Desire by Bob Dylan

7/30/2019 Desire by Bob Dylan

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Bettina De Mesa

Professor Eiland

ENG 103H

4 December 2012

Desire

The eras of the mid-1960s and 1970s were known for the political tensions

caused by the misdeeds of the higher government. As a representative to the

disillusioned Americans, Bob Dylan had forged a legacy that included the formation

of topical songs as a venue for his opinions. In the promotion of rights for the

individual, singer Bob Dylan masterfully weaves songs that uphold the strength of

the middle class society. With the use of various critical perspectives, the songs

Joey, Hurricane, and The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll reveals the

injustices brought upon the squandered middle class.

Analyzing Dylans songs from a historical aspect exposes the audience to a

detailed introspective of the topical issues that plagued Dylans mind. Ensuing after

the turbulent civil rights movement, the 1970s integrated the liberal ideals of

equality and new freedom forged in the era before within mainstream American

culture. The citizens of that time emerged as socially conscious individuals, who

possessed dashed hopes and widespread political disillusionment incited by their

governments failures. The multiple assassinations of revered leaders and the lack

of social benefits all contributed to the unease of the decade (Tompkins 1). The

songs Hurricane, Joey, and The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll all display a


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narrative that reflects the issues of that time. The song Joey narrates that story

of Joe Gallo who was an illustrious gang member in the 1930s. Gallo was in fact

born in Red Hook, Brooklyn (Joey 1) and lived with his brother Larry. As a young

child, helived off gamblin and runnin numbers too(Joey 8). In an interview with

Gallos family friend, Donald Goddard, he stated that at eleven, he was running a

crap game, and when he was thirteen, running his gang. They were his people, and

he lived on the streets. And then, they were giving him the slips and hes running

numbers (Jones 1). When the gangster was twenty one, he was arrested and sent

to Kings County Hospital Center where he was diagnosed with schizophrenia

(Dickinson 1) leading him to gain the nickname JoeCrazy(Joey 7). Surrounded

by criminals, Gallo became heavily involved with the Profaci family and was

ultimately put in charge of several high stake card games, extortion rackets, and

numbers games (Dickinson 1) elevating his status in the hierarchy. Gangs are

internally organized, similar to a corporation. The higher the level that the member

achieves, the more power is given to them. In an analysis of gang structure:

There is usually one position of highest rank. This leader position is usually

occupied by a person who is incarcerated, but is controlling the entire

operation. Underneath the leader there is usually a committee of leaders

representing both ncarcerated members, and ones still active outside of

prison. The next positions would be those of the individual factions. They

are all separate criminal organizations, but usually can be called together for

the common cause of the overall organization (Petrone 1-2).


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Profaci is the head of the crime family while Gallo is regarded as a subservient

member. As Gallo tried to separate himself from the control of the Profaci family,

the extent of his disloyalty affected his family as his associates tried to strangle

Larry (Joey 15). Larry Gallowas lured to a Brooklyn supper club where Profaci hit

men including Persico lay in wait. Once he entered the building he was attacked and

nearly strangled to death(Dickinson 1) leading to the eminent downfall of their

family. As times fell hard on the Gallo household, Joe Gallo was forced to resort to

extortion in order to make a profit. Subsequently, he was exposed after trying to

extort a caf owner and did ten years in Attica(Joey 32). When they released

him in 71 he lost a little weight (Joey 36), so much so that his wife commented

that Gallo became extremely frail and pail. He looked like an old man. You could

see the remnants of what had been a man(Dickinson 1). Although years had

passed, hostilities between the Profaci household and the Gallo clan had not

simmered. In 1972, while celebrating his birthday at Umbertos Clam House, the

Profaci blew him down (Joey 32) in a shoot-out. The police report claimed that:

After the gunmen fled Gallo staggered to the through the front door and

collapsed on the street. Some say he was trying to divert the gunmen from

his family and friends. Others say he was trying to flee. When police arrived,

the badly wounded Gallo was placed in a squad car and rushed to the nearest

hospital where he died (Jones 1).

Consequently, Dylan had also recounted the story of Rubin Carter, an African

American boxer who was wrongfully sentenced to a nineteen year prison term.

While in the confines of the penitentiary, Carter wrote a powerful memoir called The


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Sixteenth Roundwhich inspired Dylan to form the song Hurricane. The pistol

shots (Hurricane 1) refer to the shooting at the Lafayette Bar and Grill, where

Carter and his friend Artis were accused of fleeing the scene of the crime. A woman

named Patty Valentine (Hurricane 2) was a witness who claimed that she saw

Carter and his friend Artis leave the premises with a handgun. In an interview with

Valentine, she stated that she saw two colored men running under the window

towards the curb" (Deal 1). The murders had made headlines as the story of the

Hurricane (Deal 1) was printed by The Morning News the day after the incident.

A few hours after the shootings, a cop pulled him over to the side of the road

(Hurricane 22) although there was no physical evidence that they were related to

the crime(Rubin Carter Biography). It was prevalent in the 1970s for cops to pull

over colored individuals due to their skin color. In Ben Bowlings seminal study,

Policing the Crisis, he shows how:

Research evidence over the past three decades has found that specific

stereotypes are commonly used by police officers to classify people on the

basis of their ethnic origin. Stereotypes of black people have been more

consistent in that they are thought to be more prone to violent crime and

drug abuse, to be incomprehensible, suspicious, hard to handle, naturally

excitable, aggressive, lacking brainpower, troublesome and tooled up

(Bowling 2)

A survivor from the shooting named Willie Marinslooked up from his one dying

eye(Hurricane 34) to identify the two criminals; however Marins could not

pinpoint the crime to Carter, simply saying I cant tell, I dont know (Deal 1).


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When it came to the trial all of Rubins cards were marked in advancethe D.A.

said he was the one who did the deed, and the all white jury agreed (Hurricane

73-81) to convict him in the1967 trial. According to a 1973 study the Rand Institute

found that:

Convicted African-Americans were more likely than whites to go to prison.

And their sentences were longer. This disparity, the study concluded,

suggests that probation officers, judges, and parole boards are exercising

discretion in sentencing and/or release decisions in ways that result in de

facto discrimination against blacks (Does the Criminal Justice System

Discriminate Against African-Americans?).

Along with the injustices done to the aforementioned figures, Dylan voices out

about the murder of bar maid, Hattie Carroll. In 1963, a white prominent farmer

from Maryland named William Devereux Zantzinger attended a ball hosted at

Baltimores Emerson Hotel. The song starts off with the blunt statement that

William Zanzinger killed poor Hattie Carroll(The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll

1) echoing the scorn Dylan holds for the esteemed planter. Contrary to Dylans

knowledge, Zantzinger only induced Carrolls death as shown in Ian Fraziers

research:

When Hattie Carroll died at Mercy Hospital the following morning, Zantzinger

was also charged with homicide. The medical examiner reported that Hattie

Carroll had hardened arteries, an

enlarged heart, and high blood pressure; that the cane left no mark on her;


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and that she died of a brain hemorrhage brought on by stress caused by

Zantzingers verbal abuse, coupled with the assault (Frazier 1).

Part of the old money society, Zantzinger was the heir of a six hundred acre

tobacco farm owned by rich and wealthy parents who provide and protect him

(Lonesome Death13). The jury reacted to his deed with a shrug of his shoulder

(Lonesome Death 15) as the young planter was freed during sentencing to finish

harvesting his tobacco crop. He served six months in jail and was fined five

hundred dollars(Morris 2). Seen from a historical perspective, Dylans songs

discuss the injustices done to these historical figures.

The use of a Marxist perspective analyzes Dylans propagandizing message of

championing the oppressed underdogs to Americans protestors. In the 1970s,

political unrest plagued American citizens as they lost trust in their government

when Richard Nixon was accused of being part of criminal activities. Dylan is

notorious for being the prophet of the people when it comes to political issues.

Human interest stories intrigued him, causing him to delve closer into the lives of

boxer, Rubin Carter, and gangster, Joe Gallo. Both of these men were perceived in

the media as ruthless criminals who inevitably deserved their punishment.

However, Dylan formed songs that put them in an innocent light, despite their

deeds. He lightly researched both individuals, and even visited Carter in jail

prompting the creation of the song Hurricane. News reporter Lester Bangs

believes that:

He releases these things, no matter how sloppy they are and no matter how

long we might have to wait for something half-baked, precisely so people will


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keep talking about him. It is automatically assumed that every Bob Dylan

album is an event but there are times when our sense of the enterprise in

question as an event eclipses whatever significance and integrity it may

possess (Bangs 35).

According to biographical researcher Daniel Epstein, Dylan had the intent to play

Hurricane at every stop on the tour that started in Plymouth(Epstein 234) as

means to spread the issue regarding Carter. However, the collaborative efforts

between Jacques Levy and Bob Dylan had formed a tune that never seemed to ring

true. The lyrics were skewed in accuracy in order for the audience to view Carter in

a better light. To elaborate, it was impossible for Carter to become the champion

of the world (Hurricane 9) due to the fact that his matches were mediocre at best.

According to The Ring Newspaper, Ruben had lost four and won three. His only

victories during that period were over two little known fighters (Ort 26). By forging

the illusion that the crimes pinned against Carter brought down his career, it

evokes sympathy from the audience that inherently comes with a downfall. Along

with Carter, the perception of Joe Gallo in the song Joey is a romanticized portrait

of the mobster family. The Gallos were notorious for trying every lethal ploy they

could think of to muscle their predecessors (Lester 35) which ultimately lead to

their imprisonment. However, Joe Gallo had cleverly garnered multiple high

powered connections after his release, personifying him as an exotic amusement

(Bangs 35). Dylan provided an insight look into the innocent years of the family,

even incorporating their childhood nicknames in order to build their credibility. A

sentimental image of the family was painted in there was talk they killed their

rivals, but the truth was far from that, no one ever knew for sure where they were


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really at (Joey 13-16). However, according to the DA trial from Gallos 1960

extortion trial the current war taking place between the Gallo gang and established

interests, there have been killings, shootings, strangling, kidnappings, and

disappearances all directly related to the Gallos (Bangs 36). In an interview with

co-writer Jacques Levy, it was shown that:

Bob always had a thing about outlaws, people on the outside of whatever

side there was. I think calling Joey that is labeling someone unfairly and he

wasnt a psychopath either. He was a victim of societyof growing up poor,

and if you look at the results of the war, youll find that its never been

proven that the Gallos killed anybody (Bangs 37).

Along with glorifying the story of these individuals, Dylan had commented on the

miscarriage of justice within the authority figures responsible for the investigation.

All of Rubins cards were marked in advance. The trial was a pig-circus he never

had a chanceRubin Carter was falsely tried (Hurricane 72-80) is Dylan pleading

to the young audience to uphold the rightful system of laws in order to prevent

innocent individuals from being wrongfully convicted. It was prevalent in the 1970s

for the prosecution to misconstrue information just to convict the defendant, as

shown in Paul Roberts trial study:

Hundreds of times during the past 10 years, federal agents and prosecutors

have pursued justice by breaking the law. They lied, hid evidence, distorted

facts, engaged in cover-ups, paid for perjury and set-up innocent people in a

relentless effort to win indictments, guilty pleas and convictions. Rarely were

these federal officials punished for their misconduct. . . . Perjury has become


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the coin of the realm in federal law enforcement. Peoples homes are invaded

because of lies. People are arrested because of lies. People go to prison

because of lies. People stay in prison because of lies, and bad guys go free

because of lies (Roberts 567).

Dylan martyred Gallo in the police hounded him, they called him Mr. Smith, they

got him on conspiracy but they were never sure who with (Joey 28-31) however,

cops agreed that Joeys downfall came when he tried to muscle in on a loan shark

in the presence of undercover cops (Bangs 36). Dylan stated that there was

somehow too much effort or self-consciousness...like I was trying to sing a protest

song(Epstein 235) solidifying his intent to propagandize to the American

protestors.

Analyzing The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll and Hurricane through

the cultural perspective of African Americans demonstrates the prejudice and

racism that still lingers within society. For most of the nineteenth century, blacks

have struggled with garnering power and respect alongside their white

counterparts. In most parts of the country, white musicians were taken more

seriously in cultivating messages to the masses. With the advantage of having a

paler skin color, Dylans importance in the black community is partly due to the fact

that he relayed pivotal civil rights emphasizing equality between all people. In

Hattie Carrolls narrative shewas a maid in the kitchen she was fifty-one years old

and gave birth to ten children (The Lonesome Death21-23) steadily implying that

Hattie Carroll was a normal white-collar individual who lived on modest means.

However, Zantsinger with his lavish cane that he twirled around his diamond ring


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finger (The Lonesome Death2) was portrayed as the epitome of abundance. The

contrast of the status between the two figures reflects the white and black gap of

that time. African Americans in the 1960s were disadvantaged in resources like

education and job opportunities. Unlike the heir to the six hundred acres (The

Lonesome Death12) of tobacco, Hattie never had a chance to sit at the head of

the table (The Lonesome Death 23). A study by Tom Hertz at American University

presents a forty percent gap between the adult incomes of Black people and White

people who grew up in families with identical long-run average incomes. In 1965,

per capita black income was forty one percent lower than per capita white income.

(Barton 34). The social disparities reflected in the 1960s were still pivotal in the

following decade as racism played a vital aspect in Rubin Carters conviction.If

youre black you might as well not show up on the street, less you wanna draw the

heat (Hurricane 26-27) from the police officers. This line is referring to the racial

profiling prevalent in the 1970s. After the murders within the Lafayette Grill, Carter

and his associate were pulled over by the authorities in response to a Patty

Valentines testimony that two colored men (Deal 1) entered the establishment.

Blacks were a target for the policeon the basis of pre-existing beliefs about their

supposed criminality. Black people were subject to extraordinary policing, and

portrayed by the media, politicians and criminal justice agents as a social problem

(Bowling 2). Along with the prejudice that African Americans experienced, racism

played remained to play an active role. The prominent Zantzinger was known to

have spouted swear words (The Lonesome Death 14) towards the elderly

barmaid, with comments such as I don't have to take that kind of shit off a nigger

(Murphy 1). These ethnophaulisms carried a derogatory connotation that represents


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the ethnocentric ideals of speaker. The racist remarks put tremendous amount of

pressure to the directed victim. After the attack of Zantzinger, Carroll began to slur

her words and lost the feeling in her right arm, ultimately dying eight hours after.

The term race-based battle fatigue was actually coined by University of Utah

professor, William A. Smith, to describe the stress and angst caused by constantly

dealing with both overtly racist actions and subtle references to ones race. Smith

describes thatwhile blacks have long suspected that racial stereotypes and

negative images are denigrating to an individuals self-worth, this research, among

others, has finally drawn a correlation between these persistent stressors and

overall mental health(Ball 1). Although constant prejudice still surrounds African

Americans, blacks have learned to marginalize the dangerous effects of racial

discrimination. In both narratives, the white antagonists avoided severe

punishment representing the imbalance of power between social classes. By

contrasting the brutality of Zatzingers reasonless crime to the achievements of

Carrolls life, the plight of the African American woman is strengthened. The planter

demonstrated his power as a white socialite as the judges let him wait a couple of

weeks before beginning his sentence, so he could bring in his tobacco crop. Such

dispensations were not uncommon, apparently, for offenders who had farms

(Frazier 1). With the abuse of power exemplified by the white upper class, the black

communitys power slowly dissipated as their white brethren hold the reigns of

control over their lives. From the perspective of an African American, Dylans

protest songs serve to remind them of the oppression they receive.

When applying a feminist perspective to the works, the focus shifts from a

song protesting the injustices brought upon the innocent to discrediting the


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importance of women. In The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll,a barmaid was

abused verbally and physically, yet the male perpetrator received minimal

punishment. Carroll was fifty one years old and gave birth to ten children (The

Lonesome Death21) signifying her pivotal maternal role in caring for other human

beings. She worked arduously for years, cleaning up all the food from the table

(The Lonesome Death26). Carroll portrayed the ideal woman, with responsibilities

similar to those of a housewife. In a study done by Vanessa Lambs she had

concluded that the perfect wifemaintains the house, prepares meals, takes care of

the children, and helps them with their homework(Lambs 2). However, her

importance in society is shadowed by the presence of the lavish William Zantzinger,

who projects his status by flaunting around his diamond ring fingers (The

Lonesome Death2). This alpha male demeanor is touched upon in Micheal

Kaufmans report:

Whatever forms of inequality, in all cases, these societies relations of power

are structured into social and cultural, political and economic institutions.

There is, though, a common factor to all these societies: all are societies of

male domination. The equation of masculinity with power is one that

developed over centuries. It conformed to, and in turn justified, the real-life

domination of men over women and the valuation of males over females

(Kaufman 35).

Zantzinger belittles Carroll through the use of swear words and sneering (The

Lonesome Death15) and ultimately strikes her with a cane. Typically, women who

are abused may withdraw from social activities, friends, or family. Avoiding


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activities and social situations that might bring her into contact with her former

abusive partner (Violence Against Women). The effect of the abuse is represented

through never once sat at the head of the tableand didnt even talk to the people

at the table(The Lonesome Death23-24) showing her diminished ego. Along with

her tarnished sense of confidence, her death was trivialized in the courtroom as

Zintzinger only received a six-month sentence (The Lonesome Death47)

indicating the lack of importance women served during that era. Also, in

Hurricane a seemingly well knowledgeable woman is portrayed as a subservient

witness to the crime. She willingly abides to the suggestions of the male figure,

Bello.He said I saw two men running out they looked like middleweights. They

jumped into a white car with out-of-state plates. And Miss Patty Valentine just

nodded her head (Hurricane 30-32) in order to go along with the conspiracy.

Feminists would disagree with Dylans work because women are portrayed as

subservient beings to men.

Through various critical perspectives, the songsJoey, Hurricane, and

The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carrollreasserts the rights of the oppressed. This

web of narratives delineates the injustices forced upon the minority.


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Works Cited

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1976: 1-5. Print.

Barton, Paul. "The Black-White Achievement Gap." Ets.org. Policy Information

Center, July 2010. Web. 6 Nov. 2012.

Bowling, Ben. "Policing Ethnic Minorities." Lseresearch.ac.uk. The London School of

Economics and Political Science, Feb.-Mar. 2003. Web. 26 Nov. 2012.

Deal, Cal. "Bob Dylan's "Hurricane" Murders the Truth." GraphicWitness.com.

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Dickinson, Micheal. "Joseph Gallo."Americanmafiahistory.com. American Mafia

History, 12 Oct. 2012. Web. 7 Nov. 2012.

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Desire by Bob Dylan