Dead Man, Dead Man Lyrics
Clinging to strange promises, dying on the line
Never being able to separate the good from the bad
Ooh, I can't stand it, I can't stand it
It's making me feel so bad.
When will you arise ?
Cobwebs in your mind
Dust upon your eyes.
Do you have any faith at all ? Do you have any love to share ?
The way that you hold you head, cursing God with every move
Ooh, I can't stand it, I can't stand it
What are you trying to prove ?
When will you arise ?
Cobwebs in your mind
Dust upon your eyes.
The ghetto that you build for me is the one you're living in
The race of the engine that overrules your heart
Ooh, I can't stand it, I can't stand it
Pretending that you're so smart.
When will you arise ?
Cobwebs in your mind
Dust upon your eyes.
My back is already to the wall, where can I run ?
The tuxedo that you're wearing, the flower in your lapel
Ooh, I can't stand it, I can't stand it
You wanna take me down to hell.
When will you arise ?
Cobwebs in your mind
Dust upon your eyes.
For me at least I feel that Bob Dylan is trying to reason with someone abusing the meaning of deism or atheism and who is spiteful and has made it up that Bob's God and savior is to blame for all the tragedies in man and womankind's history. I feel from Bob's position as though he's trying to point out his humbleness and lack of divine knowledge and he's trying to get this so-called deist or atheist to accept him as not having all the answers and that belief was never grounded in reality as knowledge. Anyway that's my interpretation of these lyrics.
PS: Just so no one confuses what I've typed. There are some really noble Deists and Atheists, just as there are some really noble theists, pantheists, mystics, straight-agnostics and others that I can't remember, peace.
This song is clearly about the fact that people seem to have all the answers and complicate everything! The truth is, Bob knows that most people are walking zombies not realizing who and what they really are...they are basically unaware of their own spirit that is/or should be alive within them. They are dead and they don't even know it, therefore they are angry, and blame God....when in reality it is their own fault, and all they have to do is WAKE UP!!!
This song is clearly about the fact that people seem to have all the answers and complicate everything! The truth is, Bob knows that most people are walking zombies not realizing who and what they really are...they are basically unaware of their own spirit that is/or should be alive within them. They are dead and they don't even know it, therefore they are angry, and blame God....when in reality it is their own fault, and all they have to do is WAKE UP!!!
This song is addressed to Christians that are evasive towards reality and truth while for a Christian following the truth should be the same as following Jesus. Their sense of reality has gone lost while they live in an alternative, hypothetical world. This world is constructed with elements from the bible which have been selected and arranged to fit unauthorized human purposes.
Now they are trying aggressively to overpower others and to define places for them in their ghetto world.
With this song Dylan is turning away from a type of Christianity that has disappointed and even misused his trust. The album “Slow Train Coming” is characterized by discovering truth in Christianity, the central verse being “Gonna change my way of thinking”. The next album “Saved” includes more phrases than thoughts with “I’m saved” and “Are you ready” as the basic messages. “Shot of Love” as the last album of the Christian trilogy marks a refusal of cheap slogans and hypothetic worlds.
This song is about the "dead man" inside of him trying to rise back up, and his awareness of it and struggle against it.
The non-Christian listener wouldn't know this unless you were familiar with the New Testament. In Christian theology, the old, sinful you is considered "dead", and the new. born-again you is a "new creation." Here are a few Scriptural examples:
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Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.
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Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.
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Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.