Originally published in The Cambridge Student in 2013
In the summer of 1963 a huge crowd gathered to watch Martin Luther King deliver his legendary ‘I Have a Dream’ speech. Among the onlookers was a young Bob Dylan, whose biting critiques of American society were anthems of the Civil Rights movement. Yet when he sat down to write a song that day he instead focused on a little known trial that concluded the same day. ‘The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll’ recounts how a wealthy land owner drunkenly hurled abuse at his African-American maid before striking her with his cane. We are guided through the tragic details of Hattie Carroll’s death, but at each turn of the tale Dylan tells us that “now ain’t the time for your tears.” In the final verse he depicts the courtroom scene. Dylan narrates with vitriolic sarcasm the moment when the judge handed out a mere six months for the racist murder of an innocent woman. Finally he tells us to “bury the rag deep in your face, for now’s the time for your tears.” The ballad goes further than lamenting an evil act; it attacks a legal system that was morally rotten to the core.
Tom Ronan 