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There must be some way out of here
Said the joker to the thief
There's too much confusion, I can't get no relief
Businessmen, they drink my wine
Plowmen dig my earth
None of them along the line know what any of it is worth
No reason to get excited,the thief, he kindly spoke
There are many here among us who feel that life is but a joke
But you and I, we've been through that, and this is not our fate
So let us not talk falsely now, the hour is getting late
All along the watchtower, princes kept the view
While all the women came and went, barefoot servants, too
Outside in the distance a wildcat did growl
Two riders were approaching, the wind began to howl
Said the joker to the thief
There's too much confusion, I can't get no relief
Businessmen, they drink my wine
Plowmen dig my earth
None of them along the line know what any of it is worth
No reason to get excited,the thief, he kindly spoke
There are many here among us who feel that life is but a joke
But you and I, we've been through that, and this is not our fate
So let us not talk falsely now, the hour is getting late
All along the watchtower, princes kept the view
While all the women came and went, barefoot servants, too
Outside in the distance a wildcat did growl
Two riders were approaching, the wind began to howl
Lyrics submitted by oofus, edited by CrimsnEdge, Dartman, Backstage
All Along the Watchtower Lyrics as written by Bob Dylan
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
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It's funny, I've been searching all over for someone who interpreted the song the way I did. Not to toot our collective horns, but I think this is right. This is an existential song. It's a song about two thinking beings confronting the existential questions of existence.
"There must be some way out of here, "there's too much confusion --The joker is having an existential crisis. He's saying "Holy shit, I'm really alive in the world, I'm a suffering human being, how do I get out of here?" There's also something suicidal about this, I think--in asking "There must be some way out".
"Businessmen they drink my wine." Then the Joker comments on the ignorance-is-bliss blindness of average people, who never ask "Why are we alive?" They drink wine and plow the earth, but they don't know what it's worth--that is, they don't ask why they're doing what they're doing. "No reason to get excited" -- The thief, who's a bit saltier and wiser than the Joker, says "Listen, there's no reason to get excited about all this "existing" stuff. A lot of people have wondered why we exist. "There are many here among us...life is just a joke" Many people who ask existential questions become nihilists--they no longer think that life has any meaning. "But you and I we've been through that" But you and I are not going to think of life as a joke, we're going to keep searching for meaning. We're not going to commit suicide, either. "Let us not talk falsely" So let's not bullshit about accepting meaninglessness or commiting suicide... "Hour is getting late" ...Because life is short and our deaths are coming, buddy.
The third stanza shows the context in which this conversation takes place. Basically, it describes the world of men. "All along the watchtower" Not sure what the watchtower is, sadly.
"Princes kept the view"-- In life, some men rule over other men, like kings. "All the women came and went, barefoot servants too"-- Women and barefoot servants, just like princes, come and go--that is, they're Born, and then they Die. "Outside in the cold distance a wildcat did growl" Beyond the walls of man, nature is out there, wild and infinitely mysterious. "Two riders were approaching" Death. Death is coming for the princes, the servants, the women, the joker and the thief...and even the wildcat.