A shadow on the wall behind this "skeleton dandy" forms the shape of a man hanging from a noose. The YouTube video consists of the song accompanied by a gruesome still image, reminiscent of pulp magazine covers, of a skeleton wearing a tuxedo and top hat who is carrying a gift-wrapped box in one hand and a syringe in the other. The song was released unexpectedly on Dylan's YouTube channel on May 8, 2020, three weeks to the day after the stealth release of Dylan's previous single " I Contain Multitudes" and six weeks to the day after the stealth release of the " Murder Most Foul" single. He sees the lines "Put out your hand, there's nothin' to hold / Open your mouth, I'll stuff it with gold" as a reference to the grisly murders of at least two Roman generals ( Manius Aquillius and Cassius Dio) who "were reported to have died by having their mouths stuffed with gold".He sees the lines "Last of the best, you can bury the rest / Bury 'em naked with their silver and gold" as a reference to "what happened across twenty years of the Roman civil war, initiated when Caesar crossed the Rubicon in January of 49 BC: by the year 30, Augustus, 'last of the best,' buried Antony, as Antony and he buried Brutus and Cassius, they all buried Julius Caesar, and Caesar buried Pompey".He sees the lines "I'm first among equals, second to none" as a reference to Augustus Caesar being "proud of his claim to be 'first among equals' which upheld the fiction that the system, effectively a monarchy, was still a republic-those are hard to hold onto, then as now".Thomas has analyzed the lyrics to "False Prophet" in relation to classical antiquity, which factors into other songs on Rough and Rowdy Ways more overtly (especially " Mother of Muses" and " Crossing the Rubicon"): Historian and Harvard University Latinist Richard F. The song is performed in the key of C major. This implies that Sexton is the principal guitarist on the song, which features some colorful but subtle electric guitar playing and a near-solo during the outro. ĭylan referred to "False Prophet" as one of three "12-bar structural things" on Rough and Rowdy Ways (the other two being " Goodbye Jimmy Reed" and " Crossing the Rubicon") while praising guitarist Charlie Sexton in an interview with Douglas Brinkley that appeared in The New York Times. And then he'll start trying to sing over it, and then he'll get on the piano and add some extra chords and we'll kind of work out the arrangement, and the next thing you know we've tracked the song". As drummer Matt Chamberlain explained in an interview, " might have like a reference point for a groove or a feel and then we'll just kind of jam on that. It is likely that Dylan, who has been known to play recordings of older songs as reference points for his band in the studio, played Billy "The Kid" Emerson's "If Lovin' is Believin'" during the Rough and Rowdy Ways sessions. In a memoir about his predecessor published in 2007, Benedict wrote in reference to Dylan's performance that he "doubts to this day whether it was right to let this kind of so-called prophet take the stage" in front of the Pope. More notoriously, Pope Benedict XVI, when he was still known as Cardinal Ratzinger, opposed Dylan's playing at a Catholic youth event for Pope John Paul II in 1997 on the basis that he was a false prophet. I never wanted to be a prophet or savior. ĭylan echoed these sentiments nearly a quarter of a century later when speaking to Ed Bradley for a 60 Minutes interview in 2004: "You’re just not that person everybody thinks you are, though they call you that all the time: ’You’re the prophet. Now I come out and say Jesus Christ is the answer. They used to convince me I was a prophet.
They used to say, 'You sure are a prophet'. They say, 'Yes you are, you're a prophet'. Speaking to an audience in Omaha, Nebraska during a concert at the height of his gospel period in 1980, for instance, Dylan said, "Years ago they. Dylan has complained about the prophet label on numerous occasions over the years. This is evident even in the titles of books featuring critical analysis of his work. The title of the song, and the refrain "I ain't no false prophet", are believed by many to be self-referential since Dylan has been referred to as both a "prophet" and a "false prophet" on many occasions since the 1960s.
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