Shabib Alzuabi
Miss Kerri Bennett
ENG 1003-001 Comp. I
Wednesday, April 5, 2017
Knocking on Heaven’s Doors
Robert Zimmerman, better known as Bob Dylan, was the most recent honoree of
the of the Nobel Laureate Committee. In 2016, he was awarded the highest recognition
to the written word: the Nobel Award for Literature. The Swedish Academy praised
Dylan “for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song
tradition.” (“The Nobel Prize in Literature 2016", 2016) He was the first songwriter to
have been awarded such recognition. Though there was a lot of debate regarding the
award, the lyrical genius that is found in Dylan’s song was never in dispute. “Knocking
on Heaven’s Door,” through its many adaptations, has become one of the most popular
songs in the collective imaginary. Even so, it is rarely attributed to Dylan himself. The
song, written and composed to be a part of the soundtrack for the film “Pat Garrett and
Billy, the Kid,” is an original of Dylan’s.
Having been written to fit the movie, the song fits perfectly with one particular
scene. The film, which features a dying police officer, required a poetic and dramatic
score to go along with the thoughts of the sheriff as he contemplated his death. Dylan
then penned the words: “Mama, take this badge off of me / I can’t use it anymore / It’s
getting’ dark, too dark for me to see / I feel like I’m knocking on heaven’s door” (Dylan,
1-4). Just in the opening lines, Dylan paints a heartbreaking picture: a man, on the verge
of death, feels the badge on his chest become heavier and heavier. It becomes especially
compelling when we consider how important the police badge is to a police officer; like
their uniform, the buttons have become part of what identifies them as police. They are
the first thing that they present to someone upon first meeting. Their badges become a
part of their police identity, and the police character often overtakes the person’s
individuality. As it happens in other fields, a person’s career can become an important
aspect of how they see themselves. To be willing to renounce to a part of his identity, the
sheriff’s agony is made visible.
Likewise, as the song follows in the second stanza, “Mama, put my guns on the
ground / I can’t shoot them anymore. That long black cloud is comin’ down / I feel like
I’m knockin’ on heaven’s door/” (Dylan, 12-16), the police officer keeps on disposing of
the objects he is carrying. Weapons, like the badges, are an important item in the line of
work. However, they are not as universally utilized as the others for the sake of
identification. In this scene, the sheriff is still agonizing, and the dismissal of his weapons
shows his desire not to keep on fighting. Like a tired soldier coming home from war, the
sheriff can no longer seek a solution to his problem with the gun he is carrying. Mean for
self-defense; his weapon can no longer protect his life from the next possibility of death.
The recurrent calling for his mother exposes the sheriff’s vulnerability. A maternal
figure is meant to be comforting and reassuring, which are the two things he is need of
most at that moment. The sheriff is aware of the situation in which he is in and seeing no
solution to it, all he can require is a comfort. He is calling for his mother to help him
through the transition between life and death, to make it more comfortable; perhaps faster,
probably just painless. Though, most importantly, what the sheriff is calling out for is the
simple company. It has long been part of common thought that it is not pleasant to pass
away in loneliness. The sheriff’s situation is, all around, heart-breaking.
It is possible to examine the song from a perspective outside of the context of the
movie. The beauty of Dylan’s lyrics is that they can be interpreted in different ways, each
as profound and valid as the next. While the words directly relate to a law-enforcement
agent, in poetic creation the real relationships that exist between objects and the people
are not the only ones that can be explored. The tools that we think serve only a practical
purpose can become symbolical expressions of deeper meanings and objectives. If we
extrapolate the song to fit any other instance, what else could come to mind?
For example, there was a small modification made to the song to the song in
response to a tragedy. In 1996, Ted Christopher was given permission by Dylan to adapt
the song to include lines that made reference to the Dunblane school shooting,
"SCOTLAND | Dunblane mothers join anti-gun march.", 2010) The modified version
included the lines: “Lord, these guns have caused too much pain. This town will never be
the same / So for the bairns of Dunblane / We ask please never again./” (Christopher, 1216) The Dunblane school shooting left at least 16 dead and others wounded. This event
marked the bloodiest mass shooting in the history of Scotland. Even though this game is
much different from the one for which the song was written, though one could argue that
violence serves as a commonality between both, the song can still perfectly adapt to it. In
the same manner, the song can take several other interpretations. Without any context,
one could say that there is the presentation of death as an immediate, inescapable force.
Like the sheriff in the song, who could not use his tools to defend himself from the Eternal
Footman, there is not a single one of us who will be able to escape the grasps of death.
Inevitability, resignation, the abandonment of life, can all be taken from a single,
decontextualized hearing of the song.
Though the lyrics of the songs are an example of Dylan’s genius, his mastery in
songwriting is not defined exclusively by it. In regards to the music, the chorus, “with the
repeated “Knock, knock, knockin’ on heaven’s door” line doesn’t have a current
resolution regarding its chords… Now in musical terms, neither of those endings (V-II7
and V-IV) are “acceptable” as resolutions to the line of music. What they do is leave the
music hanging, they don’t resolve the music at all. The listener is left on a cliff, almost
toppling over the edge, or maybe just stepping back to safety, but never quite sure which.”
(Attwood, 2013) The inclusion of this technique allows the song to maintain its dramatic
momentum throughout the duration of the song. It also fits perfectly with the musical
progression of the song, with each ‘knock’ the narrator becomes one step closer to death,
with each beat, the chances of the doors opening only increase. Neither the audience nor
the narrator knows when to expect the deciding moment. With every repetition of the
chorus, the song presses us to choose between the urging the desire to reach out towards
the gods’ lair or the justifiable desire to repudiate them for abandoning it us at such a
critical moment. As the narrator insists on his knocking and the chorus swells in its
progression, the resolution feels imminent. Though it never reaches us; it never stops
feeling as if it will.
Together, the music and the lyrics come together to form one of the great
Americans classics; a song so universal, it can be recognized in almost any part of the
world. Fame and critical recognition are not the only merits it holds, though. With its use
of poetic imagery throughout the text and the masterful arrangement of the music, the
song is capable of moving anyone to the core. The emotions it packs can only help but
remind the listener of the tragic beauty of life, all of life, including that which we call
ours. At this point, “Knocking on Heaven’s Door” has become a hymn for humanity.
Works Cited:
Atwood, Tony. "Knocking on heaven’s door." Untold Dylan. N.p., n.d. Web. 04
Apr. 2017.
Dylan, Bob. By Bob Dylan. Knockin' on Heaven's Door. Gordon Carroll, 1973.
Web. 3 Apr. 2017.
Christopher, Ted. By Bob Dylan. Knockin' on Heaven's Door. Ted Christopher.
1996. Web. 3 Apr. 2017.
"SCOTLAND | Dunblane mothers join anti-gun march." BBC News. BBC, 14
May 2000. Web. 04 Apr. 2017.
“The Nobel Prize in Literature 2016". Nobelprize.org. Nobel Media AB 2014.
Web. 3 Apr 2017.
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