Suze went to Italy, which is mentioned in Bob Dylan’s Blues.
I always just saw it as asking for something expensive in a slightly vindictive way. Plenty of that in his early songs.
My interpretation of the song is that as he is coming back to her he gets a letter that she has now left. She makes a point of never asking for anything, yet he does. I’m not sure why it’s Spanish boots of Spanish leather, it certainly has a an interesting phrasing to it. The first time he says the word Spanish it is quick, but the second time the first syllable is held. I hear a longing in that note. Regardless of why it is Spanish boots of Spanish leather, it’s important that he does ask her to bring him something, because he undoubtedly wants her back. And realizes probably, he blew it by leaving for so long.
I think that it doesn’t matter what it is, just something to bring back, because then she will come back too… But he chooses Spanish boots of Spanish leather and also names it the song to draw attention away from the real thing he is asking for, and that is just for get her to return. I mean it certainly distracted us, as we seem to be giving the question of “why that” a lot of attention.
He has given up on her by the end of the song and asks for a material thing because of that. It’s not a sitcom.
If it sounds good, then what else is the song supposed to do? Why was this even a question?
No, he didn’t leave at all. In the first verses it is clear that she is leaving and is asking him what he would like her to send from Spain. He says nothing - what he wants today he will want again tomorrow - clearly love and/or sex.
When she reaches Spain - or actually on the way - she says that she won’t be coming back anytime soon, so he then wants something physical. Just like I said 2 years ago when I killed this thread.
No, he doesn’t ask for the boots because she’ll bring them back for him. She asks if she can SEND back something for him to remember her by.
So does he really want a pair of boots? Of course not. But it’s a face-saving answer he can give her so she’ll stop asking him what he wants as a souvenir. And perhaps he’s finally admitted to himself that she’s gone and may not ever be back and a good pair of boots might be useful to wear as he moves on too.
Here’s an interview with a young Robert by Studs Terkel, and at one point he laughs, and says “Oh, you wanna hear a love song?” Pretty classic. He interrupts Studs to point out it’s not a “Boy loves Girl” tune, but a “Girl leaves Boy” tune.
The chords are the same as “Girl From The North Country” and pretty close to “Tomorrow Is a Long Time.”
In the two years since this thread started, I’ve had some time to think and the more I think about it the more I realize that the narrator of the song is an ass. He sounds like one of those “nice guys” that turn out to be whiny, entitled jerks. He’s complaining about his girlfriend going off to have some amazing life experience because all he can think about is himself. He thinks he’s all romantic because he values her above diamonds and whatever, but really he’s manipulative and controlling (come back to me “unspoiled”?!?).
Therefore I suspect the allusion to Gypsy Davie and related songs is a deliberate slap in the face. “You want to go off to study in another country instead of prioritizing me? You’re as inconstant as the woman in that song.”
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Lots of the narrators in early Dylan songs are asses. Take a listen to Don’t Think Twice where the narrator says that the woman who put him up wasted his precious time. Nasty.
And, much as I love Dylan’s music, the way he treated Joan Baez in the tour shown in “Don’t Look Back” shows him to be a bit of an ass himself.
oh blah blah blah.
I always thought one of the best zingers I ever read was Mike Royko’s response to something that Bob Dylan said in an interview. Dylan said, “I’m not looking to be that new Messiah. That’s just not in the cards for me.”
To which Mike wrote, “I don’t know if that’s modesty or a lack of ambition.”
Ooooooh buuurrrrn. Good one Mike!
Yeah, it’s not exactly shocking, is it?
But Boots of Spanish Leather happens to be one of my favorite songs and sometime in the last year I was singing it to my infant daughter when it suddenly popped into my head that it was pretty much a textbook illustration of that “nice guy” phenomenon. I will keep singing it to her, but as soon as she’s old enough I plan to use it to point out to her that she definitely shouldn’t date a guy like this and why.
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I can’t help but think that projection like this is the reason Dylan retreated from public life, and made records that didn’t mean anything at all for awhile.
It can’t be that he has realized during the song that he can’t get her back and asks for something material because of that? It’s the whole art and arc of the song. Not sure why that makes a dude such a life lesson about assholes.
Don’t think twice? Can it be that the guy was hurt, and justified? I have heard that song as a direct message from me to someone else. And I wasn’t the asshole.
There’s a big world out there outside of Dylan back seat driving land.
Wrong lyrics;
It’s, “Oh blah dee, Oh blah doh”.
drad dog Find a way to express yourself that is not insulting. If you don’t like the topic, move on. There is no need to threadshit.
I thought that nice guys never actually got the girl. In this song he had her, and then lost her.
One of my favourite songs but I really don’t see what he’s saying as being particularly nasty. Isn’t he effectively saying “I was looking for a good relationship with you but you are being cold, so I’ve wasted my time trying”.
It’s a bit blunt, but if you take the singer at his word, arguably someone who isn’t interested is wasting your time if they lead you on and don’t say so from the outset.
I have been watching this on the sidelines and wondering if anyone would just cut to the chase.
Of course this is it.
He wants her. She is trying to say she’s leaving and not returning, but wants to be nice and send something back. He doesn’t hear that at first and keeps asking for her to come back. Finally, he says “sigh…okay, send me something they are famous for - whatever.”
And yeah, something made of leather from Spain would fit that. Perhaps if she had gone to Russia, he would finally have just said “okay, fine - just send me some borscht!”
No, a Russian fur hat of Russian fur. 
I’m most comfortable with this reading. I wouldn’t call the narrator an asshole as much as a hapless out-of-touch MALE. You can tell by her tone, and the persistence of her question, that she’s saying goodbye. For good. But he doesn’t get it. She sounds a lot more mature than him, at least a lot more self-realized. These kind of codependent/immature/effed-up protagonists usually come up with the most interesting narrative. “How could you treat me this way?” kind of stuff that may work in song, but lands a fella in counseling, then in bachelorhood. I’ve been that pathetic man, and she was headed off to the Peace Corps.
My favorite rendition of the tune is by The Seldom Scene.
Threads like this are bound to keep coming back from the dead as new eyes come upon them. My wife and I have been discussing this song the last few days, and checking out variations on the story on YouTube. I keep coming back to Bob’s, though.