Sunday, July 19, 2015

Ninety Miles an Hour (Down a Dead-End Street)

They're with others, but
Hook up after a party.
They go past first base.

This is about a crash of the heart, not a literal crash. I think the lyrics, pasted below, are clear. I included Hank Snow's version as well as Dylan's, which appeared on "Down in the Groove" in 1988. Snow's version is sad, but peppy. Dylan's is just sad.

I took you home from a party and we kissed in fun
A few stolen kisses and no harm was done
Instead of stopping when we could we went right on
Till suddenly we found that the brakes were gone.

You belong to someone else, and I do too
It's just crazy bein' here with you
As a bad motorcycle with the devil in the seat
Going ninety miles an hour down a dead end street
Ninety miles an hour down a dead end street.

I didn't want to want you, but now I have no choice
It's too late to listen to that warning voice
All I hear is thunder of two hearts beat
Going ninety miles an hour down a dead end street
Ninety miles an hour down a dead end street.

You're not free to belong to me
And you know I could never be your own
Your lips on mine are like a sweet, sweet wine
But we're heading for a wall of stone.

Warning signs are flashing ev'ry where, but we pay no heed
'Stead of slowing down the place, we keep a pickin' up speed
Disaster's getting closer ev'ry time we meet
Going ninety miles an hour down a dead end street
Yeah, ninety miles an hour down a dead end street
Well, ninety miles an hour down a dead end street.




1 comment:

  1. Hello Robert, yes another interesting analysis of a song from inside Bob Dylan's Music Box http://thebobdylanproject.com/Song/id/448/Ninety-Miles-an-Hour-Down-a-Dead-End-Street Lift the lid and join us inside to listen to every song composed, recorded or performed by Bob Dylan, plus all the great covers streaming on YouTube, Spotify, Deezer and SoundCloud.

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