With a title for ‘Murder Most Foul’ borrowed from Hamlet by Shakespeare, the lyrics of the song by Bob

Dylan centers around the occurrences during President John F. Kennedy’s assassination.

[Verse 1]

Part I

Bob Dylan starts up his 17-minute eulogy for President John F. Kennedy with some startling analysis,
using pitiful illusion to predict the awful incidents that would transpire that day. It also comes out that
the climatic conditions in Dallas on that day has a better correlation to Kennedy’s infamous assassination.
Documents imply that six inches of rain had already fallen when Kennedy reached at the Love Field
airport on that murky and dreary morning.

If it had been raining, a plexiglass drip would have been employed on Kennedy’s convertible car for the
parade ceremonial overdue that day to safeguard him and the First Lady from the rain (as well as
possible armed men). Nevertheless, by the time the ceremony commenced at 11:50 AM, it was a cheerful
day, 70°F, directing the President to “complete” the parade without the guarding protrusion and almost
guaranteeing the likelihood of assassination.

Part II

The second line is crediting to this different fiasco in American yore, i.e. Pearl Harbor attack. Bob Dylan
puts up the controversy for this to be the following “day of infamy”. The phrase “Sacrificial lambs” has
the conventional meaning of those who perish for someone else’s wrongdoings. Bob Dylan doesn’t
hesitate to dive into the theory of the then Vice President of the USA conspiring against John F. Kennedy
to take the office at The White House by “someone here to take your place.”

Despite the evidence that hundreds of people observed JFK’s assassination, no one could truly
comprehend what was transpiring, both precisely in the litigation of who actually shot him, and
figuratively in the assassination of a perching president, something that appeared to be almost
unthinkable at the time. Bob Dylan also infers to Kennedy as “the king” refers to the assassinated king in
Hamlet as well, whose ghost cries out: “Murder most foul!”

[Verse 2]

Don’t ask what your country can do for you… -- John F. Kennedy

Part I

“Hush Little Baby” is a prominent song for children, the phrase which links into the aforementioned line
that begins with “Rub-a-dub-dub”. “I Want To Hold Your Hand” is an outstanding track by The Beatles
and commemorated their success in the United States. This had fittingly taken place in late 1963,
promptly before John F. Kennedy’s unforeseen massacre. Bob Dylan is admittedly a huge fan of this track
as he cites the song in the lyrics, giving it a different meaning.

Promptly after, Beatle-Fandom had influenced American culture. In changing positions on the stress of
prominent lineage from the Kennedy Assassination, The Beatles “held the hand” of residents influenced
by the disaster and encouraged them to move on from it. A famous tale gets on that Bob Dylan originally
misinterpreted the line “I can’t hide” for “I get high” and hence the citation on the lyrics for “Murder
Most Foul”. When he encountered The Beatles, he was startled that they didn’t smoke mar**uana and
tete-a-tete submitted them to this narcotic.
Part II

Bob Dylan mentions “Ferry Cross the Mersey” on ‘Murder Most Foul’, which is an outstanding 1964
track by Gerry and the Pacemakers. The Mersey is the central river that streams through Liverpool, the
hometown of The Beatles, who are referred to in the previous part of the second verse. Then, Bon Dylan
refers to the men famously remembered as “the Three Tramps”, who were photoed by numerous Dallas
journals under cop attendant in Dealey Plaza on the day of Kennedy’s assassination. Many traditional
conspiracy ideas have been formulated about their personalities and probable share in the assassination.

Bob Dylan then indicates his desire to be at a minor highland near where Kennedy was shot in the lyrics
for ‘Murder Most Foul’. It was subsequent to the book repository and many bystanders were near it.
Several fraudulent assumptions imply that there was an extra gunman behind the Grassy Knoll. Texas
First Lady Nellie Connally prominently let out the terms “Mr. President you can’t say Dallas doesn’t love
you.” to President Kennedy momentarily before he was assassinated. It is frequently believed that these
were the final terms Kennedy had eternally heeded.

Part III

The Altamont Free Concert had assembled roughly 300,000 observers in December of 1969 at the
Altamont Speedway in California to watch an enrollment of the bands that incorporated the Grateful
Dead and The Rolling Stones. It was aspired to be a West-coast edition of Woodstock, the well-known
music celebration that had evolved as a character of the counter-culture Aquarian objectives of harmony
and affection, which is eerily similar to the meaning of the theme and the lyrics for ‘Murder Most Foul’
by Bob Dylan.

Rather, the confusion which flared at the occasion would later appear to exemplify the verge of the
integrity of the hippie period. The infamous incidents of the day comprised of the demise of 18-year-old
Meredith Hunter, Jr. who was murdered by units of the Hells Angels, who were operating as defensive
patrols for the show. He was crushed and jabbed until demise near the scene while The Rolling Stones
were dabbling with their guitars. Hence, “murder most foul”.

[Verse 3]

We are dissecting the meaning behind the lyrics of the song ‘Murder Most Foul’ by Bob Dylan in the
third verse as follows:

Part I

The identity of the Acid Queen exemplifies the psychedelic narcotic. Bob Dylan is commemorating the
moment in the lyrics of ‘Murder Most Foul’, discussing the meaning of the narcotic lineage in the USA
and, at a similar juncture, bestowing us the surrealist complexion of Kennedy’s carnage. Kennedy’s skull
dangled to the left after he was shot and was supported in his wife Jackie’s lap. The term “leaning to the
left” references how Kennedy’s strategies evolved to be increasingly further liberal tardily in his term as
President.

The phrase “no quarter” used by Bob Dylan in the lyrics for “Murder Most Foul” means that no
forgiveness will be capitalized. Rivals will not be safeguarded or seized as hostages but murdered. JFK
has immediately taken to the Parkland Hospital but was of no use. Dylan mentions of mutilating and
stealing JFK’s brain and torturing his soul even after his untimely demise. Due to his untimely death,
Kennedy could never deliver to his commitments of entering “new frontiers” as he said in his acceptance
speech.
[Verse 4]

It is unsure whether Wolfman Jack himself enunciated in various dialects, but the radio stations where he
specialized in his earlier days utilized to lease space to Pentecostal pastors who may have communicated
in lingoes. Jack Ruby possessed and regulated the Carousel Club, a nightclub discovered in downtown
Dallas and famous among units of the Dallas Police Department. Ruby slaughtered Lee Harvey Oswald,
Kennedy’s asserted murderer, in the cellar of Dallas police bureau while Oswald was in detention.

“Tom Dooley” is an American folk song about the killing of Laura Foster in 1866 admittedly by her
husband Tom Dula, who was sentenced and exterminated, though his remorse was controversial and yet
continues to be a topic of assumption and tale. Thus, Bob Dylan delineates a resembling with Foster’s
and JFK’s assassination in the lyrics for ‘Murder Most Foul’. He then positions the latter as the absolute
phase in a lengthy ancestry of American conspiracies.

[Verse 5]

Love Field is the airport in Dallas where Kennedy docked prior to the ceremony, and where his departed
corpse was put up onto Air Force One. As Lyndon B. Johnson was vowed in as president on the airliner
itself, this was technically the final moment Kennedy’s Air Force One landed, and hence it never “got
back off the ground”. For Bob Dylan, Kennedy’s killing exemplifies a swiveling degree in American yore
(“the generation of the Antichrist has just begun”). Comprehended in this meaning of the lyrics for
‘Murder Most Foul’, Dylan could be suggesting that USA itself “never did get back up off the ground”.

Conclusion: Murder Most Foul Meaning

On the 22nd of November 1963, the obsolete president John F. Kennedy was murdered in Dallas, Texas.
He was barely 46 years old at the moment of his demise, earning him the greenest president to perish,
and is deemed one of the goods who departed young. In the final verse, Bob Dylan asks to play all the
classics from the 1950s to the 2000s so as to relive history.

The traditional nursery rhyme “Hush Little Baby” & another nursery rhyme titled “A Wise Old Owl”
“I Want to Hold Your Hand” by The Beatles
“Ferry Cross the Mersey” by Gerry & The Pacemakers
“Woodstock” by Joni Mitchell
“Aquarius/Let The Sunshine In” by The 5th Dimension
“Let The Good Times Roll” by Shirley & Lee
“There’s A Party Goin’ On” by Wanda Jackson
“Crossroads” by Robert Johnson
“Deep Ellum Blues” by The Grateful Dead
“Shotgun” by Jr. Walker & The All Stars
“The Wise Old Owl” by Kay Kyser
“Tommy Can You Hear Me?” By The Who
“The Acid Queen” by The Who
“Long Black Limousine” by Elvis Presley
“Backseat Blues” by Roomful of Blues
“On the Street Where You Live” by John Michael King
“Oh, Freedom” by Joan Baez
“Send Me Some Lovin'” by Little Richard
“Walk On By” by Burt Bacharach
“Wake up Little Susie” by The Everly Brothers
“Dizzy Miss Lizzy” by Larry Williams
“You Go To My Head” by Billie Holiday
“Crazy” by Patsy Cline “The New Frontier” by The Kingston Trio
“What’s New Pussycat” by Tome Jones
“What’d I Say” by Ray Charles
“Dust My Broom” by Wolfman Jack
“Only the Good Die Young” by Billy Joel
“Tom Dooley” by The Kingston Trio
“St. James Infirmary” by Louis Armstrong
“Tell Mama” by Etta James
“Boom Boom” by John Lee Hooker
“Baby Scratch My Back” by Slim Harpo
“The Things That I Used To Do” by Guitar Slim
“I Wanna Be Loved By You” by Marilyn Monroe
“Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood” by Nina Simone
“Desperados Under the Eaves” by Warren Zevon
“Take It to the Limit” by Eagles
“Mystery Train” by Elvis Presley
“Twilight Time” by The Platters
“Take Me Back To Tulsa” by Bob Wills
“Another One Bites The Dust” by Queen
“The Old Rugged Cross” by Jo Stafford
“Look Down That Lonesome Road” by Gaither Carlton
“Stormy Weather” by Oscar Peterson
“The Girl From Ipanema” by Stan Getz
“Blue Sky” by Dickie Betts
“‘Round Midnight” by Thelonious Monk
“All The Things You Are” by Charlie Parker
“All That Jazz” by Chicago Cast
“Chaplin and Keaton Piano and Violin Duet” by Charlie Chaplin
“Blue Sky” by The Allman Brothers Band
“Pretty Boy Floyd” by Woody Guthrie
“Cry Me A River” by Ella Fitzgerald “Revolution 9” by The Beatles
“Nature Boy” by Nat King Cole
“Bang Bang” by Nancy Sinatra
“Rooms on Fire” by Stevie Nicks
“Down in the Boondocks” by Billy Joe Royal
“One Night Of Sin” by Elvis Presley
“Stella By Starlight” by Miles Davis
“House of the Rising Sun” by The Animals
“Misty” by Erroll Garner
“That Old Devil Moon” by Miles Davis Quartet
“Anything Goes” by Eileen Rodgers
“King Porter Stomp” by Benny Goodman
“Lucille” by Little Richard
“Deep In A Dream” by Chet Baker
“Lonely at the Top” by Randy Newman
“Moonlight Sonata” by Ludwig van Beethoven
“Key to the Highway” by Little Walter
“Marching Through Georgia” by Tennessee Ernie Ford
“Dumbarton’s Drums” by The Corries
“Memphis In June” by Hoagy Carmichael &“Love Me or Leave Me” by Bud Powell
[Verse 1]

It was a dark day in Dallas, November '63

A day that will live on in infamy
President Kennedy was a-ridin' high
Good day to be livin' and a good day to die
Being led to the slaughter like a sacrificial lamb
He said, "Wait a minute, boys, you know who I am?"
"Of course we do, we know who you are"
Then they blew off his head while he was still in the car
Shot down like a dog in broad daylight
Was a matter of timing and the timing was right
You got unpaid debts, we've come to collect
We're gonna kill you with hatred, without any respect
We'll mock you and shock you and we'll put it in your face
We've already got someone here to take your place
The day they blew out the brains of the king
Thousands were watching, no one saw a thing
It happened so quickly, so quick, by surprise
Right there in front of everyone's eyes
Greatest magic trick ever under the sun
Perfectly executed, skillfully done
Wolfman, oh Wolfman, oh Wolfman, howl
Rub-a-dub-dub, it's a murder most foul

[Verse 2]

Hush, little children, you'll understand

The Beatles are comin', they're gonna hold your hand
Slide down the banister, go get your coat
Ferry 'cross the Mersey and go for the throat
There's three bums comin' all dressed in rags
Pick up the pieces and lower the flags
I'm goin' to Woodstock, it's the Aquarian Age
Then I'll go over to Altamont and sit near the stage
Put your head out the window, let the good times roll
There's a party going on behind the Grassy Knoll
Stack up the bricks, pour the cement
Don't say Dallas don't love you, Mr. President
Put your foot in the tank and then step on the gas
Try to make it to the triple underpass
Blackface singer, whiteface clown
Better not show your faces after the sun goes down
Up in the red light district, they've got cop on the beat
Living in a nightmare on Elm Street
When you're down on Deep Ellum, put your money in your shoe
Don't ask what your country can do for you
Cash on the barrelhead, money to burn
Dealey Plaza, make a left-hand turn
I'm going down to the crossroads, gonna flag a ride
The place where faith, hope, and charity died
Shoot him while he runs, boy, shoot him while you can
See if you can shoot the invisible man
Goodbye, Charlie, goodbye, Uncle Sam
Frankly, Miss Scarlett, I don't give a damn
What is the truth, and where did it go?
Ask Oswald and Ruby, they oughta know
"Shut your mouth," said a wise old owl
Business is business, and it's a murder most foul

[Verse 3]

Tommy, can you hear me? I'm the Acid Queen

I'm riding in a long, black Lincoln limousine
Ridin' in the back seat next to my wife
Headed straight on in to the afterlife
I'm leaning to the left, I got my head in her lap
Hold on, I've been led into some kind of a trap
Where we ask no quarter, and no quarter do we give
We're right down the street, from the street where you live
They mutilated his body and they took out his brain
What more could they do? They piled on the pain
But his soul was not there where it was supposed to be at
For the last fifty years they've been searchin' for that
Freedom, oh freedom, freedom over me
I hate to tell you, mister, but only dead men are free
Send me some lovin', then tell me no lie
Throw the gun in the gutter and walk on by
Wake up, little Susie, let's go for a drive
Cross the Trinity River, let's keep hope alive
Turn the radio on, don't touch the dials
Parkland Hospital, only six more miles
You got me dizzy, Miss Lizzy, you filled me with lead
That magic bullet of yours has gone to my head
I'm just a patsy like Patsy Cline
Never shot anyone from in front or behind
I've blood in my eye, got blood in my ear
I'm never gonna make it to the new frontier
Zapruder's film I seen night before
Seen it thirty-three times, maybe more
It's vile and deceitful, it's cruel and it's mean
Ugliest thing that you ever have seen
They killed him once and they killed him twice
Killed him like a human sacrifice
The day that they killed him, someone said to me, "Son
The age of the Antichrist has just only begun"
Air Force One comin' in through the gate
Johnson sworn in at 2:38
Let me know when you decide to throw in the towel
It is what it is, and it's murder most foul
[Verse 4]

What's new, pussycat? What'd I say?

I said the soul of a nation been torn away
And it's beginning to go into a slow decay
And that it's thirty-six hours past Judgment Day
Wolfman Jack, he's speaking in tongues
He's going on and on at the top of his lungs
Play me a song, Mr. Wolfman Jack
Play it for me in my long Cadillac
Play me that "Only the Good Die Young"
Take me to the place Tom Dooley was hung
Play "St. James Infirmary" and the Court of King James
If you want to remember, you better write down the names
Play Etta James, too, play "I'd Rather Go Blind"
Play it for the man with the telepathic mind
Play John Lee Hooker, play "Scratch My Back"
Play it for that strip club owner named Jack
Guitar Slim going down slow
Play it for me and for Marilyn Monroe

[Verse 5]

Play "Please Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood"

Play it for the First Lady, she ain't feeling any good
Play Don Henley, play Glenn Frey
Take it to the limit and let it go by
Play it for Carl Wilson, too
Looking far, far away down Gower Avenue
Play "Tragedy", play "Twilight Time"
Take me back to Tulsa to the scene of the crime
Play another one and "Another One Bites the Dust"
Play "The Old Rugged Cross" and "In God We Trust"
Ride the pink horse down that long, lonesome road
Stand there and wait for his head to explode
Play "Mystery Train" for Mr. Mystery
The man who fell down dead like a rootless tree
Play it for the reverend, play it for the pastor
Play it for the dog that got no master
Play Oscar Peterson, play Stan Getz
Play "Blue Sky," play Dickey Betts
Play Art Pepper, Thelonious Monk
Charlie Parker and all that junk
All that junk and "All That Jazz"
Play something for the Birdman of Alcatraz
Play Buster Keaton, play Harold Lloyd
Play Bugsy Siegel, play Pretty Boy Floyd
Play the numbers, play the odds
Play "Cry Me a River" for the Lord of the gods
Play Number nine, play Number six
Play it for Lindsey and Stevie Nicks
Play Nat King Cole, play "Nature Boy"
Play "Down in the Boondocks" for Terry Malloy
Play "It Happened One Night" and "One Night of Sin"
There's twelve million souls that are listening in
Play "Merchant of Venice", play "Merchants of Death"
Play "Stella by Starlight" for Lady Macbeth
Don't worry, Mr. President, help's on the way
Your brothers are comin', there'll be hell to pay
Brothers? What brothers? What's this about hell?
Tell them, "We're waiting, keep coming," we'll get them as well
Love Field is where his plane touched down
But it never did get back up off the ground
Was a hard act to follow, second to none
They killed him on the altar of the rising sun
Play "Misty" for me and "That Old Devil Moon"
Play "Anything Goes" and "Memphis in June"
Play "Lonely at the Top" and "Lonely Are the Brave"
Play it for Houdini spinning around in his grave
Play Jelly Roll Morton, play "Lucille"
Play "Deep in a Dream", and play "Driving Wheel"
Play "Moonlight Sonata" in F-sharp
And "A Key to the Highway" for the king on the harp
Play "Marching Through Georgia" and "Dumbarton's Drums"
Play "Darkness" and death will come when it comes
Play "Love Me or Leave Me" by the great Bud Powell
Play "The Blood-Stained Banner", play "Murder Most Foul"