Tuesday, September 05, 2006

Dylan & Dan Tucker

Not all the words and music here are Dylan's. . . . But Dylan surrounds these borrowings with his own brilliant and uncanny poetry: "I'm walking with a toothache in my heel" ...
This reviewer of Dylan's Modern Times obviously never learned "Old Dan Tucker" in elementary school.

Now old Dan Tucker's fine old man
Washed his face in a fryin' pan
Combed his head with a wagon wheel
And died with a toothache in his heel


What are they teaching kids these days?

3 comments:

  1. Especially odd since "Old Dan Tucker" was recently rerecorded on Springsteen's last CD, so it should be fresh in a reviewer's memory...

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  2. The heel spur is a nail-like growth of calcium around the ligaments and tendons of the foot where they attach to the heel bone. The spur grows from the bone and into the flesh of the foot.
    The sensation has been described as "a toothache in the foot." When you place your weight on the heel, the pain can be sufficient to immobilize you. I suffer the same and it was first in my mind when first heard the song.

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  3. say what you want, but man he sure has been great!

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ReIEDHMu0Zw

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