Million Dollar Bash

It's all kind of figurative when you have Dylan-esque lyrics like this but I think there is some loose reference to the city folk and their ability to assimilate the simple man with their hyped up money monster machine thats bigger and better than anything in the country like mashing potatoes and yarning. Filter had a song that sang "your celebrating nothing, and you feel aye ok!". It kind of reminds me of that modern delusion of grandeur where were all getting down and rolling around in the mudpit to follow that paper bill trail. but Dylan is able to write songs that can be interpreted in so many ways when most of it is just imagery of what he absorbed in those days that reflect a kind of macrocosmic aura of the time. There's no exact literal interpretation to this stuff.

Million Dollar Bash was written in 1967 only a short time after coming home from the arduous touring of Britain that started in '65 and ended in '66. Although Bob was married to Sara Lowndes at the time he also was romantically connected to Edie Sedgwick. She is the big dumb blonde" that the first line of the song refers to. Her modeling career had just blossomed in '65 when she was given the title of "Girl Of The Year" and rumor was she ended the relationship with Dylan in '66 which displeased him. A close friend of hers was Andy Warhol and he employed her as an actress/model. The Factory was the name of Warhol's New York City studio where the in crowd gathered. During this period Andy Warhol was very successful. His fame was beginning to peak and the fact that he had recently made his first million was thoroughly discussed in the newspapers. Warhol always had a very bad case of acne and scars were always present on his face. The "cheeks in a chunk" is a reference to him. The Million Dollar Bash is a reference to the Factory parties which Dylan certainly would have been invited to. The rest of the song is an exercise in lyricism.

I haven't really thought about it too hard, but I feel like the "million dollar bash" could be a metaphor for death. Certainly a poignant one, if it is.