Re: Do you believe in ghosts?


You've heard about ghosts because "I" mentioned
the big one in the opening lines of the song. All songs are narrated
by ghosts from other songs.


It's true that one could take the song Spirit on the Water to be about God, because he does steal those opening lines from Genesis

"Spirit on the water
Darkness on the face of the deep
I keep thinking about you baby
I can't hardly sleep"


What we would have here is a religious song hiding as a secular song.
God is Dylan's "baby." He thinks about God all the time and can't hardly sleep.


Why not? Dylan sings that he is "Praying to the powers above."
Dylan hears His name "Ringing up and down the line." Without god, life doesn't mean a thing. God makes Dylan "a thousand times happier than I could ever say." Dylan could live forever, perfectly with God. He wants to be with God in paradise.

It all fits rather perfectly. The song is about Dylan's return to god

"I'd forgotten about you
Then you turned up again"

And Dylan naturally loves god with his whole heart, just the way he loves women

"I'm wild about you, gal
You ought to be a fool about me"


In this context, the ghost lines fit perfectly. Only God is real, not those demonic ghosts. We never see the ghosts, but we hear God's sweet voice and God's pretty face which begs for love.

You can see that this is no metaphoric God that Dylan is singing about. It's the Man in the Sky, and also, miraculously, the Son of God, who is:

"High on the hill
You can carry all my thoughts with you"

After all, the bearded Man in the Sky never really looks much like a face that begs for love, but those erotic images of Christ on the Cross, with his almost naked, gorgeous body, is perhaps the greatest sado-erotic image of all time. No wonder Dylan is singing about God's sugar.

The way Dylan combines his erotic feelings for God and Jesus give another interpretation of the ghost verse. It's about the Holy Ghost. No one ever sees the holy ghost, but don't forget, as Jesus told us, anyone who forsaketh the holy ghost is going to suffer that eternal punishment that is the unthinkably cruel fate that awaits almost the entire population of the planet.

The only trouble with this interpretation is that Dylan says he can't go back to paradise anymore, and the song ends with him wanting to have a whopping good time. Perhaps Dylan is just hedging his bets. After all, it's that other guy from Minnesota who wrote all those erotic god songs.



SPIRIT ON THE WATER

Spirit on the water
Darkness on the face of the deep
I keep thinking about you baby
I can't hardly sleep

I'm traveling by land
Traveling through the dawn of day
You're always on my mind
I can't stay away

I'd forgotten about you
Then you turned up again
I always knew
We were meant to be more than friends

When you're near
It's just as plain as it can be
I'm wild about you, gal
You ought to be a fool about me

Can't explain
The sources of this hidden pain
You burned your way into my heart
You got the key to my brain

I've been trampling through mud
Praying to the powers above
I'm sweating blood
You got a face that begs for love

Life without you
Doesn't mean a thing to me
If I can't have you
I'll throw my love into the deep blue sea

Sometimes I wonder
Why you can't treat me right
You do good all day
And then you do wrong all night

When you're with me
I'm a thousand times happier than I could ever say
What does it matter
What price I pay

They brag about your sugar
Brag about it all over town
Put some sugar in my bowl
I feel like laying down

I'm as pale as a ghost
Holding a blossom on a stem
You ever seen a ghost? No
But you have heard of them

I see you there
I'm blinded by the colors I see
I take good care
Of what belongs to me

I hear your name
Ringing up and down the line
I'm saying it plain
These ties are strong enough to bind

Now your sweet voice
Calls out from some old familiar shrine
I got no choice
Can't believe these things would ever fade from your mind

I could live forever
With you perfectly
You don't ever
Have to make a fuss over me

From East to West
Ever since the world began
I only mean it for the best
I want to be with you any way I can

I been in a brawl
Now I'm feeling the wall
I'm going away baby
I won't be back 'til fall

High on the hill
You can carry all my thoughts with you
You've numbed my will
This love could tear me in two

I wanna be with you in paradise
And it seems so unfair
I can't go to paradise no more
I killed a man back there

You think I'm over the hill
You think I'm past my prime
Let me see what you got
We can have a whoppin' good time

.

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