The Epic Bob Dylan Lyric With a Nifty Twist Ending

Fans of the beloved 1980s medical drama St. Elsewhere know about the show’s iconic final episode, which seems to reveal the events that took place throughout the life of the series were just the imaginings of an autistic child. Well, Bob Dylan imagined a similar denouement in his song “Black Diamond Bay,” which came out in 1976, six years before St. Elsewhere premiered.

Or at least we think he did. It’s always tricky to assume too much when it comes to Dylan’s lyrical intent, especially in the case of this song, where he’s never spoken about what he specifically had in mind. But it sure is fun to speculate on an epic track.

“Diamond” in the Rough

We tend to think of Bob Dylan writing songs as the solitary man, going into some sort of altered state where his mad, marvelous lyrics alight upon him. But there have been numerous occasions when Dylan worked with co-writers. Among those collaborations, Jacques Levy holds a special place.

It was Levy who co-wrote the bulk of Dylan’s 1976 album Desire. Levy was only a part-time songwriter at that time, but he had made his name behind the scenes in the world of theater. As a result, it wasn’t all that surprising to hear how many of the songs on the album displayed a theatrical sense of story beats and flair.

That included the true stories on the record, including “Hurricane” and “Joey.” Even on the songs that came from their imagination, Dylan and Levy tried to tease the tales out as dramatically as possible. In the case of “Black Diamond Bay,” that extends to the final verse, which causes us to question everything we heard before it.

Many Dylan scholars have noted “Black Diamond Bay” included similarities to a 1915 novel by Joseph Conrad (of Heart of Darkness fame) entitled Victory. But even if the two writers took inspiration from some of Conrad’s characters and settings, they took those bare bones and created a fast-paced epic that stands separate from anything that might have set it in motion.

Behind the Meaning of “Black Diamond Bay”

“Black Diamond Bay” gives us finely detailed snapshots of a series of characters all spending a fateful evening in the exotic, titular location. There’s a woman in a Panama hat trying to escape her past, a Greek man whose hell-bent on suicide despite all manner of interruptions, a soldier considering a major life change, a losing gambler, and a bunch of other hangers-on and passers-by.

So tunnel-focused are these folks on their various activities and preoccupations that they seem to completely miss the oncoming natural disaster that’s about to wipe this island off the map. Dylan and Levy purposely conceal the evidence of the looming storm in the lines right before each refrain so that we as listeners might miss it as well.

As the song progresses, their enjoined, doomed fates start to become clearer, allowing for Dylan to indulge in some bitter irony (The loser finally broke the bank in the gambling room) and plot twists that might only have occurred because these characters have nothing left to lose (The soldier and the tiny man were in the corner / Thinking of forbidden love). We’re left with a final shot of the woman (She sheds a tear and then begins to pray) before all is lost.

In the final verse, the narrator is suddenly speaking in the first-person, talking of Watchin’ old Cronkite on the seven o’clock news. The report is of an earthquake that Left nothin’ but a Panama hat / And a pair of old Greek shoes. He turns off the set, shrugging his shoulders: Seems like every time you turn around / There’s another hard-luck story that you’re gonna hear.

Did he imagine this scenario whole-hog to spice up the doldrums of his life in LA? Or were the stories real, and these rich, complex lives reduced to nothing but a sound bite that’s easily ignored? All we can say for sure about Bob Dylan’s “Black Diamond Bay,” doomed thought it may be, is that it’s a fascinating place to visit.

Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images