad, but true" tragic actually that he was an outlaw and now he is no longer being compared to the lessor outlaw Bob Dylan (Alias) as formerly, now he is more of an outlaw "than even he ever knew."  

In other words, Lenny spoke for more than himself, he spoke for his own and future generation just beginning to wake up to the hypocrisy of a status quo and an older generation that was in need of a major shakeup, maybe even a revival, because of the "Slow Train Coming."  There were 

"folks in high places [think JFK’s sexual depravities in the White House swimming pool] and he [Lenny] shined a light in their beds."

In this way, Lenny was "ripping off the lid before its time" and when he passed away in 1966 it was of a drug overdose at just the tender age of 41.  Now in the new version, Lenny is no longer just a heroic outlaw, now Lenny is a truly tragic hero since the poor guy never made it to the promised land and he never did make it out of Babylon.  The plaintive violin and the piano solo pick up on this idea and now express the sadness of the whole situation. 

It was a memorable ride that they shared together in that taxi once, there was a lot of commonality between the two travelers as each had to fight some wars on a battlefield but only one of them lived to tell the tale.  This brief encounter in the taxi was similar in nature to the one Bob Dylan describes when as a 17-year-old young Bobby Zimmerman went to see Buddy Holly perform as part of the "Winter Dance Party" at the Duluth Armory just a few nights before Buddy went down in a fatal plane crash at age 22.  Bob says something happened in their brief encounter, something was exchanged, and the taxi cab ride with Lenny which seemed to "take a couple of months" sounds like a similar moment.  One that Dylan hopes he is honoring with this sad song of remembrance.

Is Bob Dylan Pro-Life?

“Why would I want to take your life?
You’ve only murdered my father, raped his wife
Tattooed my babies with a poison pen
Mocked my God, humiliated my friends

I need a shot of love, I need a shot of love.”

The question for discussion with stark lyrics like these is, What modern-day barbaric practice could the poet laureate of Rock and Roll be referring to with such lyrics?  He has told us, “That it is all in the Songs.” 

So since this song was first played on July 1^st, 1981 we would want to look for additional evidence from this period to help us understand what it means to “Tattoo babies with a poison pen.”

There is an altered version of the song called Dignity (known as Version #1 from 1991) on the great album Tell Tale Signs that has these interesting altered lyrics:

“The Soul of a nation is under the knife

Death is standing in the doorway of life, (a mother’s womb could be described as ‘the doorway of life’)

In the next room a man fighting with his wife

over Dignity.”

Ok, so we may have some confirmation here….What else can we find?   How about something about from the magnificent song Foot of Pride: which has the copy write of 1983: 

“They got some beautiful people out there, man
They can be a terror to your mind and show you how to hold your tongue
They got mystery written all over their forehead
They kill babies in the crib and say only the good die young
They don’t believe in mercy”

And while we are on the subject of mercy there is the great song Political Word from the Album entitled "Oh Mercy" from 1989:

"We live in a political world
Where mercy walks the plank
Life is in mirrors, death disappears
Up the steps into the nearest bank
We live in a political world
Where courage is a thing of the past
Houses are haunted, children are unwanted
The next day could be your last"

But a really interesting one emerges in the new arrangement of "Lenny Bruce" (© 1981) which emerged reborn last week on October 11th, 2019 in Irvine, California.  The old lyrics on the official Bob Dylan website have:

"Lenny Bruce is dead
but his ghost lives on and on
Never did get any Golden Globe award, 
never made it to Synanon
He was an outlaw, 
that’s for sure
More of an outlaw 
than you ever were
Lenny Bruce is gone 
but his spirit’s livin’ on and on
Maybe he had some problems, 
maybe some things that he couldn’t work out,

But he sure was funny and he sure told the truth 
and he knew what he was talkin’ about
Never robbed any churches
nor cut off any babies’ heads
He just took the folks in high places 
and he shined a light in their beds
He’s on some other shore, 
he didn’t wanna live anymore."

Now the reference to "cutting off babies heads" is surely an allusion to the barbaric practice of partial-birth abortion where the description of the enormity of the procedure is hardly able to be described.  It is probably best to just let the poet describe it as he does here.

But now, today, the new version has:

"Lenny Bruce is dead but his ghost lives on and on
Never made it to the promised land, never made it out of Babylon"
He was an outlaw, so sad but true,
More of an outlaw than even he ever knew."

But what is the significance of these minor changes?  Well, first of all, these changes are not minor changes!  They are a declaration regarding the eternal state of Lenny Bruce.  No longer are we talking about whether he ever picked up any Golden Globe award, now we are discussing his eternal reward!  Poor Lenny never "made it to the promised land," he "never made it out of Babylon." “Wow!  There is a lot to ponder there.  And while his outlaw status remained unchanged, now it is "so sad, but true" very tragic figure actually that he was an outlaw and now he is no longer being compared to the lessor outlaw Bob Dylan as formerly, now he is more of an outlaw "than even he ever knew."  In other words, he spoke for more than himself, he spoke for a generation just beginning to wake up to the hypocrisy of the older generation "ripping off the lid before its time" and he passed away in 1966 at just the tender age of 41.

Alright Doug, you got a few hints and cryptic clues here and there, but you can’t show me anything from say an interview from this period?  Oh Yes, I can! I can give you a clear declaration from this very period but I want to give some context so we are clear on what the poet Laurette is really saying:

THE DAVE HERMAN INTERVIEW, LONDON, JULY 2 1981

Herman: Last night in Earl's Court, here in London, I guess there were about twenty people in there and when I kind of saw them, I guess it was when you did 'It's Alright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)' and every last one of them in the place was standing on their chair and it was a pretty special kind of a feeling. I was reminded once again, that you really do have a very .., that you play a very special part in the lives of an extraordinary amount of people all over the world and I gathered that this has always made you a bit uncomfortable, that people hold you in a very special place?

Dylan: I don't feel uneasy with the part of it, that part of it, but the other part of it, you know the part where you're expected to ... go to parties ... and ... be somebody all the time, you know. That's what makes me feel uncomfortable.

Herman: Or the part that makes people presuming you have somehow a lot of answers that they might not have to a lot of questions?

Dylan: Well, if you ... the answers to those questions, they've got to be in those songs I've written. Someplace, if you know where to look, I think you'll find the answers to those questions. It's right there in the songs. Better than I could say it. ...

Herman: OK, well another thing is, ah, in The United States the abortion question is becoming one of the major political controversies at home.
Dylan: Well, that is just a diversion, though. Whenever you think about abortion, pro, con, you know, I think you should be thinking about those things, then they put you away with the bigger things, which you're not thinking about. So you get everybody thinking about abortion and they turn you back from it ... not to say that abortion is not important! But you can make something so ... you know cast a spell on something and make everybody look that way and then you come at them from another direction ...
Herman: But that sounds like it's conspiratorial?
Dylan: Yeah, it does, doesn't it?
Herman: Yeah, it does! I think it is, but I don't think people sit in rooms and say well, let's divert them with the abortion issue, and then we can slip this in while ...
Dylan: You actually don't think so??
Herman: That calculated? You think it is?
Dylan: I don't know ... Now abortion is important, I personally don't believe in it but ..., unless of course, somebody needs to have their life saved.

http://www.interferenza.com/bcs/interw/81-jul2.htm

Here is an inspired performance by Benjamin Montmorency “Benmont” Tench III (born September 7, 1953) an American musician and singer, best known as a founding member of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. It is great to hear these inspired lyrics again, this time very clearly enunciated.

And here is a nice alteration on Political World:

And here is the newly updated and revised Lenny Bruce: