Reddit reviews Dylan's Daemon Lover: The Tangled Tale of a 450-year Old Pop Ballad

Ordinarily I'm reticent to wade into these sorts of discussions about what this or that Dylan song means; partly because I don't think there's a definitive answer to be had most of the time, and partly because I think much of the greatness of the songs lies in the fact that they can mean different things to different people. Or even different things to the same person.

In this case, though, I'm willing to make an exception: "Man in the Long Black Coat" is absolutely, 100% about the Devil. It is, in many ways, a reinterpreting of The Daemon Lover, an old Scottish ballad about The Devil enticing a young woman to abandon her husband and child so she can sail with him off to sea. Details differ depending on the version, but usually the Devil offers the woman ships full of treasure alongside the promise of a heavenly destination. Once out on the water, their ship is doomed--again, depending on the version--either by springing a leak or by the Devil himself breaking the ship in half. Either way, the song ends with the ship sinking into the dark sea, with the implication that the woman will now be accompanying the Devil back to hell.

Folk historian that he is, Dylan would be well aware of this tale. As would Daniel Lanois, incidentally, as the Devil is a fixture in French-Canadian folklore; often in these stories the Devil is portrayed as a handsome, well-dressed man who, as in "Man in the Long Black Coat," shows up to dance with young girls before taking their souls. Here's a blog entry that does a nice job of summarizing the Devil's role in the French-Canadian literary tradition.

Of course, there's one way we know for sure that Dylan is well-acquainted with "The Daemon Lover," often alternatively-titled "The House Carpenter"after the profession of the abandoned husband, and it's a pretty obvious one--he sang the song as a young man! Recorded it, even: https://vimeo.com/42774223

Among the usual crew of Dylan experts, the theory that seems to be most popular--particularly with Clinton Heylin, who wrote an entire book on the subject--is that "Man in the Long Black Coat" constitutes a retelling of the "House Carpenter" story, only this time from the carpenter's perspective.

This to me seems to be the most plausible explanation; particularly in light of what Dylan has done to the middle eighth section. Since about 2004, whenever he's played the song live, Bob's dutifully replaced the line "people don't live or die, people just float" with "I went down to the river, but I just missed the boat." For an example of Dylan singing the "new" lyrics, see here. His latest "Lyrics" tome reflected this change as well. Conjures up the image of the carpenter desperately trying to save his wife 'fore she sets sail with Satan incarnate. Alas...

For what it's worth, Zimmerman--Bob's family name--is German for "house carpenter."