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Silvio

Subject: Re: who is Silvio?
From: Dino 
Date: Fri, 15 Oct 1999 22:37:31 GMT

> Who is Silvio?

there's no clear answer.  however, the following connections have been
suggested:

-Silvio is a character in Pushkin's short story "Vujstrel" ("Shot").  He
refuses to kill a young soldier in a duel because the other man had
nothing to lose; he was still too young.  Silvio comes back years later,
when the man is older and prosperous (and thus has far more to lose) to
finish the duel and exact his revenge.  Classic Russian short story, and
it should be in nearly any anthology.

-Cuban musician Silvio Rodriguez, who has an almost legendary musical
stature in Spanish-speaking parts of the world, and has some strong
artistic parallels with Dylan.

-Silvio Berlusconi--Italian politician, TV producer, and professional
sleazeball.  But he wasn't nearly as visible back in 1987/88 when the
song was written as he was after 1994, when he became Premier.

But remember that Bob only wrote the music for Silvio.  The words are
Robert Hunter's.  Given how obscure some of the refenrences in Hunter's
lyrics have been, we may never know who perhaps provided the inspiration
for the song.

Dino

Date: Wed, 20 Oct 1999 11:20:31 +0200 From: Thierry Spampinato Subject: Who is Silvio To: karlerik@monet.no Hi Karlerik This is just a update for the SILVIO entry in the WHO IS WHO section. The suggestions of DINO are interesting, still I think it's worth considering a more philological approach. The following link should lead to a scan of Robert Hunters original lyric sheet, which infact seems to be the genetic departure of some parts of the SILVIO lyrics. Interestingly enough it is an early version of the GD Song "Black Muddy River", which gave birth to the Dylan/Hunter composition. The parts that matches is the chorus: Silvio silver and gold... http://www.dead.net/RobertHunterArchive/files/HandwrittenLyrics/BlackMuddyRiver.html Anybody feel free to comment further on the matter. Greetings Thierry
From: Nathan Sams nsams@wvup.wvnet.edu To: karlerik@monet.no Subject: Silvio in the Who's Who on Expecting Rain Date: Thu, 2 Nov 2000 15:40:38 -0500 I believe wholeheartedly that the song is about Silvio Manuel from the writings of Carlos Castaneda. Check it out for yourselves.
See what Paul Williams says in "Bob Dylan: Performing Artist 1986-1990 & beyond" at Google Books from Martin Schaefer 30.10.2008

Who's Who