Subterranean Homesick Blues
by Bob Dylan

Johnny's in the basement
Mixing up the medicine
I'm on the pavement
Thinking about the government
The man in the trench coat
Badge out, laid off
Says he's got a bad cough
Wants to get it paid off
Look out kid
It's somethin' you did
God knows when
But you're doing it again
You better duck down the alleyway
Lookin' for a new friend
The man in the coonskin cap
In the big pen
Wants eleven dollar bills
But you only got ten

Maggie comes fleet foot
Face full of black soot
Talkin' that the heat put
Plants in the bed but
The phone's tapped anyway
Maggie says that many say
They must bust in early May
Orders from the D.A.
Look out kid
Don't matter what you did
Walk on your tip toes
Don't try "No Doz"
Better stay away from those
That carry around a fire hose
Keep a clean nose
Watch the plain clothes
You don't need a weather man
To know which way the wind blows

Get sick, get well
Hang around a ink well
Ring bell, hard to tell
If anything is goin' to sell
Try hard, get barred
Get back, write braille
Get jailed, jump bail
Join the army, if you fail
Look out kid
You're gonna get hit
But users, cheaters
Six-time losers
Hang around the theaters
Girl by the whirlpool
Lookin' for a new fool
Don't follow leaders
Watch the parkin' meters

Ah get born, keep warm
Short pants, romance,
learn to dance
Get dressed, get blessed
Try to be a success
Please her, please him, buy gifts
Don't steal, don't lift
Twenty years of schoolin'
And they put you on the day shift
Look out kid
They keep it all hid
Better jump down a manhole
Light yourself a candle
Don't wear sandals
Try to avoid the scandals
Don't wanna be a bum
You better chew gum
The pump don't work
'Cause the vandals took the handles

 

 

 

 

 

She Belongs To Me
(Words and Music by Bob Dylan)
1965 Warner Bros. Music Renewed 1993 Special Rider Music

She's got everything she needs,
She's an artist, she don't look back.
She's got everything she needs,
She's an artist, she don't look back.
She can take the dark out of the nighttime
And paint the daytime black.

You will start out standing
Proud to steal her anything she sees.
You will start out standing
Proud to steal her anything she sees.
But you will wind up peeking through her keyhole
Down upon your knees.

She never stumbles,
She's got no place to fall.
She never stumbles,
She's got no place to fall.
She's nobody's child,
The Law can't touch her at all.

She wears an Egyptian ring
That sparkles before she speaks.
She wears an Egyptian ring
That sparkles before she speaks.
She's a hypnotist collector,
You are a walking antique.

Bow down to her on Sunday,
Salute her when her birthday comes.
Bow down to her on Sunday,
Salute her when her birthday comes.
For Halloween give her a trumpet
And for Christmas, buy her a drum.

 

 

 

 

Maggie's Farm
(Words and Music by Bob Dylan)
1965 Warner Bros. Inc Renewed 1993 Special Rider Music

I ain't gonna work on Maggie's farm no more.
No, I ain't gonna work on Maggie's farm no more.
Well, I wake in the morning,
Fold my hands and pray for rain.
I got a head full of ideas
That are drivin' me insane.
It's a shame the way she makes me scrub the floor.
I ain't gonna work on Maggie's farm no more.

I ain't gonna work for Maggie's brother no more.
No, I ain't gonna work for Maggie's brother no more.
Well, he hands you a nickel,
He hands you a dime,
He asks you with a grin
If you're havin' a good time,
Then he fines you every time you slam the door.
I ain't gonna work for Maggie's brother no more.

I ain't gonna work for Maggie's pa no more.
No, I ain't gonna work for Maggie's pa no more.
Well, he puts his cigar
Out in your face just for kicks.
His bedroom window It is made out of bricks.
The National Guard stands around his door.

Ah, I ain't gonna work for Maggie's pa no more.
I ain't gonna work for Maggie's ma no more.
No, I ain't gonna work for Maggie's ma no more.
Well, she talks to all the servants
About man and God and law.
Everybody says
She's the brains behind pa.
She's sixty-eight,
but she says she's twenty-four.
I ain't gonna work for Maggie's ma no more.

I ain't gonna work on Maggie's farm no more.
No, I ain't gonna work on Maggie's farm no more.
Well, I try my best
To be just like I am,
But everybody wants you
To be just like them.
They sing while you slave and I just get bored.
I ain't gonna work on Maggie's farm no more.

 

 

 

Love MInus Zero/No Limit
( Bob Dylan)

My love, she speaks like silence
Without ideals or violence
She doesn't have to say she's faithful
Yet she's true like ice, like fire
People carry roses
And make
promises by the hour
My love she laughs like the flowers
Valentines can't buy her

In the dime stores and bus stations
People talk of situations
Read books, repeat quotations
Draw conclusions on the wall
Some speak of the future
My love, she speaks softly
She knows there's no success like failure
And that failure's no success at all

The cloak and dagger dangles
Madams light the candles
In ceremonies of the horsemen
Even the pawn must hold a grudge
Statues made of matchsticks
Crumble into one another
My love winks she does not bother
She knows too much to argue or to judge

The bridge at midnight trembles
The country doctor rambles
Bankers' nieces seek perfection
Expecting all the gifts that wise men bring
The wind howls like a hammer
The night wind blows cold n' rainy
My love, she's like some raven
At my window with a broken wing

 

 

 

Outlaw Blues
(Words and Music by Bob Dylan)
1965 Warner Bros. Inc Renewed 1993 Special Rider Music

Ain't it hard to stumble
And land in some funny lagoon?
Ain't it hard to stumble
And land in some muddy lagoon?
Especially when it's nine below zero
And three o'clock in the afternoon.

Ain't gonna hang no picture,
Ain't gonna hang no picture frame.
Ain't gonna hang no picture,
Ain't gonna hang no picture frame.
Well, I might look like Robert Ford
But I feel just like a Jesse James.

Well, I wish I was on some
Australian mountain range.
Oh, I wish I was on some
Australian mountain range.
I got no reason to be there,
but I Imagine it would be some kind of change.

I got my dark sunglasses,
I got for good luck my black tooth.
I got my dark sunglasses,
I'm carryin' for good luck my black tooth.
Don't ask me nothin' about nothin'
I just might tell you the truth.

I got a woman in Jackson,
I ain't gonna say her name.
I got a woman in Jackson,
I ain't gonna say her name.
She's a brown-skin woman,
But I Love her just the same.

 

 

 

 

On The Road Again
(Words and Music by Bob Dylan)
1965 Warner Bros. Inc Renewed 1993 Special Rider Music

Well, I woke up in the morning
There's frogs inside my socks
Your mama, she's a-hidin'
Inside the icebox
Your daddy walks in wearin'
A Napoleon Bonaparte mask
Then you ask why I don't live here
Honey, do you have to ask?

Well, I go to pet your monkey
I get a face full of claws
I ask who's in the fireplace
And you tell me Santa Claus
The milkman comes in
He's wearing a derby hat
Then you ask why I don't live here
Honey, how come you have to ask me that?

Well, I asked for something to eat
I'm hungry as a hog
So I get brown rice,
seaweed And a dirty hot dog
I've got a hole
Where my stomach disappeared
Then you ask why I don't live here
Honey, I gotta think you're really weird.

Your grandpa's cane
It turns into a sword
Your grandma prays to pictures
That are pasted on a board
Everything inside my pockets
Your uncle steals
Then you ask why I don't live here
Honey, I can't believe that you're for real.

Well, there's fist fights in the kitchen
They're enough to make me cry
The mailman comes in
Even he's gotta take a side
Even the butler
He's got something to prove
Then you ask why I don't live here
Honey, how come you don't move?

 

 

 

 

Bob Dylan's 115th Dream
Bob Dylan 1964

I was riding on the Mayflower
when i thought i spied some land
I yelled down to Captain Arab,
i'll have ya understand,
Who came running to the deck
and said "Boys! Forget the whale -
We're goin' over yonder.
Cut the engines.
Change the sails."
"Haul on that bowline!"
we sang that melody,
Like all tough sailors do
when they're far away at sea.

"I think i'll call it America."
i said as we hit land.
I took a deep breath.
I fell down, i could not stand
Captain Arab he starting
writing out some deeds
And said "Lets build us a Fort
and start buying the place with beads.
"Just then a cop come down the street
crazy as a loon
And throws us all in jail
for carryin harpoons.

Aw, me, i busted out
- dont even ask me how,
I went lookin for some help,
i walked past a guernsey cow
Who directed me down
to the bowery slums
Where people carried signs around
sayin "BAN THE BUMS!".
I jumped right in line,
sayin "I hope that i'm not late"
When i realized i hadnt eaten
for five days straight.

I went into a restaurant l
ookin for the cook
- I told him i was the editor
of a famous etiquette book.
The waiter he was handsome
and he wore a powder blue cape.
I ordered up some suzette,
i said "could you please make that crepe?"
Just then the whole kitchen exploded
from boiling fat
- Food was flyin everywhere -
i left without my hat.

I didnt mean to be nosey
so i went into a bank
To try to get some bai
l for the boys back in the tank.
They asked me for some collateral
and i pulled down my pants.
They threw me in the alley,
when up comes this girl from france
Who invited me to her place
i went, but she had a friend
who knocked me out
an' robbed my boots
an' was i on the street again.

Well I rapped upon house
with a U.S. flag upon display.
I said "can you please help me out,
i got some friends down the way".
The man said "Get out of here or
i'll tear you limb from limb."
I said "you know, they refused Jesus, too."
He said "You're not him.
Get out of here before i break your bones.
I ain't your pop."
I decided to have him arrested
and went looking for a cop.

I ran back outside
and got into a cab
I ran out the other door
- this english man said "Fab!"
As he saw me leap a hotdog stand
and a chariot that stood
Parked across from a building
advertising brotherhood.
I ran right through the door
like a hobo sailor does,
But it was just a funeral parlor
and the man asked me who i was

I repeated that my friends
were in jail, with a sigh.
He gave me his card
and said "call me if they die."
I shook his hand and said goodbye
and went back out on the street,
When a bowling ball came down the road
and knocked me off my feet.
A pay phone was ringin
- and it just about blew my mind -
When i picked it up an' said "hello",
this foot came through the line!

Well about this time i was fed up
at trying to make a stab
At gettin any help for my friends and Captain Arab.
I needed a coin to flip,
like eather heads or tails,
Would let me know if i should go
back to ship or back to jail
So i hocked my sailor's suit
an' i got a coin to flip.
It came up tails,
it rhymed with sails,
so i made it back to the ship.

Well I got back and took
the parking ticket off the mast.
I was ripping it to shreds
when this Coast Guard boat went past.
They asked me my name
and i said "Captain Kidd".
They believed me but
they wanted to know exactly what i did.
I said "for the pope of Eyruke
i was employed"
They let me go right away,
they were very paranoid.

Well the last i heard of Arab
he was stuck on the side of a whale
That was married to the deputy
sheriff of the jail,
But the funniest thing was
- as i was leavin' the bay -
I saw three ships sailing
and they were all headed my way.
So i asked the Captain what his name was
an' how come he didnt drive a truck??
He said his name was Columbus
an' i just said "Good Luck..."

 

 

 

 

Mr. Tambourine Man
Bob Dylan

Hey, Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me,
I'm not sleepy and there ain't no place I'm going to.
Hey, Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me,
In the jingle jangle morning I'll come following you.

Though I know that evenings empire has returned into sand,
Vanished from my hand,
Left me blindly here to stand but still not sleeping.
My weariness amazes me, I'm branded on my feet,
I have no one to meet,
And the ancient empty street's too dead for dreaming.

Hey, Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me,
I'm not sleepy and there ain't no place I'm going to.
Hey, Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me,
In the jingle jangle morning I'll come following you.

Take me on a trip upon your magic swirling ship.
My senses have been stripped, May hands can't feel to grip,
My toes too numb to step, Wait only for my bootheels to be wandering.
I'm ready to go anywhere, I'm ready for to fade,
Into my own parade . Cast your dancing spell my way,
I promise to go under it.

Hey, Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me,
I'm not sleepy and there ain't no place I'm going to.
Hey, Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me,
In the jingle jangle morning I'll come following you.

Though you might hear laughing, spinning, swinging madly across the sun,
It's not aimed at anyone, It's just escaping on the run,
And but for the sky there are no fences facing.
And if you hear vague traces of skipping reels of rhyme,
To your tambourine in time.
It's just a ragged clown behind,
I wouldn't pay it any mind,
It's just a shadow you're seeing that he's chasing.

Hey, Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me,
I'm not sleepy and there ain't no place I'm going to.
Hey, Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me,
In the jingle jangle morning I'll come following you.

Take me disappearing through the smoke rings of my mind.
Down the foggy ruins of time, far past the frozen leaves,
The haunted frightened trees, Out to the windy bench,
Far from the twisted reach of crazy sorrow.
Yes, to dance beneath the diamond sky With one hand waving free
Silhoutted by the sea Circled by the circus sands
With all memory of fate Driven deep beneath the waves
Let me forget about today until tomorrow.

Hey, Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me,
I'm not sleepy and there ain't no place I'm going to.
Hey, Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me,
In the jingle jangle morning I'll come following you.

 

 

The Gates Of Eden
Bob Dylan

Of war and peace the truth just twists,
its curfew gull it glides
Upon 4-legged forest clouds
the cowboy angel rides
With his candle lit into the sun,
though its glow is waxed in black
All except when 'neath the trees of Eden

The lampost stands with folded arms,
its iron claws attached
To curbs 'neath holes where babies wail
though it shadows metal badge
All in all can only fall
with a crashing but meaningless blow
No sound ever comes from the gates of Eden

This savage soldier sticks his head
in sand and then complains
Unto the shoeless hunter who's
gone deaf but still remains
Upon the beach where hounddogs bay
at ships with tattooed sails
Heading for the gates of Eden

With a time-rusted compass blade,
Aladdin and his Lamp
Sits with utopian hermit monks
side-saddle on the Golden Calf
And on their promises of paradise
you will not hear a laugh
All except inside the gates of Eden

Relationships of ownership
they whisper in the wings
To those condemned to act accordingly
and wait for succeeding kings
And I try to harmonize with songs
the lonesome sparrow sings
There are no kings inside the gates of Eden

The motorcycle black madonna
two-wheeled gypsy queen
And her silver studded phantom cause
the grey-flanneled dwarf to scream
As he weeps, two wicked birds of prey
who pick up on his breadcrumbs sins
And there are no sins inside the gates of Eden

The kingdoms of experience
in the precious winds they rot
While paupers change possessions
- each one wishing
for what the other has got
And the princess and the prince discuss
what's real and what is not
It doesnt matter inside the gates of Eden

The foreign sun it squints upon
a bed that is never mine
As friends and other strangers
from their fates try to resign
Leaving men wholly totally free
to do anything they wish to do but die
And there are no trials inside the gates of Eden

At dawn my lover comes to me
and tells me of her dreams
With no attempts to shovel the glimpse
into the ditch of what each one means
At times I think there are no words
but these to tell what's true
And there are no truths outside the gates of Eden..

 

 

 

 

It's Alright, Ma
(I'm Only Bleeding)
by Bob Dylan
1965 Warner Bros.

Darkness at the break of noon
Shadows even the silver spoon
The handmade blade, the child's balloon
Eclipses both the sun and moon
To understand you know too soon
There is no sense in trying.

Pointed threats, they bluff with scorn
Suicide remarks are torn
From the fool's gold mouthpiece
The hollow horn plays wasted words
Proves to warn
That he not busy being born
Is busy dying.

Temptation's page flies out the door
You follow, find yourself at war
Watch waterfalls of pity roar
You feel to moan but unlike before
You discover That you'd just be
One more person crying.

So don't fear if you hear
A foreign sound to your ear
It's alright, Ma, I'm only sighing.

As some warn victory, some downfall
Private reasons great or small
Can be seen in the eyes of those that call
To make all that should be killed to crawl
While others say don't hate nothing at all
Except hatred.

Disillusioned words like bullets bark
As human gods aim for their mark
Made everything from toy guns that spark
To flesh-colored Christs that glow in the dark
It's easy to see without looking too far
That not much Is really sacred.

While preachers preach of evil fates
Teachers teach that knowledge waits
Can lead to hundred-dollar plates
Goodness hides behind its gates
But even the president of the United States
Sometimes must have To stand naked.

An' though the rules of the road have been lodged
It's only people's games that you got to dodge
And it's alright, Ma, I can make it.

Advertising signs that con you
Into thinking you're the one
That can do what's never been done
That can win what's never been won
Meantime life outside goes on
All around you.

You lose yourself, you reappear
You suddenly find you got nothing to fear
Alone you stand with nobody near
When a trembling distant voice, unclear
Startles your sleeping ears to hear
That somebody thinks
They really found you.

A question in your nerves is lit
Yet you know there is no answer fit
to satisfy Insure you not to quit
To keep it in your mind and not fergit
That it is not he or she or them or it
That you belong to.

Although the masters make the rules
For the wise men and the fools
I got nothing, Ma, to live up to.

For them that must obey authority
That they do not respect in any degree
Who despise their jobs, their destinies
Speak jealously of them that are free
Cultivate their flowers to be
Nothing more than something
They invest in.

While some on principles baptized
To strict party platform ties
Social clubs in drag disguise
Outsiders they can freely criticize
Tell nothing except who to idolize
And then say God bless him.

While one who sings with his tongue on fire
Gargles in the rat race choir
Bent out of shape from society's pliers
Cares not to come up any higher
But rather get you down in the hole
That he's in

But I mean no harm nor put fault
On anyone that lives in a vault
But it's alright, Ma, if I can't please him.

Old lady judges watch people in pairs
Limited in sex, they dare
To push fake morals, insult and stare
While money doesn't talk, it swears
Obscenity, who really cares
Propaganda, all is phony.

While them that defend what they cannot see
With a killer's pride, security
It blows the minds most bitterly
For them that think death's honesty
Won't fall upon them naturally
Life sometimes
Must get lonely.

My eyes collide head-on with stuffed graveyards
False gods, I scuff
At pettiness which plays so rough
Walk upside-down inside handcuffs
Kick my legs to crash it off
Say okay, I have had enough
What else can
you show me?

And if my thought-dreams could be seen
They'd probably put my head in a guillotine
But it's alright, Ma, it's life, and life only.

 

 

 

 

It's All Over Now, Baby Blue
by Bob Dylan
1965 Warner Bros.

You must leave now, take what you need, you think will last.
But whatever you wish to keep, you better grab it fast.
Yonder stands your orphan with his gun,
Crying like a fire in the sun.
Look out the saints are comin' through
And it's all over now, Baby Blue.

The highway is for gamblers, better use your sense.
Take what you have gathered from coincidence.
The empty-handed painter from your streets
Is drawing crazy patterns on your sheets.
This sky, too, is folding under you
And it's all over now, Baby Blue.

All your seasick sailors, they are rowing home.
All your reindeer armies, are all going home.
The lover who just walked out your door
Has taken all his blankets from the floor.
The carpet, too, is moving under you
And it's all over now, Baby Blue.

Leave your stepping stones behind, something calls for you.
Forget the dead you've left, they will not follow you.
The vagabond who's rapping at your door
Is standing in the clothes that you once wore.
Strike another match, go start anew
And it's all over now, Baby Blue