NFT: Best bob Dylan lines

or it may be the lord
but you're gonna have to serve somebody.

It was 1997. The quote is better than what I remember.
I like Bob Dylan especially how he respects the music.
...thought I'd be seeing Elivis soon." - ( New Window )

In comment 12807945 Strip-Sack said:

Quote:

or it may be the lord but you're gonna have to serve somebody.

And truer words never spoken.

The sun's not yellow, its chicken

I need a dump truck, mama to, unload my head

It's life and life only

I see my light come shining
From the west unto the east
Any day now, any day now
I shall be released

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 - idiot wind.

It's the most real thing he ever wrote. Straight from the heart. One of the few times you get "real bob"

And of COURSE "the sun's not yellow, it's chicken" Tombstone Blues

In comment 12807985 Rory B. Bellows said:

Quote:

The sun's not yellow, its chicken I need a dump truck, mama to, unload my head It's life and life only I see my light come shining From the west unto the east Any day now, any day now I shall be released

Damn you..you stole mine.

is busy dyin'.

"...he not busy being born is busy dying"

"Louise, she’s all right, she’s just near
She’s delicate and seems like the mirror
But she just makes it all too concise and too clear
That Johanna’s not here"

"I'm a-thinking and a-wondering, walking down the road
I once loved a woman, a child I'm told
I give her my heart but she wanted my soul
But don't think twice, it's all right"

In this room the heat pipes just cough

everything in Most of the Time.

baby remember me.
How my lone guitar played sweet for you
that old time melody.
And the harmonica around my neck,
I blew it for ya free.
No one else could play that tune.
You knew it was up to me."

~From "Up to Me"

Or, another vote for any part of Most of the Time

I like your smile
And your fingertips
I like the way that you move your hips
I like the cool way you look at me
Everything about you is bringing me
Misery.

ain't it just like the night to play tricks when you're trying to be so quiet.

.

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, and got repaid with scorn
Come in she said I'll give you
Shelter from the storm


Phenomenal lyricist.

In comment 12808054 PSIMMS 22-25-268 said:

Quote:

I like your smile And your fingertips I like the way that you move your hips I like the cool way you look at me Everything about you is bringing me Misery.

I was thinking of the verse, "Life is sad, life is a bust, all ya can do is do what you must, you do what you must do and ya do it well" from that song, but your choice is at least as good. And then I go to youtube to listen to the song and in the comment section a guy (with the George Costanza avatar) remarks....
"dare you to pick a favorite verse from this song" - ( New Window )

:-)

Any stanza from Memphis Blues Again. They're each like little novels. To wit.......

Now the preacher looked so baffled
When I asked him why he dressed
With twenty pounds of headlines
Stapled to his chest
But he cursed me when I proved it to him
Then I whispered, “Not even you can hide
You see, you’re just like me
I hope you’re satisfied”

I was trying to remember those lines exactly while I was reading the thread....you beat me to it!!!!!

In comment 12808086 Crispino said:

Quote:

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, and got repaid with scorn Come in she said I'll give you Shelter from the storm Phenomenal lyricist.

+1

My name it is nothing, my age it means less
The country I come from is a part of the Free West
I was taught and brought up there its laws to abide
And that the land that I live in has God on its side

Oh the history books tell it, they tell it so well
The cavalries charged, the Indians fell
The cavalries charged, the Indians died
For the country was young with God on its side

Oh the first World War, it came and it went
The reason for fighting I never could get
But I learned to accept it, accept it with pride
For you don't count the dead when God's on your side

And then the second World War, it came to an end
We forgave the Germans and now we are friends
Though they murdered six million, in the ovens they fried
The Germans now, too, have God on their side

But now we have weapons of chemical dust
And if fire them we're forced to, why then fire them we must
One push of the button and a shot the worldwide
And you never ask questions when God's on your side

Though many a long hour I've thought on this
That Jesus Christ was betrayed by a kiss
But I can't think for you, you will have to decide
Whether Judas Iscariot had God on his side

And now as I leave you, I'm weary as hell
The confusion I'm feelin', there ain't no tongue can tell
The words fill my head and drop to the floor
That if God's on our side, he'll stop the next war.

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 was in another lifetime one of toil and blood
When blackness was a virtue and the road was full of mud
I came in from the wilderness a creature void of form
"Come in" she said
"I'll give you shelter from the storm".

Grandpa died last week
And now he's buried in the rocks
But everybody still talks about
How badly they were shocked
But me, I expected it to happen
I knew he'd lost control
When he built a fire on Main Street
And shot it full of holes

and so many more.

Huge influence on Bob Dylan.

Bound for Glory is a pretty good movie as well.

From Masters of War:

You fasten all the triggers
For the others to fire
Then you set back and watch
When the death count gets higher
You hide in your mansion'
As young people's blood
Flows out of their bodies
And is buried in the mud.

Steal a lot and they make you king!"

Sweetheart Like You

From Visions of Johanna.

/ Everybody that was hanging out/ Now you don’t talk so loud/ Now you don’t seem so proud/ About having to be scrounging for your next meal. How does it feel?"

Gonna raise me an army, some tough sons of bitches.
I' ll recruit my army from the orphanages.

"I wish that for just one time
You could stand inside my shoes
And just for that one moment
I could be you

Yes, I wish that for just one time
You could stand inside my shoes
You’d know what a drag it is
To see you."

One of the best put downs of all time.

But as is shown above, he has had so many incredible songs and verses...he's the best songwriter of our time.

'Well, I return to the Queen of Spades
And talk with my chambermaid
She knows that I'm not afraid
To look at her
She is good to me
And there's nothing she doesn't see
She knows where I'd like to be
But it doesn't matter
I want you, I want you'

a man named Gray,
And took his wife to Italaayy
She inherited a million bucks
And when she died, it came to me
I can't help it if I'm lucky

My brother is a songwriter. Went through a big Dylan phase. Here’s his “Crossroads Where I Stand” written in the 70s and recorded in 1998. It’s 13 ½ minutes long and based on “Stuck Inside of Mobile,” though I’m giving away an artist’s secret in telling you this.

Since this is a thread about lyrics, decided to post all 13 verses. Forgive me. Youtube link is at the end.

Crossroads Where I Stand

far across the river
lightning flickers in the air
dogs bark, street kids play
in the electric atmosphere
there's a smell of rain upon the night
distant thunder on the breeze
like shelling on the outskirts
of a city under siege
the street lamps burn like flares
and the voices drift like sand
against the darkness closing in
at the crossroads where i stand

the girl who runs this rooming house
plays solitaire on her bed
she takes me for the king of hearts
she takes herself for dead
while my neighbors across the alley
casually engage in sin
waiting for the apocalypse
or their parents to drop in
and they don't see the banners
or the parade and marching band
passing beneath their window tonight
at the crossroads where i stand

marylin is a natural
she was born to reach the stage
it must be in her planets
or the stars that rule the age
she says she's captive of the dragons
all her lines are so schematic
i'd rescue her from her innocence
but i don't feel that dramatic
she sits up way past her bedtime
and dreams of foreign lands
but princes are in short supply
at the crossroads where i stand

my guru is expected soon
arriving on the evening stage
we'll all know him when we see him
in his shark skin suit and shades
i guess that's just the price you pay
after all these years
for sitting on your honesty
and standing on your ears
and i got no bone to pick with anyone
who hasn't even yet appeared
since every face i see tonight
looks a little weird

the handsome child prodigy
left school suddenly
with a classic case of knowledge
in a bachelor's degree
and now he drives a taxi
and says these words repeatedly:
the closer that i get to folks
the more they look like me
and he lives with a graduate student
of absolute reality and
the cold hard facts of the way
things really are
at the crossroads where i stand

the village Venus de Milo
rarely every speaks
being armless herself she understands
the harmlessness of freaks
and to every love-starved romeo
who before her feet does kneel
she smiles a smile of solitude
and things she can't reveal
and when i asked her for an answer
she dropped her mirror in the sand
and left me here to face myself
at the crossroads where i stand

the trio from the city
was assaulted night before last
by a classical evangelist
who couldn't stomach all that jazz
and he busted up the party
till the harmony patrol
busted in and busted him
for insufficient soul
and now the music is all piped in
and the laughter all is canned
it just doesn't pay to play too far outside
at the crossroads where i stand

there's a cocktail waitress down the road
who rarely gets a tip
she's real good at forgiving folks
for giving her the slip
and i know she's got more customers
but what i don't quite understand
is how she manages the pace
with all this change upon her hands
if you look deep enough into her eyes
you see the face of every man
who's taken more than he paid her for
at the crossroads where i stand

upstairs in the classrooms
the professor keeps his pets
three metaphors, twelve adjectives
and a herd of space cadets
and after the daily lessons
he leads them to his room
where they dance around
a dictionary and howl at the moon
but the faces fade before him
and the years slip through his hand
it's the price he's paid to make the grade
at the crossroads where i stand

at the Hotel Lost Horizons
lives the fisherman and his seeing-eye wife
and the architect who goes to bed
with the blue-prints of his wife
and the faceless traveling salesman
and the mayor's mistress, too
and the girl who sleeps with a bible
and the light on in her room
and though the house is made of cards
nobody calls a hand
since all the walls are paper thin
at the crossroads where i stand

my one true love is faithless
there's no end to her restlessness
there's no end to the things that she can doubt
she's a bit like me i guess
and i see her on every corner
and hear her name on the wind
and time doesn't really cure a thing
it only rubs it in
so i stand on tiptoe in this crowd
and search these faces once again
to see if maybe she's not here too
at the crossroads where i stand

went to see the doctor
to get the critics off my back
she said take two hits of this remedy
and in the morning call a quack
when i said, but it's all been said before
she just snapped my BVD's
and said, go and speak in headlines
and wear your secrets on your sleeves
you can speak in the tongues of angels
you can speak in the tongues of man
but the truth only speaks for itself
at the crossroads where i stand

so the night has swallowed up the streets
the stars are clear and cold
words and time and love itself
are all beyond control
above the sleepy rooftops
my solitude takes wings
that lift me high above the pain
of naming all these things
and soon i will be fast asleep
in the palm of god's own hand
as the morning sun bursts once again
at the crossroads where i stand

youtube - ( New Window )

But to me the one line that is just beyond brilliant is about the haunting effects seeming so real at times that reside in ones memory missing a crush or a loved one:

"Louise she's all right she's just near
She's delicate and seems like veneer
But she just makes it all too concise and too clear
That Johanna's not here
The Ghost of electricity howls in the bones of her face"

in every version i have heard i can hear the pride still in the creation when he lays that line down

there are so many others.

two of my second tier favorites:

"Then 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 beach
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"

then finally:

I been to Sugar Town, I shook the sugar down
Now I’m trying to get to heaven before they close the door.

so...

i think i will go back to new york city, i do believe i have had enough

must admit I was a little uneasy when she bent down to tie the laces of my shoes.....tangled up in blue.

In comment 12808336 Mike in Marin said:

Quote:

a man named Gray, And took his wife to Italaayy She inherited a million bucks And when she died, it came to me I can't help it if I'm lucky

Love that last line, Mike!

...At ships with tattooed sails.
Heading for the Gates of Eden.

and

I bargained for salvation,
And she gave me a lethal dose.

she hands down her wits
to Jezebel the nun, who violently knits
a bald wig for Jack the Ripper who sits
at the head of the Chamber of Commerce.
Momma's in the fact'ry, she ain't got no shoes,
Daddy's in the alley, he's lookin for food,
I'm in the kitchen with the Tombstone Blues..."


... But if my wife asks what my favorite Dylan lines are:

"Flowers on the hillside bloomin' crazy
crickets talkin' back n' forth in rhyme
blue river runnin' slow and lazy
I could stay with you forever, and never realize the time."

.

"may your heart always be joyful,
May your song always be sung"

Well, God is in His heaven
And we all want what’s His
But power and greed and corruptible seed
Seem to be all that there is
I’m gazing out the window
Of the St. James Hotel
And I know no one can sing the blues
Like Blind Willie McTell

Got white skin and assassins eyes

Someone's got to put it back in perspective.

Yes, and how many times must a man look up
Before he can see the sky?
Yes, and how many ears must one man have
Before he can hear people cry?
Yes, and how many deaths will it take 'till he knows
That too many people have died?
The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind
The answer is blowin' in the wind

from Stayed in Mississippi way too long

I hear Highway 61 I crack up laughing.

"God said to Abraham kill me a son, and Abe said man you must be putting me on!"

The entire "Nashville Skyline" album, in my opinion is a classic. But I love this song:

Not Dark Yet...out of "Time Out of Mind"

Shadows are falling and I’ve been here all day
It’s too hot to sleep, time is running away
Feel like my soul has turned into steel
I’ve still got the scars that the sun didn’t heal
There’s not even room enough to be anywhere
It’s not dark yet, but it’s getting there

Well, my sense of humanity has gone down the drain
Behind every beautiful thing there’s been some kind of pain
She wrote me a letter and she wrote it so kind
She put down in writing what was in her mind
I just don’t see why I should even care
It’s not dark yet, but it’s getting there

Well, I’ve been to London and I’ve been to gay Paree
I’ve followed the river and I got to the sea
I’ve been down on the bottom of a world full of lies
I ain’t looking for nothing in anyone’s eyes
Sometimes my burden seems more than I can bear
It’s not dark yet, but it’s getting there

I was born here and I’ll die here against my will
I know it looks like I’m moving, but I’m standing still
Every nerve in my body is so vacant and numb
I can’t even remember what it was I came here to get away from
Don’t even hear a murmur of a prayer
It’s not dark yet, but it’s getting there

Oh, God said to Abe " kill me a son"
Abe said to God " you got to be putting me on"
God said "No" Abe said "What?"

An' I say, "Aw come on now
You know you knew about my debutante"
An' she says, "Your debutante just knows what you need
But I know what you want"

and I just get bored

I ain't gonna work on Maggie's farm no more