Re: I finally 'got' Blind Willie McTell

Date: 10 Jun 2003 21:14:58 -0700
Newsgroups: rec.music.dylan
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> St James Hotel - St James Imfirmary-The gambling barroom blues
Yes . . . it's almost impossible to think, given how well known "St.
James Infirmary" is, that Dylan would be not be referencing it, but as
you have shown through the simple posting of the lyrics, it's hard to
see the precise connection. Marcus has said maybe there's a
connection to Rabbit Brown's "James Alley Blues," but he admits the
lyric connection isn't there--at best, it's just the similar feel of
the two songs. But there's another St. James Dylan would be quite
aware of, St. James of the New Testament epistle. This James sits
uncomfortably in the New Testament--Luther wanted to exclude it on
theological grounds, it seemed to Luther too works oriented and didn't
make clear the total sufficiency of grace (as in Paul). Be that as it
may, the epistle is summed up in the saying "be doers of the word
also, and not only hearers." Against the backdrop of the reality of
slavery--perpetuated in America's most Christian region, the "Bible
belt"--it's not at all outlandish to think Dylan was nodding in this
direction as the solution to the paradox of Christians owning other
Christians and claiming them as their property. The problem was these
people heard--heard what? simple things, such as "do unto others as
you would have them do unto you"--but didn't DO it. Given the
theologically rich climax of the song ("God is in His heaven . . .")
it's not too much of a stretch to think Dylan was keeping the
theological theme going.
Do you see a connection between "St. James Infirmary" and "BWM"? The
former, too, is a great song--especially Cab Calloway's version. One
day I was talking with an older--very older--woman in my neighborhood. Turned out she lived in NY in the 1930s and 40s, and had seen the
Dorsey's, Ellington, and Calloway live, and all the rest. I was
stunned, visibly. She just chuckled: "We saw them all, all the
time!"