The Perfect Voice – Comments from the Chained Muse

Strangelandic Music

Jan 31, 2024

I love The Perfect Voice. That is really something. It opens beautifully attributing Dylan’s uniqueness to an authentic light that passed into him from blind bluesmen on street corners. I love how it paints the picture that Dylan absorbed this raw, genuine expression of the human experience. That is really beautiful. I especially appreciate how the poem portrays him as someone who embraced the authenticity of real life, leaving behind his hometown and diving into a diverse, colourful world. I am relating to that right now with my situation. Also, congratulations on the display at the Bob Dylan Archive. Amazing.

2 Likes

martinmccarthy1956

Jan 31, 2024

Replying to

Strangelandic Music

Conil, thank you for your kind and very perceptive comments. It really heartens me to know that you understood perfectly the essence of what I was endeavouring to do with this poem. Also, that poetry, such as mine, is actually appealing to musicians and songwriters as well as to strict poetry lovers because good poetry is essentially musical in nature, not prosy. Perhaps the future may yet be in very good hands.

Good luck with your own work. I have checked it out on SoundCloud and it’s very impressive.

1 Like

Michael R. Burch

Dec 19, 2023

The updated page looks good!

2 Likes

martinmccarthy1956

Dec 19, 2023

Replying to

Michael R. Burch

Thank you, Mike, for saying so. The updated version is, in my view, outstanding, and I quietly applaud David for the new picture which firmly sets Bob Dylan back in the era of protest, when he and Joan Baez witnessed terrible atrocities being committed all around them and had the courage to say that these atrocities were exactly that.

So let us have the courage to do the same thing now – to say clearly and equivocally that the atrocities being committed in Gaza are wrong, and that the masters of war will never be allowed to rule on this earth – never be allowed to dictate how we think and feel about their crimes and the lame excuses they give for committing them.

And may some of us, at least, stay forever young and alive and awake to what is really going on. As Dylan says, ‘Someone is trying to pull the wool over me … Let me walk down the highway with my brother in peace.’

1 Like

winestone.poet

Dec 21, 2023

Replying to

Michael R. Burch

I agree; the updated page looks fabulous, as I knew it would. No one can select an image to go with a poem like David.

– Shannon

1 Like

winestone.poet

Dec 21, 2023

Replying to

martinmccarthy1956

Well said, Martin.

– Shannon

1 Like

martinmccarthy1956

Dec 21, 2023

Replying to

winestone.poet

Thank you, Shannon. It seems we are on the same page at the same time. But there are so many other pages of great interest, too. The Chained Muse has a lot to offer, in contrast to most of the mainstream poetry journals. I could spend many happy hours re-reading some of the year’s fine poems and essays – not to mention comments!

2 Likes

martinmccarthy1956

Nov 10, 2023

I wish to thank everybody who has commented on ‘The Perfect Voice’. I am almost overwhelmed by the level of engagement with it because it’s also running on my own website and on my web page in The HyperTexts.

All the attention totally affirms my belief that good poetry truly matters to people – especially now when there are so many conflicts in the world and people in general seem so divided. Especially now when songs such as ‘Masters of War” have become as relevant as they were when they were first written over sixty years ago because the profiteers are still there manufacturing wars and defiling the temples for their own ends.

Come you masters of war

You that build all the guns

You that build the death planes

You that build the big bombs

You that hide behind walls

You that hide behind desks

I just want you to know

I can see through your masks.

– Bob Dylan

What can I say about Bob Dylan?

That he was one of the few who protested

vociferously against the masters of war

and fame and greed who reign on earth

(from The Perfect Voice)

Regardless of what dissenting voices may say Bob Dylan is a truly great poet because his work is both relatable and timeless.

2 Likes

Michael R. Burch

Nov 10, 2023

Replying to

martinmccarthy1956

Martin, I agree about Bob Dylan being a truly great poet, and I was glad to see him get the Nobel Prize in Literature. You know from my Dylan tribute poem how “Blowin’ in the Wind” affected me when I heard it as a boy. And Dylan was influenced by poets like William Blake and Robert Burns (my top two influences), and other poets as well. Good for him and good for us as a tribe. And good for you, that “The Perfect Voice” is getting such a fantastic response, and so soon after publication!

2 Likes

martinmccarthy1956

Nov 10, 2023

Replying to

Michael R. Burch

He also cites Keats and Shelley as big influences, so David should be pleased to know that. I think it would be impossible to write great songs / poems unless one knows what the measure of greatness truly is. And these guys are the standard bearers.

3 Likes

Michael R. Burch

Dec 19, 2023

Replying to

martinmccarthy1956

Robert Burns too, the great Scottish Romantic poet. Dylan said “A Red, Red Rose” was his main artistic inspiration. William Blake too, because when Dylan met the Beatles the first time, they broke the ice by discussing Blake.

1 Like

martinmccarthy1956

Dec 19, 2023

Replying to

Michael R. Burch

Both Burns and Blake were very musical in what they wrote, so I am not surprised to hear this. The question I repeatedly ask is: ‘Without a good ear, without a proper sense of the innate musicality that is inherent in us, can we legitimately call ourselves poets?’ Burns, Blake, and, of course, Dylan have no problems on that score. I think that ‘A Red, Red Rose’, for all its seeming simplicity, is one of the finest poems/songs ever written. Musicality is essential in real poetry.

2 Likes

john.masella6695

Nov 08, 2023

A terrific poem that encapsulates the essence of Dylan’s journey. He is a true master and a sage, and you’ve done him justice.

The poem takes you on a journey through his many angles and dimensions, all with careful word choice and impactful references. Well done.

4 Likes

martinmccarthy1956

Nov 08, 2023

Replying to

john.masella6695

Thanks so much for your comment, John. Coming from a poet as good as you, this really means a lot.

2 Likes

Michael R. Burch

Nov 09, 2023

Replying to

john.masella6695

John, I agree.

2 Likes

winestone.poet

Nov 08, 2023

On a side note, thank you for publishing this incredible masterpiece, David. I have been hoping to see “The Perfect Voice” on The Chained Muse ever since I read it and saw all the well-deserved attention it has been getting on YouTube. So, I was pleasantly surprised to see it here today.

– Shannon

4 Likes

martinmccarthy1956

Nov 08, 2023

Replying to

winestone.poet

You were writing this while I was in the process of reading your previous comment which I have replied to it with the attention it deserves. Like you, I was actually surprised to see ‘The Perfect Voice’ on The Chained Muse website this morning as David just posted it unexpectedly and told me about it afterwards.

1 Like

winestone.poet

Nov 08, 2023

Replying to

martinmccarthy1956

Thank you so much, Martin! I truly appreciate it. I would love to know what made David decide to post this piece all of a sudden. Whatever the case may be, he has made an excellent choice!

– Shannon

2 Likes

Michael R. Burch

Nov 09, 2023

Replying to

winestone.poet

Shannon, I agree. It’s nice to see a good poem getting the attention it deserves.

2 Likes

martinmccarthy1956

Nov 10, 2023

Replying to

winestone.poet

Maybe he just knows a good poem when he sees one. Just look at all the fine poems he’s been publishing over the past few years while most of the mainstream poetry journals have been busy publishing rubbish and applauding themselves for doing so.

1 Like

winestone.poet

Nov 10, 2023

Replying to

martinmccarthy1956

Yes, it is amazing what David is doing with The Chained Muse. Even the website itself is so aesthetically pleasing, something that can’t be said for many other online literary magazines. Many of them are more akin to a messy blog than anything. David has a real knack for taking a fine poem and selected a beautiful picture to go with it. He has exquisite taste.

– Shannon

1 Like

martinmccarthy1956

Nov 10, 2023

Replying to

winestone.poet

I agree.

1 Like

winestone.poet

Nov 08, 2023

This poem is a phenomenal tribute to Bob Dylan, the great poet and lyricist of America. The first thing that stands out to me is how incredible every line of this piece is, especially when one considers that it comprehensively chronicles the entire span of Dylan’s very long career. Accomplishing such a feat requires a great deal of poetic skill. In less skilled hands, a poem like this could easily become dry, bland, and prosaic. “The Perfect Voice” is none of those things, as it enthralls the reader from start to finish. I especially love how the main focus of the poem is the authenticity of Bob Dylan and the art he created. In remaining true to himself, Dylan defied the conventions of both the music industry and the literary establishment. I am especially partial to this stanza:

That he saw from the beginning how one

who endeavours to be right for everybody,

is wrong for the world,

because the world needs to be challenged

or it won’t wake up … it won’t be shaken

from the siren comforts of its own sedation;

that his voice was forever full of sounds

never heard before him … those long

and rolling songs of thunder … those long

and bittersweet parables of a rolling stone.

Bravo, Mr. McCarthy! I hope your masterpiece reaches Bob Dylan’s attention somehow. He really needs to see this.

– Shannon

3 Likes

martinmccarthy1956

Nov 08, 2023

Replying to

winestone.poet

Thank you, Shannon, for your kind and insightful comments. It strikes me that you are a very good reader of poetry in that you take great care to read every single line individually for it’s own merits before assessing the whole poem as a cohesive unit in terms of it’s overall impact on one’s consciousness.

In my experience, very few readers of poetry can do this, and I am honoured that you have given my poem this kind of special attention. Indeed, I am very moved that you have picked out a whole stanza that particularly resonates with you. For me, this makes the whole effort of endeavouring to craft a fine poem so worthwhile.

I myself am very proud of three lines in that particular stanza:

the world needs to be challenged

or it won’t wake up … it won’t be shaken

from the siren comforts of its own sedation

I think that David Gosselin does his best to give the world a good shaking on a regular basis, so this poem is in a particularly good home right now.

1 Like

winestone.poet

Nov 08, 2023

Replying to

martinmccarthy1956

I was very moved by your lovely response to my comment, Martin. Thank you for all the kind words! I’m quite honored that you consider me such a good reader of poetry. Funnily enough, I disliked poetry until I was sixteen because I had to analyze the most boring poems for school. I struggled with school in general, so analyzing boring poetry was just another entry on a very long list of things I didn’t do well. Even after I became interested in poetry, I still struggled to grasp much of it. So, I started reading in-depth analyses online of poems that interested me, which helped me to begin understanding poetry better. However, I honestly think regularly formulating my own comments on the poems here has been even more helpful. You have described my reading process perfectly, as I do indeed consider the merits of each individual line before assessing the poem in its entirety. I think your piece is more than worthy of such attention.

I’m glad you are very proud of the three lines you quoted, because you should be. When I first read them, I instantly thought of David and of what he is trying to do with his publications and his podcasts. So, I agree that your piece could not have a more suitable home.

– Shannon

2 Likes

martinmccarthy1956

Nov 09, 2023

Replying to

winestone.poet

When I was teaching classes of thirty teenagers, it was imperative to make poetry sound and feel interesting or they would switch-off and perhaps go asleep, so I always chose good poems by the top poets – poems with music in them, and that was a deciding factor in holding their attention. At some early stage, I think the spirit in a person knows the difference between a true poem and some piece of prosy rubbish.

Also, the content of a poem/song has to be both timeless and relatable. I remember talking to my students about the possibility of a nuclear holocaust, then copying the teacher (Michelle Pfeiffer) in the movie, Dangerous Minds, by discussing Dylan’s “Let Me Die in My Footsteps” and his refusal to hide in a bomb-shelter, ‘down under the ground’ because he perceived to be a version of Dante’s Inferno. Dylan wrote that song/poem in the context of Fidel Castro and the Cuban Missile Crisis back in 1963, and it still hasn’t aged one bit – still timeless and still relatable!

2 Likes

winestone.poet

Nov 10, 2023

Replying to

martinmccarthy1956

Thank you for sharing that, Martin! I greatly enjoyed reading it. I have no doubt you were an impeccable teacher. I totally agree about knowing the difference between “a true poem and some piece of prosy rubbish.” Well said!

I also couldn’t agree more about ”Let Me Die In My Footsteps”. It’s 110% relatable, not to mention relevant to everything going on in the world today.

– Shannon

1 Like

martinmccarthy1956

Nov 10, 2023

Replying to

winestone.poet

Well, when one hears an Israeli Government official saying that the Palestinian people ‘can go to Ireland or the deserts’, then adding that anyone who waves a Palestinian flag ‘shouldn’t continue living on the face of the earth’, it’s easy to see just how timeless and terrifying and relatable that song is.

1 Like

winestone.poet

Nov 10, 2023

Replying to

martinmccarthy1956

Yes, the Zionists seem to think they are entitled to do these things because of the Holocaust and because they’re “God’s Chosen People.” It is truly horrifying.

– Shannon

1 Like

martinmccarthy1956

Nov 10, 2023

Replying to

winestone.poet

If you get a chance, Shannon, listen to Dylan’s ‘With God on Our Side’. It encapsulates perfectly everything you’ve just said.

1 Like

winestone.poet

Nov 11, 2023

Replying to

martinmccarthy1956

Will do! Thanks, Martin

– Shannon

1 Like

martinmccarthy1956

Dec 24, 2023

Replying to

winestone.poet

Also, ‘The Chimes of Freedom’ in which he hears God’s bells chiming for everybody rather than one specific religious group:

Tolling for the aching ones whose wounds cannot be nursed,

For the countless accused, misused, strung-out ones and worse,

And for every hung-up person in the whole wide universe,

And we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashing.

2 Likes

Guest

Nov 08, 2023

In something of the same way that Dylan himself gave us his ‘Last Thoughts on Woody Guthrie’, this has the feel of an unmercifully great river flow, carrying us through the many and varied versions of who and what Dylan really is – and to the crux of him, the rare and mighty spirit. A beautifully crafted paean that in accumulation elevates to something more and greater than its parts, tapping into ‘otherness’, revealing a precious, teasing glimpse of that state, out where the black winds blow, where inspiration – or better yet, understanding – dwells.

4 Likes

martinmccarthy1956

Nov 08, 2023

Replying to

Guest

Thank you for this remarkable comment. I know exactly what you mean when you speak of Dylan as ‘this rare and mighty spirit’. The same remark could easily be applied to Walt Whitman, despite all his faults. Indeed, I would class both Dylan and Walt Whitman as exemplary examples of two human beings being touched by some divine spirit out of which all true art comes. The key to this – as the poem points out – is ‘authenticity’. Dylan, unlike Donald Trump, who maintains that he speaks ‘for most Americans now’, is never less than authentic.

2 Likes

winestone.poet

Nov 08, 2023

Replying to

Guest

This comment is incredible! Your writing is ineffably beautiful—almost poetic actually.

– Shannon

2 Likes

martinmccarthy1956

Nov 10, 2023

Replying to

winestone.poet

I know the person who wrote this and he is indeed a writer and a bestselling one at that. He writes incredibly beautiful prose and in order to do so (he told me one time) he reads poetry on a daily basis – especially the poems of Yeats and Heaney. So the influence probably shows even in the way he writes a comment. There is probably a lesson in that for us all.

1 Like

winestone.poet

Nov 10, 2023

Replying to

martinmccarthy1956

That’s fascinating! Thank you for sharing, Martin. The influence does indeed show in the way your friend leaves a comment. I agree that there is a lesson in that for us all. If your friend was to take up writing poetry, I can only imagine all the incredible pieces he could create.

– Shannon

1 Like

martinmccarthy1956

Dec 20, 2023

Replying to

winestone.poet

If Billy were to take a short excerpt from one of his novels, such as My Coney Island Baby or The Dead House, and send it to a top mainstream poetry journal, he could easily pass if off as an excellent poem because he puts the exact same effort into every word, every line, as a good poet would. But, unlike those ‘poets’ who, in truth, really write prose (Bukowski etc.) he just wants to be seen for what he is – a really fine novelist with a poetic flair for words. And he frequently cites Bob Dylan as one of the great influences on his work – in terms of crafting it well.

1 Like

jm6783685

Nov 08, 2023

It is very difficult to criticise this poem because its subject is so much larger than it is. And can you really criticise an advertisement? In many ways Bob Dylan was the very last of the Romantics, and this, by the way, a Romanticism well beyond it’s sell-by date. One would have hoped his carefully – if inadvisedly – chosen namesake, Dylan Thomas, would have occupied that invidious position. Yeats was surely the last effective romantic. After him Romanticism could surely go no further.

Taken on their own Bob Dylan’s song lyrics do not come off as poems. Song lyrics rarely do. They need the music to make them fully effective. And that seems to me to be correct. Which is why I think his Nobel Prize was ill-advised.

I first became acquainted with Bob Dylan’a work, before he came to prominent public notice, because a friend of mine had a sister who ran a folksong club called ‘The Troubadour’. In 1962 Bob Dylan came to England, at the invitation of the BBC, to audition for some program. When he was turned down Anthea Joseph took him under her wing. Her ne’er-do-well brother dragged me off to see him perform in the upstairs room of a small pub opposite the Middlesex Hospital. All I can really remember is that Bob Dylan was so drugged up that somebody had to place his fingers on the strings of his guitar. On that occasion he played to an appreciative audience of probably less than twenty. Of which I was one. And Tom another. And his sister perhaps the one who performed the essential (if rather ostentatious) office of placing the fingers.

3 Likes

martinmccarthy1956

Nov 08, 2023

Replying to

jm6783685

Thank you, John, for taking the time and the trouble to write such a long and in-depth comment. While I disagree with you about Dylan’s songs not being poems, I do agree that Dylan’s work needs his music and indeed his voice – after all, it’s his voice I’ve specifically singled out in the title of my poem – in order to be fully appreciated. This is exactly why the Nobel Committee awarded him the Nobel Prize ‘for creating a new poetics’. Thank you also for sharing your Dylan story. I enjoyed reading that.

3 Likes

winestone.poet

Nov 08, 2023

Replying to

jm6783685

Thank you, John, for sharing your personal story about Bob Dylan. I love reading stuff like that!

– Shannon

4 Likes

David Gosselin

Nov 08, 2023

Replying to

jm6783685

I always love a good anecdote. and that’s a good one!

Kudos.

4 Likes

bobbyfunderburk1

Nov 08, 2023

Thanks Martin, a remarkable portrait of America’s poet/singer; Dylan Thomas as vocalist.

Only Dylan could take the words of “She belongs to me” and transform them into a true love song; one that brightens neglected and dark alcoves of the mind, yet remains true to the feelings and turnings of the heart.

3 Likes

martinmccarthy1956

Nov 08, 2023

Replying to

bobbyfunderburk1

Thank you so much, Bobby. I’m glad you like my poem, and I appreciate your remarks about Dylan also. In my view, Dylan is our Mozart of music and he’s still with us – amazing as ever – and he’s 82! I’m a little behind him there. But he’s a great example to us all.

2 Likes

martinmccarthy1956

Nov 08, 2023

It’s a great honour and privilege to be published once again by The Chained Muse. Thank you, David. If anybody has a comment, a suggestion, or a question, I would love to read it.

3 Likes

Michael R. Burch

Nov 08, 2023

It’s good to see this fine tribute to Bob Dylan getting the attention it deserves. “The Perfect Voice” captures the spirit of “the freewheelin’ Bob Dylan” and is worthy of the Nobel Laureate himself. And I can tell from online comments that many readers have enjoyed and appreciated the poem. Martin’s poem inspired me to write a tribute poem of my own…

My boyhood introduction to the Prophet Laureate and how I became his Mini-Me at age eleven

by Michael R. Burch

for Bob Dylan and Martin Mc Carthy, author of “The Perfect Voice”

Atop a London rooftop

on a rare cloudless day,

between the potted geraniums,

I hear the strange music play …

Not quite a vintage Victrola,

but maybe a half step up:

late ’69 technology.

I sat up, abrupt.

What the hell was I hearing,

a prophet from days of yore?

Whatever it was, I felt it —

and felt it to the core.