Synchronicity Revisited / Drinking Down the Years with Bob Dylan to Heaven's Door (If nothing more, watch the video at the end of this post that has been a 4-hour meditation for me this morning and possibly of little interest to anyone else)

"I don't want this ever published while I'm alive," he said, "'cause if I did ever get any money for it, I would just drink myself to death."

(That's Blind Willie McTell in a quote from the 1950s.  He was an alcoholic musician who sang the blues and caught the attention of Bob Dylan at an unknown time)

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Mama, take this badge off of me
I can’t use it anymore
It’s gettin’ dark, too dark for me to see
I feel like I’m knockin’ on heaven’s door

("Knocking' on Heaven's Door", lyrics by Bob Dylan, 1973)


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My daddy he made whiskey, my granddaddy he did too
We ain't paid no whiskey tax since 1792
You'll just lay there by the juniper while the moon is bright
Watch them jugs a-filling in the pale moonlight.

("Copper Kettle (The Pale Moonlight)", lyrics by A. F. Beddoe, 1953?)

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Well, ask me why I’m drunk alla time
It levels my head and eases my mind
I just walk along and stroll and sing
I see better days and I do better things

("I Shall Be Free", lyrics by Bob Dylan, 1963)

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Now, don’t crowd me, lady
Or I’ll fill up your shoe
I’m a sweet bourbon daddy
An’ tonight I am blue
I’m a thousand years old
And I’m a generous bomb
I’m T-boned and punctured
But I’m known to be calm
Please, Missus Henry, Missus Henry, please!
Please, Missus Henry, Missus Henry, please!
I’m down on my knees
An’ I ain’t got a dime

("Please Mrs. Henry", lyrics by Bob Dylan, 1967)

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Judges will haunt you, the country priestess will want you
Her worst is better than best
I’ve seen all these decoys through a set of deep turquoise eyes
And I feel so depressed

China doll, alcohol, duality, mortality
Mercury rules you and destiny fools you
Like the plague, with a dangerous wink
And there’s no time to think

Equality, liberty, humility, simplicity
You glance through the mirror and there’s eyes staring clear
At the back of your head as you drink
And there’s no time to think

("No Time To Think", lyrics by Bob Dylan, 1978)

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Might like to wear cotton, might like to wear silk
Might like to drink whiskey, might like to drink milk
You might like to eat caviar, you might like to eat bread
You may be sleeping on the floor, sleeping in a king-sized bed

But you’re gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You’re gonna have to serve somebody
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you’re gonna have to serve somebody

("Gotta Serve Somebody", lyrics by Bob Dylan, 1979)



How long can I listen to the lies of prejudice?
How long can I stay drunk on fear out in the wilderness?

("When He Returns", lyrics by Bob Dylan, 1979)

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Don’t need a shot of heroin to kill my disease
Don’t need a shot of turpentine, only bring me to my knees
Don’t need a shot of codeine to help me to repent
Don’t need a shot of whiskey, help me be president

I need a shot of love, I need a shot of love ... 

Doctor, can you hear me? I need some Medicaid
I seen the kingdoms of the world and it’s makin’ me feel afraid

("Shot of Love," lyrics by Bob Dylan, 1981)

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Oh, the gentlemen are talking and the midnight moon is on the riverside
They’re drinking up and walking and it is time for me to slide
I live in another world where life and death are memorized
Where the earth is strung with lovers’ pearls and all I see are dark eyes ...

Oh, the French girl, she’s in paradise and a drunken man is at the wheel
Hunger pays a heavy price to the falling gods of speed and steel
Oh, time is short and the days are sweet and passion rules the arrow that flies
A million faces at my feet but all I see are dark eyes

("Dark Eyes", lyrics by Bob Dylan 1985)

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Well the fat’s in the fire and the water’s in the tank
The whiskey’s in the jar and the money’s in the bank
I tried to love and protect you because I cared
I’m gonna remember forever the joy that we shared

("Cold Irons Bound", lyrics by Bob Dylan, 1997)

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Everybody get ready—lift your glasses and sing
Everybody get ready to lift your glasses and sing
Well, I’m standin’ on the table, I’m proposing a toast to the King

("Summer Days", lyrics by Bob Dylan, released September 11, 2001)

I’m gonna buy me a barrel of whiskey—I’ll die before I turn senile

("Cry A While", lyrics by Bob Dylan, released September 11, 2001)



Some of these bootleggers, they make pretty good stuff
Plenty of places to hide things here if you wanna hide ’em bad enough
I’m staying with Aunt Sally, but you know, she’s not really my aunt
Some of these memories you can learn to live with and some of them you can’t

("Sugar Baby", lyrics by Bob Dylan, released September 11, 2001)

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They say whiskey will kill ya, but I don't think it will
I'm riding with you to the top of the hill

Oh, I miss you Nettie Moore
And my happiness is o'er
Winter's gone, the river's on the rise
I loved you then and ever shall
But there's no one here that's left to tell
The world has gone black before my eyes

("Nettie Moore", lyrics by Bob Dylan, 2006)

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This is how I spend my days
I came to bury not to praise
I`ll drink my fill and sleep alone
I pay in blood, but not my own

("Pay in Blood", lyrics by Bob Dylan, 2012)

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From the Heaven's Door website:

"Orders will begin to ship on May 21, 2018"
(3 days before Bob Dylan's 77th birthday)

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I spend all my money on whiskey and beer ...

And if whiskey dont kill me,
Then I dont know what will,

("Moonshiner", lyrics by Bob Dylan, 1991)

Yet more synchronicity.

While reading about Carl Jung in the past few days, I came across this in a letter written by him to the founder of Alcoholics Anonymous just a few months before Carl Jung's death in 1961:

"Alcohol in Latin is spiritus, and you use the same word for the highest religious experience as well as for the most depraving poison.  The helpful formula therefore is:  spiritus contra spiritum."

Mysteriously, alcohol isn't poison for everyone.

For those who are alcoholic, however, alcohol is a recurring nightmare.  There is no cure for alcoholism.