| Bob Dylan – Mr. Tambourine Man Lyrics | 14 years ago |
| Bet you think 9/11 was an inside job, too... | |
| Bob Dylan – Love Minus Zero/No Limit Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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I enjoy "She knows there's no success like failure And that failure's no success at all." To us it's a contradiction... but she 'knows' it, seemingly putting her above the level of us mortals. She understands things that normal people can't. |
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| Bob Dylan – Ballad of a Thin Man Lyrics | 14 years ago |
| It's perhaps even a more subtle continuation of the "times they are a changin" theme. | |
| Bob Dylan – Ballad of a Thin Man Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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I think in the rush to discover the "hidden" meaning of this song, people are looking past some of the more obvious stuff. While there do seem to be some lyrics alluding to homosexuality, there are whole sections of the song that have nothing to do with this. Plus, the hostility displayed towards Mr. Jones would hardly indicate a sympathetic commentary on homosexuality. I find the hostile tone more consistent with the critical character assassination of Like a Rolling Stone and much of the Highway 61 album. The meaning is closer to what people were saying about criticism of the establishment. I've always thought of it as having a bit of a generational meaning as well. F Scott Fitzgerald was popular primarily in the 20's - a generation or two before Dylan's. The youngest people to have read Fitzgerald in the 20's would have been about 60 when this song was released. Add this to all the contacts, professors, charities, great lawyers, etc that Mr. Jones consorts with, and it suggests that he's an older, educated, upper class individual who, despite all his knowledge and power, can't comprehend the changes happening in society in the 1960's - namely the youth 'counter-culture.' I suspect that the nonsensical verses are deliberately designed to confuse us and thus put us in Mr. Jones' shoes, and little more. You have to be careful not to read TOO much into lyrics sometimes, especially Dylan's. Not every line has an explicit and carefully constructed meaning. He used to write songs like this in about 15 minutes. |
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