submissions
| Bob Dylan – You Ain't Goin' Nowhere (Greatest Hits, Vol. 2 version) Lyrics
| 9 years ago
|
|
The Greatest Hits Vol. II version may be "more interesting," does include the personal reference to Roger McGuinn (whether friendly or vindictive?), and the reference to the bird (byrd?) that flies. However, the original version (written for and recorded in the "basement") is the one to discuss and discover the song's meanings. And, that true meaning dates way back to Dylan's early days of hanging out in Zim, Minnesota--the town in-between Hibbing and Duluth that was named after the Zimmerman family--way back before there ever was a Bob Dylan anywhere, not even in Zimmy's mind. The winter rain iced the train tracks ("railings froze"), the train couldn't travel, and stuck in Zim with no train to hop "you ain't goin' nowhere." Bob Zimmerman played the flute in Jr. High, like all students hated substitute teachers, and he also hated tailgates because he once lost a Honda 90 motorcycle out the back of a friend's old pickup truck when the tailgate opened while they bounced over a railroad crossing on some back mine roads out near a crossroads town that used to exist named Perry. Anyway, thus the desire for a "gun that shoots tailgates and substitutes." And, every kid growing up on the Iron Range back then shot rats and pop bottles with their .22 rifles at city dumps in Iron Range towns from east of Grand Rapids to Hibbing to Virginia to Tower to Ely. Meanwhile, there is still a huge white pine in the center of the town of Zim known as the "tree with roots." Climbing "that hill no matter how steep" is another reference to tearing around on mine roads with motorbikes, motor scooters, and small motorcycles. And finally, picking up money and packing up tents is a nod and reference to Bob Zimmerman's Grandma Libby who owned two movie theaters in Hibbing and also showed Saturday morning serials movies for kids in a huge tent in a park in Hibbing. P.S. At age 15, Bob Zimmerman almost married a girlfriend he met while working in the carnival. She was 24 and thought Bob was 19. Bob's parents arrived in the nick of time and stopped the outdoor wedding which was about to take place in from of Zim's "tree with roots." |
submissions
| Bob Dylan – You Ain't Goin' Nowhere Lyrics
| 9 years ago
|
|
The Greatest Hits Vol. II version may be "more interesting," does include the personal reference to Roger McGuinn (whether friendly or vindictive?), and the reference to the bird (byrd?) that flies. However, the original version (written for and recorded in the "basement") is the one to discuss and discover the song's meanings. And, that true meaning dates way back to Dylan's early days of hanging out in Zim, Minnesota--the town in-between Hibbing and Duluth that was named after the Zimmerman family--way back before there ever was a Bob Dylan anywhere, not even in Zimmy's mind. The winter rain iced the train tracks ("railings froze"), the train couldn't travel, and stuck in Zim with no train to hop "you ain't goin' nowhere." Bob Zimmerman played the flute in Jr. High, like all students hated substitute teachers, and he also hated tailgates because he once lost a Honda 90 motorcycle out the back of a friend's old pickup truck when the tailgate opened while they bounced over a railroad crossing on some back mine roads out near a crossroads town that used to exist named Perry. Anyway, thus the desire for a "gun that shoots tailgates and substitutes." And, every kid growing up on the Iron Range back then shot rats and pop bottles with their .22 rifles at city dumps in Iron Range towns from east of Grand Rapids to Hibbing to Virginia to Tower to Ely. Meanwhile, there is still a huge white pine in the center of the town of Zim known as the "tree with roots." Climbing "that hill no matter how steep" is another reference to tearing around on mine roads with motorbikes, motor scooters, and small motorcycles. And finally, picking up money and packing up tents is a nod and reference to Bob Zimmerman's Grandma Libby who owned two movie theaters in Hibbing and also showed Saturday morning serials movies for kids in a huge tent in a park in Hibbing. P.S. At age 15, Bob Zimmerman almost married a girlfriend he met while working in the carnival. She was 24 and thought Bob was 19. Bob's parents arrived in the nick of time and stopped the outdoor wedding which was about to take place in from of Zim's "tree with roots." |
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