Duquesne Whistle by Bob Dylan

With a Duquesne Whistle,
Bob Dylan proves once again
he is a keen observer of life
by Live Music Head 

 

 

 

   

 

One day back in September of 2012, 

as I was scanning headlines of entertainment news,

I came across Bob Dylan’s new song
and the video he released for it.
Duquesne Whistle from his latest album, Tempest.
As a longtime Deadhead, 

the first thing I noted was that the song was
co-written with Robert Hunter, 

the same fella who wrote all those great tunes
with Jerry Garcia for The Grateful Dead.
Now I’m really not sure what the words
in Duquesne Whistle mean, but

the images that accompany the song in the video

spoke to me loud and clear.

Loud and very, very clear.
I watched the video a few times,

and thought about it all day.
All day at the office I thought about it,

and as I took the streetcar to The Ex that evening,

for a night on the carnival midway,

I told my friend about it,

who wished I hadn’t.

Five months later,

yesterday,

I took another look at the video

after my good friend Gary Pig Gold mentioned it

in his Top 12 for 2012 writer’s blog at Rock’s Backpages.

I can’t deny that the first thing that comes to mind

while watching this video

is how my own heart got broken 

for loving someone too cruel,

and how, like the fella in the video,

was treated like trash for it by the community.

But then,

as I watched it again,

I was also reminded of an altercation

I witnessed on the subway a couple of weeks ago.

I was sitting minding my business 

when an old fella got on,

one of those homeless types,

that your first reaction to is 

avoid making eye contact with.

But nonetheless,

the kind of homeless guy you know is

basically harmless.

As expected,

he was soon spewing to everyone 

who was trying not to listen

how fed up he was,

expressing his anger, and sadness,

over his unfortunate lot in life.

I can’t remember exactly what he said,

but ya know,

I found myself agreeing with him.

He made sense,

and I understood how he felt.

He wasn’t being overly aggressive,

or even overly angry,

as some of these types can.

Nor was he particularly loud.

If his rant sounded loud at all

over the sound of the moving subway car

it was because everyone grew quiet,

pretending not to listen.

Just then,

another fella who was sitting between me 

and homeless guy,

suddenly yelled: “shut the fuck up!

I didn’t get on the subway to listen to your shit,

and you’re starting to really annoy me!”

The homeless guy,

who was standing in front of him holding onto the pole,

looked down and mumbled:

“but you black brother, fuck!”

The homeless guy was black

and the annoyed guy

(who was attractively dressed in a stylish overcoat,

looking like he should be driving a Cadillac 

with a cell phone to his ear

instead of riding a subway car),

was also black.

When well-dressed guy got up to stare homeless guy down,

I got a better look at his stylish overcoat and shoes.

As the subway car rolled to a stop and the doors slid open,

that well-dressed guy raised his leg 

to the homeless guy’s stomach,

and kicked him.

As he yelled: “get the fuck out!”

he pushed him with his foot 

straight through the open doors

and off the subway car,

where homeless guy landed with a thud on the platform.

“And stay the fuck out!”

The doors slid closed,

and the subway car continued rolling 

down the tunnel to its next stop.

This is the kind of behaviour 

I see all the time in the city of Toronto.

I’ve lived here for over twenty five years,

and for the most part I’ve loved my city,

but I’ve noticed such a rapid decline in civility

over the last three years or so,

it’s enough to make me not want to leave the house.

If unkindness,

or being treated rudely isn’t happening to me directly,

I see it happening to others.

When I do happen to experience 

acts of kindness in public,

they’re so rare,

I often make grand gestures of gratitude

to show my appreciation.

No one on the subway said anything by the way,

after homeless guy was kicked off.

Including me.

In Bob Dylan’s video,

there’s a sweet-looking guy 

who’s clearly in love with a girl.

And he stalks her.

But stalks her in a sweet kinda way, 

from where I sit.

Duquesne Whistle has a bouncy, 

playful sound to it,

which may lead you to believe

the story in the video is supposed to be funny,

but it’s not.
No, it's definitely not.

The girl treats him coldly.

When love-struck guy appears at her car window 

holding a rose,

she sprays him in the face with pepper,

or some other kind of repellent.

But he doesn’t give up,

and catches up with her again later

walking down the street.

As he tries to keep up to her,

he plucks another flower

from a corner market as he runs by

with the hopes of charming the girl with it,

undeterred by his failure the first time.

Little does he know though,

that the owner of the flower market

is devoid of romance,

and sicks the cops on him for stealing.

The cops catch up to love-struck guy 

and they throw him in jail.

But before that,

when love-struck guy was trying to outrun the police,

he knocked a guy off a ladder on the sidewalk.

And ladder guy is pissed.
But of course he is.

And like so many people on the street,

just give ‘em the smallest excuse 

to show just how pissed,

and they will.

While love-struck guy spends the night in a prison cell,

pissed off ladder guy gets busy rounding up his buddies

to engage in a little beating.

When love-struck guy is released from jail,

he resumes stalking the girl,

and the brutes catch up with him.

Now,

I’d say the guy that treated me like trash

deserves the type of beating shown in the video,

certainly,

but his behaviour was way way worse 

than accidentally knocking a guy off a ladder.

And he ain’t the romantic guy in the video.
He's the cold chick and the brute.

The brute orders the bloody hell beat out 
of love-struck guy

and then tossed into the street like trash.

A perfect example of the throw-away society we’ve become.

And the part in the video that really knocks me over is

what happens when Bob Dylan and his posse 

come into contact with 
the beaten and bloodied love-struck guy.

You see, Bob’s been walking the same streets

where this has all been happening.

As a romantic, 

and as a victim of the cruel and self-absorbed

and their indifference to the plight of others,

I’d like to thank Bob Dylan,

keen observer of life that he is,

for capturing exactly the way 
many are mistreated in this world,

and the inhumanity of it all.

 

The video for Duquesne Whistle by Bob Dylan...