Bob Dylan, musician, writer, poet, artist, is very well known for the quality of his lyrics. So much so that he was awarded the 2016 Nobel Prize for Literature. Dylan's lyrics capture the range of emotions of every individual as well as the world at large better than any writer of music that I can think of.
Listening to the catalogue of Dylan's work, you can find lyrics that are funny, mournful, questioning, angry, and some that are downright venomous. In this post I am seeking to compile a list of Bob Dylan's most biting lyrics. There are certainly more than what I will list herein, but these are the lyrics that grab me as being the sharpest, most piercing and withering lyrics that Mr. Dylan has to offer.
Positively 4th Street
As with much of Dylan's work, there are all kinds of theories as to what this song refers to. Popular opinion is that Dylan wrote this song as a shot at the folk scene in Greenwich Village, New York City, and the people that accused Dylan of turning his back on folk music by into electric guitar and a more rock style of music. This theory would make sense, but with Dylan, there could be many other targets in the song as well.
Every word in the entire song could be listed here, but the final verse is particularly acerbic.
I wish that for just one time
You could stand inside my shoes
And just for that one moment
I could be you
Yes, I wish that for just one time
You could stand inside my shoes
You’d know what a drag it is
To see you
Don't Think Twice, It's Alright
This song was written in 1962 and appears on the 1963 album The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan. Again, with Dylan, there is always a mystery as to the inspiration of his work, but this song was written around the time that Dylan's girlfriend, Suze Rotolo, decided to indefinitely extend her stay in Italy.
The song also has a feeling that we all get when we try to convince ourselves that something is for the best, that we are better off, and that is really wasn't meant to be even though deep down we know that we are not succeeding in making ourselves believe anything of the sort.
As with Positively 4th Street, the whole song is quite jarring, but the last verses contain the knockout punch.
So long, honey babe
Where I’m bound, I can’t tell
But goodbye’s too good a word, babe
So I’ll just say fare thee well
I ain’t sayin’ you treated me unkind
You could have done better but I don’t mind
You just kinda wasted my precious time
But don’t think twice, it’s all right
Idiot Wind
This song, which appeared on the Blood on the Tracks album, is from start to finish one of Dylan's most biting song. Dylan claims that this song has no relationship with his marriage to Sara Dylan, which was strained at the time, but Jakob Dylan, Bob's son, claims that the song is a conversation between his mom and dad. In fact, Jakob believes that the lyrics of the entire album is his parents talking to one another in the midst of a disintegrating marriage.
Idiot wind, blowing through the flowers on your tomb
Blowing through the curtains in your room
Idiot wind, blowing every time you move your teeth
You’re an idiot, babe
It’s a wonder that you still know how to breathe
Masters of War
Much heralded as an anti-war song, the ever enigmatic Bob Dylan tends to disagree. In a 2001 interview, Dylan claims that Masters of War is a pacifistic song against war. That would seem to be the same as anti-war, but there is a bit of room for a nuanced view that they are two different things.
In the same interview, Dylan linked the writing of the song to Dwight D. Eisenhower's farewell address from the Oval Office in which Eisenhower speaks out about the military-industrial complex gaining too much influence in the United States.
And I hope that you die
And your death’ll come soon
I will follow your casket
In the pale afternoon
And I’ll watch while you’re lowered
Down to your deathbed
And I’ll stand o’er your grave
’Til I’m sure that you’re dead
Desolation Row
Desolation Row is an 11-minute masterpiece that again, the meaning of the song cannot easily be discerned. It seems to be a parade of characters, some real, some fictional, as well as snippets of real-life events. The first verse refers to selling postcards of the hanging, which might refer to an incident in Dylan's hometown of Duluth, MN in 1920, where three black men in town for the circus were excused of raping a white woman and were hanged. Photos of the hanging were then sold as postcards. That would also explain the line "the circus is in town".
Dylan claims that the song is a minstrel song through and through referring to Minstrel shows which were a common form of entertainment that started in the 19th century. Again, the true meaning of the song is known by only one man.
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
Please share your favourite Dylan lyrics in the comments.
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