3 years, 3 months ago
Interpreting Bob Dylan's "Precious Angel"
Please give your interpretation of Bob Dylan's Precious Angel.
Precious Angel
---------------
Precious angel, under the sun,
How was I to know you'd be the one
To show me I was blinded, to show me I was gone
How weak was the foundation I was standing upon?
Now there's spiritual warfare and flesh and blood breaking down.
Ya either got faith or ya got unbelief and there ain't no neutral ground.
The enemy is subtle, how be it we are so deceived
When the truth's in our hearts and we still don't believe?
Shine your light, shine your light on me
Shine your light, shine your light on me
Shine your light, shine your light on me
Ya know I just couldn't make it by myself.
I'm a little too blind to see.
My so-called friends have fallen under a spell.
They look me squarely in the eye and they say, "All is well."
Can they imagine the darkness that will fall from on high
When men will beg God to kill them and they won't be able to die?
Sister, lemme tell you about a vision I saw.
You were drawing water for your husband, you were suffering under the law.
You were telling him about Buddha, you were telling him about Mohammed
in the same breath.
You never mentioned one time the Man who came and died a criminal's death.
Shine your light, shine your light on me
Shine your light, shine your light on me
Shine your light, shine your light on me
Ya know I just couldn't make it by myself.
I'm a little too blind to see.
Precious angel, you believe me when I say
What God has given to us no man can take away.
We are covered in blood, girl, you know our forefathers were slaves.
Let us hope they've found mercy in their bone-filled graves.
You're the queen of my flesh, girl, you're my woman, you're my delight,
You're the lamp of my soul, girl, and you torch up the night.
But there's violence in the eyes, girl, so let us not be enticed
On the way out of Egypt, through Ethiopia, to the judgment hall of Christ.
Shine your light, shine your light on me
Shine your light, shine your light on me
Shine your light, shine your light on me
Ya know I just couldn't make it by myself.
I'm a little too blind to see.
Precious Angel
---------------
Precious angel, under the sun,
How was I to know you'd be the one
To show me I was blinded, to show me I was gone
How weak was the foundation I was standing upon?
Now there's spiritual warfare and flesh and blood breaking down.
Ya either got faith or ya got unbelief and there ain't no neutral ground.
The enemy is subtle, how be it we are so deceived
When the truth's in our hearts and we still don't believe?
Shine your light, shine your light on me
Shine your light, shine your light on me
Shine your light, shine your light on me
Ya know I just couldn't make it by myself.
I'm a little too blind to see.
My so-called friends have fallen under a spell.
They look me squarely in the eye and they say, "All is well."
Can they imagine the darkness that will fall from on high
When men will beg God to kill them and they won't be able to die?
Sister, lemme tell you about a vision I saw.
You were drawing water for your husband, you were suffering under the law.
You were telling him about Buddha, you were telling him about Mohammed
in the same breath.
You never mentioned one time the Man who came and died a criminal's death.
Shine your light, shine your light on me
Shine your light, shine your light on me
Shine your light, shine your light on me
Ya know I just couldn't make it by myself.
I'm a little too blind to see.
Precious angel, you believe me when I say
What God has given to us no man can take away.
We are covered in blood, girl, you know our forefathers were slaves.
Let us hope they've found mercy in their bone-filled graves.
You're the queen of my flesh, girl, you're my woman, you're my delight,
You're the lamp of my soul, girl, and you torch up the night.
But there's violence in the eyes, girl, so let us not be enticed
On the way out of Egypt, through Ethiopia, to the judgment hall of Christ.
Shine your light, shine your light on me
Shine your light, shine your light on me
Shine your light, shine your light on me
Ya know I just couldn't make it by myself.
I'm a little too blind to see.
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M$4 Answers
The singer in this song is Solomon and he is singing this to the Queen of Sheba.
We learn only a little about her from the Bible, but it is what happens to the story in the telling that is most fascinating. 1 Kings 10 describes her visit to Solomon. She came to 'test him with hard questions' - she wanted to know whether he was really as wise as they said he was. So, the Bible is interested in her because of her mind. She was a wise woman, a Carol Vorderman or a Joan Bakewell. But posterity has remembered her for the rich gifts she brought with her, spices, gold and precious stones, gifts that lend her a kind of oriental exoticism. The text says that she was 'breathless' before Solomon's wisdom and admitted that his God must be the greatest. We are told that Solomon gave her all that she desired. Later readers have assumed that her desires were erotic rather than intellectual and that she was breathless with passion rather than with hard thinking, but its hard to tell. I suppose that whoever has ears to hear will hear it their own way. But whether it was mind or body or both, Sheba is seduced by Solomon. Though almost his equal in money and brains, she gave in and adored him. A foreign queen from a distant land with strange gods, she converted to Solomon and his god. An outsider with an insider's understanding. This is the woman who Jesus later claimed would rise up to condemn unbelievers.
We learn only a little about her from the Bible, but it is what happens to the story in the telling that is most fascinating. 1 Kings 10 describes her visit to Solomon. She came to 'test him with hard questions' - she wanted to know whether he was really as wise as they said he was. So, the Bible is interested in her because of her mind. She was a wise woman, a Carol Vorderman or a Joan Bakewell. But posterity has remembered her for the rich gifts she brought with her, spices, gold and precious stones, gifts that lend her a kind of oriental exoticism. The text says that she was 'breathless' before Solomon's wisdom and admitted that his God must be the greatest. We are told that Solomon gave her all that she desired. Later readers have assumed that her desires were erotic rather than intellectual and that she was breathless with passion rather than with hard thinking, but its hard to tell. I suppose that whoever has ears to hear will hear it their own way. But whether it was mind or body or both, Sheba is seduced by Solomon. Though almost his equal in money and brains, she gave in and adored him. A foreign queen from a distant land with strange gods, she converted to Solomon and his god. An outsider with an insider's understanding. This is the woman who Jesus later claimed would rise up to condemn unbelievers.
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M$
This song passionately infuses love and spirituality. I think it tells the story of a man who meets a woman, who he not only falls in love with, but who also helps him rediscover his spiritual and religious beliefs.
The opening line, "precious angel, under the sun" informs the listener that he is addressing a mortal woman. From there, we can interpret that this woman somehow led him to a path of spiritual awakening, with choral lines like, "Shine your light on me/ Ya know I just couldn't make it by myself/ I'm a little too blind to see."
He talks about non-believers, his "so-called friends," being under a spell. He warns them of a "darkness that will fall from on high/ When men will beg God to kill them and they won't be able to die?" These lines provide a very Old Testament, fire and brimstone tone to the lyrics.
The contrast of such violent words and romantic lines like, "Precious angel, you believe me when I say/ What God has given to us no man can take away" construct a fervent, yet interesting, contrast in the song. The following lines toward the end finally fuse the two tones together:
You're the queen of my flesh, girl, you're my woman, you're my delight,
You're the lamp of my soul, girl, and you torch up the night.
But there's violence in the eyes, girl, so let us not be enticed.
The song has obvious Christian themes. One of the lines that demonstrate this is where he talks of a woman drawing water for her husband, telling him about Buddha, Mohammed, but not mentioning Christ. I interpret this to be a reference to Jesus' talk with the Woman at the Well in the Bible. Another line, toward the end, that solidifies the Christian theme is: "On the way out of Egypt, through Ethiopia, to the judgment hall of Christ."
In the end, this song proves to be about love, in both the traditional romantic sense, but also on a deeper, spiritual level.
The opening line, "precious angel, under the sun" informs the listener that he is addressing a mortal woman. From there, we can interpret that this woman somehow led him to a path of spiritual awakening, with choral lines like, "Shine your light on me/ Ya know I just couldn't make it by myself/ I'm a little too blind to see."
He talks about non-believers, his "so-called friends," being under a spell. He warns them of a "darkness that will fall from on high/ When men will beg God to kill them and they won't be able to die?" These lines provide a very Old Testament, fire and brimstone tone to the lyrics.
The contrast of such violent words and romantic lines like, "Precious angel, you believe me when I say/ What God has given to us no man can take away" construct a fervent, yet interesting, contrast in the song. The following lines toward the end finally fuse the two tones together:
You're the queen of my flesh, girl, you're my woman, you're my delight,
You're the lamp of my soul, girl, and you torch up the night.
But there's violence in the eyes, girl, so let us not be enticed.
The song has obvious Christian themes. One of the lines that demonstrate this is where he talks of a woman drawing water for her husband, telling him about Buddha, Mohammed, but not mentioning Christ. I interpret this to be a reference to Jesus' talk with the Woman at the Well in the Bible. Another line, toward the end, that solidifies the Christian theme is: "On the way out of Egypt, through Ethiopia, to the judgment hall of Christ."
In the end, this song proves to be about love, in both the traditional romantic sense, but also on a deeper, spiritual level.
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M$
I believe Dylan is asking wisdom, personified as a woman in Proverbs, to give him spiritual sight to understand "true religion" in the face of violent religious intolerance. He speaks of "no neutral ground", "flesh and blood breaking down" and then later "there's violence in the eyes" when "coming out of Egypt" (which is a metaphor for spiritual deliverance).
I really get the impression that Dylan is unimpressed with the religious crowd who say that "all is well" and are "fallen under a spell" and that he's saying we haven't understood what God was really saying. He mentions that our ancestors were slaves (to religion?) and that hopefully they found mercy, but he wasn't satisfied with that and wanted, or had, a clearer insight into the truth. He also mentions "the enemy", which in the Bible is Satan, and how that he has tricked us, potentially into getting religion "almost right".
So I believe this is a song about spiritual clarity in a time of spiritual misrepresentation and violence. Basically, he was saying "we're not getting it, show us the truth." He may also have been saying that Christianity had been polluted and was in danger of disappearing altogether if something didn't change (speaking of Mohamed and Buddha, but not Christ).
I really get the impression that Dylan is unimpressed with the religious crowd who say that "all is well" and are "fallen under a spell" and that he's saying we haven't understood what God was really saying. He mentions that our ancestors were slaves (to religion?) and that hopefully they found mercy, but he wasn't satisfied with that and wanted, or had, a clearer insight into the truth. He also mentions "the enemy", which in the Bible is Satan, and how that he has tricked us, potentially into getting religion "almost right".
So I believe this is a song about spiritual clarity in a time of spiritual misrepresentation and violence. Basically, he was saying "we're not getting it, show us the truth." He may also have been saying that Christianity had been polluted and was in danger of disappearing altogether if something didn't change (speaking of Mohamed and Buddha, but not Christ).
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M$
I believe the song is inspired by faith in the first place. It comes from Dylan's 1979 album, Slow Train Coming, which as a whole celebrates his new found spirituality - just prior to writing and recording this material, Dylan had what he later described as "a vision of Christ", and he meant that in a literal sense. (see the referenced Wikipedia page for details)
Following this event, he became born-again Christian.
The song lyrics are inspired by the Bible in general, and Precious Angel draws on the Book Of Revelations in particular. Someone with a good knowledge of the Bible could tell us wether the references to a woman are derived from Biblical imagery, or is Dylan referring to an actual woman that he may had been inspired by at the time.
Following this event, he became born-again Christian.
The song lyrics are inspired by the Bible in general, and Precious Angel draws on the Book Of Revelations in particular. Someone with a good knowledge of the Bible could tell us wether the references to a woman are derived from Biblical imagery, or is Dylan referring to an actual woman that he may had been inspired by at the time.
source(s):
Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slow_Train_Coming
personal knowledge and interpretation
Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slow_Train_Coming
personal knowledge and interpretation
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M$
Yes - this is a song of testimony given by a man who was formerly blind to the Christian message of the possibility of redemption in this broken world. Lots of images of light, darkness, blindness, vision, lamps, torches.
This song is the 2nd on the album "Slow Train Coming." Christians live in constant expectation. One can think of Christ's first coming (which took place 2000 years ago) and his second (yet to come) as a "slow train coming." This song tells the story of a person who awoke to this realization, and credits this revelation of being one of God's people to one of God's angels (Precious angle - under the sun - how was I to know - you'd be the one - to show me I was blinded - to show me I was gone - how weak was the foundation - I was standing upon.". Like Saul (who became Paul), the narrator speaks of suddenly being able to see after being blinded.
The story of the Judeo-Christian people is told in the Bible. Humans are mortal - flesh and blood - who live in time, on earth. The Bible is the story of humankind's struggle to understand self and God and the relationship between the two. It is the story of an approach and a turning away from God over and over, and God's constant reaching out to humans through history.
One of the most important parts of the Judeo-Christian story is the story of redemption; redemption literally means being ransomed, i.e., being bought out of slavery. The story of Passover describes their story of being released from slavery in Egypt ("our forefathers were slaves" and Egypt is mentioned in the lyrics). This song describes the constant danger of being a slave to ignorance; to being blind to God and our relationship to God and our being made in God's image
One of the paradoxes of being Christian is that our ancestors did not have the benefit of Christ's message - "our forefathers were slaves - let us hope they found mercy in their bone-filled graves." Yet Christians also recall that Christ himself said that he did not come to negate what was already written in the Torah and revealed through the prophets and through history, but to restate it, bring it into clearer focus. Earlier prophets had tried to reveal where humankind had gone astray, but instead of walking in the light, humans chose to live a life of blindness or adherence to a faulty understanding of God's guidance ("you were suffering under the law"). God's grace is constantly shining down upon us; the constant reference to God's angels helping us by "shin[ing] your light" -- "I just couldn't make it by myself, I'm a little too blind to see."
The paradox of being flesh and blood: it breaks down, but it is the source of delight ("you're my woman, you're my delight,") Beauty is also a reflection of Go'd image - the beauty of a woman is a "lamp" - she "torches" "up the night" (this praise of beauty also evokes the Bible's Song of Solomon). Yet, he also speaks of the treachery of the eyes - "there's violence in the eyes, girl, so let us not be enticed" (i.e., don't be foolishly seduced beyond which the flesh indicates, which is God - after all, according to Christians, people are made in God's image. So take the flesh for being an indication of God's beauty and love, but not an end in itself).
Yet woe to those who do not believe - who are led astray by Satan: "The enemy is subtle - how be it we are deceived - when the truth is in our hearts - and we still don't believe." For those who are willfully ignorant of the light - who CHOOSE to say "all is well" -- they will reap a bitter harvest when God comes again. "Can you imagine the darkness - that will fall from on high - when men will beg God to kill them - and they won't be able to die." I.e., they will not be able to die from this world of "flesh and blood breaking down". They had the choice earlier - and forfeited it - and even God is not able to release them from their darkness.
God gives us free choice - "ya either got faith or you got unbelief - and there is no neutral ground."
So in sum, as in other songs on this album, the narrator is describing the predicament of being born flesh and blood, surrounded by "so-called friends" who think things are, in fact, pretty well, who may even be piously living under the Law, but in fact are suffering from it and who might be subject to other illusions such as repeating the thoughts of Buddha and Mohammed. Paradoxically, the narrator offers instead the example of Christ, "who died a criminal's death." The paradox of Christianity - in order to not "suffer under the Law" or to be deceived into thinking "all is well," humans should instead following Christ.