I enjoy Bob Dylan. I recently discovered one of his songs, quite by accident. I liked the melody; I found it to be relaxing. Then I did the unthinkable and actually listened to the lyrics and I discovered that it is one of the saddest love songs I have ever heard. Love songs don’t usually do a thing for me. I find them trite. Same old, same old. Boots of Spanish Leather, on the other hand, is something unique and interesting.
Everyone thinks themselves a poet, but few really know how to tap into the universal, the pain, the real, and make it sing. Dylan certainly did it with this poem/song. I especially enjoy the dual voice occurring in the piece, the back-and-forth of the two lovers who are about to part ways forever.
The girl announces to her "own true love" that she is leaving in the morning, sailing away, and she offers to send him a gift from her destination. Clueless, the boy doesn't understand the subtext, that his love is leaving for good. He professes his love for her and wishes for no gifts except that she return to him after her trip. She tries to tell him, ever so softly, that she is not coming back but he is having none of it. He will wait for her.
It is not until after she leaves and sends the boy a letter that he realizes that she is never coming back, and so he writes her and asks her to send him a pair of boots made of Spanish leather to remember her by.
Heartbreak at it’s finest. Click here for the lyrics.
Boots of Spanish Leather
by Bob Dylan
Album: The Times They Are A-Changin’
Date: 1964
Everyone thinks themselves a poet, but few really know how to tap into the universal, the pain, the real, and make it sing. Dylan certainly did it with this poem/song. I especially enjoy the dual voice occurring in the piece, the back-and-forth of the two lovers who are about to part ways forever.
The girl announces to her "own true love" that she is leaving in the morning, sailing away, and she offers to send him a gift from her destination. Clueless, the boy doesn't understand the subtext, that his love is leaving for good. He professes his love for her and wishes for no gifts except that she return to him after her trip. She tries to tell him, ever so softly, that she is not coming back but he is having none of it. He will wait for her.
It is not until after she leaves and sends the boy a letter that he realizes that she is never coming back, and so he writes her and asks her to send him a pair of boots made of Spanish leather to remember her by.
Heartbreak at it’s finest. Click here for the lyrics.
Boots of Spanish Leather
by Bob Dylan
Album: The Times They Are A-Changin’
Date: 1964
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