Favorite Bob Dylan one- or two-liners...

[Atticus]

I was listening to Highway 61 yesterday afternoon on the way home in the traffic, and some of those lines just floored me. A few of my favorites (please try and include song title):

 

"The sun's not yellow, it's CHICKEN" (Tombstone Blues)

 

"Because the cops don't need you, and man, they expect the same" (Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues)

 

"You just kinda wasted my precious time, but don't think twice, it's alright" (Don't Think Twice)

 

"The ghost of 'lectricity howls in the bones of her face" (Visions of Johanna)

 

"jewels and binoculars hang from the head of the mule" (Visions of Johanna)

 

"I stood a-wondering which way to go, I lit a cigarette on a parking meter

And walked on down the road. It was a normal day." (Talkin' World War III Blues)

 

"I'll let you be in my dreams if I can be in yours,"

I said that. (Talkin' World War III Blues)

 

"And don't go mistaking Paradise, for that home across the road." (The Ballad of Frankie Lee & Judas Priest)

 

"Don't even remember what her lips felt like on mine--most of the time." (Most of the Time)

 

thanks, Bob.

[Synthesizer Patel]

"if the farmer has no silo,

then his fuel cost is running up very high

well that's just how much I'd love you

if you'd just only let me try"

 

(all you have to do is dream)

 

"the pawnbroker roared

also, sorry, so did the landlord

the scene was so crazy, wasn't it?"

 

(she's your lover now)

[j4lackey]

Good thread.

 

I'll have to go listen to some Bob and think about it now...

[farva]

He tried to grab the woman's hand,

Said, "Here's a ring, it cost a grand."

She said, "That ain't enough."

(Black Diamond Bay)

 

I waited for you on the running boards, near the cypress trees,

while the springtime turned Slowly into autumn.

(Idiot Wind)

 

You lose yourself, you reappear

You suddenly find you got nothing to fear

(It's Alright, Ma)

 

I bargained for salvation an' they gave me a lethal dose.

(Shelter From The Storm)

 

Like your smile and your fingertips

Like the way that you move your lips.

(Buckets Of Rain)

 

and on and on and on

[Tweedling]

"...he not busy being born

Is busy dying."

Its Alright Ma Im Only Bleeding

 

And my personal favorite:

 

"Oh, but if I had the stars from the darkest night

And the diamonds from the deepest ocean,

I'd forsake them all for your sweet kiss,

For that's all I'm wishin' to be ownin'."

Boots Of Spanish Leather

[Analogman]

And anyone can fill his life up

With things he can see but he just cannot touch.

 

 

Steal a little and they throw you in jail,

Steal a lot and they make you king.

[Gobias Industries]

I still maintain that Dylan's All Along The Watchtower pwns Hendrix's.

 

"There must be some way outta here

said the joker to the thief

there's too much confusion here

I can't get no relief"

 

"Hey, Mr. Tambourine Man

play a song for me

I'm not sleepy

and there is no place I'm going to

Hey, Mr. Tambourine Man

play a song for me

in the jingle jangle morning,

I'll come followin' you"

 

I maintain that Tambourine Man is his best song.

[Lammycat]

Now you stand here sayin' you forgive and forget. Honey, what can I say?

Yes, you, you just sit around and ask for ashtrays, can't you reach?

I see you kiss her on the cheek ev'rytime she gives a speech

- She's Your Lover Now

 

Well, I wanna be your lover, baby,

I don't wanna be your boss.

Don't say I never warned you

When your train gets lost.

-It Takes A Lot To Laugh (It Takes A Train To Cry)

[Sir Stewart]

"I been to Sugar Town I shook the Sugar Down"

[a.miller]

"You said you'd never compromise

With the mystery tramp

but now you realize

He's not selling any alibis

As you stare into the vacuum of his eyes..."

 

that section of verse always makes me get goose bumps. If I came up with "the vaccuum of his eyes," I would just stare at it on the paper I wrote in on, for like, a whole day.

 

"In the darkness of my night

In the brightness of my day" -- I really like those too.

[aver]

If You See Her Say Hello

 

And I've never gotten used to it, I've just learned to turn it off

Either I'm too sensitive or else I'm gettin' soft.

 

Love Minus Zero/No Limit

 

She knows there's no success like failure

And that failure's no success at all.

 

Spanish Harlem Incident

 

The night is pitch black, come an' make my

Pale face fit into place, ah, please!

[TheMaker]

God, there are so many, but this cynical take on the human condition cuts me to the bone every time I hear it:

 

"Every moment of existence seems like some dirty trick."

[bjorn_skurj]

So now I'm goin' back again,

I got to get to her somehow.

All the people we used to know

They're an illusion to me now.

Some are mathematicians

Some are carpenter's wives.

Don't know how it all got started,

I don't know what they're doin' with their lives.

[Dreamin']

Like your smile and your fingertips

Like the way that you move your lips.

(Buckets Of Rain)

I like the cool way you look at me,

Everything about you is bringing me misery.

[viatroy]

tall order! entire songs are brilliant, esp. on Highway 61.

 

Too many great lyrics to single out, but best delivery of a line goes to:

 

Lily had already taken all of the dye out of her hair.

[lovecontagious]

"Simple Twist of Fate"

They walked along by the old canal

A little confused, I remember well...

 

I guess I like these lines not so much for the lyrical content, but more for the twist in point of view. Is he just the narrator or is he remembering?

 

 

 

"Buckets of Rain"

[/i]Buckets of rain

Buckets of tears

Got all them buckets comin' out of my ears.

Buckets of moonbeams in my hand,

I gott all the love, honey baby,

You can stand."

 

and

 

"Little red wagon

Little red bike

I ain't no monkey but I know what I like.

I like the way you love me strong and slow,

I'm takin' you with me, honey baby,

When I go."

 

I didn't want to post the whole song...I love this song for the childlike melody and the lyrical combination. The lyrics teeder back and forth between childhood innocence and real life/love/adult encounters. When you pair it with the melody, without really listening, one could confuse this for a lullabye.

 

"Tangled Up in Blue" is still my all time Dylan song with "Just Like a Woman" on it's heels. And I love to hear Lilac Rain sing her version of "Maggie's Farm".

Edited August 18, 2006 by lovecontagious

[Vacant Horizon]

"I was thinkin' 'bout turquoise."

"I was thinkin' 'bout gold."

Isis

 

"Keep on keepin' on like a bird that flew."

Tangeld Up in Blue

 

"Even Mona Lisa gets the highway blues."

"You can tell by the way she smiles."

Visions of Johanna

 

 

Lurker, never post, awesome thread!

[MattZ]

"Well, the comic book and me, just us, we caught the bus."

 

Gets me every damn time. Every time.

[Skian]

I was knocked out and loaded in the naked night

When my last dream exploded I noticed your light

 

?

[j4lackey]

Anybody else ever wonder what Jaques Levy contributed to the mix in the mid-70's? I'd love to know.

 

Did he edit poems, finish ideas, start any of the songs?

[mchchef1]

I started out on Burgundy,

Then hit the harder stuff

Everybody said they stand behind me

when the game got ruff

 

Your cracked county lips I still wish to kiss

as to be by the strength of your skin

your magnetic moments still captures the minutes I

[mchchef1]

If You See Her Say Hello

 

And I've never gotten used to it, I've just learned to turn it off

Either I'm too sensitive or else I'm gettin' soft.

That is a great line

[brittboas]

"If today was not an endless highway

If tonight was not a crooked trail

If tomorrow wasn't such a long time

Then lonesome would mean nothing to you at all

 

Yes, and only if my own true love was waitin'

Yes, and if I could hear her heart a-softly poundin'

Only if she was lyin' by me

Then I'd lie in my bed once again"

[brittboas]

"If you get close to her, kiss her once for me

I always have respected her for busting out and gettin' free

Oh, whatever makes her happy, I won't stand in the way

Though the bitter taste still lingers on from the night I tried to make her stay"

[IATTBYB]

"But to live outside the law, you must be honest"

 

Absolutely Sweet Marie

 

And all of Idiot Wind

 

"Someone's got it in for me, they're planting stories in the press

Whoever it is I wish they'd cut it out but when they will I can only guess.

They say I shot a man named Gray and took his wife to Italy,

She inherited a million bucks and when she died it came to me.

I can't help it if I'm lucky.

 

People see me all the time and they just can't remember how to act

Their minds are filled with big ideas, images and distorted facts.

Even you, yesterday you had to ask me where it was at,

I couldn't believe after all these years, you didn't know me better than that

Sweet lady.

 

Idiot wind, blowing every time you move your mouth,

Blowing down the backroads headin' south.

Idiot wind, blowing every time you move your teeth,

You're an idiot, babe.

It's a wonder that you still know how to breathe.

 

I ran into the fortune-teller, who said beware of lightning that might strike

I haven't known peace and quiet for so long I can't remember what it's like.

There's a lone soldier on the cross, smoke pourin' out of a boxcar door,

You didn't know it, you didn't think it could be done, in the final end he won the wars

After losin' every battle.

 

I woke up on the roadside, daydreamin' 'bout the way things sometimes are

Visions of your chestnut mare shoot through my head and are makin' me see stars.

You hurt the ones that I love best and cover up the truth with lies.

One day you'll be in the ditch, flies buzzin' around your eyes,

Blood on your saddle.

 

Idiot wind, blowing through the flowers on your tomb,

Blowing through the curtains in your room.

Idiot wind, blowing every time you move your teeth,

You're an idiot, babe.

It's a wonder that you still know how to breathe.

 

It was gravity which pulled us down and destiny which broke us apart

You tamed the lion in my cage but it just wasn't enough to change my heart.

Now everything's a little upside down, as a matter of fact the wheels have stopped,

What's good is bad, what's bad is good, you'll find out when you reach the top

You're on the bottom.

 

I noticed at the ceremony, your corrupt ways had finally made you blind

I can't remember your face anymore, your mouth has changed, your eyes

don't look into mine.

The priest wore black on the seventh day and sat stone-faced while the building

burned.

I waited for you on the running boards, near the cypress trees, while the springtime

turned Slowly into autumn.

 

Idiot wind, blowing like a circle around my skull,

From the Grand Coulee Dam to the Capitol.

Idiot wind, blowing every time you move your teeth,

You're an idiot, babe.

It's a wonder that you still know how to breathe.

 

I can't feel you anymore, I can't even touch the books you've read

Every time I crawl past your door, I been wishin' I was somebody else instead.

Down the highway, down the tracks, down the road to ecstasy,

I followed you beneath the stars, hounded by your memory

And all your ragin' glory.

 

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.

 

Idiot wind, blowing through the buttons of our coats,

Blowing through the letters that we wrote.

Idiot wind, blowing through the dust upon our shelves,

We're idiots, babe.

It's a wonder we can even feed ourselves."