“Ballad of Hollis Brown” is a soul tune composed by Bob Dylan, released in 1964 on his third collection The Times They Are A-Changin’. The tune recounts the tale of a South Dakota agriculturist who, overpowered by the edginess of destitution, kills his wife, kids and afterward himself.
There is a great deal of data accessible about the tune, and examination about the first wellspring of the subject, compassion and fantastic pertinence of the melody. The tune appears to have been adjusted from ‘Pretty Polly’ (see Greil Marcus) and there is an immediate line of availability between Dock Boggs, Mike Seeger and Bob Dylan in the production of the melody.
Hollis Brown, he lived on the outside of town
Hollis Brown, he lived on the outside of town
With his wife and five children and his cabin breaking downYou looked for work and money and you walked a ragged mile
You looked for work and money and you walked a ragged mile
Your children are so hungry, man, that they don’t know how to smileYour babies’ eyes look crazy there, a-tuggin’ at your sleeve
Your babies’ eyes look crazy there, a-tuggin’ at your sleeve
You walk the floor and wonder why with every breath you breathe
The rats have got your flour, bad blood it got your mare
The rats have got your flour, bad blood it got your mare
Is there anyone that knows, is there anyone that cares?You prayed to the Lord above, “Oh please send you a friend”
You prayed to the Lord above, “Oh please send you a friend”
Your empty pockets tell you that you ain’t a-got no friendYour babies are crying louder, it’s pounding on your brain
Your babies are crying louder, it’s pounding on your brain
Your wife’s screams are stabbin’ you like the dirty drivin’ rainYour grass is turning black, there’s no water in your well
Your grass is turning black, there’s no water in your well
You spent your last lone dollar on seven shotgun shells
“Ex-Farm Family, now on WPA.” Photo credit: Dorothea Lange.
Way out in the wilderness a cold coyote calls
Way out in the wilderness a cold coyote calls
Your eyes fix on the shotgun that’s hangin’ on the wallYour brain is a-bleedin’ and your legs can’t seem to stand
Your brain is a-bleedin’ and your legs can’t seem to stand
Your eyes fix on the shotgun that you’re holdin’ in your hand
“Ms. Handley and Some of Her Children.” Photo credit:
Farm Security Administration, Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library Archives.
There’s seven breezes blowin’ all around your cabin door
Seven breezes blowin’ all around your cabin door
Seven shots ring out like the ocean’s pounding roarThere’s seven people dead on a South Dakota farm
Seven people dead on a South Dakota farm
Somewheres in the distance there’s seven new people born
REVIEW
Dylan’s “Ballad of Hollis Brown” is an activity in compassion — its energy is in the striking quality of its vantage point inside the leader of a urgently misfortune South Dakota agriculturist, and in the way the melody challenges you to dismiss. Having lived in Minnesota for very nearly 20 years, or about the length of Dylan did before he moved to New York, and I can just about perceive how the youthful lyricist may have found the compassion to compose such a persuading melody.
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