# Post your favorite Bob Dylan lyric here **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 13, 2016, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-your-favorite-bob-dylan-lyric-here/768472 "2016-10-13T23:01:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2016, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-your-favorite-bob-dylan-lyric-here/768472/1 "2016-10-13T23:01:12Z")
I am thrilled that Zimmy won the Nobel Prize. It actually made my day. In celebration, let us post some of our favorite Dylan lyrics. From **Idiot Wind** : I been double-crossed now For the very last time and now I’m finally free I kissed goodbye the howling beast On the borderline which separated you from me You’ll never know the hurt I suffered Nor the pain I rise above, And I’ll never know the same about you Your holiness or your kind of love And it makes me feel so sorry ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2016, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-your-favorite-bob-dylan-lyric-here/768472/2 "2016-10-13T23:07:19Z")
The last 2 verses of **Shelter From the Storm** : In a little hilltop village, they gambled for my clothes I bargained for salvation and she gave me a lethal dose I offered up my innocence I got repaid with scorn Come in, she said I’ll give ya shelter from the storm Well, I’m livin’ in a foreign country but I’m bound to cross the line Beauty walks a razor’s edge, someday I’ll make it mine If I could only turn back the clock to when God and her were born Come in, she said I’ll give ya shelter from the storm ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2016, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-your-favorite-bob-dylan-lyric-here/768472/3 "2016-10-13T23:27:44Z")
Damn, there are just sooooo many! How about this bit from **Mr. Tambourine Man** : Take me disappearing through the smoke rings of my mind Down the foggy ruins of time Far past the frozen leaves The haunted frightened trees Out to the windy bench Far from the twisted reach of crazy sorrow Yes, to dance beneath the diamond sky With one hand waving free Silhouetted by the sea Circled by the circus sands With all memory and fate Driven deep beneath the waves Let me forget about today until tomorrow ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2016, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-your-favorite-bob-dylan-lyric-here/768472/4 "2016-10-13T23:32:46Z")
The first three entries beat mine in terms of pure language and poetry. However, the message of these words frequently resonate from the headlines of the day: The line it is drawn The curse it is cast The slow one now Will later be fast As the present now Will later be past The order is rapidly fadin’ And the first one now will later be last For the times they are a-changin’ ---
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2016, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-your-favorite-bob-dylan-lyric-here/768472/5 "2016-10-13T23:36:14Z")
Cinderella, she seems so easy It takes one to know one, she smiles And puts her hands into her back pockets Bette Davis style And in comes Romeo, he’s moaning “You belong to me I believe” And someone says “you’re in the wrong place My friend you’d better leave” And the only sound that’s left After the ambulances go Is Cinderella sweeping up On desolation row ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2016, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-your-favorite-bob-dylan-lyric-here/768472/6 "2016-10-13T23:44:27Z")
Oh, don’t get me started, I could spin out classic Bob lines for days… On preview, **koeeoaddi** ninja’d me on the Cinderella verse from “Desolation Row,” so I’ll take two: You will start out standing, proud to steal her anything she sees But you will wind up peeping though a keyhole down upon your knees. And when I was through, I filled up my shoe And brought it to you. You, you took me in, You loved me then, You never wasted time. And I, I never took much, I never asked for your crutch, Now don’t ask for mine. ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2016, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-your-favorite-bob-dylan-lyric-here/768472/7 "2016-10-13T23:55:34Z")
I’m a-thinking and a-wonderin’ walking down the road I once loved a woman, a child I am told I gave her my heart but she wanted my soul But don’t think twice, it’s all right. ---
**Author:** ![P-man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/p-man/32/3606_2.png) [@P-man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/P-man)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2016, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-your-favorite-bob-dylan-lyric-here/768472/8 "2016-10-14T00:37:10Z")
I posted this on Facebook on the 20th anniversary of my wife and I meeting: Suddenly I turned around and she was standing there With silver bracelets on her wrist and flowers in her hair She walked up to me so gracefully and took my crown of thorns Come in she said I’ll give ya shelter from the storm I also love this one: Even the president of the United States must sometimes have to stand naked ---
**Author:** ![Tinker\_Grey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tinker_grey/32/8136_2.png) [@Tinker\_Grey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tinker_Grey)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2016, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-your-favorite-bob-dylan-lyric-here/768472/9 "2016-10-14T00:44:47Z")
Through many a dark hour I’ve been thinkin’ about this That Jesus Christ was Betrayed by a kiss But I can’t think for you You’ll have to decide Whether Judas Iscariot Had God on his side. ---
**Author:** ![Tinker\_Grey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tinker_grey/32/8136_2.png) [@Tinker\_Grey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tinker_Grey)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2016, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-your-favorite-bob-dylan-lyric-here/768472/10 "2016-10-14T00:46:26Z")
There’s beauty in the silver singin’ river There’s beauty in the sunlight in the sky But none of these, and nothing else Can steal the beauty That I remember in my true love’s eyes ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2016, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-your-favorite-bob-dylan-lyric-here/768472/11 "2016-10-14T00:54:51Z")
“Damn, so many” is right. Bob’s lyrics are ingrained in my life. “When I Paint my Masterpiece” ran through my head for the four months I spent in Paris at age 19. “Tangled Up in Blue” can make me cry in certain moods. I had brain-blowing sex in college to “Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands” so many times…it was a full album side so we didn’t have to get up to flip the LP. _A cat’s meow and a cow’s moo, I could recite them all Tell me where it hurts you, honey And I’ll tell you who to call Nobody can get any sleep, there’s something on everyone’s toes When Quinn the Eskimo gets here Everybody’s gonna doze._ “Doze” is a homophobe of “dose,” get it? Bob wrote this in 1966-7. “Dosing” was a slang term for taking LSD. I love “Quinn the Eskimo” for the ambiguity. Dylanologists consider it either 1) an apocalyptic chant heralding the coming of a new Messiah and Armageddon, a la Yeats’s “The Second Coming,” or 2) a charming bit of children’s doggerel, in the style of Lewis Carroll. Either way, it delights me. Incidentally, our only son is named Quinn. ---
**Author:** ![Navigator66](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/43a26b/32.png) [@Navigator66](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Navigator66)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2016, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-your-favorite-bob-dylan-lyric-here/768472/12 "2016-10-14T01:08:28Z")
People are crazy Life is strange I’m locked in tight I’m outta range I used to care But things have changed From: Things Have Changed These words have served me well over the years dealing with society at large. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2016, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-your-favorite-bob-dylan-lyric-here/768472/13 "2016-10-14T01:20:00Z")
_You got a lot of nerve to say you are my friend_ ---
**Author:** ![DrForrester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8edcca/32.png) [@DrForrester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrForrester)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2016, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-your-favorite-bob-dylan-lyric-here/768472/14 "2016-10-14T02:25:32Z")
Well, I wake up in the morning Fold my hands and pray for rain I got a head full of ideas That are drivin’ me insane It’s a shame the way she makes me scrub the floor I ain’t gonna work on Maggie’s farm no more. To quote a very different author, “Get busy living or get busy dying”. Speaking personally, I worked (metaphorically) on Maggie’s farm for a good long while, so this song meant a lot to me when I first came across it. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2016, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-your-favorite-bob-dylan-lyric-here/768472/15 "2016-10-14T03:46:31Z")
My all-time favorite lyric: In a soldier’s stance, I aimed my hand at the mongrel dogs who teach Fearing not that I’d become my enemy in the instant that I preach My existence led by confusion boats, mutiny from stern to bow Ah, but I was so much older then, I’m younger than that now Yes, my guard stood hard when abstract threats too noble to neglect Deceived me into thinking I had something to protect Good and bad, I define these terms quite clear, no doubt, somehow Ah, but I was so much older then I’m younger than that now ---
**Author:** ![harmonicamoon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/65b543/32.png) [@harmonicamoon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/harmonicamoon)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2016, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-your-favorite-bob-dylan-lyric-here/768472/16 "2016-10-14T03:53:01Z")
Stuck inside of Mobil, with the Memphis blues again. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Greenjeans](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.greenjeans/32/551_2.png) [@Mr.Greenjeans](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Greenjeans)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2016, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-your-favorite-bob-dylan-lyric-here/768472/17 "2016-10-14T04:38:26Z")
And I’ll tell and speak it and think it and breathe it And reflect from the mountain so all souls can see it And I’ll stand on the ocean until I start sinkin’ But I’ll know my song well before I start singing ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2016, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-your-favorite-bob-dylan-lyric-here/768472/18 "2016-10-14T04:42:26Z")
_**Dear Landlord, don’t leave me out in the cold My burden is heavy, my dreams are beyond control**_ ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2016, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-your-favorite-bob-dylan-lyric-here/768472/19 "2016-10-14T04:42:58Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > Damn, there are just sooooo many! > > How about this bit from **Mr. Tambourine Man** : > > Take me disappearing through the smoke rings of my mind > Down the foggy ruins of time > Far past the frozen leaves > The haunted frightened trees > Out to the windy bench > Far from the twisted reach of crazy sorrow > Yes, to dance beneath the diamond sky > With one hand waving free > Silhouetted by the sea > Circled by the circus sands > With all memory and fate > Driven deep beneath the waves > Let me forget about today until tomorrow Though I know that evenin’s empire has returned into sand Vanished from my hand Left me blindly here to stand but still not sleeping My weariness amazes me, I’m branded on my feet I have no one to meet And the ancient empty street’s too dead for dreaming. Though you might hear laughin’, spinnin’ swingin’ madly across the sun It’s not aimed at anyone, it’s just escapin’ on the run And but for the sky there are no fences facin’ And if you hear vague traces of skippin’ reels of rhyme To your tambourine in time, it’s just a ragged clown behind I wouldn’t pay it any mind, it’s just a shadow you’re Seein’ that he’s chasing. **Mr. Tambourine Man** is a kind of intersection of Dylan and Leonard Cohen and IMHO is Dylan at his absolute best. ---
**Author:** ![SantaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/da6949/32.png) [@SantaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SantaMan)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2016, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-your-favorite-bob-dylan-lyric-here/768472/20 "2016-10-14T06:32:34Z")
It’s Alright Ma: “For them that must obey authority That they do not respect in any degree Who despise their jobs, their destinies Speak jealously of them that are free Cultivate their flowers to be Nothing more than something they invest in” I could have sworn it was “to do what they do just to be something else they invest in” Huh. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-your-favorite-bob-dylan-lyric-here/768472.md?page=2)