the lyrics are wrong, ....it's let me know babe-i'm nearly drowning..... and will you surround me so i can know if i am really real .. at the end of the 2 verses. sdfjjlsf. this song is beautiful.
I think everyone so far has been a bit off on this Dylan song...although I don't believe Bob Dylan doesn't know what this song is about.
I think everyone so far has been a bit off on this Dylan song...although I don't believe Bob Dylan doesn't know what this song is about.
It's pretty simple: it's about a man who goes to a fortune teller in Spanish Harlem and gets his palm read. In the intimacy of that moment, touching hands, he feels erotic lust, love and mysterious curiosity for her.
It's pretty simple: it's about a man who goes to a fortune teller in Spanish Harlem and gets his palm read. In the intimacy of that moment, touching hands, he feels erotic lust, love and mysterious curiosity for her.
The song is much easier to understand if you don't assume it's in chronological order (this is Bob Dylan, after all)
The song is much easier to understand if you don't assume it's in chronological order (this is Bob Dylan, after all)
In the first verse, he's describing her in poetic language: she's so freaking...
In the first verse, he's describing her in poetic language: she's so freaking hot, she even heats up the pavement of steamy Spanish Harlem (Harlem is no comparison to how hot you are, two meanings for the word "heat.") He convinces her to read his fortune "let me know, babe, about my fortune, all along my restless palms."
The second verse is him really falling for her when she touches his face and hands. It seems to me that he really doesn't buy the fortune telling, he just wants to be with her in a dark room and watch her talk. "Let me know babe, I got to know babe, if it's you my lifelines trace." He wants to know if she's in his future, and he really doesn't care about anything else.
The third verse is actually the moment he first sees her (this is the beginning chronologically). "I been wonderin' all about me, ever since I seen you there". He says, "will I be touching you, so I can tell if I'm really real?" and "I know I'm 'round you but I don't know where" (he can feel her presence in Spanish Harlem, but he doesn't know exactly where she is at that moment). That's when he decides to visit her and get his palm read.
That's the main story in the song. There are also echoes of vulnerability (weakness) and some self-consciousness (she is not white, which is why his pale skin is significant) as pointed out by other posters.
the lyrics are wrong, ....it's let me know babe-i'm nearly drowning..... and will you surround me so i can know if i am really real .. at the end of the 2 verses. sdfjjlsf. this song is beautiful.
I think everyone so far has been a bit off on this Dylan song...although I don't believe Bob Dylan doesn't know what this song is about.
I think everyone so far has been a bit off on this Dylan song...although I don't believe Bob Dylan doesn't know what this song is about.
It's pretty simple: it's about a man who goes to a fortune teller in Spanish Harlem and gets his palm read. In the intimacy of that moment, touching hands, he feels erotic lust, love and mysterious curiosity for her.
It's pretty simple: it's about a man who goes to a fortune teller in Spanish Harlem and gets his palm read. In the intimacy of that moment, touching hands, he feels erotic lust, love and mysterious curiosity for her.
The song is much easier to understand if you don't assume it's in chronological order (this is Bob Dylan, after all)
The song is much easier to understand if you don't assume it's in chronological order (this is Bob Dylan, after all)
In the first verse, he's describing her in poetic language: she's so freaking...
In the first verse, he's describing her in poetic language: she's so freaking hot, she even heats up the pavement of steamy Spanish Harlem (Harlem is no comparison to how hot you are, two meanings for the word "heat.") He convinces her to read his fortune "let me know, babe, about my fortune, all along my restless palms."
The second verse is him really falling for her when she touches his face and hands. It seems to me that he really doesn't buy the fortune telling, he just wants to be with her in a dark room and watch her talk. "Let me know babe, I got to know babe, if it's you my lifelines trace." He wants to know if she's in his future, and he really doesn't care about anything else.
The third verse is actually the moment he first sees her (this is the beginning chronologically). "I been wonderin' all about me, ever since I seen you there". He says, "will I be touching you, so I can tell if I'm really real?" and "I know I'm 'round you but I don't know where" (he can feel her presence in Spanish Harlem, but he doesn't know exactly where she is at that moment). That's when he decides to visit her and get his palm read.
That's the main story in the song. There are also echoes of vulnerability (weakness) and some self-consciousness (she is not white, which is why his pale skin is significant) as pointed out by other posters.
eh, your reading too much into it
eh, your reading too much into it