What's your favorite lyric from a song?

How about some more Dylan lyrics? My favourite (Mr Tambourine Man - final verse is as good as it gets for me) has already been mentioned at least twice, so here’s a few others which live strong in the memory.


"Your sister sees the future
Like your mama and yourself
You’ve never learned to read or write
There’s no books upon your shelf"
[we used to love quoting that last line in our college days!]



"I see a lot of people
As I make the rounds
And I hear her name here and there
As I go from town to town
And I’ve never gotten used to it
I’ve just learned to turn it off
Either I’m too sensitive
Or else I’m gettin’ soft

Sundown, yellow moon
I replay the past
I know every scene by heart
They all went by so fast

If she’s passin’ back this way
I’m not that hard to find
Tell her she can look me up
If she’s got the time"



"A change in the weather is known to be extreme
But what’s the sense of changing horses in midstream?
I’m going out of my mind, oh
With a pain that stops and starts
Like a corkscrew to my heart
Ever since we’ve been apart"


"Yes, I received your letter yesterday, about the time the doorknob broke
When you asked me how I was doing, was that some kind of joke

All these people that you mention, yes, I know them, they’re quite lame
I had to rearrange their faces and give them all another name

Right now, I can’t read too good, don’t send me no more letters no
Not unless you mail them from Desolation Row"



[This next one, Sugar Baby, is my favourite Dylan song, everyone should listen to it at least once]

Here’s a Barb Jungr cover
https://youtu.be/SlJgKZT3nAw


"I got my back to the sun ’cause the light is too intense
I can see what everybody in the world is up against
You can’t turn back you can’t come back, sometimes we push too far
One day you’ll open up your eyes and you’ll see where we are
Sugar Baby get on down the road
You ain’t got no brains, no how
You went years without me
Might as well keep going now

Some of these bootleggers, they make pretty good stuff
Plenty of places to hide things here if you want to hide ’em bad enough
I’m staying with Aunt Sally, but you know, she’s not really my aunt
Some of these memories you can learn to live with and some of them you can’t

Sugar Baby get on down the line
You ain’t got no brains, no how
You went years without me
You might as well keep going now

The ladies down in Darktown, they’re doing the Darktown Strut
You always got to be prepared but you never know for what
There ain’t no limit to the amount of trouble women bring
Love is pleasing, love is teasing, love’s not an evil thing

Sugar Baby, get on down the road
You ain’t got no brains, no how
You went years without me
Might as well keep going now

Every moment of existence seems like some dirty trick
Happiness can come suddenly and leave just as quick
Any minute of the day the bubble could burst
Try to make things better
For someone, sometimes you just end up making it a thousand times worse

Sugar Baby, get on down the road
You ain’t got no brains no how
You went years without me
Might as well keep going now

Your charms have broken many a heart and mine is surely one
You got a way of tearing a world apart, love, see what you done
Just as sure as we’re living, just as sure as you’re born
Look up, look up seek your Maker ’fore Gabriel blows his horn

Sugar Baby, get on down the line
You ain’t got no sense, no how
You went years without me
Might as well keep going now"

"Sugar Baby" is on the "Love And Theft" (quotation marks in the title, as if to say..... ;-), album, which I have raving about for quite awhile here on Audiogon. It doesn’t seem to get mentioned much, but’s it’s a favorite of mine.

@bdp24 yes it was the one for me that finally cracked the 'holy trilogy' of Bringing It All Back Home, Highway 61 Revisited, and Blonde On Blonde. Almost feels like sacrilege to even suggest such a thing!

Unlike those earlier amphetamine fuelled masterpieces, Love and Theft feels like a mature work finding Dylan in a playful mood.

"I asked Fat Nancy for something to eat
She said, "Take it off the shelf
As great as you are, man
You'll never be greater than yourself."
I told her I didn't really care
High water everywhere"

"Well, my parents they warned me not to waste my years
And I still got their advice oozing out of my ears"

"You can smell the pinewood burning
You can hear the school bell ring
Gotta get up near the teacher if you can
If you wanna learn anything"

Compare that to the surreal brilliance of Tombstone Blues -

"Well, John the Baptist after torturing a thief
Looks up at his hero the Commander-in-Chief
Saying, "Tell me great hero, but please make it brief
Is there a hole for me to get sick in?"

The Commander-in-Chief answers him while chasing a fly
Saying, "Death to all those who would whimper and cry."
And dropping a bar bell he points to the sky
Saying, "The sun's not yellow it's chicken."

For over 25 years I've been calling one of my friends the 'Commander-in-Chief', or sometimes just 'Commander' or just 'Chief'.

To this day he doesn't know why.

@bdp24
Probably preaching to mostly the choir, but what is so amazing about Dylan is that he has reincarnated himself and/or his musical style/voice at least 4-5 times, every decade, and being successful with each one, particularly the success following his 60’s popularity (folk, from acoustic to electric guitar etc). This consistency is a testament to his talents, awarding him the Pulitzer.

E.g., Dylan prevailed with each new style and decade, from the 70’s music (from New Morning, gospel,  to The Band to John Wesley Harding) to his 80’s music (Tangled up in Blue, Oh Mercy, etc) and so on an so forth. All different, all masterpieces IMO>

-But today, like the 2001 "love and theft" album that has received praise, I wanted to share some of Dylan’s more recent work, the "Tempest" lyrics from his 2012 album, a regular novel as it were .... the accompanying music is calm, measured, with a metronome-like bass thwacking, keeping a driving rhythm which inevitably signals a treacherous ending ... 

-----------------------------------
Tin Angel
WRITTEN BY: BOB DYLAN
----------------------------------------
It was late last night when the boss came home
To a deserted mansion and a desolate throne
Servant said, “Boss, the lady’s gone
She left this morning just ‘fore dawn.”

“You got something to tell me, tell it to me, man.
Come to the point as straight as you can.”
“Old Henry Lee, chief of the clan,
Came riding through the woods and took her by the hand.”

The boss he laid back flat on his bed
He cursed the heat and he clutched his head
He pondered the future of his fate
To wait another day would be far too late

Go fetch me my coat and my tie
And the cheapest labor that money can buy
Saddle me up my buckskin mare
If you see me go by, put up a prayer

Well, they rode all night and they rode all day
Eastward long on the broad highway
His spirit was tired and his vision was bent
His men deserted him and onward he went

He came to a place where the light was dull
His forehead pounding in his skull
Heavy heart was wracked with pain
Insomnia raging in his brain

Well he threw down his helmet and his cross-handled sword
He renounced his faith, he denied his Lord
Crawled on his belly, put his ear to the wall
One way or another he’d put an end to it all

He leaned down, cut the electric wire
Stared into the flames and he snorted the fire
Peered through the darkness, caught a glimpse of the two
It was hard to tell for certain who was who

He lowered himself down on a golden chain
His nerves were quaking in every vein
His knuckles were bloody, he sucked in the air
He ran his fingers through his greasy hair

They looked at each other and their glasses clinked
One single unit inseparably linked
“Got a strange premonition there’s a man close by.”
“Don’t worry about him, he wouldn’t harm a fly.”

From behind the curtain the boss crossed the floor
He moved his feet and he bolted the door
Shadows hiding the lines in his face
With all the nobility of an ancient race

She turned, she was startled with a look of surprise
With a hatred that could hit the skies
“You’re a reckless fool, I can see it in your eyes.
To come this way was by no means wise.”

“Get up, stand up, you greedy lipped wench
And cover your face or suffer the consequence.
You are making my heart full sick.
Put your clothes back on double quick.”

“Silly boy, you think me a saint.
I’ll listen no more to your words of complaint.
You’ve given me nothing but the sweetest lies.
Now hold your tongue and feed your eyes.”

“I’d have given you the stars and the planets too
But what good would these things do you?
Bow the heart, if not the knee
Or never again this world you’ll see.”

“Oh, please let not your heart be cold.
This man is dearer to me, then gold.”
“Oh my dear, you must be blind.
He’s a gutless ape with a worthless mind.”

“You had your way too long with me.
Now it’s me who’ll determine how things shall be.
Try to escape,” he cussed and cursed,
“You’ll have to try to get past me first.”

“I dare not let your passion rule.
You think my heart, the heart of a fool.
And you sir, you cannot deny
You made a monkey of me, what and for why?”

“I’ll have no more of this insulting chat.
The devil can have you, I’ll see to that.
Look sharp or step aside,
Or in the cradle you’ll wish you died.”

The gun went boom and the shot rang clear
First bullet grazed his ear
Second ball went right straight in
And he bent in the middle like a twisted pin

He crawled to the corner and he lowered his head
He gripped the chair and he grabbed the bed
It would take more than needle and thread
Bleeding from the mouth, he’s as good as dead

“You shot my husband down, you fiend.”
“Husband, what husband, what the hell do you mean?
He was a man of strife, a man of sin.
I cut him down and I’ll throw him to the wind.”

“Hear this,” she said, with angry breath
“You too shall meet the lord of death.
It was I who brought your soul to life.”
And she raised her robe and she drew out a knife

His face was hard and caked with sweat
His arms ached and his hands were wet
“You’re a murderous queen and a bloody wife.
If you don’t mind, I’ll have the knife.”

“We’re two of a kind and our blood runs hot.
But we’re no way similar in body and thought.
All husbands are good men, as all wives know.”
Then she pierced him to the heart and his blood did flow

His knees went limp and he reached for the door
His doom was sealed, he slid to the floor
He whispered in her ear, “This is all your fault.
My fighting days have come to a halt.”

She touched his lip and kissed his cheek
He tried to speak, but his breath was weak
“You died for me, now I’ll die for you.”
She put the blade to her heart and she ran it through

All three lovers together in a heap
Thrown into the grave forever to sleep
Funeral torches blazed away
Through the towns and the villages all night and all day