Dylan Song by Song: "Jokerman" Quiz

Answer: Nightingale

"Jokerman dance to the nightingale tune, / Bird fly high by the light of the moon, /Oh, oh, oh, Jokerman."

Answer: The Creator

John Henry points this out in his 1999 article "Links of Jokerman and Scripture" (http://web.utk.edu/~wparr/henryjokerman.html). Henry notes that in the Tarot deck, "[t]he Joker is generally portrayed [ . . .] with a small dog nipping at his leg." Dylan portrays his Jokerman with "a small dog licking [his] face." This, along with certain Biblical allusions, has lead some to hypothesize that the Jokerman represents Christ, while others see him as Anti-Christ, and still others as Israel or Dylan himself.

The Biblical allusions are so jumbled that is possible for people to argue for multiple interpretations.

Answer: The woman of shame

"Friend to the martyr, a friend to the woman of shame, / You look into the fiery furnace, see the rich man without any name."

Answer: Ecclesiastes

But while the Jokerman is casting his bread and hoping for a good return, we are presented with the ominous picture of "[d]istant ships" which are "sailing into the mist."

Answer: All of these

"Well the Book of Leviticus and Deuteronomy, /The law of the jungle and the sea are your only teachers."
Leviticus and Deuteronomy are books of the law found in the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Jewish and Christian scriptures.

Answer: Hercules

"Hera put two great snakes in [his] crib, hoping they would crush him to death. But the child used his superhuman strength and strangled the snakes." (Wilkinson, Philip. DK Illustrated Dictionary of Mythology. New York: DK Publishing, 1998) In Christian literature, Hercules is often associated with Christ. Lary Yudelson, however, interprets this to refer to Dylan himself: "Microphones in his fists, the emblems of Dylan's power as a central figure in American culture in the generation following the war -- the hurricane -- the Holocaust -- which raged at his birth." (http://www.well.com/user/yudel/Jokerman.html)

Answer: The priest

"A woman just gave birth to a prince today and dressed him in scarlet. / He'll put the priest in his pocket, put the blade to the heat, / Take the motherless children off the street / and place them at the feet of a harlot."

Answer: Lazarus the Beggar

In the parable of Lazurus the beggar, the rich man, who is sent to the fiery furnace of hell, has no name. (John Henry points this out in his article, "Links of Jokerman and Scripture.")

Answer: Revelation

"A woman just gave birth to a prince today," sings Dylan, "and dressed him in scarlet." The prince, says, Dylan, will "take the motherless children off the street / And place them at the feet of a harlot." The "mother of harlots" described in Revelation sits "upon a scarlet coloured beast" and is "arrayed in [ . . . ] scarlet colour" (17:3-5). John Henry points to this connection in his article, "Links of Jokerman and Scripture."

Answer: David

Larry Yudelson points out that David also slept under the stars while fleeing Saul and that David's descendant, the Messiah, was expected to enter Jerusalem on a milk-white donkey. Cross reference Dylan's lyrics: "In the smoke of the twilight on a milk-white steed / Michelangelo indeed could have carved out your features / Resting in the field far from turbulent space / Fast asleep 'neath the stars with a small dog licking your face."