Pay in Blood

Bob plans his revenge

Against those who did him wrong,

And there will be blood.

This song from the 2012 album "Tempest" could have been called the Cranky Bastard Blues. "Pay in Blood" is six verses of Bob Dylan nearly losing his temper as he counts the ways that he's going to make somebody sorry for hurting him. Instead of bitterness, he's out for revenge, but not before he lists the wrongs that this unnamed villain has committed against him as well as the ways that he has transcended all of them, though not enough to forgive.

1. I'm grinding away each day through this life of toil and pain. I've been through a lot and survived it all, but "I could stone you to death for the wrongs that you done. Sooner or later you make a mistake, I'll put you in a chain that you never will break."

2. Every new day strips away a few more of your hopes. All that dying just makes me live on more, mainly because "I got dogs could tear you limb from limb."

3. Life dealt me a bad hand, but I'm going to play it anyway. I might obey God's laws, but if I do wrong in my quest for satisfaction, then by all means put me in front of a firing squad.

4. "You got the same eyes that your mother does. If only you could prove who your father was."

5. I've been through hell, but I survived. "What good did it do? You bastard! I'm supposed to respect you? I'll give you justice, I'll fatten your purse. Show me your moral virtue first."

6. "You get your lover in the bed. Come here, I'll break your lousy head." And of course, a Shakespeare twist: "I came to bury, not to praise."

And the end of each verse? "I pay in blood, but not my own."