Verse 1...Dylan ditches preconceived notions. He meets a woman who has a child out of wedlock (big deal back in those days) but the woman is ok with it. She is not beaten down or encumbered as a single mother. He sees she is free. She flippantly says that love is 'just a four letter word'. She shrugs off her difficult situation.
Verse 2...The woman is on the phone perhaps, or in conversation with the father of her child They are arguing. Maybe he is trying to win her back. His love she doesn't want. She doesn't believe in him. All he says is 'words'. Dylan realizes they are talking about an idea of love, with a child involved. He realizes tha his idea of 'love' is perhaps not the same as theirs. Their idea of love has a dimension he knows nothing about. That's why he 'kept his mouth shut'.
Verse 3...he has a revelation about attitude...about the strength of the woman to go it alone. He dismisses himself but they/ she doesn't notice. They don;t notice him because they are concerned with a stage of life that he is an infant to: having a child. He hears what she says to the father of her child. He is energized/ inspired by her strength. She doesn't want this man. He wants to find someone else who shares his realization of the spirit in the woman/ mothers mind...to be independent...to take on life as a single mother...to not slave herself to someone she obviously does not love. It's inspirational for Dylan. He is looking to strip away all of his preconceived notions...starting with the idea that a woman will submit to a man. He wants to find a place where this kind of freedom of thinking is shared. He believed in 'love' before this...but now he realizes that 'love' is not so complicated. He thought that there would be nothing more absurd than to think that love is just a 4 letter word. A true believer in 'love'. But he knows better now.
Verse 4...he can't say or interpret exactly what the relationship/ malfunctioning relationship is between the mother and the father of her child...he can only interpret their/ her words in terms of his life and how what they say impacts on his thoughts. He had thought of love as kind of foolproof...love itself to be virtuous and true. But now he does not believe that. He sees that love can come and then go just as fast. It can touch a couple but then leave them just as quick. Love is free. It belongs to no-one. He realizes that his mistakes are in his perceptions. His perceptions are not 'the thing'. He knows now that love is a casual word, especially on the lips of those who do not really understand the nature of love...such as the man and woman of the story who have had a child out of wedlock and who realize (especially the woman) that they do not love each other.
Verse 5...I think Joan Baez wrote the last verse....and of course it's all about Dylan.
@hellopeople I liked your interpretation of the song but I differ on a couple of points. First of all, I'm inclined to believe the "friend of a friend of mine" means that the narrator (let's call him Dylan), is meeting his friend and his friend's partner ("friend of a friend of mine") at the cafe. When Dylan wrote the song no one even thought mobile phones would ever exist--except in comics, like Dick Tracy; the person she was talking to (the father of her kid) was walking with them.
@hellopeople I liked your interpretation of the song but I differ on a couple of points. First of all, I'm inclined to believe the "friend of a friend of mine" means that the narrator (let's call him Dylan), is meeting his friend and his friend's partner ("friend of a friend of mine") at the cafe. When Dylan wrote the song no one even thought mobile phones would ever exist--except in comics, like Dick Tracy; the person she was talking to (the father of her kid) was walking with them.
"Love is just a four letter word"...
"Love is just a four letter word" was a cynical meme in the post sexual revolution 60s. The pill was available but abortion wasn't legal until 1973. No contraception is perfect, The woman with the baby and her partner didn't get married but stayed together in what has become a loveless marriage.
The "cats meowing a the break of dawn" and the "Gypsy cafe" ...I can see this as an early morning breakfast before Dylan leaves to continue his travels, stopping by briefly to check up on his friend.
Visiting his friend reveals how naive Dylan feels about love and relationships.
Lastly, I just want to say that, after folk waned in the early 60s, the singer-songwriter thing became very popular. Just a voice (some, like Dylan's, are not easy on the ears) with minimal orchestration. The appeal, I'm told, was Authenticity. That being said, I suspect there this song is a bit autobiographical.
This is what I think:
Verse 1...Dylan ditches preconceived notions. He meets a woman who has a child out of wedlock (big deal back in those days) but the woman is ok with it. She is not beaten down or encumbered as a single mother. He sees she is free. She flippantly says that love is 'just a four letter word'. She shrugs off her difficult situation.
Verse 2...The woman is on the phone perhaps, or in conversation with the father of her child They are arguing. Maybe he is trying to win her back. His love she doesn't want. She doesn't believe in him. All he says is 'words'. Dylan realizes they are talking about an idea of love, with a child involved. He realizes tha his idea of 'love' is perhaps not the same as theirs. Their idea of love has a dimension he knows nothing about. That's why he 'kept his mouth shut'.
Verse 3...he has a revelation about attitude...about the strength of the woman to go it alone. He dismisses himself but they/ she doesn't notice. They don;t notice him because they are concerned with a stage of life that he is an infant to: having a child. He hears what she says to the father of her child. He is energized/ inspired by her strength. She doesn't want this man. He wants to find someone else who shares his realization of the spirit in the woman/ mothers mind...to be independent...to take on life as a single mother...to not slave herself to someone she obviously does not love. It's inspirational for Dylan. He is looking to strip away all of his preconceived notions...starting with the idea that a woman will submit to a man. He wants to find a place where this kind of freedom of thinking is shared. He believed in 'love' before this...but now he realizes that 'love' is not so complicated. He thought that there would be nothing more absurd than to think that love is just a 4 letter word. A true believer in 'love'. But he knows better now.
Verse 4...he can't say or interpret exactly what the relationship/ malfunctioning relationship is between the mother and the father of her child...he can only interpret their/ her words in terms of his life and how what they say impacts on his thoughts. He had thought of love as kind of foolproof...love itself to be virtuous and true. But now he does not believe that. He sees that love can come and then go just as fast. It can touch a couple but then leave them just as quick. Love is free. It belongs to no-one. He realizes that his mistakes are in his perceptions. His perceptions are not 'the thing'. He knows now that love is a casual word, especially on the lips of those who do not really understand the nature of love...such as the man and woman of the story who have had a child out of wedlock and who realize (especially the woman) that they do not love each other.
Verse 5...I think Joan Baez wrote the last verse....and of course it's all about Dylan.
@hellopeople I liked your interpretation of the song but I differ on a couple of points. First of all, I'm inclined to believe the "friend of a friend of mine" means that the narrator (let's call him Dylan), is meeting his friend and his friend's partner ("friend of a friend of mine") at the cafe. When Dylan wrote the song no one even thought mobile phones would ever exist--except in comics, like Dick Tracy; the person she was talking to (the father of her kid) was walking with them.
@hellopeople I liked your interpretation of the song but I differ on a couple of points. First of all, I'm inclined to believe the "friend of a friend of mine" means that the narrator (let's call him Dylan), is meeting his friend and his friend's partner ("friend of a friend of mine") at the cafe. When Dylan wrote the song no one even thought mobile phones would ever exist--except in comics, like Dick Tracy; the person she was talking to (the father of her kid) was walking with them.
"Love is just a four letter word"...
"Love is just a four letter word" was a cynical meme in the post sexual revolution 60s. The pill was available but abortion wasn't legal until 1973. No contraception is perfect, The woman with the baby and her partner didn't get married but stayed together in what has become a loveless marriage.
The "cats meowing a the break of dawn" and the "Gypsy cafe" ...I can see this as an early morning breakfast before Dylan leaves to continue his travels, stopping by briefly to check up on his friend.
Visiting his friend reveals how naive Dylan feels about love and relationships.
Lastly, I just want to say that, after folk waned in the early 60s, the singer-songwriter thing became very popular. Just a voice (some, like Dylan's, are not easy on the ears) with minimal orchestration. The appeal, I'm told, was Authenticity. That being said, I suspect there this song is a bit autobiographical.