Man Gave Names To All The Animals


What a curious song this is. In Dylan's oeuvre it is often overlooked
and sometimes derided for its simplicity. But I wonder about
that . . .

For a start this song was written in 1979 (the year of Dylan's very
public conversion to Christianity). Given that it appeared on his
first straight Gospel album Slow Train Coming you might have expected
its message to be straightforward evangelising. On closer inspection
it reveals itself to be anything but.

The clever hook of the song is the way in which it lulls the listener
with a childlike and playful list of creatures being named only to
subvert at the last. We get to laugh at Dylan's exclamations: "Ah,
think I'll call it a cow/bear/bull" and so forth. It has almost an
Old Macdonald Had A Farm feel about it as each creature is studied by
early Man and given a label. And the song could have remained a
child's nursery rhyme but for the last verse where Man encounters the
snake. Suddenly we are face to face with the creature that caused
Man's banishment from Eden and we see our innocent man reach for a
name for it ... and fail to provide it with one (certain live versions
have the backing singers providing a comic 'hissing' sound for effect)
but on the record the snake is left nameless.

By leading us down this jolly decal-strewn path, cheerfully labelling
all the while and then bringing us up against something we can't name
- something nameless, something that will seal our doom - Dylan seems
to be warning about the dangers of labelling in general. He has had
cause to be wary of labels himself, of course. He has been called
everything from the ghastly 'Voice of a Generation' to the ridiculous
'Generational Mouthpiece'.

In the words of the song Lenny Bruce:

"They stamped him and they labelled him like they do with pants and
shirts,
He fought a war on a battlefield where every victory hurts."

So naturally Dylan puts us in the place of the innocent, naming
creatures at will only to slap us in the face for trying to name the
creature that is not the same as all the others - the Devil in the
form of the snake.

Another interesting thing about this song is that it describes not the
traditional idea of God creating the creatures (God Gave Life To All
The Animals it might have been called) but it is focuses on the next
stage: God's creation Man then using his God-given language to decide
what God's creatures should be called - in other words bringing the
natural world under his dominion.

Dylan has warned of man's dominion and domination of the natural world
elsewhere: "Man has invented his doom; first step was touching the
moon". It is as if Dylan is deeply suspicious of man's involvement in
the creation and his naming of the animals - at first a jolly game -
turns sour and sinister for him at the last.

The tune of this song is simple and lilting (a child's lullaby). This
adds to the impact of the final twist. It is quite unlike any other
song in Dylan's body of work. I see it as rather a stark warning and
its warning all the more potent because it is given so sweetly.

Mr Jinx



MAN GAVE NAMES TO ALL THE ANIMALS

Man gave names to all the animals
In the beginning, in the beginning.
Man gave names to all the animals
In the beginning, long time ago.

He saw an animal that liked to growl,
Big furry paws and he liked to howl,
Great big furry back and furry hair.
"Ah, think I'll call it a bear."

Man gave names to all the animals
In the beginning, in the beginning.
Man gave names to all the animals
In the beginning, long time ago.

He saw an animal up on a hill
Chewing up so much grass until she was filled.
He saw milk comin' out but he didn't know how.
"Ah, think I'll call it a cow."

Man gave names to all the animals
In the beginning, in the beginning.
Man gave names to all the animals
In the beginning, long time ago.

He saw an animal that liked to snort,
Horns on his head and they weren't too short.
It looked like there wasn't nothin' that he couldn't pull.
"Ah, think I'll call it a bull."

Man gave names to all the animals
In the beginning, in the beginning.
Man gave names to all the animals
In the beginning, long time ago.

He saw an animal leavin' a muddy trail,
Real dirty face and a curly tail.
He wasn't too small and he wasn't too big.
"Ah, think I'll call it a pig."

Man gave names to all the animals
In the beginning, in the beginning.
Man gave names to all the animals
In the beginning, long time ago.

Next animal that he did meet
Had wool on his back and hooves on his feet,
Eating grass on a mountainside so steep.
"Ah, think I'll call it a sheep."

Man gave names to all the animals
In the beginning, in the beginning.
Man gave names to all the animals
In the beginning, long time ago.

He saw an animal as smooth as glass
Slithering his way through the grass.
Saw him disappear by a tree near a lake . . .



Copyright © 1979 Special Rider Music

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