Monday, January 26, 2015

Broke Down Engine

He's like a dead car.
She's probably the reason.
Bodywork might help.

The body that needs some work is the singer's, of course. In this old blues song by Blind Willie McTell, a man is lonely so he blows all his money on gambling. When he runs out of cash, he pawns his pistol and his best clothes. Then he prays for God to give him back his woman, and promises to stop bothering God if he'll just do as he asks. Following this, he asks the woman directly to come back to him. He praises her dance skills and suggests that if she's a real hot momma, she can make his engine, whistle and bell work again (as I was saying about "body work"), and most importantly, relieve his weeping spell. Bob's version of the song appears on his blues covers album "World Gone Wrong" from 1993.




1 comment:

  1. Hello there Robert, Thank you for posting this song. Come and join us inside Bob Dylan's Music Box http://thebobdylanproject.com/Song/id/97/Broke-Down-Engine and listen to every song composed, recorded or performed by Bob Dylan.

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