Man Gave Names to All the Animals
"Man Gave Names to All the Animals" is a song written by Bob Dylan that appeared on his 1979 album Slow Train Coming and was also released as a single in some European countries, becoming a chart hit in France and Belgium. It was also released as a promo single in the US. However, some have labelled it the worst song Dylan ever wrote. A 2013 reader's poll conducted by Rolling Stone magazine, ranked "Man Gave Names to All the Animals" as being the fourth worst Bob Dylan song, behind "Gotta Serve Somebody" in second place.
"Man Gave Names to All the Animals" has been covered by multiple artists, including Townes Van Zandt, who covered the song on his 1993 album Roadsongs. The lyrics were turned into a children's book published by Harcourt in 1999, with illustrations by Scott Menchin. The Singing Kettle covered this song in the second episode of their third BBC television series, while The Wiggles covered it on their album Furry Tales in 2013.
Lyrics and music
The music to "Man Gave Names to All the Animals" is reggae-inspired. The lyrics were inspired by the biblical Book of Genesis, chapter 2 verses 19–20 in which Adam named the animals and birds. The lyrics have an appeal to children, rhyming the name of the animal with one of its characteristics. So after describing an animal's 'muddy trail' and 'curly tail', Dylan sings that 'he wasn't too small and he wasn't too big' and so that animal was named a pig. Similarly, the cow got its name because Adam 'saw milk comin' out but he didn't know how' and the bear got its name because it has a 'great big furry back and furry hair'.In the last verse, the lyrics take a more sinister turn.
The verse ends there, with the music hanging and the lyrics avoiding naming the snake. In concert, Dylan sometimes elaborated on the meaning of the snake to him at the time. For example, in a concert in Pittsburgh in May 1980, Dylan confirmed that the animal in the final verse is the same snake that appeared to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden; in Dylan's description that day, Lucifer had put his spirit into that snake, and Jesus later died not only for forgiveness of sins but also to destroy the devil's work. Despite the obvious biblical source for the song, Dylan avoids any explicit mention of Adam and Eve, which seems to pin the blame for the fall of man solely on the snake. Music critic Michael Gray finds it interesting that Dylan avoids blaming Eve for man's fall, appreciating that he stops 'the song short on a beautifully hungover note at the arrival on the scene of the serpent'.
According to back-up singer Regina Havis Brown, originally Dylan was not sure if he wanted to include "Man Gave Names to All the Animals" on Slow Train Coming. But when Dylan heard Brown's three-year-old son laughing at the identification of the animals, he said 'I'm going to put that on the record.'