When I Got Troubles

Begone, my troubles.
I'm gonna swing them away
And leave them behind.

I think that "When I Got Troubles," from 1959, is Bob Dylan's first "solo" recording, though I think there's also an earlier one with him and some of his high school friends. From 1957, perhaps. Anyway, this is the earliest one that appeared on a commercially released album under his name, so it's available for inclusion in the haiku series. It appears on volume 7 of the Bootleg Series, the soundtrack to Martin Scorsese's Dylan documentary, "No Direction Home."

Well I got trouble
Trouble's on my mind
Yep, when I got trouble
Trouble's on my mind
Well, I'm gonna forget my trouble
Leave my trouble behind, behind

I'm gonna swing it up
Swing it down
Got the fever, then wham, wham wham!

Well, swing your troubles
Swing your troubles away
Yeah, well, swing baby
Swing your troubles today

Yea, yea, yea, yeah!

This Land Is Your Land

This land is our land,
Never mind what the records
At City Hall say.

This is one of Woody Guthrie's most famous folk songs. Bob Dylan's version appears in volume seven of the Bootleg Series, which is the soundtrack for the Martin Scorsese documentary on Bob Dylan, "No Direction Home." In this recording, he does not sing the two lines about Guthrie's disdain for private property and his line of doubt about the USA being for everyone when he sees people waiting in bread lines.

This land is your land This land is my land
From California to the New York island; 
From the red wood forest to the Gulf Stream waters 
This land was made for you and Me.

As I was walking that ribbon of highway, 
I saw above me that endless skyway: 
I saw below me that golden valley: 
This land was made for you and me.

I've roamed and rambled and I followed my footsteps 
To the sparkling sands of her diamond deserts; 
And all around me a voice was sounding: 
This land was made for you and me.

When the sun came shining, and I was strolling, 
And the wheat fields waving and the dust clouds rolling, 
As the fog was lifting a voice was chanting: 
This land was made for you and me.

As I went walking I saw a sign there 
And on the sign it said "No Trespassing." 
But on the other side it didn't say nothing, 
That side was made for you and me.

In the shadow of the steeple I saw my people, 
By the relief office I seen my people; 
As they stood there hungry, I stood there asking 
Is this land made for you and me?

Nobody living can ever stop me, 
As I go walking that freedom highway; 
Nobody living can ever make me turn back 
This land was made for you and me.

Sally Gal

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.

Rambler Gambler

Leave me alone if
You don't like me. Write to me
If you should need me.

This is an old song in the Dylan catalogue, apparently the second one that he recorded as a solo artist. It's from 1960. It begins with the chorus that anyone who has spent a drunken evening at an Irish bar will know: "I'm a rambler, I'm a gambler, I'm a long way from my home. If the people don't like me, they can leave me alone." He doesn't include the rest, though: "I eat when I'm hungry and I drink when I'm dry, and if the moonshine don't kill me, I'll drink till I die." 

The rest of the song contains these elements:
1. Come sit beside me, I love you boldly.
2. I'll write to you when you're in Wyoming. If you run into trouble, write to me.
3. I had a 16-year-old lover who was a flower of velvet and the rose of Celine.
4. Her parents didn't approve, which meant that eventually, she didn't either. "If I writ on your book, love, just you blot out my name."
5. Lovely verse: "Oh there's changes in the ocean, there's changes in the sea, there's changes in my true love, ain't no change in me."

The song is available on the seventh volume of the Bootleg Series, called "No Direction Home." It's the soundtrack album to the Martin Scorsese documentary on Dylan.

I Was Young When I Left Home

He rambled while young.
While boozing, he hears Mom died,
But he can't go home.

Bob Dylan recorded this song on the famous and widely bootlegged "Minnesota Hotel Tape" on December 22, 1961, in Minneapolis. It made its first commercial appearance in volume 7 of the Bootleg Series, the soundtrack album to Martin Scorsese's 2005 documentary on Dylan, "No Direction Home." It's a story about just what you think. 

- Guy leaves home, never writes to his parents.
- Collects his pay, runs into a guy who tells him his mother's dead and his sister's "all gone wrong," and dad needs him home immediately.
- He doesn't have enough money, clothes and, apparently, reputation to do this.
- You can gauge how far he is from home by the sound of the train whistle.
- He needs to pay his debt to the commissary, pawn his watch and chain, and go home.
- He misses his mother. He doesn't like being out in the windy plains, even though he thought he would before he went out roaming.

Dink's Song (Fare Thee Well)

Man knocks up woman.
He used to want her a lot,
But not anymore.

"Dink's Song," better known as "Fare Thee Well," gained some prominence in recent years after it made an appearance in the Coen Brothers movie "Inside Llewyn Davis." It provided apt accompaniment (and echoed the plot) to the sour, depressing film, about a selfish folk singer in Manhattan in the 1960s who was good enough to hold his own, but fell short of the greatness he thought he deserved. The music is bright, but the lyrics are longing. It's about a woman whose lover leaves her when he makes her pregnant. Not only does he abandon his responsibility, he loses his interest in her when the pregnancy makes her unattractive in his eyes:


Once I wore
My apron low
Couldn’t keep you
Away from my door
Fare thee well, my honey
Fare thee well

Now my apron
Is up to my chin
You pass my door
But you never come in
Fare thee well, my honey
Fare thee well

... and then:

Fastest man
I ever saw
Skipped Missouri
On the way to Arkansas
Fare thee well, my honey
Fare thee well

You can find Dylan's version on volume 7 of the Bootleg Series.