Bob Dylan is my favorite artist. Whenever I have any new device on which to play music or a new place to play music, Bob Dylan is always the first. New house, new car, new iPod, new record player… always Dylan, usually “Boots of Spanish Leather”.
The Basement Tapes are universally revered, but I’m hit or miss with the songs. I love the narrative and the mystery and the mythology. I love Dylan living a peaceful life in the country with world-class musicians a few miles away to create with.
“Too Much of Nothing” was on the 1975 release, the first song on Disc 2. Dylan has never performed the song live. It re-appeared this year on The Bootleg Series, Vol. 11: The Basement Tapes Complete.
What is the nothing that there is too much of? Nothing to do? Nothing to believe in? Material poverty? I’ll try to give my read on it without paying too much attention to these fine posts about the song here and here. The first four lines might have been the kernel, and that kernel is clear. Sitting around without shit to do can make you crazy. Sitting around broke can make you crazy. And people react to this situation with a range of responses, from anger to paralysis. From there, you’re on your own. One cool aside, Vivian and Valerie were the names of T.S. Eliot’s two wives. No proof of a connection exists, but on an extreme tangent, there are certainly sections of Eliot’s verse that are moving and rhythmic and also defy easy or any interpretation.
Lyrics
Now, too much of nothing
Can make a man feel ill at ease
One man’s temper might rise
While another man’s temper might freeze
In the day of confession
We cannot mock a soul
Oh, when there’s too much of nothing
No one has control
Say hello to Valerie
Say hello to Vivian
Send them all my salary
On the waters of oblivion
Too much of nothing
Can make a man abuse a king
He can walk the streets and boast like most
But he wouldn’t know a thing
Now, it’s all been done before
It’s all been written in the book
But when there’s too much of nothing
Nobody should look
Say hello to Valerie
Say hello to Vivian
Send them all my salary
On the waters of oblivion
Too much of nothing
Can turn a man into a liar
It can cause one man to sleep on nails
And another man to eat fire
Ev’rybody’s doin’ somethin’
I heard it in a dream
But when there’s too much of nothing
It just makes a fella mean
Say hello to Valerie
Say hello to Vivian
Send them all my salary
On the waters of oblivion
Copyright © 1967, 1970 by Dwarf Music; renewed 1995, 1998 by Dwarf Music
Read more: http://www.bobdylan.com/us/songs/too-much-nothing#ixzz3PZKAL5w5
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