Make you feel my love
It’s been a smash hit for others. That’s the usual pattern for a Bob Dylan song. Make You Feel My Love was a roaring success for Essex girl Adele. It’s also been covered by more established artists like Bryan Ferry, Joan Osborne, Billy Joel, Ronan Keating and Garth Brooks – among others.
But what’s the song about?
At first glance, it seems to be a lover’s petition. Certainly the opening verse gives that impression. But from the second verse onwards, there are interesting clues that point to a bigger picture than just a boy-girl relationship. It’s quite acceptable to look a little deeper than the surface meaning. After all, that’s how Dylan often works.
ROMAN SOLDIERS
The song’s perspective changes when the lyrics start to say things like, ‘I could hold you for a million years’. It might be romantic poetry. But who could give that kind of everlasting comfort? ‘I would never do you wrong’ is another bold statement. Who could guarantee that? Who could promise only good for another? Is such faultless devotion from a human or a divine source?
‘Raging on the rolling sea’ could be a reference to the biblical account of Christ and his disciples on stormy waters. ’I’d go hungry, I’d go black and blue, I’d go crawling down the avenue’ seems to point even more strongly to Jesus, who not only fasted in the wilderness, but also endured beatings by Roman soldiers as he staggered under the weight of his cross.
This meaning seems to extend to the next verse, where Dylan uses the strange phrase ‘highway of regret’. This may allude to a bluegrass song of the same name, or it could be an alternative interpretation of Via Dolorosa – the Latin name for Christ’s path of agony. Via Dolorosa literally means ‘way of grief’. However, it might also mean ‘way of regret’ in terms of ‘lament’ or the ‘guilt’ Christ took upon himself, according to the Gospel story.
HUMAN LOVE
There are a few other messianic undertones. Then comes the cream on the pudding – ‘go to the ends of the earth for you’. This is a direct quote from Matthew’s Gospel. ‘I am with you always, even to the ends of the earth,’ Jesus tells his followers.
Yes, it might be a straightforward song of human love. But it does seem grander than that. It looks more like a heavenly plea. Is this the supplication from a Saviour to a humanity that is lost without his love? You decide. (Photo of Bob Dylan and Mark Knopfler, by Clive Price)
