12/2/2016

Bob Dylans immortal lines - Livemint

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Bob Dylans immortal lines

A selection of some of my favourites lyrics from Dylans vast oeuvre

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Rudraneil Sengupta

Bob Dylan won the Nobel Prize for literature. Photo: AFP
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Bob Dylans immortal lines - Livemint

A recent article in the New Republic, headlined Who Will Win the 2016 Nobel Prize in
Literature?, carried the introduction Not Bob Dylan, thats for sure.
Ah well. As Dylan said, dont speak too soon/For the wheels still in spin..
The 75-year-old American singer-songwriter was awarded the 2016 Nobel Prize for
Literature on Thursday for having created new poetic expressions within the great
American song tradition. He is the rst songwriter to win the award, and the rst
American to win the award since novelist Toni Morrison in 1993.
Van Morrison once described Dylan as the greatest living poet, and to be a Dylan fan
is to believe in those words as an indisputable truth. For over ve decades the
legendary musician has breathed poetry of startling elegance and urgency into his
songs. His prolic output once dened an American era, became the voice of social
protest, and pushed the boundaries of songwriting in many directions. In his songs,
many great songwriting and poetic traditionsfolk, protest, jazz, blues, ballads, rock-nrollhave met and melded and created new idioms. His lyrics have dripped with
honeyed love, dazzled with metrical dexterity, burnt with scathing commentary,
unspooled in epic narratives and mystied in obtuse, but always passionate wordplay.
Also Read: Why Bob Dylan deserves the Nobel Prize for literature
Here is a selection of some of our favourites lines from Dylans vast oeuvre.
I pity the poor immigrant; From John Wesley Harding, 1967:
This could have been written for Donald Trump.
I pity the poor immigrant,
Who wishes he wouldve stayed home,
Who uses all his power to do evil
But in the end is always left so alone.
That man whom with his ngers cheats
And who lies with evry breath,
Who passionately hates his life
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Bob Dylans immortal lines - Livemint

And likewise, fears his death.

I pity the poor immigrant
Whose strength is spent in vain,
Whose heaven is like Ironsides,
Whose tears are like rain,
Who eats but is not satised,
Who hears but does not see,
Who falls in love with wealth itself
And turns his back on me.
Song for Woody; From Bob Dylan, 1962:
A homage to his hero, the protest singer Woody Guthrie, that announces the arrival of
a major new voice in politically conscious singing.
Hey hey Woody Guthrie I wrote you a song
About a funny old world thats coming along
Seems sick and its hungry, its tired and its torn
It looks like its dying and its hardly been born.
Also Read: Bob Dylan wins 2016 Nobel prize for literature
Dont think twice, its alright; Freewheelin, 1963:
Love, and heartbreakDylan is as procient in exploring these as he is with social
commentary.
So it aint no use in callin out my name, gal
Like you never did before
An it aint no use in callin out my name, gal
I cant hear you any more
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Bob Dylans immortal lines - Livemint

Im a-thinkin and a-wondrin walkin down the road

I once loved a woman, a child Im told
I give her my heart but she wanted my soul
But dont think twice, its all right
The Times They Are a-Changin; From The Times They Are a-Changin, 1964: Along
with Blowing in the Wind, perhaps Dylans most well known lines.
Come writers and critics
Who prophesize with your pen
And keep your eyes wide
The chance wont come again
And dont speak too soon
For the wheels still in spin
And theres no tellin who that its namin.
Cause the loser now
Will be later to win
For the times they are a-changin.
Come senators, congressmen
Please heed the call
Dont stand in the doorway
Dont block up the hall
For he that gets hurt
Will be he who has stalled
The battle outside ragin
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Bob Dylans immortal lines - Livemint

Will soon shake your windows

And rattle your walls
For the times they are a-changin.
The lonesome death of Hattie Carrol; From The Times They Are a-Changing, 1964: A
hard-hitting song that rages against discrimination and brutality.
Hattie Carroll was a maid in the kitchen.
She was fty-one years old and gave birth to ten children
Who carried the dishes and took out the garbage
And never sat once at the head of the table
And didnt even talk to the people at the table
Who just cleaned up all the food from the table
And emptied the ashtrays on a whole other level,
Got killed by a blow, lay slain by a cane
That sailed through the air and came down through the room,
Doomed and determined to destroy all the gentle.
And she never done nothing to William Zanzinger.
And you who philosophize disgrace and criticize all fears,
Take the rag away from your face.
Now aint the time for your tears
It Aint Me Babe; From Another side of Bob Dylan, 1964:
Another lyrical tribute to lost love.
Go way from my window
Leave at your own chosen speed
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Bob Dylans immortal lines - Livemint

Im not the one you want, babe

Im not the one you need
You say youre lookin for someone
Whos never weak but always strong
To protect you an defend you
Whether you are right or wrong
Someone to open each and every door
But it aint me, babe
No, no, no, it aint me babe
It aint me youre lookin for, babe.
Go lightly from the ledge, babe
Go lightly on the ground
Im not the one you want, babe
I will only let your down.
Subterranean Homesick Blues; From Bringing it all back home, 1965:
An irreverent, funny, rhythmic ride.
Get sick, get well
Hang around a ink well
Ring bell, hard to tell
If anything is goin to sell
Try hard, get barred
Get back, write braille
Get jailed, jump bail
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Bob Dylans immortal lines - Livemint

Join the army, if you fail

Look out kid
Youre gonna get hit
By losers, cheaters
Six-time users
Hangin round the theaters
Girl by the whirlpool
Lookin for a new fool
Dont follow leaders
Watch the parkin meters
Ballad of a thin man; From Highway 61 Revisited, 1965:
You dont want to get on the wrong side of Dylan.
You hand in your ticket
And you go watch the geek
Who immediately walks up to you
When he hears you speak
And says, How does it feel
To be such a freak?
And you say, Impossible
As he hands you a bone
Because something is happening here
But you dont know what it is
Do you, Mister Jones?
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Bob Dylans immortal lines - Livemint

You have many contacts

Among the lumberjacks
To get you facts
When someone attacks your imagination
But nobody has any respect
Anyway they already expect you
To just give a check
To tax-deductible charity organizations
Youve been with the professors
And theyve all liked your looks
With great lawyers you have
Discussed lepers and crooks
Youve been through all of
F. Scott Fitzgeralds books
Youre very well read
Its well known
Visions of Johanna; From Blonde on Blonde, 1966:
When its good poetry, you dont really need to know what it all means.
Inside the museums,
Innity goes up on trial
Voices echo this is what
salvation must be like after a while
But Mona Lisa musta had the highway blues
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Bob Dylans immortal lines - Livemint

You can tell by the way she smiles

See the primitive wallower freeze
When the jelly-faced women all sneeze
Hear the one with the mustache say, Jeeze
I cant nd my knees
Oh, jewels and binoculars hang from the head of the mule
But these visions of Johanna,
they make it all seem so cruel
Rudraneil Sengupta

TOPICS: BOB DYLAN NOBEL LITERATURE DYLAN'S GREATEST SONGS

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Bob Dylans immortal lines - Livemint

First Published: Thu, Oct 13 2016. 07 16 PM IST

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