"False Prophet," A Social Media Post from Bob Dylan, Heralds His New Album Rough And Rowdy Ways (June 19)

“And many false prophets shall arise, and deceive many.”

Matthew 24:11

Early in the evening of May 7, 2020, Bob Dylan’s social media feeds posted the image above, with the accompanying phrase “What are you lookin’ at — there’s nothing to see.” It’s a stock, rhetorical query, usually a challenge, with no particular poetical roots (except perhaps a very obscure Romantic dash of Dorothy Wordsworth).

The decaying skeleton dandy is surely “The Shadow,” I thought, and soon saw that Dylan fans had found the image itself quickly. It seems to have been first posted by Dag Braathen on Twitter. The cover image for The Shadow #96, featuring the “Maxwell Grant” (Walter B. Gibson) stories “Death About Town” and “North Woods Mystery,” is this:

July 15, 1942. Dylan was a year and two months old when this issue appeared. The “north woods” story, originally published in 1936, begins in New York City’s Chinatown and sees The Shadow seeking criminals whilst making his way by canoe through Canadian woods (and he can talk to the animals). “Death About Town” involves murder among New York “gentlemen’s club” members.

Some were quick to speculate that the hanged man’s silhouette in the “False Prophet” image, with its protruding forelock, was “very Trumpy looking.” Others commented on the needle in the skeleton’s hand, filled with poison, illegal drugs, perhaps a vaccine. Would this be a new song from Dylan, to be released — like “Murder Most Foul” and “I Contain Multitudes” — soon after midnight? Or did the cryptic post herald a whole new Dylan album, something that has been rumored since autumn 2019?

I made tea and stayed up, while my self-isolation companions — husband, mother, and dogs — went off to their respective beds. These midnight music drops of Dylan’s are making me almost nostalgic for Yankees games on the West Coast that start at 10:05 pm New York time (of course I’m missing baseball terribly, aren’t you?).

Sure enough, on Bob Dylan’s YouTube site at 12:02, there came the announcement of a new album. Rough and Rowdy Ways, which takes its title from a grand Jimmie Rodgers song, will be released June 19. Together with the announcement, the song “False Prophet” is now available for you to listen to. It’s a stingy, gritty carpe diem song with riproaring lyrics that seduce and challenge, that harken back to the Bible and roll around in the barroomy beat. Be careful when Dylan sings “I’m just here to bring vengeance on somebody’s head.”

“And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.”

— Revelation 20:10

* May 8th and an update. Here’s my first pass at the lyrics.

“False Prophet,” © Bob Dylan and Special Rider Music 2020

Another day that don’t end, another ship going out

Another day of anger, bitterness, and doubt

I know how it happened, I saw it begin

I opened my heart to the world and the world came in.

Hello Mary Lou, hello Miss Pearl

My fleet-footed guides from the underworld

No stars in the sky shine brighter than you

You girls mean business and I do too

Well, I’m the enemy of treason, a enemy of strife

I’m the enemy of the unlived meaningless life

I ain’t no false prophet, I jus’ know what I know

I go where only the lonely [lowly] can go

I’m first among equals, second ta none,

The last of the best, you can bury the rest

Bury ‘um naked, with their silver and gold

Put ‘um six feet under, and I pray for their soul

Whatta ya looking at? There’s nothing to see

Just a cool breeze that’s encircling me

Let’s go for a walk in the garden, so far and so wide

We can sit in the shade by the fountainside.

[instrumental break]

I searched the world over for the Holy Grail

I sing songs of love, I sing songs of betrayal

Don’t care what I drink, I don’t care what I eat

I climb the mountain of swords on my bare feet

You don’t know me darling, ya never would guess

I’m nothing like my ghostly appearance would suggest

I ain’t no false prophet, I just said what I said

I’m just here to bring vengeance on somebody’s head.

Put out your hand, there’s nothing ta hold

Open your mouth, I’ll stuff it with gold

Ah, ya poor devil, look up if you will

The City of God is there on the hill.

[instrumental break]

Hello stranger, hello and goodbye

You rule the land, but so do I.

You lusty old mule, you got a poison brain

I’ll marry you to a ball and chain.

You know, darlin’, the kind of life that I live

When your smile meets my smile, somethin’s got to give

I ain’t no false prophet, Naw, I’m nobody’s bride

Can’t remember when I was born, and I forgot when I died.

Take a bow, Bob. We can’t wait for June 19.

Bob Dylan by Andrea Orlandi 2019.