to me, this is definately an autobiographical song. This second stanza encapsulates this perfectly;
If I'd thought about it I never would've done it, I guess I would've let it slide,
If I'd lived my life by what others were thinkin', the heart inside me would've died.
I was just too stubborn to ever be governed by enforced insanity,
Someone had to reach for the risin' star,
I guess it was up to me.
Dylan's switch from folk revivalist, 'voice of a generation', protest song figurehead, to his decision of going electric and arguably the first 'punk rocker' is summed up in this verse. Dylan couldn't allow himself to be "ever be governed by enforced insanity" or living his life by what others were thinking - being pinned down to just being a folk, and more specifically, socialist singer and hence, "someone had to reach for the risin' star, I guess it was up to me" - his break from folk to electric. Not was it just the musical gulf Dylan tried to expand, but also the political one. Dylan felt he was being used by left-wingers as a form of propaganda for the youth, 'hip to be left'. Overall, Dylan has jokingly always referred to himself as a 'song and dance man' - never to be used as a 'pawn in their game', (in this instance he concedes, "When you bite off more than you can chew you gotta pay the penalty"; another reference to him being mixed up in socialist affairs, and having a bigger impact that intended or expected). The song is essentially about him looking back on what he was once percieved as and how wrong the people making these interpretations really got it, he looks back on his past from an out of body experience referring to himself as 'friend' -
"Was I a fool or not to try to protect your identity?
You looked a little burned out, my friend,
I thought it might be up to me."
and finally concludes that after all this it is up to himself to interpret these things he has said, not any one else.
to me, this is definately an autobiographical song. This second stanza encapsulates this perfectly;
If I'd thought about it I never would've done it, I guess I would've let it slide, If I'd lived my life by what others were thinkin', the heart inside me would've died. I was just too stubborn to ever be governed by enforced insanity, Someone had to reach for the risin' star, I guess it was up to me.
Dylan's switch from folk revivalist, 'voice of a generation', protest song figurehead, to his decision of going electric and arguably the first 'punk rocker' is summed up in this verse. Dylan couldn't allow himself to be "ever be governed by enforced insanity" or living his life by what others were thinking - being pinned down to just being a folk, and more specifically, socialist singer and hence, "someone had to reach for the risin' star, I guess it was up to me" - his break from folk to electric. Not was it just the musical gulf Dylan tried to expand, but also the political one. Dylan felt he was being used by left-wingers as a form of propaganda for the youth, 'hip to be left'. Overall, Dylan has jokingly always referred to himself as a 'song and dance man' - never to be used as a 'pawn in their game', (in this instance he concedes, "When you bite off more than you can chew you gotta pay the penalty"; another reference to him being mixed up in socialist affairs, and having a bigger impact that intended or expected). The song is essentially about him looking back on what he was once percieved as and how wrong the people making these interpretations really got it, he looks back on his past from an out of body experience referring to himself as 'friend' -
"Was I a fool or not to try to protect your identity? You looked a little burned out, my friend, I thought it might be up to me."
and finally concludes that after all this it is up to himself to interpret these things he has said, not any one else.
Easily my favourite Dylan song.