Dylan's Secret

I was ready to post another Bob Dylan entry tonight about toughness and quietude when I saw a commercial that stopped me blood dead on the tracks. It was a spot for Victoria’s Secret complete with requisite model in some fashion of lingerie with familiar background music: “Love Sick” by Bob Dylan. But if that wasn’t bizarre enough, there in another shot was Bob Dylan himself. I then googled this news item (the link for “Hey Mr. Lingerie Man” was no longer available at the Montreal Gazette) from the Houston Chronicle:

It may seem a bit disheartening to longtime Dylan fans -- the New York Post dubbed the bizarre pairing the "sellout sell-out of the week" -- but the singer apparently had his reasons for appearing in the ad.

"We asked him to be in the commercials and he said yes, he would gladly go off to Venice with the supermodels," the underwear firm's CEO, Grace Nichols, recently told students at Colorado State University.

The Dylan connection was established last year when Victoria's Secret creative director Ed Razek sifted through the music of more than 50 singers, from Tom Waits to Luciano Pavarotti, hunting for a tune for an ad featuring a lingerie-clad model with angel wings.

"We put everything against the track, and nothing worked like Dylan," Razek recalled.

The song, a remixed version of Love Sick from Dylan's 1997 album Time Out of Mind, "captures everything relationships are about," Razek said.

Ah, well that may be so about the song. I won’t argue that Time Out of Mind is another masterpiece from the artist, and "Love Sick" is a fine song (the turn in the last verse is especially good) but a commercial for Victoria’s Secret? Yes, it’s for something called the Angels line, so I can imagine Mr. Zimmerman being attracted to that. But I’m still trying to understand why this prophet with this message at this time. Time out of mind, indeed. Surreal too.

Love Sick

I'm walking through streets that are dead
Walking, walking with you in my head
My feet are so tired, my brain is so wired
And the clouds are weeping

Did I hear someone tell a lie?
Did I hear someone's distant cry?
I spoke like a child; you destroyed me with a smile
While I was sleeping

I'm sick of love but I'm in the thick of it
This kind of love I'm so sick of it

I see, I see lovers in the meadow
I see, I see silhouettes in the window
I watch them 'til they're gone and they leave me hanging on
To a shadow

I'm sick of love; I hear the clock tick
This kind of love; I'm love sick

Sometimes the silence can be like the thunder
Sometimes I wanna take to the road and plunder
Could you ever be true?
I think of you
And I wonder

I'm sick of love; I wish I'd never met you
I'm sick of love; I'm trying to forget you

Just don't know what to do
I'd give anything to
Be with you

~Bob Dylan


Addendum: Well, after much trial and error, I've come up with the links to the ad for high bandwidth or low bandwidth. I'm not entirely thrilled about linking to an advertisement, but for the sake of literature, y'know.

Previous Dylan Postings: The Master of the Anti-War Song