Friday 28 May 2021

Bob Dylan is 80.


Once upon a time you dressed so fine
Threw the bums a dime in your prime, didn't you?
People call say 'beware doll, you're bound to fall'
You thought they were all kidding you
You used to laugh about
Everybody that was hanging out
Now you don't talk so loud
Now you don't seem so proud
About having to be scrounging your next meal
How does it feel, how does it feel?
To be without a home
Like a complete unknown, like a rolling stone
Ahh you've gone to the finest schools, alright Miss Lonely
But you know you only used to get juiced in it
Nobody's ever taught you how to live out on the street
And now you're gonna have to get used to it
You say you never compromise
With the mystery tramp, but now you realize
He's not selling any alibis
As you stare into the vacuum of his eyes
And say do you want to make a deal?
How does it feel, how does it feel?
To be on your own, with no direction home
A complete unknown, like a rolling stone
Ah you never turned around to see the frowns
On the jugglers and the clowns when they all did tricks for you
You never understood that it ain't no good
You shouldn't let other people get your kicks for you
You used to ride on a chrome horse with your diplomat
Who carried on his shoulder a Siamese cat
Ain't it hard when you discovered that
He really wasn't where it's at
After he took from you everything he could steal
How does it feel, how does it feel?
To have on your own, with no direction home
Like a complete unknown, like a rolling stone
Ahh princess on a steeple and all the pretty people
They're all drinking, thinking that they've got it made
Exchanging all precious gifts
But you better take your diamond ring, you better pawn it babe
You used to be so amused
At Napoleon in rags and the language that he used
Go to him he calls you, you can't refuse
When you ain't got nothing, you got nothing to lose
You're invisible now, you've got no secrets to conceal
How does it feel, ah how does it feel?
To be on your own, with no direction home
Like a complete unknown, like a rolling stone

16 comments:

  1. Should have posted 4 days ago Cro!

    Never was a big Dylan fan much more of a Leonard Cohen person.

    Apparently, Cohen was once asked by Bob Dylan over lunch how long it took for him to write biblically-imbued Hallelujah. The songwriter lied and said two years. He then asked Dylan how long it took for him to write I and I, one of Cohen's favourites of the American. Dylan told the truth – around 15 minutes.

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    1. Yes, I'm a bit late, but better late than never. LC depresses me; I cannot see the appeal. I wouldn't say I'm a Dylan 'fan' as such. There are plenty of his songs that I like, but it's mostly his lyrics that I admire.

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    2. Funny you should say that I have always thought of Cohen as a poet first.

      His final album was, I think, superb...this is one line

      “As he died to make men holy, let us die to make things cheap’

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    3. I'll have to look at his lyrics; I'm sure I'd enjoy them more than his melancholy voice.

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  2. Reading the words allowed me to re-realize that he is a poet first and foremost. The music is merely a vehicle to bring that poetry to the masses.

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    1. I think he was a major lyricist of the 20th C.

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  3. I was always A Bob Dylan - still am. Somebody in blogland said he was a rotten guitar player - I wouldn't know about that but I loved his lyrics - Yesterday's Papers with Yesterday's News - Hey Mr Tambourine Man and I always admired the simplicity of the music

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    1. It hardly matters if he was a good guitar player or not, he never pretended to be a genius. It was the whole package that was important; and he was one of the best.

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  4. Dylan typically writes lyrics that have deeper meaning about life. I'm not a fan of the timbre of his voice, but I like the songs. No frogs in your pool this spring, Cro?? -A.K.

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    1. Actually there was one small Frog. I fished him/her out and all was OK.

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  5. Unfortunately many people only admire Dylan because of the obvious songs such as Blowing in the Wind and Tambourine Man. Ask them about songs such as Sad-eyed Lady of the Lowlands, Every Grain of Sand, Chimes of Freedom, for example and they wouldn't have a clue. I've been following Dylan since seeing him at the Albert Hall in May 1966 and still never miss his concerts.

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    1. My very favourite song of his is 'If dogs run free'. I have never met anyone who knows of it!

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  6. Ah, from the New Morning album. My favourite from that album's recording, though not released on it was Wallflower.

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  7. Plenty of Dylan on BBC4 tonight

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    Replies
    1. He deserves it. A major, but solitary, figure of the music scene.

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  8. Licorice McKechnie "Likky"
    Incredible String Band.
    Mi música favorita.

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