World Gone Wrong

You left and I said
I'd kill you. It's a bad world.
It's clearly gone wrong.

"World Gone Wrong," by the Mississippi Sheiks, is the source of the name that Bob Dylan used for his 1993 album of blues covers, as well as its first song. The song turns a breakup into a biblical event, not in a grandiose way, but in a style that is very, very sparing.

1. "Strange things have happened, like never before. My baby told me I would have to go. I can't be good no more, once like I did before. I can't be good, baby, Honey, because the world's gone wrong."
2. Feel bad now. No home.
3. I told you if I didn't leave you, I would have to kill you.
4. I tried to be loving, but you weren't loyal.
5. If this happens to you, ask God to get her off your mind.
6. When you are so irritated with her that you can no longer behave, show her the door.
7. Actually, scratch that. Show YOURSELF the front door.

Ugliest Girl in the World

Bob likes 'em ugly,
As the song's title attests.
They like him as well.

The music's pretty good, but the song "Ugliest Girl in the World" surely represents some kind of low point for Bob Dylan. The song, which came out on "Down in the Groove" in 1988, is exactly one thing, a description of the ugliest girl in the world, and an affirmation that he loves her.

Qualities:
Hook in her nose
Unibrow
Old clothes
Stutters
Hops
Flat feet
Knock knees
Knuckles crack
Snores in bed
Five-inch smile
Sweet breath
Prizefighter nose
Cauliflower ears
Run in her hose

Why she's a catch:
She has a way of calling my name that drives me crazy
Weird sense of humor that's all her own
She cheers him up

Two Soldiers

"If I die, tell Mom,"
One soldier said to his mate.
But then they both die.

"Two Soldiers," also known as "The Blue-Eyed Boston Boy," is an old song from the Civil War, author presumably unknown. According to Lyle Lofgren, it likely is a story based on the battle of Fredericksburg in 1862. A blue-eyed boy and a tall dark man are fighting for the Union, and the boy asks the man to please tell his mother if he dies. He says he will do the same for the dark man. Both die in battle, and there is no one left to tell the boy's mother what happened, nor his blue-eyed girl. The song was released on the 1993 album "World Gone Wrong."

32-20 Blues

Gonna shoot my gal.
My gun's bigger than hers is.
(She has a new boyfriend)

The "32-20 Blues" is about a gun, which of course an angry man uses to shoot his woman because he's upset with her yet again. It's based on the "22-20 Blues" about the same thing. Robert Johnson performed the former, Skip James the latter. Bob Dylan's version appears on the eighth volume of the Bootleg Series.

If I send for my baby
and she don't come
If I send for my baby
man, and she don't come
All the doctors in Hot Springs
sure can't help her none
And if she gets unruly
thinks she don't wan do
If she gets unruly
thinks she don't wan do
Take my 32-20 now and
cut her half in two
She got a 38 special but I believe its much too light
She got a 38 special but I believe its much too light
I got a 32-20, got to make the camps alright
If I send for my baby
and she don't come
If I send for my baby
man, and she don't come
All the doctors in Hot Springs
sure can't help her none
I'm gonna shoot my pistol, gonna shoot my Gatlin gun
I'm gonna shoot my pistol, gotta shoot my Gatlin gun
You made me love you
now your man has come
Ah-oh
baby where you stay last night
Ah-ah
baby where you stayed last night
You got your hair all tangled
and you ain't talkin right
Got a 38 special boys, it do very well

Stack A Lee

Stagger kills Billy
Over a Stetson hat theft.
Stagger goes to jail.

This is an old tale, covered many times. A pimp in St. Louis,. "Stag" Lee Shelton, shot an underworld buddy, Billy Lyons, over a bar fight that involved Lee's Stetson hat. That's the basic story. Everything else from the song's first known reference in 1897 to the present has been an embellishment or a variation. It's a strange song to become so lasting and popular, a firefight over a hat, but that's popular culture for you. Bob Dylan's version appears on the 1993 album "World Gone Wrong."

Hawlin Alley on a dark and drizzly night,
Billy Lyons and Stack-A-Lee had one terrible fight.
All about that John B. Stetson hat.

Stack-A-Lee walked to the bar-room, and he called for a glass of beer,
Turned around to Billy Lyons, said, "What are you doin' here?"
"Waitin' for a train, please bring my woman home.

"Stack-A-Lee, oh Stack-A-Lee. please don't take my life.
Got three little children and a-weepin', lovin' wife.
You're a bad man, bad man, Stack-A-Lee."

"God bless your children and I'll take care of your wife.
You stole my John B., now I'm bound to take your life."
All about that John B. Stetson hat.

Stack-A-Lee turned to Billy Lyons and he shot him right through the head,
Only taking one shot to kill Billy Lyons dead.
All about that John B. Stetson hat.

Sent for the doctor, well the doctor he did come,
Just pointed out Stack-A-Lee, said, "Now what have you done?"
You're a bad man, bad man, Stack-A-Lee."

Six big horses and a rubber-tired hack,
Taking him to the cemetery, buy they failed to bring him back.
All about that John B. Stetson hat.

Hawlin Alley, thought I heard the bulldogs bark.
It must have been old Stack-A-Lee stumbling in the dark.
He's a bad man, gonna land him right back in jail.

High police walked on to Stack-A-Lee, he was lying fast asleep.
High police walked on to Stack-A-Lee, and he jumped forty feet.
He's a bad man, gonna land him right back in jail.

Well they got old Stack-A-Lee and they laid him right back in jail.
Couldn't get a man around to go Stack-A Lee's bail
All about that John B. Stetson hat.

Stack-A-Lee turned to the jailer, he said, "Jailer, I can't sleep.
'Round my bedside Billy Lyons began to creep."
All about that John B. Stetson hat.

Ragged and Dirty

Dirty derelict
Asks woman for a quick one
To help pep him up.

This is an old blues song, and the lyrics haven't changed much over the years. The trouble is that I don't quite understand what's going on here. My view is that it's about a guy who caught his wife cheating on him with his best friend, so he's out on the road, and hungry and broke and so on. He runs into another woman and suggests that they have sex. She of course is married to someone else, but he suggests that they make it a quickie and he'll be gone before her man ever suspects what's going on. If that's not the story, then two men must be sharing the verses as some are about Mr. Unlucky cursing the rotten turn of events, and others are about getting a quick crack at the lady while her man is out.

Mary and the Soldier

She will go to war
Because she loves her soldier.
First they get married.

Remember the scene in "History of the World, Part One" when Madeleine Kahn makes her selection of Roman studs for an evening of partying with the Vestal Virgins? Mary of "Mary and the Soldier" pursues her quest for a man with similar elan. Bob Dylan's version appears on the deluxe edition of volume 8 of the Bootleg Series:

Come all you lads of high renown that will hear of a fair young maiden
And she roved out on a summer's day for to view the soldier's parading

        They march so bold and they look so gay
        The colours fine and the bands did play
        And it caused young Mary for to say
        "I'll wed you me gallant soldier"

She viewed the soldiers on parade and as they stood at their leisure
And Mary to herself did say: "At last I find my treasure

        But oh how cruel my parents must be
        To banish my true love away from me
        Well I'll leave them all and I'll go with thee
        Me bold and undaunted soldier"

"Oh Mary dear, your parents' love I pray don't be unruly
For when you're in a foreign land, believe you rue it surely

        Perhaps in battle I might fall
        From a shot from an angry cannonball
        And you're so far from your daddy's hall
        Be advised by a gallant soldier."

"Oh I have fifty guineas in right gold, likewise a hearth that's burning
And I'd leave them all and I'd go with you me bold undaunted soldier

        So don't say no but let me go
        And I will face the daring foe
        And we'll march together to and fro
        And I'll wed you, my gallant soldier"

And when he saw her loyalty and Mary so true-hearted
He said: "Me darling, married we'll be and nothing but death will part us

        And when we're in a foreign land
        I'll guard you, darling, with my right hand
        And hopes that God might stand a friend
        With Mary and her gallant soldier"

I can't find Dylan's version so I'll give you this excellent one by Paul Brady:

Love Henry

Henry doesn't love her
So she kills him. That's one way
To keep your man true.

"Love Henry" is from the 1993 album "World Gone Wrong." The song comes from a tune called "Young Hunting," which Wikipedia reliably informs me is folk song Roud 47, catalogued as Child Ballad #68, and comes from Scotland in the 18th century. Other titles include "Henry Lee," "Early Richard" and "The Proud Girl." Another similar song is a Child Ballad called "Young Benjie," with variants known as "Child Waters" and "The False Lover Won Back." A man tells his girlfriend that he loves another woman. She stabs him to death and dumps him in a well. She then promises a little birdie that she'll treat him well, in this version a parrot -- presumably because it could tell the police about the murder. The parrot tells her that there's nothing doing, given what she just did to poor Henry. The interesting note in this song is her remorse after she kills Henry. "Get well get well, Love Henry!" she cried. Dylan brings just the right amount of pathos and detachment to the delivery of this song.

"Get down, get down, Love Henry," she cried.
"And stay all night with me.
I have gold chains, and the finest I have
I'll apply them all to thee."

"I can't get down and I shan't get down,
Or stay all night with thee.
Some pretty little girl in Cornersville
I love far better than thee."

He layed his head on a pillow of down.
Kisses she gave him three.
With a penny knife that she held in her hand
She murdered mortal he.

"Get well, get well, Love Henry, " She cried,
"Get well, get well," said she.
"Oh don't you see my own heart's blood
Come flowin' down so free?"

She took him by his long yellow hair,
And also by his feet.
She plunged him into well water, where
It runs both cold and deep.

"Lie there, lie there, Love Henry," she cried,
"Til the flesh rots off your bones.
Some pretty little girl in Cornersville
Will mourn for your return."

"Hush up, hush up, my parrot," she cried,
"And light on my right knee.
The doors to your cage shall be decked with gold
And hung on a willow tree."

"I won't fly down, I can't fly down
And light on your right knee.
A girl who would murder her own true love
Would kill a little bird like me."

Lone Pilgrim

Dead pilgrim in tomb
Tells man he died of disease
And went to heaven.

Here's a merry tune. "Lone Pilgrim" appeared on the similarly unhappy album "World Gone Wrong," released in 1993. The song might date back to 1838, according to this long essay.

I came to the place where the lone pilgrim lay
And patiently stood by his tomb
When in a low whisper I heard something say
How sweetly I sleep here alone

The tempest may howl and the loud thunder roar
And gathering storms may arise
But calm is my feeling, at rest is my soul
The tears are all wiped from my eyes

The call of my master compelled me from home
No kindred or relative nigh
I met the contagion and sank to the tomb
My soul flew to mansions on high

Go tell my companion and children most dear
To weep not for me, now I'm gone
The same hand that led me through seas most severe
Has kindly assisted me home

Jack-a-Roe

Boy goes off to war.
Girl follows, dressed as boy. She
Finds him, they marry.

Wikipedia says "Jack-a-Roe," found on Bob Dylan's 1993 album "World Gone Wrong," is known by many titles: "Jack Munro," "Jackie Monroe," "Jack-A-Roe," "Jackaroe," "Jackaro," "Jackie Frazier," "Jack the Sailor," "Jack Went A-Sailing," "The Love of Polly and Jack Monroe." In this case, Jack could be the guy's name, or a reference to his life as a sailor, ie, "Jack Tar." The story concerns a sailor who goes to sea, and then off to war. His girl can't bear to let him go and insists on coming with him. Unlike many of these stories, both live, stay together and get married. 

Oh, there was a wealthy merchant, in London he did dwell.
He had a lovely daughter, the truth to you I'll tell,
Oh, the truth to you I'll tell.

She had sweethearts a-plenty and men of high degree.
There was none but Jackie Frazier, her true love e'er to be,
Oh, her true love e'er to be.

"Oh daughter, oh daughter, your body I will confine.
If none but Jack the sailor would ever suit your mind,
Oh, would ever suit your mind.

"This body you may imprison, my heart you can't confine.
There's none but Jack the sailor would have this heart of mine,
Oh, would have this heart of mine.

Now Jackie's gone sailing with trouble on his mind.
To leave his native country and his darling girl behind,
Oh, his darling girl behind.

She went into the tailor shop and dressed in men's array,
Then she went into the vessel to convey herself away,
Oh, convey herself away.

"Before you step onboard, sir, your name I'd like to know."
She smiled all in her countenance, said, "They call me Jack-A-Roe,
Oh, they call me Jack-A-Roe."

"Your waist is light and slender, your fingers neat and small,
Your cheeks too red and rosy for to face the cannonball,
Oh, to face the cannonball.

"I know my waist is slender and my fingers they are small,
But they would not make me tremble for to see ten thousand fall,
Oh, to see ten thousand fall."

The war soon being over, they hunted all around.
Among the dead and dying her darling love she found,
Oh, her darling love she found.

She picked him up all in her arms and carries him to town,
And sent for her physician to quickly heal his wounds,
Oh, to quickly heal his wounds.

This couple, they got married, so well they did agree,
This couple they got married, so why not you and me,
Oh, so why not you and me.

Delia

Curtis kills Delia
And goes to jail. Bob loved her
But couldn't save her.

The true story of the murder of Delia Green is sad enough. The songs written about her accentuate the negative. Green, as the story goes, was shot and killed by Mose Houston on Christmas Eve 1900. She was 14, he was 15, and they reportedly had a sexual relationship. According to the tale, he killed her after she called him a "son of a bitch." At least, that's what the Wikipedia entry says. As Bob and others have put it in the various musical versions of the story, Delia went underground and Houston, also known by other names, went to jail. He got out after a few years, but died in New York in unknown circumstances. Some versions, like Johnny Cash's, tell the story from the point of view of the murderer. Bob's doesn't. He adds a number of details, likely fictional, to the story. More importantly, he adds himself as the self-pitying man who loved Delia, but knew that she had eyes for someone else -- someone who would be the death of her. Every verse ends with him telling us that "All the friends I ever had are gone." His version, which appears on the 1993 album "World Gone Wrong," emphasizes loneliness for himself, while reporting the sordid end of Delia's life with a deadpan tone. 

Delia was a gambling girl, gambled all around,
Delia was a gambling girl, she laid her money down.
All the friends I ever had are gone.

Delia's dear ol' mother took a trip out West,
When she returned, little Delia gone to rest.
All the friends I ever had are gone.

Delia's daddy weeped, Delia's momma moaned,
Wouldn't have been so bad if the poor girl died at home.
All the friends I ever had are gone.

Curtis' looking high, Curtis' looking low,
He shot poor Delia down with a cruel forty-four.
All the friends I ever had are gone.

High up on the housetops, high as I can see,
Looking for them rounders, looking out for me.
All the friends I ever had are gone.

Men in Atlanta, tryin' to pass for white,
Delia's in the graveyard, boys, six feet out of sight.
All the friends I ever had are gone.

Judge says to Curtis, "What's this noise about?"
"All about them rounders, Judge, tryin' to cut me out."
All the friends I ever had are gone.

Curtis said to the judge, "What might be my fine?"
Judge says, "Poor boy, you got ninety-nine."
All the friends I ever had are gone.

Curtis' in the jail house, drinking from an old tin cup,
Delia's in the graveyard, she ain't gettin' up.
All the friends I ever had are gone.

Delia, oh Delia, how can it be?
You loved all them rounders, never did love me.
All the friends I ever had are gone.

Delia, oh Delia, how can it be?
You wanted all them rounders, never had time for me.
All the friends I ever had are gone.

Here's the album version:

Broke Down Engine

He's like a dead car.

She's probably the reason.

Bodywork might help.

The body that needs some work is the singer's, of course. In this old blues song by Blind Willie McTell, a man is lonely so he blows all his money on gambling. When he runs out of cash, he pawns his pistol and his best clothes. Then he prays for God to give him back his woman, and promises to stop bothering God if he'll just do as he asks. Following this, he asks the woman directly to come back to him. He praises her dance skills and suggests that if she's a real hot momma, she can make his engine, whistle and bell work again (as I was saying about "body work"), and most importantly, relieve his weeping spell. Bob's version of the song appears on his blues covers album "World Gone Wrong" from 1993.

Blood in My Eyes

Man pays a woman

For a date. She won't be rushed.

He reclaims his cash.

Here's the story of a man who sees a pretty woman and asks if they can make love. To prove his attraction, he goes home and puts on his tie and brings her back all the money that he can find. You begin to suspect that this is a financial arrangement. She asks if he can slow down, but he says he can't wait. Not only that, he begins to suspect that she's about to take the money and not hold up her end of the deal, so he asks for his money back.

It's almost possible to do a song like this as comedy, but Dylan plays it hard and straight, nearly desperate. It was released on the second of his two solo acoustic covers albums, "World Gone Wrong," in 1993.

Woke up this morning, feeling blue,
Seen a good-lookin' girl, can I make love with you?
Hey, hey, babe, I got blood in my eyes for you,
Hey, hey, babe, I got blood in my eyes for you.
I got blood in my eyes for you, babe,
I don't care what in the world you do.

I went back home, put on my tie,
Gonna get that girl that money that money will buy.
Hey, hey, babe, I got blood in my eyes for you,
Hey, hey, babe, I got blood in my eyes for you.
I got blood in my eyes for you, babe,
I don't care what in the world you do.

She looked at me, begin to smile,
Said, "Hey, hey, man, can't you wait a little while?"
No, no, babe, I got blood in my eyes for you,
No, no, babe, I got blood in my eyes for you.
Got blood in my eyes for you, babe,
I don't care what in the world you do.

No, no, ma'ma, I can't wait,
You got my money, now you're trying to break this date.
Hey, hey, babe, I got blood in my eyes for you,
Hey, hey, babe, I got blood in my eyes for you.
I got blood in my eyes for you, babe,
I don't care what in the world you do.

I tell you something, tell you the facts,
You don't want me, give my money back.
Hey, hey, babe, I got blood in my eyes for you,
Hey, hey, babe, I got blood in my eyes for you.
I got blood in my eyes for you, babe,

I don't care what in the world you do.

The doleful lyrics and tone of the video make an interesting contrast to the free-form narrative, which shows Dylan out on the street in a top hat and gloves, signing autographs and generally being kind to fans and strangers on the street. It's quite sweet.

Broke Down Engine

He's like a dead car.
She's probably the reason.
Bodywork might help.

Blood in My Eyes

He's so into her.
He gave her money, but she
Doesn't care a bit.