{"id":1470,"date":"2020-08-08T15:16:04","date_gmt":"2020-08-08T14:16:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/oestrem.com\/thingstwice\/?p=1470"},"modified":"2020-08-08T15:17:24","modified_gmt":"2020-08-08T14:17:24","slug":"dylan-and-the-dominant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oestrem.com\/thingstwice\/2020\/08\/dylan-and-the-dominant\/","title":{"rendered":"Dylan and the Dominant"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/oestrem.com\/thingstwice\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/itshard.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1495\" width=\"541\" height=\"406\" srcset=\"https:\/\/oestrem.com\/thingstwice\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/itshard.png 450w, https:\/\/oestrem.com\/thingstwice\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/itshard-300x225.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 541px) 100vw, 541px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>One surprising aspect of Bob Dylan\u2019s music making is his way of handling dominant connections. Or rather: his way of <em>not<\/em> handling them \u2013 by consistently avoiding them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the following I will suggest <em>how<\/em> he avoids the dominant, how he uses it when he does <em>not<\/em> avoid it, and <em>why<\/em> he treats it the way he does.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h1 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How to avoid<\/h1>\n\n\n\n<p>The most common clich\u00e9 about Dylan \u2013 apart from the self-evident truth that he can\u2019t sing \u2013 is probably that he only uses three chords, i.e. , the chords on the scale steps I, IV, and V, the classical Tonic, Subdominant, and Dominant (in the following abbreviated <em><strong>T<\/strong><\/em>,<em><strong> S<\/strong><\/em>, and <em><strong>D<\/strong><\/em>). This is not entirely correct, but not entirely untrue either: Dylan is not a sophisticated harmonicist \u2013 he mostly sticks to the main chord functions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is partly to do with his general predilection for genres based on blues and ballad, where the main functions have a central position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This makes it even more remarkable that Dylan, out of this already meagre selection of chords, tends to avoid one of the three. And when he does use dominant chords it is almost always in the plain, triadic version, rarely  using the opportunity to heighten harmonic tension that an added seventh would provide. Dominant seventh chords are rare in Dylan\u2019s production.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I consider these two avoidances \u2013 of the dominant and of seventh chords \u2013 as two sides of the same coin, and when I talk about Dylan\u2019s avoiding the dominant, it is more generally about avoiding the dominant <em>function<\/em>, whether in the broader sense of a major chord on the fifth scale step with a certain position in an habituated chord pattern, or more specifically: as the build-up to the tonic towards the end of a phrase.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Simple Twist of Fate<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Simple Twist of Fate <\/strong>is a good example to start with. A number of different live versions can illustrate the role of the dominant.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On the live album <em><strong>Budokan<\/strong><\/em> (1978) the end of the verse sounds like this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-preformatted\">    C                     F\nand wished that he'd gone straight\n    C                 F     <strong> G<\/strong>        C\nAnd watched out for a simple <strong>twist of<\/strong> fate.<\/pre>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-audio\"><audio controls src=\"https:\/\/oestrem.com\/thingstwice\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/Simple-Twist-Of-Fate-Budokan.mp3\"><\/audio><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>In other words: a very classical tonal cadence of the most unremarkable form: <em><strong>T-<\/strong><\/em><em><strong>S-D-T <\/strong><\/em>(<strong>C-F-G-C<\/strong>).  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But in the original version from 1974, the ending goes like this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-preformatted\">    E           B\/d#      A        \nand wished that he'd gone straight\n    E                 <strong>B11<\/strong>             E\nAnd watched out for a <strong>simple twist of<\/strong> fate.<\/pre>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-audio\"><audio controls src=\"https:\/\/oestrem.com\/thingstwice\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/Simple-twist-of-fate-BOTT.mp3\"><\/audio><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>What used to be the <strong>S-D<\/strong> part of the cadential figure (at \u201csimple twist\u201d) is reduced to an eleventh chord, a chord that is essentially a subdominant chord with only the bass tone left from the dominant. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is a severe weakening of the dominant character of the chord: no leading notes left (i.e. the halfstep relation, which draws two chords together like a magnet), no <strong>T-S-D-T<\/strong> cadence progression, no sharp contrast between two different tonal areas, but instead a step in the progression which already contains the note of resolution, the tonic: instead of the leading note resolution <em>D#\u2013E<\/em>, we have a penultimate chord that already contains <em>E<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Between these two version lies the 1975 Rolling Thunder Revue tour, where the same passage sounds like this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-preformatted\">    G           D         C\nand wished that he'd gone straight\n    G                 <strong>Am<\/strong>              G\nAnd watched out for a <strong>simple twist of<\/strong> fate.<\/pre>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-audio\"><audio controls src=\"https:\/\/oestrem.com\/thingstwice\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/Simple-Twist-Of-Fate-live-1975.mp3\"><\/audio><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The dominant is gone altogether! It is replaced not even by a subdominant, but by the subdominant relative minor. One can hardly get farther away from a tonal cadence (whereas it has certain modal traits).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In sum: The main part of the verse moves in the I-IV area and the melodic and emotional climax of the melody lies on the IV step, on \u201cgone straight\u201d. The dominant step on the other hand \u2013 to the extent that it is used at all, and regardless of how it is avoided \u2013 is merely an afterthought, a sidestep <em>after<\/em> the climax<em>, after<\/em> the tonic has been reached, far from the traditional dominant function.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Ballad of a Thin Man<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>To this trio of versions of a song can be added other songs where other strategies are employed. <strong>Ballad of a Thin Man<\/strong> (off <em>Highway 61 Revisited<\/em>, 1965) is our first example. On two points in the song there is an obvious opportunity to heighten the tension and drive towards the tonic through a stronger exploitation of the dominant function, but this opportunity is not taken advantage of.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The verses are mostly built over a chromatic descent in the bass:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-audio\"><audio controls src=\"https:\/\/oestrem.com\/thingstwice\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/Ballad-of-a-Thin-Man-HWY61.mp3\"><\/audio><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-preformatted\">Am\nYou walk into the room\n\/g#\nWith your pencil in your hand\n\/g\nYou see somebody naked\n       \/f#\nAnd you say, \"Who is that man?\"\nF\nYou try so hard\n        Dm\nBut you don't understand<\/pre>\n\n\n\n<p>At the end of the descent comes the first marked return to the tonic:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-preformatted\">C                  <strong>Em<\/strong>               Am\nJust what you will <strong>say When you get<\/strong> home\n<\/pre>\n\n\n\n<p>It would not be <em>inconceiveable <\/em>with a major dominant chord here, but that never happens, not in a single live version through the years. On the contrary: in most live arrangements the entire phrase from \u201cJust what \u2026\u201d is sung to a static riff on the tonic, without the slightest hint at the possibility of a dominant turn:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-preformatted\">   Am                Dm\/f Am\nwhat you're gonna say\n                  Am Dm\/f Am (=intro figure)\nWhen you get home<\/pre>\n\n\n\n<p>The other point worth mentioning in this song is the transition from the bridge to the verse. The bridge ends with a strongly emphasised and outstretched G major chord (dP), the relative major of the dominant, before the return to the Am of the following verse. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-preformatted\">Dm                           G          ( --> Am )\ntax-deductible charity organizations<\/pre>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-audio\"><audio controls src=\"https:\/\/oestrem.com\/thingstwice\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/Ballad-of-a-Thin-Man-2-bridge-to-verse.mp3\"><\/audio><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>This is the climax of the song, in terms of pitch and volume. Again, it would not be inconceivable with a chromatic bass ascent <em><strong>g-g#-a<\/strong><\/em> to tie the two parts together through the hint of a first inversion dominant chord (G \u2013 E\/g# \u2013 Am). This variant actually does occur, during the 1984 tour:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-preformatted\">   Dm                           G  .  .  .  E\/g# ( --> Am)\nTo tax-deductible charity organizations\n<\/pre>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-audio\"><audio controls src=\"https:\/\/oestrem.com\/thingstwice\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/Ballad-Of-A-Thin-Man-Real-Live.mp3\"><\/audio><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>But in the absolute majority of the cases, this opportunity to create harmonic tension is left untouched.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Open Tunings and the Gospel Idiom<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The previously mentioned album veresion of <em>Simple Twist of Fate <\/em>represents a specific strategy to avoid the dominant function, which appears from two different angles during the seventies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The first stems from the album <em>Blood on the Tracks<\/em>, recorded in 1974, where the song first appeared.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In its first version, the entire album was recorded i open E tuning. In open E, the guitar is tuned to an E major chord, and while it is of course <em>possible<\/em> to play a straight dominant chord (most simply by playing a full one-finger barre chord at the seventh fret), it is not common, since one of the points of open tunings in the first place is to take advantage of the open strings as drone-like tones. Thus, if the top E string is left ringing with the B chord, it will in practice produce a B11, i.e. a subdominant with the bass note of the dominant, as we saw it in the music example above.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Thus, the eleventh chord, which fits his general reluctance towards the dominant function like a glove, was introduced in Dylan\u2019s music thanks to the guitar technical experimenting with open tunings that he was engaged with at the time. But when it stayed in his idiom, it was thanks to the gospel tradition that Dylan dived into when he turned born-again christian in 1978. Here, it is one of the most characteristic chords, and after 1978 the eleventh is a fairly frequent variant for the dominant in Dylan\u2019s songs \u2013 that is: a dominant that isn\u2019t quite one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Dominating the Blues<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>A large part of Dylan\u2019s songs are based on the blues, in some form or another. In this area, the avoidance of the dominant is not so much a matter of avoiding a specific chord \u2013 most of Dylan\u2019s blues based songs do after all contain the chord on the fifth scale step \u2013 but about Dylan\u2019s way of relating to fixed chord progressions where specific chords have specific roles and functions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So while it is certainly interesting that Dylan\u2019s catalogue contains blues songs with no dominant chord whatsoever \u2013 e.g. <em>Tombstone Blues<\/em> \u2013 this is less significant than the myriad of variants of the \u201cTwelve Bar Blues\u201d that he uses throughout his career, and the general tendencies that can be gleaned from this material.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here is the twelve bar blues as we know it and love (to hate) it from all the pub bands and stadium rock classics of the world:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-preformatted\">I    IV   I    I7  \nIV   .    I    .\nV    IV   I    V7 (turnaround)<\/pre>\n\n\n\n<p>Dylan quite consistently changes this pattern in various ways:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>1. He lets the first part of the pattern, where the accompaniment lies on I, last for the entire first four-bar segment:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-preformatted\">I    .    .    . \nIV   .    I    .\nV    IV   I    V7 (turnaround)\n<\/pre>\n\n\n\n<p>2. He also tends to avoid the otherwise so characteristic V-IV-I-turn towards the end, and instead replace it with a single V over the whole first part of the third line (The similar I-IV-I turn in the first line has already disappeared in the first reduction):<\/p>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-preformatted\">I    .    .    . \nIV   .    I    .\nV    .    I    V7 (turnaround)<\/pre>\n\n\n\n<p>3. He is not a big fan of turnarounds. They do exist, but not very frequently:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-preformatted\">I    .    .    . \nIV   .    I    .\nV    .    I    .<\/pre>\n\n\n\n<p>This, then, is the blues pattern most frequently found in Dylan\u2019s production, in this exact form or in one of the many variants in terms of phrase length, irregular rhythmic patterns, etc. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In addition to these concrete observations, some further tendencies can be noted:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>\n\tA predilection for the treatment of the T-S connection, whereas D\n\tseems to be used as a more dutiful step. \n\t\n\t<\/li><li>\n\tHe seems to like long, static stages; for example, his preferred\n\tversion of the sixteen-bar blues is to stretch the initial T step to\n\ttwice its length, and his reductions 2 and 3 also work to prolong\n\teven the other steps into entire stages, at the cost of the dynamic\n\tdrive that harmonic variation provides.\n\t<\/li><li>\n\tThe range of variation between his different\n\tversions within\n\tthe simple blues pattern is astonishing. \n\t\n<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Standing in the Doorway<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>These tendencies or preferences are not limitied to his folk period in the sixties. The same characteristics can be noticed e.g. in <strong>Standing in the Doorway<\/strong> from 1997.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In a way it is a blues song: most of the verse is a statically repeated descending bass line, <strong>e-d#-c#-b<\/strong>, which functions as a stretched-out tonic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It is followed by a passage around A, corresponding to the turn to the Subdominant in the blues pattern, after which we return to the tonic E again for yet another round of the static bass line. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the place where the dominant would appear, corresponding to the beginning of the third line in the twelve-bar blues pattern, we then have the quick sequence <strong>A-E-B-F#-A-E<\/strong>, in other words: a chain of fifth-related chords, giving the impression of a dominantic circle progression since the chords become more and more \u201cdominantic\u201d in the sense that they get more and more sharps, but in this case the chain actually moves in the subdominant direction. Thus, it is not a constant discharge of an established level of tension, but a tentative \u201csubdominantic persistency\u201d, which ends on the secondary dominant, F#, which, however \u2013 possibly because of some minor variant somewhere in the mix, or because of associations (established thanks, in part, to the emphasis on the subdominant throughout the song) \u2013 is perceived more like the major variant of the minor relative of the subdominant, F#m.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In sum: after the long standstill on the tonic, we get a gesture that produces an illusion of a dominantic circle progression, but in the wrong direction and where the goal of the harmonic progression is not the Dominant in preparation of the return to the Tonic, but instead the Subdominant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Dominant, B, is a part of the progression, but its role is very modest: it is simple one element in the chain of chords that leads to F#:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-preformatted\">A           E        <strong>B<\/strong>              F#\nYou left me standing <strong>in the doorway<\/strong> crying\nA                           E\nI got nothing to go back to now.<\/pre>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-audio\"><audio controls src=\"https:\/\/oestrem.com\/thingstwice\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/Standing-In-The-Doorway-slut-p\u00e5-vers.mp3\"><\/audio><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h1 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How <em>Not <\/em>to\navoid the Dominant?<\/h1>\n\n\n\n<p>As an illustrative contrast, it may also be worth looking at the cases where Dylan actually uses shamelessly dominantic turns and\/or seventh chords. I shall suggest three areas:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>1<\/strong>. Even though Dylan is disinclined to emphasise the dominant in his own blues songs, he gladly uses them as a <strong>genre marker<\/strong>. The most obvious example is <em>Rainy Day Women #12&amp;35<\/em> off <em>Blonde on Blonde<\/em> (1965), an almost-parody of an unrestrained New Orleans brass blues; but also the jazz pastiche <strong>If Dogs Run Free<\/strong> (1970) and various genre exercises from the country oriented albums from the late sixties fall in this category. What they have in common is the mimicking tone \u2013 as if he doesn\u2019t really mean it completely earnestly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>2<\/strong>. <strong>Covers.<\/strong> When Dylan plays other artists\u2019 songs, he is usually faithful to the original, also on this point. This is not least apparent in the series of Sinatra inspired albums starting with <em>Christmas in the Heart <\/em>(2009). Song upon song are overflowing with dominant circle progressions, performed with conviction and gusto, and no sign of shame.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>3<\/strong>. But the most revealing group of cases are those that stem from<strong> guitar tuning<\/strong> and preconditions based on key. These are revealing precisely because they indicate that not only does Dylan happen<em> not<\/em> to play dominant seventh chords: he actually actively<em> avoids<\/em> them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Two alternate tunings that Dylan used consistently during the sixties are called \u201cDrop D\u201d and \u201cDrop C\u201d. Here, the sixth string is tuned down one and two whole steps, respectively. In Drop D we have the three following main chords:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignleft is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/oestrem.com\/thingstwice\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/D.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1471\" width=\"156\" height=\"179\"\/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignleft is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/oestrem.com\/thingstwice\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/G.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1472\" width=\"158\" height=\"181\"\/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignleft is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/oestrem.com\/thingstwice\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/A.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1473\" width=\"158\" height=\"182\"\/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>\nThe main connection in this\ntuning is between I and IV (D and G): they share open strings and\nfixed fingers (the ring finger stays in the same place, and the index\nfinger moves a short distance) \u2013 they stand in a close relation\nboth on the fretboard and in sound. The dominant, on the other hand,\nis slightly awkward, which can be heard, especially when Dylan plays\nit: it calls for bigger hand movements and tends to sound muffled \u2013\nit is difficult to get the first string to sound properly. In this\ntuning, the Dominant does not fulfill its potential to stand out as\nthe bright, contrasting contender.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p> In Drop C, the way Dylan plays it, these are the basic chords:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignleft is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/oestrem.com\/thingstwice\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/C.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1474\" width=\"154\" height=\"177\"\/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignleft is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/oestrem.com\/thingstwice\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/F.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1475\" width=\"153\" height=\"176\"\/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignleft is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/oestrem.com\/thingstwice\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/G7.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1477\" width=\"156\" height=\"180\"\/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p> Here, too, there is a close and natural relationship between I and IV (C and F), in terms of fingering, but in this tuning even the V chord, G7, is an unhampered part of the group. Both the S and D chords relate to the tonic chord according to the principle \u201cleast possible movement\u201d, of which Dylan is a masterful proponent.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p> What is most interesting, however, is that the songs Dylan plays in Drop C are among the very few songs in his entire production where the dominant seventh is consistently used.  Here is the version of <em>It&#8217;s All Over Now Baby Blue<\/em> from <em>Live 1966<\/em>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-preformatted\">E                       F      <strong>G7<\/strong>\nLook out the saints are comin' <strong>through<\/strong>\n    Dm            F         C\nAnd it's all over now, Baby Blue.<\/pre>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-audio\"><audio controls src=\"https:\/\/oestrem.com\/thingstwice\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/1-04-It\u00b4s-All-Over-Now-Baby-Blue.mp3\"><\/audio><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p> The alternatives to the two dominant chord shapes in these two tunings are worth a comparison:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignleft is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/oestrem.com\/thingstwice\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/A7.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1478\" width=\"182\" height=\"210\"\/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignleft is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/oestrem.com\/thingstwice\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/G-c-1.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1480\" width=\"180\" height=\"207\"\/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p> In Drop D it would be <em>possible <\/em>to replace the muffled and awkward A with the A7 shown here if one wanted to. Soundwise it would definitely be preferrable \u2013 it would be easier to play and to use all strings to their full potential. But Dylan evidently risks a slightly bad sound rather than including the unwanted seventh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But in Drop C, the risk involved in playing the straight G is apparently too big. It is <em>possible<\/em> to play it the way that is shown here, but it involves some acrobatics in the movements of ring- and little fingers, which one cannot allow oneself in a practical live situation where one stands alone with the guitar as sole responsible for the accompaniment. In <em>such<\/em> an extreme situation, Dylan permits the Dominant seventh, but <em>that<\/em> is how far out we have to go. That\u2019s how much he seems to distrust this chord.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The difference between the chord shapes in Drop D and Drop C, then, is a strong indication that Dylan prefers the straight dominant to the heightened harmonic tension of the seventh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>One last example in this area might be mentioned: Dylan remarkably rarely plays in E major, even though that is one of the most common keys to play in in the genres that Dylan enjoys. There may be many reasons for this, but it <em>could <\/em>be a contributing factor that it is more difficult in E major than in many other keys to find suitable chord shapes to avoid the dominant seventh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h1 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Why?<\/h1>\n\n\n\n<p>\nSo why this resistance to\ndominant chords?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Early Country Blues and English Ballads<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>One explanation that lies close at hand is that in the music that is Dylan\u2019s bible, the dominant function is not important. This goes for the early blues as well as for the English ballad tradition.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the early blues that Dylan soaked himself in early in his career, the dominants are generally few and far between, and it is not a coincidence that Dylan bases several of his songs in part or in full on the Pretty Polly pattern, where a pentatonic phrase is played around the first scale step, then repeated around the fifth, and rounded off with a return to the tonic again \u2013 often played without differentiation in the harmonic accompaniment:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"354\" src=\"https:\/\/oestrem.com\/thingstwice\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/Pretty-Polly-1-1024x354.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1491\" srcset=\"https:\/\/oestrem.com\/thingstwice\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/Pretty-Polly-1-1024x354.png 1024w, https:\/\/oestrem.com\/thingstwice\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/Pretty-Polly-1-300x104.png 300w, https:\/\/oestrem.com\/thingstwice\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/Pretty-Polly-1-768x265.png 768w, https:\/\/oestrem.com\/thingstwice\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/Pretty-Polly-1-1200x415.png 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-audio\"><audio controls src=\"https:\/\/oestrem.com\/thingstwice\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/06-Pretty-Polly.mp3\"><\/audio><figcaption>Pretty Polly, in Doc Boggs&#8217; inimitable banjo version.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The fifth scale step represents an alternate tone area, but does not have the function of harmonic tension that it has in a harmonic progression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The simple version of the blues pattern that Dylan prefers, without V-IV turns and turnarounds, comes the closest to the Pretty Polly pattern: the chords are static layers, around which melodies and instrumental figures can move relatively freely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The Anti-Harmonical Dylan<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>What the examples above seem to indicate in a more general sense, is that in Dylan\u2019s music it is not<em> harmony<\/em> that rules the musical progression \u2013 it is the<em> voice<\/em> (partly, but not just, as carrier of the<em> text<\/em>) and the<em> phrasing<\/em>. The long stages on static levels are far more open to variations \u2013 spontaneous as well as planned, as in language \u2013 than the pre-defined steps of the established harmonic patterns of tonal harmony.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And this seems to be a very conscious choice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I have <a href=\"https:\/\/oestrem.com\/thingstwice\/2013\/08\/another-self-portrait-second-thoughts\/\">elsewhere argued<\/a> that what Dylan does \u2013 although he \u201ccan\u2019t sing\u201d and \u201conly knows three chords\u201d \u2013 is to make <strong>prose music<\/strong>: he treats the obviously stylized and strongly regulated world of sound that musical expression necessarily is, as if it were equivalent to the sound world that language is when it <em>does not<\/em> appear in poetic form \u2013 that is: in the form with a level of stylization that is equivalent to what music usually is. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"900\" height=\"600\" src=\"https:\/\/oestrem.com\/thingstwice\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/dylan.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1493\" srcset=\"https:\/\/oestrem.com\/thingstwice\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/dylan.jpg 900w, https:\/\/oestrem.com\/thingstwice\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/dylan-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/oestrem.com\/thingstwice\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/dylan-768x512.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>He explores the common grounds between language and music, in other words. That is the art form that in which he excels: the exploration of the conection between the sonourous qualities of language and the quasi-conceptual qualities of music. He pretends that it is possible to talk in prose through and within music\u2019s poetic world of rhythm patterns and established harmonic progressions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And in this framework, there is no obvious place for the dominant, since it, by being a purely musical mode of expression cannot be \u201cproseified\u201d so to speak: pure harmony is the one element of music that lacks a direct equivalent i language (the idea of several voices at the same time, which is the foundation of harmony, in the area of language more than anything evokes images of quarreling or power games). And the dominant is a pure representative of this: there is no linguistic correspondence to or element in the seventh chord.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But if the dominant is instead reduced to a static stage without necessary consequences (such as: the tonic), it can still be drawn into the Dylanic art form.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A corollary of this argument is that Dylan is not a literary artist (and hence it was a mistake to give him the Nobel prize), nor is he solely a musician (and hence it was a mistake to put him through the ordeal that was the Polar prize) \u2013 he is a prose singer, and in prose, the dominant has no obvious place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"text-align:right\"><em>First presented as a paper at the annual conference of the Swedish Musicological Society in 2018<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>One surprising aspect of Bob Dylan\u2019s music making is his way of handling dominant connections. Or rather: his way of not handling them \u2013 by consistently avoiding them. In the following I will suggest how he avoids the dominant, how he uses it when he does not avoid it, and why he treats it the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,3,7,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1470","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-aesthetics","category-dylan","category-guitar","category-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/oestrem.com\/thingstwice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1470","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/oestrem.com\/thingstwice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/oestrem.com\/thingstwice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oestrem.com\/thingstwice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oestrem.com\/thingstwice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1470"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/oestrem.com\/thingstwice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1470\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1497,"href":"https:\/\/oestrem.com\/thingstwice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1470\/revisions\/1497"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/oestrem.com\/thingstwice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1470"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oestrem.com\/thingstwice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1470"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oestrem.com\/thingstwice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1470"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}