Stealin'

Some people don't change.
They say they will, but they go
Back to what they were.

This song was recorded in 1963, but it didn't get any wide release. In short: She doesn’t believe that he loves her. She doesn’t believe that he’s sinking (and needs her). He’s gradually turning back into the same kind of person that he used to be, which presumably is not such a good kind of person. Evidence: the woman whose love he needs is married, so you can be sure that she treats him properly. It reminds me of that old movie title, “I could never sleep with a man who had so little respect for my husband.”

Working on a Guru

It's raining outside
And I need an umbrella.
So does the guru.

This is just a two-man guitar workout between George Harrison and Bob Dylan, recorded during the "New Morning" sessions in, I guess, 1969 or 1970. The words don't mean a whole lot, but they're fun anyway. This song appeared in 2013 on volume 10 of the Bootleg Series.

Rain on the ground, windshield wipers movin', 
Water on the ground, sure don't feel like groovin'. 
Working on a guru, 
Working on a guru, 
Working on a guru, before the sun goes down. 

Rain all around, I need me an umbrella. 
Water on the ground, I am that kind of fella. 
Looking for a guru, 
Working on a guru, 
Working on a guru, before the sun goes down. 

Walking on the street, I need me an umbrella. 
Just to keep it sweet, I am that kind of fella. 
Looking for a guru, 
Working on a guru, 
Working on a guru, before the sun goes down. 

Rain on the ground, windshield wipers movin', 
Water all around, I sure don't feel like groovin'. 
I'm working on a guru, 
Yes, I'm working on a guru, 
But I'm working on a guru, before the sun goes down. 

Working on a guru, 
Working on a guru, 
Well, it's true, it could be you ... 
I'm working on a guru.

Wild Mountain Thyme

If you ask your girl
To pick thyme, and she says no
Just ask another.

"Wild Mountain Thyme" is a song by Francis McPeake of Belfast, and is a variant on an old Scottish song, so Wikipedia says, called "The Braes of Balquhither." Bob Dylan and the Band performed it at the Isle of Wight festival in 1969, and it appears on the 10th volume of the Bootleg Series, "Another Self Portrait."

Oh the summertime is a-coming
And the leaves are sweetly blooming
And the wild mountain thyme
Blooms around the purple heather.
Will you go, lassie,  go?
And we'll all go together
To pull wild mountain thyme
From all around the purple heather.
Will you go, lassie,  go?
If my true love she won't go,
You know, I'll surely find another
To pull wild mountain thyme
From all around the purple heather.
Will you go, lassie, go?
I will build my love a tower
At the foot of the fountain
And then on it I will put
All the flowers of the mountain
Will you go, lassie, go?
Oh, the springtime is a-coming
and the wee birds are sweetly singing
And the wild mountain thyme
blooms around the purple heather
will you go, lassie, go?

These Hands

My workingman's hands
Can vouch for me even if
My track record can't.

This song by Eddie Noack appears on the 10th volume of the Bootleg Series, combining recording session releases from the "Self Portrait"/"New Morning" albums in 1969 and 1970. He wrote it while on guard duty in the Army in Texas. It was meant as a patriotic song, but Johnny Cash's version turned it into a working man's praise. 

These hands aren't the hands of a gentleman
These hands are calloused and old
These hands raised a family, these hands built a home
Now these hands raised to praise the Lord
These hands won the heart of my loved one
And with hers they were never alone
If these hands filled their task then what more could you ask
For these fingers have worked to the bone
Now don't try to judge me by what you'd like me be
For my life hasn't been a success
Some people have power but still they grieve
While these hands brought me happiness
Now I'm tired and I'm old and I haven't much gold
Maybe things ain't been all that I planned
Lord above hear my plea when it's time to judge me
Take a look at these hard working hands
Take a look at these hard working hands

Tattle O'Day

Man buys animals
That can't possibly exist.
Then he plays with them.

I would think that "Tattle O'Day," which surfaced on the Bootleg Series in 2012 when Sony/Columbia released the recordings from Dylan's 1969-1970 "Self-Portrait"/"New Morning" studio sessions, was meant as a children's song. But that doesn't make it perfectly charming for adults. This song, which I think was written by Eric Andersen, contains the following:

- A little brown dog. He can whistle, sing, dance and run. His legs are 14 yards long, allowing him and the singer to go around the world in 12 hours.
- A four-inch-tall bull whose lowing shakes London to the ground.
- A flock of sheep of all wethers who produce wool and feathers. They also bring him lots of "increase" as they give birth to lambs and geese every autumn and every time the moon changes.
- A four-acre box that the singer carries in his pocket, having filled it with silver and guineas that he saved up to buy himself a trip to Turkey.
- A speckled hen who sits on an oyster until out springs a 15-hands-high hare.

Ramblin' Down Through the World

I'm just a rambler.
Ramble happy, ramble sad.
Ramble good or bad.

This is a Woody Guthrie song that Bob Dylan performed live in 1963. It appears on the super-rare copyright extension collection, "The 50th Anniversary Collection 1963." In the song, we learn that the singer is just one of those rambling boys, rambling and making noise. Sometimes he's lonely, sometimes he's blue, and nobody knows it better than you. He's just a rambling pearl.

Railroad Bill

I fear Railroad Bill.
He'll take whatever he wants
And kill everyone.

Here's a portrait of a bad man named Bill who rides the railroad like the mean old hobo he is. Bob Dylan recorded this old folk song in 1969 or 1970 during the "Self Portrait"/"New Morning" sessions, but it sat on the shelf until 201X when it was released on volume 10 of the Bootleg Series.

The crimes of Railroad Bill:
- Never worked
- Never will
- Mighty mean
- Shot the midnight lantern out of the brakeman's hand
- Took my wife, threatened to kill me if I resisted

The revenge of the singer:
- He bought a .38 and is taking it out West, presumably to find Bill and shoot him.
- As the singer notes, "Honey honey honey, think that I'm a fool? Think I would quit you when the weather is cool? Ride ride ride..."

Here's a cover of the song. I couldn't find one by Dylan.

Only a Hobo

Bum dies on the street.
He might not mean much to you,
But he's human too.

A social consciousness song from 1963. "Only a Hobo" doesn't specifically say that the guy died, but "His face was all grounded in the cold sidewalk floor" and "Only a hobo, but one more is gone" suggest to me that he did. This song appeared on the ninth volume of the bootleg series as a demo version for the Witmark music company. There's also a later version that he recorded around 1969 or 1970 that appears on volume 10 of the bootleg series, which collects recordings from that time.

As I was out walking on a corner one day
I spied an old hobo, in a doorway he lay
His face was all grounded in the cold sidewalk floor
And I guess he’d been there for the whole night or more

Only a hobo, but one more is gone
Leavin’ nobody to sing his sad song
Leavin’ nobody to carry him home
Only a hobo, but one more is gone

A blanket of newspaper covered his head
As the curb was his pillow, the street was his bed
One look at his face showed the hard road he’d come
And a fistful of coins showed the money he bummed

Only a hobo, but one more is gone
Leavin’ nobody to sing his sad song
Leavin’ nobody to carry him home
Only a hobo, but one more is gone

Does it take much of a man to see his whole life go down
To look up on the world from a hole in the ground
To wait for your future like a horse that’s gone lame
To lie in the gutter and die with no name?

Only a hobo, but one more is gone
Leavin’ nobody to sing his sad song
Leavin’ nobody to carry him home
Only a hobo, but one more is gone

Long and Wasted Years

Couple stays married
For years after they break up.
Wasted tears and years.

I don't think that "Long and Wasted Years," from Bob Dylan's 2013 album "Tempest," is all that easy to follow, but it is a heartfelt song. Whether these two were married or whether Dylan is getting at something else in this song, I don't know. I more or less made up an impression than a summary or interpretation in this haiku. It's a great song, by the way.

It's been such a long, long time
Since we loved each other and our hearts were true
One time, for one brief day, I was the man for you

Last night I heard you talkin' in your sleep
Saying things you shouldn't say, oh baby
You just might have to go to jail someday

Is there a place we can go,
Is there anybody we can see? Maybe
It's the same for you as it is for me

I ain't seen my family in twenty years
That ain't easy to understand, they may be dead by now
I lost track of 'em after they lost their land

Shake it up baby, twist and shout
You know what it's all about
What are you doing out there in the sun anyway?
Don't you know, the sun can burn your brains right out

My enemy crashed into the dust
Stopped dead in his tracks and he lost his lust
He was run down hard and he broke apart
He died in shame, he had an iron heart

I wear dark glasses to cover my eyes
There are secrets in 'em that I can't disguise
Come back baby
If I hurt your feelings, I apologize

Two trains running side by side, forty miles wide
Down the eastern line
You don't have to go, I just came to you because you're a friend of mine

I think that when my back was turned,
The whole world behind me burned
It's been a while,
Since we walked down that long, long aisle

We cried on a cold and frosty morn,
We cried because our souls were torn
So much for tears
So much for these long and wasted years

Hiding Too Long

Racists and bigots
Say they are patriots though
We know they are not.

Dylan performed "Hiding Too Long," also known as "You've Been Hiding Too Long," in 1963 at Town Hall in New York. It's a rant, though a well intended and blunt one, and falls right into the middle of his protest song catalog. The song is hard to find outside the Internet. The only album on which it appears is "The 50th Anniversary Collection 1963," the second of Sony's super-rare albums to extend the copyrights on Dylan's songs. This collection was limited to 100 copies, and the only way to get a hand on one outside paying huge prices is to download it if you can find it somewhere.

Come you phoney super-patriotic people that say
That hating and fearing is my only way
That this here country has got to be
You're thinking of your sales, you ain't thinking of me.
You're not thinking of any George Washington
You're not thinking of any Thomas Jefferson
But you say that you are and you lie and mislead
You use their names for your aims, for your selfish greed.
Don't speak to me of your patriotism
When you throw the Southern black boy in prison
And you say the only good niggers are the ones that have died
Don't think I'll  ever stand on your side.
Don't think I'll ever stand on your side
Though you make it so hard for me to love
My face will never feel the slap of your glove
My hands will never buy the cards that you play
My feet will never walk down the road that you lay.
Get out in the open, stop standing afar
Let the whole world see what a hypocrite you are
I ain't joking and it ain't no gag
You been hiding too long behind the American flag.

Goin' Back to Rome

You can have New York.
I'll take the Coliseum
As I'll be in Rome.

"You can keep Madison Square Garden, give me the Coliseum." This wisp of a song, "Goin' Back to Rome" got one performance live in 1963, and is available on the super-hard-to-find "50th Anniversary Collection 1963" album. Here are the lyrics that I swiped off a website somewhere. I don't know what he's singing in the ?? parts either.

Well you know I'm lying 
But don't look at me with scorn.
Well you know I'm lying 
But don't look at me with scorn.
I'm going back to Rome
That's where I was born.

Buy me a ?? I can carry
Keep it for my friends.
Buy me a ?? I can carry
Keep it for my friends.
Don't go to Italy
All around the bend.

You can keep Madison Square Garden
Give me the Coliseum.
You can keep Madison Square Garden
Give me the Coliseum.
So I can see the gladiators,
Man I can always see 'em.