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As I Went Out One Morning
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Wikipedia article
"'As I Went Out One Morning'" is a song written and performed by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released as the second song on his 1967 album 'John Wesley Harding'.
Lyrical interpretation and reception
"As I Went Out One Morning" is a narrative song about a man who offers a hand to a woman in chains, but realizes that she wants more than he is offering, and that "she meant to do [him] harm." A character identified as 'Tom Paine' then appears, "command[s] her to yield," and apologizes to the narrator for the woman's actions.
'Tom Paine' as a figure may represent common sense or civil liberties, which the historical Tom Paine championed. However, it is also likely that this song references the prestigious Tom Paine Award that Dylan received in 1963 from the National Emergency Civil Liberties Committee. Dylan delivered an acceptance speech and was booed and rushed from the stage when he claimed to have empathy for some of Lee Harvey Oswald feelings.[http://www.corliss-lamont.org/dylan.htm Copy of Dylan's acceptance speech at NECLC] accessed 14 August 2011 This was followed by a letter from the ECLC and then a poem/letter from Dylan explaining his speech.[https://speakola.com/arts/bob-dylan-tom-paine-acceptance-1963 Bob Dylan - Bill of Rights Dinner 1963]
In their book 'Bob Dylan All the Songs: The Story Behind Every Track', authors Philippe Margotin and Jean-Michel Guesdon praise Dylan's vocal performance for "expressing a new maturity" not found on his earlier recordings and note that it is also "one of the first times he sings with vibrato".
The song bears a resemblance to, and is perhaps influenced by, the W. H. Auden poem 'As I Walked Out One Evening', including sharing the same iambic meter and quatrain form.
Dylan's use of harmonica on the song is distinctive. The flatted second (as well as third, sixth, and seventh) identifies the musical mode as Phrygian. Since the song is in F# minor (played in D minor on a guitar with a capo at the fourth fret), Dylan must be playing a D harmonica. The usual modes for diatonic harmonica in minor keys are Aeolian and Dorian (A or E harmonicas in the key of F# minor).
Live performance
Dylan has only performed the song live once, in 1974.
References
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