Sunday, May 10, 2015

Disease of Conceit

Universal ill:
Everyone is conceited.
You can die from it.

There could be something profound going on here, or it might just sound that way. "Disease of Conceit" is a Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders entry for the seven deadly sins. This one, I suppose, falls under pride, or maybe the old sin of "vainglory," which "pride" bought out in a private equity deal led by Pope Gregory and a group of cardinals. Dylan reportedly has said that the disgraced televangelist Jimmy Swaggart might have been the inspiration for the song, but who knows.

Here is the summary:

- Many people suffer from the disease. It's not sweet, it's conceit.
- It breaks and shakes hearts. It eats your soul and robs you of control of your senses. It's not discreet, it's conceit.
- People die and cry from conceit. It turns you into meat, it's conceit.
- There's no cure, but plenty of research, and yet no one's sure.
- People are in trouble with delusions of grandeur. Once you think you're too good to die, you get buried -- from your head to your feet, because it's conceit.



1 comment:

  1. Hello there Robert, thank you for posting this interesting analysis of a song from Bob Dylan’s Music Box http://thebobdylanproject.com/Song/id/156/Disease-of-Conceit Join us inside and listen to every song composed, recorded or performed by Bob Dylan, plus all the great covers streaming on YouTube, Spotify, Deezer and SoundCloud.

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