Re: Flatters their graves - why "flatters"?


Dylanetics wrote:
badlands420 wrote:
The king of the Philistines his soldiers to save
Puts jawbones on their tombstones and flatters their graves
Puts the pied pipers in prison and fattens the slaves
Then sends them out to the jungle.

For the longest time, I thought the line was "Puts jawbones on their
tombstones as flat as their graves." Funny thing is, I always thought it
made sense even though I was hearing it wrong.

I used to hear "flattens their graves." That also makes some kind of
sense (or maybe it's anti-sense), and it's a more exact rhyme with
"fattens." But I'm pretty sure HW61 has "flatters."

Incidentally, on HW61 released version, Bob changes the refrain just
once. It's always "I'm in the kitchen with the tombstone blues" --
except after the two stanzas about the king of the Philistines and
Gypsy Davy/Pedro. There you can hear Bob switch to "I'm IN TROUBLE
with the tombstone blues."

Maybe an oblique reference to getting into hot water for being (for
Bob) so overtly political? Or perhaps the Vietnam escalation/draft
theme means that there's going to be trouble for Bob and other young
men.

Or maybe "I'm in trouble" is random variation and conincidences.


Jawbones of animals in certain African tribes used to signify the
bravery of the warrior after death - the more respected the warrior the
fiercer the animal skull on his grave ie lion,leopard etc.
With that in mind the obligatory Stars and Stripes flag draped on the
coffin is the "jawbone" and the officer at the funeral heaps praise
-"flatters" a dead soldier he knew nothing about until 10 minutes
before.

.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Flatters their graves - why "flatters"?
    ... Puts jawbones on their tombstones and flatters their graves ... I thought the line was "Puts jawbones on their ... There you can hear Bob switch to "I'm IN TROUBLE ...
    (rec.music.dylan)
  • Re: Flatters their graves - why "flatters"?
    ... Puts jawbones on their tombstones and flatters their graves ... Then sends them out to the jungle. ... I thought the line was "Puts jawbones on their ...
    (rec.music.dylan)