A friend, who sings many Bob Dylan songs by heart and who will be singing in a performance of Brahm's Requiem in the coming months and has begun to listen to it in preparation for learning his part, commented to me a few days ago that the beginning of Brahm's Requiem (00:11) and the music written by Charlie Chaplin for the last scene of "Modern Times" (00:22) sound very similar. Do you hear it, too?
"Selig sind, die da Lied tragen, denn sie sollen getröstet werden."
"Smile, though your heart is aching. Smile, even though it's breaking."
My friend's observation inspired me to watch "Modern Times" on YouTube and got me to wondering if Bob Dylan might have given his 2006 album the name, "Modern Times" after having observed the same thing that my friend did about the roots of Charlie Chaplin's composition, given that so many of the songs on the "Modern Times" album have roots in older compositions.
Interesting, too, that Bob Dylan wrote a song called "Ye Shall Be Changed" and that Brahm's Requiem includes the verse from Corinthians with the words: Wir werden aber alle verwandelt warden (but we shall all be changed).
Echoes of the gears in the factory in "Modern Times":
"Love and theft revisited or coincidence?" said the Joker to the thief.
