Every song Bob Dylan wrote or performed can be distilled in a haiku. NOTE FOR READERS: All posts from 2010 to 2014 should be considered out of date. Please disregard them. There are, or will be, new versions of each haiku.
Dylan fans will recognize the tune that formed the basis of “I Pity the Poor Immigrant” six years after he performed this song. “The Ballad of Donald White” is a song of societal ills too, but in a different vein. Ol’ Donald sings the sad story of his life just before he hangs for murder. He came from Kansas, ended up in Seattle and everywhere he went he was an anti-social loser who couldn’t fit in. He had no education and stole to support himself. He wound up in jail where, rather like some of Jean Genet’s homosexual criminals, he found his real home. Trouble is, the jails and institutions were too crowded so he was set free. He begged to go back where he felt he belonged, but no one would incarcerate him without reason so he killed a man on Christmas Eve 1959. Naturally, they took him back, but only for a short stay. Then they hanged him. Don’s last question was whether “boys that come down the road like me, Are they enemies or victims of your society?”
Going to Texas,
Looking for adventure, and
I’m not coming home.
I'm goin' down to West Texas Behind the Louisiana line I'm goin' down to West Texas Behind the Louisiana line Get me a fortune tellin' woman One that's gonna read my mind If you ever go to Dallas Take the right hand road If you ever go to Dallas Take the right hand road Those western Dallas streets, boys They' bound ta kill ya fo' sho' I'm goin' down to Jack Rabbit's Past the west Texas line I'm goin' down to Jack Rabbit's Behind the Texas line Eh they's stars up above Lord it's my a-leavin' m' sign Well you never miss your water 'till the well runs dry An' you never miss your water 'Till the well runs dry An' you never miss your man 'till he says "Good-bye" You can write an' tell m' Mama I won't be comin' home tonight You can write an' tell my Mother I won't be home tonight
Bob's standing around.
Trying to thumb himself a ride.
His life rolls on by. Here's another lonely hitchhiker thumb-a-ride song that Bob Dylan recorded as a demo for the Witmark publishing company in 1962. It’s the old, well known lament of blues singer Robert Johnson: Standing on the highway, trying to bum a ride, but nobody knows him, and everyone passes him by. The second verse is more metaphorical: he’s trying to be brave, as he notes that one road goes to “bright lights” and the other goes to the grave. It goes on like that.
You're sweet and evil.
You please me and tease me too.
What am I to do?
The first song on Bob Dylan's first album from 1962, "You're No Good" is an old Jesse Fuller song. It's part of the expansive "hardheaded woman" canon of songs written by guys who feel like their girlfriends and wives boss them around. Well I don't know why I love you like I do Nobody in the world can get along with you. You got the ways of a devil sleeping in a lion's den I come home last night you wouldn't even let me in. Well sometimes you're as sweet as anybody want to be When you get a crazy notion of jumpin' all over me Well you give me the blues I guess you're satisfied An' you give me the blues I wanna lay down and die. I helped you when you had no shoes on your feet, pretty mama I helped you when you had no food to eat. You're the kind of woman I just don't understand You're takin' all my money and give it to another man. Well you're the kinda woman makes a man lose his brain You're the kinda woman drives a man insane You give me the blues, I guess you're satisfied You give me the blues, I wanna lay down and die Well you give me the blues, I wanna lay down and die
Don't leave me, baby.
I need to go where it's warm.
I've never been there.
"Worried Blues," which showed up on the first Bootleg Series album in 1991, was recorded in 1962 for "The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan" album, but ultimately didn't make it. It's an old folk song that riffs off the line in "Going Down the Road Feeling Bad" about going somewhere warm, as in, "I'm going where the climate suits my clothes." That's the line that Fred Neill used and Harry Nilsson sang in "Everybody's Talkin'," the theme song to "Midnight Cowboy." I got those worried blues And I got those worried blues I got those worried blues I got those worried blues, Lord I'm a-going where I never been before. I'm going where the chilly winds don't blow I'm going where the chilly winds don't blow I'm going where the chilly winds don't blow I'm going where the chilly winds don't blow I'm going where the climate suits my clothes. Honey baby don't leave me now Honey baby don't leave me now Oh honey baby don't leave me now Honey baby don't leave me now I got trouble in my mind. Listen to that cold whistle blow, Lord Listen to that cold whistle blow Listen to that cold whistle blow Listen to that cold whistle blow I'm a-going where I never been before. So I got those worried blues, Lord I got those worried blues I got those worried blues I got those worried blues I'm going where I never been before.
Mom doesn't approve
Of son's girl. He doesn't care,
Even if she's bad.
This song, made popular by Elvis Presley in the 50s, got the Dylan treatment in 1962, but wasn't released until the rare "50th Anniversary Collection" copyright extension came out in 2012. The haiku gets straight to the point, as does the song: (Hail hail Arthur Crudup!) Well, that's all right, mama That's all right for you That's all right mama, just anyway you do Well, that's all right, that's all right. That's all right now mama, anyway you do Mama she done told me, Papa done told me too 'Son, that gal your foolin' with, She ain't no good for you' But, that's all right, that's all right. That's all right now mama, anyway you do I'm leaving town, baby I'm leaving town for sure Well, then you won't be bothered with Me hanging 'round your door Well, that's all right, that's all right. That's all right now mama, anyway you do
Bob finds out how big
Woody Guthrie's shoes are, and
Prepares to fill them.
This is Bob Dylan's salute to Woody Guthrie, the folksinger who provided so much of Dylan's early inspiration, not to mention his image of a wandering troubadour chronicling the America of his times. He mentions that he's been wandering around the USA as well and acquainting himself with the things that Woody has seen. He offers his world-weary comments on a weary world, notes that Woody probably knows all this stuff already, and tips his hat to other folk musicians such as Leadbelly and Cisco Houston. He says he's going to keep traveling, and hopes that it won't be hard. The song appeared on Dylan's debut album, which was released in 1962.
Once I'm dead, I'm dead, And I won't care about much. But please clean my grave. This is a famous blues song by Blind Lemon Jefferson from 1927. It has one point: I'm going to die, and once that's done, it's done. But it would be nice for someone to keep my grave clean. This song appeared on Bob Dylan's debut album in 1962.
Sally gal, don't doubt
Dylan's gonna soon find out
What you're all about.
"Sally Gal" is an outtake from the 1962 sessions for the album "The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan." It is an extremely simple song as you can see: - I'm gonna get you, Sally Gal. (x4) - I'm a rambling kind of guy and I come and I go. Sally says it happens all the time. - I'm gonna get you, Sally Gal. (x4) It first appeared on volume 7 of the Bootleg Series, called "No Direction Home," named so for being the soundtrack to the Martin Scorsese documentary on Dylan of the same name.
How to build a road.
This lesson followed by: how
To find my girlfriend.
Bob Dylan recorded "Rocks and Gravel" during the 1962 sessions for "The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan," but the song remained unreleased other than a live performance from that year (This is not entirely true. See below for why). The studio take appeared on the rare "50th Anniversary Collection" for copyright extensions in 2012. It also appeared on the TV show "True Detective" in the first season. It's a short song, and it contains the following pieces: 1. To build a solid road: you need rocks and gravel. 2. To satisfy my soul: you need a good woman. 3. By the way: have you ever been down on the Mobile and K.C. line? If so, have you seen my girlfriend? 4. And here is a refrain that he took and altered for the song "It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry" -- "Don't the clouds look lonesome shining across the sea? Don't my gal look good when she's coming after me?" The version of this song that I've presented here is incredibly rare. Here's why.
Angry man rambles.
He hates to leave his woman,
But she is unkind.
This is an old, well known Robert Johnson blues song that Bob Dylan recorded in 1962. It's available on the rare "50th Anniversary Collection" album, which was released in 2012 as a way to extend copyrights on a number of songs that Dylan recorded at the time. I got ramblin', I got ramblin' on my mind I got ramblin', I got ramblin' all on my mind Hate to leave my baby but you treat me so unkind I got mean things, I got mean things all on my mind Little girl, little girl, I got mean things all on my mind Hate to leave you here, babe, but you treat me so unkind Runnin' down to the station, catch the first mail train I see I think I hear her comin' now Runnin' down to the station, catch the old first mail train I see I got the blues about Miss So-and-So and the child got the blues about me And I'm leavin' this mornin' with my arm' fold' up and cryin' And I'm leavin' this mornin' with my arm' fold' up and cryin' I hate to leave my baby but she treats me so unkind I got mean things, I've got mean things on my mind I got mean things, I've got mean things all on my mind I got to leave my baby, well, she treats me so unkind
"Rambling, Gambling Willie" is an affectionate portrait of a coarse male gambler and slut named Will O'Conley who was good to all the women by whom he got his 27 children. O'Conley had one job, as they say, and he did it well, and then one day a guy blamed him for a bad poker hand and shot him in the head, and that was that for ol' Willie. This song appears on the first volume of the bootleg series, released in 1991, though it was recorded in 1962.
The story of Rambling, Gambling Willie:
Chapter 1: In which we learn of Willie's 27 children by a variety of women, none of whom he married.
Chapter 2: He gambled in the White House and in the rail yards. Wives knew to keep their husbands home when he would roll in to town.
Chapter 3: He held a poker session on the Jackson River Queen when he sailed to New Orleans. By the time they finished the game, he owned the boat.
Chapter 4: He held a week-long game in Cripple Creek, Colorado, with the miners, and when he was done, he owned the town.
Chapter 5: Willie didn't just support his progeny, he gave money to the sick and the poor. He didn't spend much of his money on himself.
Chapter 6: Willie was a good bluffer. Once, he beat a guy with a diamond flush and he didn't even have a pair.
Chapter 7: A guy shot Willie in the head and killed him, thinking Willie was to blame for his bad hand. When Willie took his fall, he was holding aces backed with eights.
Chapter 8: Moral: make your money while you can, because once you pull the dead man's hand, you won't be gambling anymore.
Captain falls for girl.
Lieutenant suddenly leaves.
Captain dies for girl.
This peppy song comes from Bob Dylan's debut album, released in 1962. He notes as he begins his song that a key geographical locator within it, the town of Fennerio, is a place he's never heard of. Then he tells the story of a bunch of soldiers marching to Fennerio, and while they're marching, the captain falls in love with a "lady like a dove" who of course is our title character, Pretty Peggy-O. The singer asks Peggy what her mother would think if she ran away with a soldier. Whatever, ma. She comes running down the stairs with her blonde hair all combed back. Meanwhile, a lieutenant who hasn't made an appearance before is reportedly gone from town, and has gone to Texas and joined the rodeo. And of the captain? He died for a woman's love, and is buried in Louisiana. He doesn't say whether the woman is Peggy. The song is based on an old Scottish folk song called "The Bonnie Lass o' Fyvie," and the song's lyrics call Fennerio "Fyvie-o." The old song also notes that there are many beautiful women in the Howe of Auchterless, Garioch and Aberdeen, but the prettiest one is Peggy in Fyvie. In this version, the captain promises her many fine things, but she won't go away with him because she says she was never meant to be a soldier's wife. He goes away and is killed in battle.
The song "Poor Boy Blues" was released in demo form only on the ninth volume of the Bootleg Series, which collects all the demonstration songs that Bob Dylan wrote for the Witmark publishing company as possible tunes to sell to other artists to perform. It contains nine tiny songs over nine verses, all with the same refrain: "Cain't ya hear me cryin'? Hm hm hm."
Bob Dylan and Nine Stories:
1. Where did you sleep last night?
2. What's wrong with you, baby?
3. Let me jump on this train.
4. I'm old enough for you to serve me a drink, bartender.
5. I run at the sound of the police whistle.
6. Don't charge me for this call, long-distance operator.
No more auctioning,
No more whips or slavery.
We've had too many.
This is a spiritual sung by slaves in the 19th century who escaped to Canada and won their freedom. Bob Dylan's version, which was released on the Bootleg Series's first volume, was recorded in concert in 1962. The words are clear enough. The tune is more or less the same as what Dylan used for "Blowin' in the Wind." No more auction block for me No more, no more No more auction block for me Many thousands gone No more driver's lash for me No more, no more No more driver's lash for me Many thousands gone No more whip lash for me No more, no more No more pint of salt for me Many thousands gone No more auction block for me No more, no more No more auction block for me Many thousands gone
Mom dies, kids get by.
Dad will try, sister will fly.
On Jesus don't rely.
From what little I know about music, it seems like Eric Clapton's version of this song, the opener on "461 Ocean Boulevard," is the one that most people know. It was first performed by (and written by?) Blind Willie Johnson in 1927 or so. The original was called "Mother's Children Have a Hard Time." The original: Well, well, well, ah A motherless children have a hard time Motherless children have a hard time, mother's dead They'll not have anywhere to go, wanderin' around from door to door Have a hard time Nobody on earth can take a mother's place when, when mother is dead, Lord Nobody on earth takes mother's place when, mother's dead Nobody on earth takes mother's place, when you were startin', paved the way Nobody treats you like mother will when Your wife or husband may be good to you, when mother is dead, Lord They'll be good to you, mother's dead A wife or a husband may be good to you, but, better than nothing has proved untrue Nobody treats you like mother will when, when mother is dead, Lord Lord, Lord, Lord Yeah, well, ah Well, some people say that sister will do, when mother is dead That sister will do when mother's dead Some people say that sister will do, but, as soon as she's married, she turn her back on you Nobody treats you like mother will And father will do the best he can, when mother is dead, Lord Well, the best he can when mother is dead Father will do the best he can, so many things a father can't understand Nobody treats you like mother will A motherless children have a hard time, when mother is dead, Lord Motherless children have a hard time, mother's dead They'll not have anywhere to go, Wanderin' around from door to door Have a hard time Dylan's version, as performed in 1962 at the Gaslight Cafe, and available on the album of the concert that was released in 2005. Motherless children run a hard road when your mother is dead Motherless children run a hard road when your mother is dead Motherless children run a hard road, a hard road, a hard road Motherless children run a hard road when your mother is dead Your father will do the best he can when your mother is dead Your father will do the best he can when your mother is dead Your father will do the best he can, but he just does not understand Motherless children run a hard road when your mother is dead Now, there's some people say your sister might do when your mother is dead Now, there's some people say your sister might do when your mother is dead Some people say your sister will do; soon as she married, turn her back on you Motherless children run a hard road when your mother is dead You can dig my grave with a bloody spade when I'm dead You can dig my grave with a bloody spade when I'm dead You can dig my grave with a bloody spade; see that my digger gets well paid Motherless children run a hard road when your mother is dead Jesus won't be no mother to you when your mother is dead Jesus won't be no mother to you when your mother is dead Jesus won't be no mother to you; his trials and tribulations won't see you through Motherless children run a hard road when your mother is dead
Mixed up and confused
Man keeps walking and searching
For mixed-up women.
"Mixed-Up Confusion" is Bob Dylan's first single, issued on the other side of the song "Corrina, Corrina." These two were the only songs from the sessions for the 1963 album "The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan" that were released with electric instruments backing him. The song feels like a conscious attempt at an easy-going hit single, though it didn't perform that way. The song is a compact lament: 1. I have mixed up confusion. It's killing me. It's hard to please so many people. 2. I'm walking around with my hat in my hand looking for a woman who's as mixed up as I am. 3. I have lots of questions and a fever. I don't know whom to ask for answers. 4. I'm still walking. Every time I see my reflection, "I’m hung over, hung down, hung up!" The first commercially available version of the song after the single appeared was on the "Biograph" compilation in 1985. When the first volume of the "50th Anniversary Collection" came out, a copyright extension collection of songs from 1962, it included seven of the 11 takes of the song that Bob performed. They're all slightly different. I have included three takes here.
The milk cow's missing.
If you see her, send her home.
Someone needs a suck.
An old Sleepy John Estes song became a famous Robert Johnson song and eventually reached its way to Bob Dylan, who recorded several takes of it for "The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan" album during 1962. It didn't make the album. This is a standard blues, combining sickness, sex and cheating. The metaphors barely hide the subject matter (though to explain the blue milk: this is a fungal spread): Tell me, milkcow, what on earth is wrong with you? Ooh, milkcow, what on earth is wrong with you? Now, you have a little calf, hoo hoo, and your milk is turnin' blue Oh, your calf is hungry, I believe he needs a suck Now, your calf is hungry, I believe he needs a suck But your milk is turnin' blue, hoo hoo, I believe he's outta luck Now, I feel like milkin' and my cow won't come I feel like churnin' it and my milk won't turn I'm cryin', please, please, don't do me wrong If you see my milk cow, baby, now how, please, drive her home But my milkcow been ramblin', hoo hee, for miles around But my milkcow been ramblin', hoo hoo, for miles around Well, now how can you suck on some other man's bull cow? Hoo hoo, in this strange man's town
