This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines:
"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
"I had all and then most of you"
Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart
"Some and now none of you"
Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship.
This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
Went to see the gypsy
Stayin' in a big hotel
He smiled when he saw me coming
And he said, "Well, well, well"
His room was dark and crowded
Lights were low and dim
"How are you?" he said to me
I said it back to him
I went down to the lobby
To make a small call out
A pretty dancing girl was there
And she began to shout
"Go on back to see the gypsy
He can move you from the rear
Drive you from your fear
Bring you through the mirror
He did it in Las Vegas
And he can do it here"
Outside the lights were shining
On the river of tears
I watched them from the distance
With music in my ears
I went back to see the gypsy
It was nearly early dawn
The gypsy's door was open wide
But the gypsy was gone
And that pretty dancing girl
She could not be found
So I watched that sun come rising
From that little Minnesota town
Stayin' in a big hotel
He smiled when he saw me coming
And he said, "Well, well, well"
His room was dark and crowded
Lights were low and dim
"How are you?" he said to me
I said it back to him
I went down to the lobby
To make a small call out
A pretty dancing girl was there
And she began to shout
"Go on back to see the gypsy
He can move you from the rear
Drive you from your fear
Bring you through the mirror
He did it in Las Vegas
And he can do it here"
Outside the lights were shining
On the river of tears
I watched them from the distance
With music in my ears
I went back to see the gypsy
It was nearly early dawn
The gypsy's door was open wide
But the gypsy was gone
And that pretty dancing girl
She could not be found
So I watched that sun come rising
From that little Minnesota town
Lyrics submitted by Philadelphia Eagles, edited by Mellow_Harsher
Went to See the Gypsy Lyrics as written by Bob Dylan
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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bob said he never met elvis because he didn't want to. but i guess it could be about what he thought elvis would be like... idk
No comments on such a great song? But what is it about?
I can detect some Christian themes, perhaps, but it also sounds like one of BD's personal anecdotes.
For me the song is about following some sort of guru ("went to see the gypsy") as part of his entourage for some time, beeing distracted from him (call in the lobby), and gaining self confidence from ones own roots (sun is rising from little Minesota town = Duluth, BDs town of birth.
A lot of people think the gypsy could be Elvis. That is why it is mentioned that "he did it in Las Vegas", and then it seems as if Elvis has left the building at the end of the song. But what the song really is about apart from this I don't know.
I think this song is about purchasing cocaine, doing it, and then running out and facing reality:
He smiled when he saw me coming And he said, "Well, well, well"
His room was dark and crowded Lights were low and dim
"How are you" he said to me I said it back to him.
I went down to the lobby To make a small call out A pretty dancing girl was there And she began to shout "Go on back to see the gypsy He can move you from the rear Drive you from your fear Bring you through the mirror He did it in Las Vegas And he can do it here".
Outside the lights were shining On the river of tears I watched them from the distance With the music in my ears.
I went back to see the gypsy It was nearly early dawn The gypsy's door was open wide But the gypsy was gone And that pretty dancing girl She could not be found So I watched that sun come rising From that little Minnesota town.
Sounds like Bob at the time wanted to go back to a simpler time for him, hence ''little Minnesota town''.Bob never met Elvis but The Gypsy could represent show business.
I have nothing to base it on other than he was a 'gypsy' of sorts, but I always related this song to Jimi. It always put in that frame of mind, anyway. Perhaps, the sense of loss that he was here for a while, then too quickly gone. The literal Vegas and Minnesota references don't really play but that's what it always evoked for me, after all ain't that what it's all about, allowing you to make it your own personal attachment?