Isis is a mystery, and the story makes no real sense – it is just a set of irrational images struggling from one episode to another without that sequence that we so crave. The Empress from the tarot features heavily on the sleeve – maybe that’s it – Isis, the Empress. And in the end I am more comfortable with that – another world. In the end it seems more like the science fiction stores of the 1950s in which Mars with its deserts is recast as the Wild West – the new frontier with bars and bandits and searches for treasures. All the usual stuff about getting stuck in the sandstorm – except it is an icestorm.
#Isis song movie
The Egyptian link is clear because there is the line about coming to the pyramids (albeit covered in ice, with snow and the like circling about – somewhat unusual just down the road from Cairo.) But we get the full Egyptian bit with the breaking into the tomb, the casket being empty and all that.Īnd where are we now – nowhere but in a B movie about raiding the pyramids and stealing the treasure. She gave them hope – but not of working harder for salvation. She befriended all those at the edge of society – slaves, workers, the poor. Again I would refer you to the Wiki article which simply takes a stream of events, without asking the rather relevant question – what the hell is going on in this SEQUENCE.įor sequence is the key issue here. Is it a song about his wife Sara? Well, maybe, perhaps, but it is a strain to make the story work. And the melody wanders – there is a basis but the song doesn’t quite stay where the melody is laid down. So, a strophic song in 6/8 – unusual for Dylan. Put it in 6/8 and the piano is hitting 3 equal notes for each half a bar – exactly as 6/8 requires. But the real clue is hitting you in the ears in every verse. Try conducting it in ¾ – with half a minute your hand is ready to drop off. Those funny people at Wikipedia have it as being in B flat in ¾ time – actually you only have to sit at a piano to find it is in B, and you only have to be a musician to know it is in 6/8. A song so revered that the longest running Dylan magazine is named after the song.īut why – what is it in Isis that is so powerful, so overwhelmingly important in terms of the Dylan genre?Ĭertainly it is a hard song to pin down.