Goin' to Acapulco

Rose Marie awaits
In Mexico. I see her,
Have fun and go home.

The Rose Marie of "Goin' to Acapulco" from Bob Dylan and the Band's Basement Tapes sessions of 1967 sounds like a chipper gal. My suspicion is that she's a sometime-girlfriend with a world of her own who doesn't mind performing some body work on Bob when he needs his annual inspection. Either that or she's a madam down in Mexico. I would imagine that this is the case because she:

- Never does him wrong
- Puts it to him plain
- Gives it to him for a song
- Offers him quick eats
- Lets him blow his plum (not sure what that's about) and drink his rum

He also pumps on the well when it breaks down. That sounds like a visit to Acapulco to me.

As for the singer, he's your typical guy:
- Wicked life, but everyone has to eat.
- He's like everyone else, scratching for his meat.
- He tries to tell the truth and not listen to jokes or engage in pranks.
- He just wants to have fun.

Lyrics:

I’m going down to Rose Marie’s
She never does me wrong
She puts it to me plain as day
And gives it to me for a song

It’s a wicked life but what the hell
Everybody's got to eat.
And I'm just the same as anyone else
When it comes to scratching for my meat.

Goin’ to Acapulco – goin’ on the run
Goin’ down to see soft gut – goin’ to have some fun
Yeah – goin’ to have some fun

Now whenever I get up and
Can't find what I need,
I just make it down to Rose Marie’s
And get something quick to eat (?).

It's not a bad way to make a living
And I ain't complaining none
For I can blow plum (?) and drink my rum
And then go on home and have my fun.

Goin’ to Acapulco – goin’ on the run
Goin’ down to see soft gut – goin’ to have some fun
Yeah – goin’ to have some fun

Now, if someone offers me a joke
I just say no thanks
I try to tell it like it is
And keep away from pranks

Now every time you know when the well breaks down
I just go pump on it some
Rose Marie, she likes to go to big places
And just set there waitin' for me to come

Goin’ to Acapulco – goin’ on the run
Goin’ down to see soft gut – goin’ to have some fun
Yeah – goin’ to have some fun

For what it's worth, the lyrics printed on the Bob Dylan website differ dramatically in two verses. Here they are:

It’s a wicked life but what the hell
The stars ain’t falling down
I’m standing outside the Taj Mahal
I don’t see no one around

There are worse ways of getting there
And I ain’t complainin’ none
If the clouds don’t drop and the train don’t stop
I’m bound to meet the sun

I don't know who "soft gut" is in the song, but the printed lyrics change the name to "fat gut."

You can find the song in two places. One is the official Basement Tapes album from 1975. It contains significant overdubs recorded by the Band eight years after they first recorded the song with Dylan. For the original, seek out volume 11 of the Bootleg Series, which contains the bulk of the recordings from upstate New York in 1967.