Sunday, May 10, 2015

Dink's Song (Fare Thee Well)

Man knocks up woman.
He used to want her a lot,
But not anymore.

"Dink's Song," better known as "Fare Thee Well," gained some prominence in recent years after it made an appearance in the Coen Brothers movie "Inside Llewyn Davis." It provided apt accompaniment (and echoed the plot) to the sour, depressing film, about a selfish folk singer in Manhattan in the 1960s who was good enough to hold his own, but fell short of the greatness he thought he deserved. The music is bright, but the lyrics are longing. It's about a woman whose lover leaves her when he makes her pregnant. Not only does he abandon his responsibility, he loses his interest in her when the pregnancy makes her unattractive in his eyes:


Once I wore
My apron low
Couldn’t keep you
Away from my door
Fare thee well, my honey
Fare thee well

Now my apron
Is up to my chin
You pass my door
But you never come in
Fare thee well, my honey
Fare thee well

... and then:

Fastest man
I ever saw
Skipped Missouri
On the way to Arkansas
Fare thee well, my honey
Fare thee well

You can find Dylan's version on volume 7 of the Bootleg Series.




1 comment:

  1. Hello there Robert, Thank you for posting this analysis of a song from Bob Dylan's Music Box: http://thebobdylanproject.com/Song/id/152/Dinks-Song Come and join us inside and listen to every song composed, recorded or performed by Bob Dylan, plus all the great covers streaming on YouTube, Spotify, Deezer and SoundCloud plus so much more... including this link.

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