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Highway 61 Revisited
by Bob Dylan
ALBUM RANKINGS:
Ratings and rankings are based on all available critic reviews and awards.
Overall Rating:
3.8080
Avg. Critic Score:
3.8308
Highway 61 Revisited Lyrics
Lyrics
Disc
Track
Title
- Once upon a time you dressed so fine
- You threw the bums a dime in your prime, didn't you ?
- People'd call, say, "Beware doll, you're bound to fall"
- You thought they were all kiddin' you
- You used to laugh about
- Everybody that was hangin' 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
- How does it feel
- To be without a home
- Like a complete unknown
- Like a rolling stone ?
- You've gone to the finest school all right, Miss Lonely
- But you know you only used to get juiced in it
- And nobody has ever taught you how to live on the street
- And now you find out you're gonna have to get used to it
- You said you'd never compromise
- With the mystery tramp, but know you realize
- He's not selling any alibis
- As you stare into the vacuum of his eyes
- And say do you want to make a deal?
- How does it feel
- How does it feel
- To be on your own
- With no direction home
- Like a complete unknown
- Like a rolling stone ?
- You never turned around to see the frowns on the jugglers and the clowns
- When they all come down and did tricks for you
- You never understood that it ain't no good
- You shouldn't let other people get your kicks for you
- You used to ride on the chrome horse with your diplomat
- Who carried on his shoulder a Siamese cat
- Ain't it hard when you discover that
- He really wasn't where it's at
- After he took from you everything he could steal.
- How does it feel
- How does it feel
- To be on your own
- With no direction home
- Like a complete unknown
- Like a rolling stone ?
- Princess on the steeple and all the pretty people
- They're drinkin', thinkin' that they got it made
- Exchanging all precious gifts
- But you'd better take your diamond ring, you'd better pawn it babe
- You used to be so amused
- At Napoleon in rags and the language that he used
- Go to him now, he calls you, you can't refuse
- When you got nothing, you got nothing to lose
- You're invisible now, you got no secrets to conceal.
- How does it feel
- How does it feel
- To be on your own
- With no direction home
- Like a complete unknown
- Like a rolling stone ?
- The sweet pretty things are in bed now of course
- The city fathers they're trying to endorse
- The reincarnation of Paul Revere's horse
- But the town has no need to be nervous.
- The ghost of Belle Star she hands down her wits
- To Jezebel the nun she violently knits
- A bald wig for Jack the Ripper who sits
- At the head of the chamber of commerce.
- Mama's in the fact'ry
- She ain't got no shoes
- Daddy's in the alley
- He's lookin' for fuse
- I'm in the kitchen
- With the tombstone blues.
- The hysterical bride in the penny arcade
- Screaming she moans, "I've just been made"
- Then sends out for the doctor who pulls down the shade
- Says, "My advice is to not let the boys in".
- Now the medicine man comes and he shuffles inside
- He walks with a swagger and he says to be bride
- You will not die, it's not poison".
- Mama's in the fact'ry
- She ain't got no shoes
- Daddy's in the alley
- He's lookin' the fuse
- I'm in the kitchen
- With the tombstone blues.
- Well, John the Baptist after torturing a thief
- Looks up at his hero the Commander-in-Chief
- Saying, "Tell me great hero, but please make it brief
- Is there a hole for me to get sick in ?"
- The Commander-in-Chief answers him while chasing a fly
- Saying, "Death to all those who would whimper and cry"
- And dropping a bar bell he points to the sky
- Saying, "The sun's not yellow it's chicken.
- Mama's in the fact'ry
- She ain't got no shoes
- Daddy's in the alley
- He's lookin' for fuse
- I'm in the kitchen
- With the tombstone blues.
- The king of the Philistines his soldiers to save
- Put jawbones on their tombstones and flatters their graves
- Puts the pied pipers in prison and fattens the slaves
- Then sends them out to the jungle.
- Gypsy Davey with a blowtorch he bums out their camps
- With his faithful slave Pedro behind him he tramps
- With a fantastic collection of stamps
- To win friends and influence his uncle.
- Mama's in the fact'ry
- She ain't got no shoes
- Daddy's in the alley
- He's lookin' for fuse
- I'm in trouble
- With the tombstone blues.
- The geometry of innocence flesh on the bone
- Causes Galileo's math book to get thrown
- At Delilah who sits worthlessly alone
- But the tears on her cheeks are from laughter.
- Now I wish I could give Brother Bill his great thrill
- I would set him in chains at the top of the hill
- Then send out for some pillars and Cecil B. DeMille
- He could die happily ever after.
- Mama's in the fact'ry
- She ain't got no shoes
- Daddy's in the alley
- He's lookin' for fuse
- I'm in the kitchen
- With the tombstone blues.
- Where Ma Raney and Beethoven once unwrapped their bed roll
- Tuba players now rehearsal around the flagpole
- And the National Bank at a profit sells road maps or the soul
- To the old folks home in the college.
- Now I wish I could write you a melody so plain
- That could hold you dear lady from going insane
- That could ease you and cool you and cease the pain
- Of your useless and pointless knowledge
- Mama's in the fact'ry
- She ain't got no shoes
- Daddy's in the alley
- He's lookin' for fuse
- I'm in the kitchen
- With the tombstone blues.
- I got this graveyard woman, you know she keeps my kid
- But my soulful mama, you know she keeps me hid
- She's a junkyard angel and she always gives me bred
- Well, if I go down dyin' you know she bound to put a blanket on my bed.
- Well, when the pipeline gets broken and I'm lost on the river bridge
- I'm cracked up on the highway and on the water's edge
- She comes down the thruway ready to sew me up with thread
- Well, if I go down dyin' you know she bound to put a blanket on my bed.
- Well, she don't make me nervous, she don't talk too much
- She walks like Bo Diddley and she don't need no crutch
- She keeps this four-ten all loaded with lead
- Well, if I go down dyin' you know she bound to put a blanket on my bed.
- Well, you know I need a steam shovel mama to keep away the dead
- I need a dump truck baby to unload my head
- She brings me everything and more, and just like I said
- Well, if I go down dyin' you know she bound to put a blanket on my bed.
- You walk into the room
- With your pencil in your hand
- You see somebody naked
- And you say, "Who is that man ?"
- You try so hard
- But you don't understand
- Just what you'll say
- When you get home.
- Because something is happening here
- But you don't know what it is
- Do you, Mister Jones ?
- You raise up your head
- And you ask, "Is this where it is ?"
- And somebody points to you and says
- And you says, "What's mine ?"
- And somebody else says, "Where what is ?"
- And you say, "Oh my God
- Am I here all alone ?"
- But something is happening here
- But you don't know what it is
- Do you, Mister Jones ?
- You hand in your ticket
- And you go watch the geek
- Who immediately walks up to you
- When he hears you speak
- And says, "How does it feel
- To be such a freak ?"
- And you say, "Impossible"
- As he hands you a bone.
- And something is happening here
- But you don't know what it is
- Do you, Mister Jones ?
- You have many contacts
- Among the lumberjacks
- To get you facts
- When someone attacks your imagination
- But nobody has any respect
- Anyway they already expect you
- To all give a check
- To tax-deductible charity organizations.
- You've been with the professors
- And they've all liked your looks
- With great lawyers you have
- Discussed lepers and crooks
- You've been through all of
- F. Scott Fitzgerald's books
- You're very well read
- It's well known.
- But something is happening here
- And you don't know what it is
- Do you, Mister Jones ?
- Well, the sword swallower, he comes up to you
- And then he kneels
- He crosses himself
- And then he clicks his high heels
- And without further notice
- He asks you how it feels
- And he says, "Here is your throat back
- Thanks for the loan".
- And you know something is happening
- But you don't know what it is
- Do you, Mister Jones ?
- Now you see this one-eyed midget
- Shouting the word "NOW"
- And you say, "For what reason ?"
- And he says, "How ?"
- And you say, "What does this mean ?"
- And he screams back, "You're a cow
- Give me some milk
- Or else go home".
- Because something is happening
- But you don't know what it is
- Do you, Mister Jones ?
- Well, you walk into the room
- Like a camel and then you frown
- You put your eyes in your pocket
- And your nose on the ground
- There ought to be a law
- Against you comin' around
- You should be made
- To wear earphones.
- Does something is happening
- And you don't know what it is
- Do you, Mister Jones ?
- When your mother sends back all your invitations
- And your father to your sister he explains
- That you're tired of yourself and all of your creations
- Won't you come see me, Queen Jane ?
- Won't you come see me, Queen Jane ?
- Now when all of the flower ladies want back what they have lent you
- And the smell of their roses does not remain
- And all of your children start to resent you
- Won't you come see me, Queen Jane ?
- Won't you come see me, Queen Jane ?
- Now when all the clowns that you have commissioned
- Have died in battle or in vain
- And you're sick of all this repetition
- Won't you come see me, Queen Jane ?
- Won't you come see me, Queen Jane ?
- When all of your advisers heave their plastic
- At your feet to convince you of your pain
- Trying to prove that your conclusions should be more drastic
- Won't you come see me, Queen Jane ?
- Won't you come see me, Queen Jane ?
- Now when all of the bandits that you turned your other cheek to
- All lay down their bandanas and complain
- And you want somebody you don't have to speak to
- Won't you come see me, Queen Jane ?
- Won't you come see me, Queen Jane ?
- Oh God said to Abraham, "Kill me a son"
- Abe says, "Man, you must be puttin' me on"
- God say, "No." Abe say, "What ?"
- God say, "You can do what you want Abe, but
- The next time you see me comin' you better run"
- Well Abe says, "Where do you want this killin' done ?"
- God says. "Out on Highway 61".
- Well Georgia Sam he had a bloody nose
- Welfare Department they wouldn't give him no clothes
- He asked poor Howard where can I go
- Howard said there's only one place I know
- Sam said tell me quick man I got to run
- Ol' Howard just pointed with his gun
- And said that way down on Highway 61.
- Well Mack the finger said to Louie the King
- I got forty red white and blue shoe strings
- And a thousand telephones that don't ring
- Do you know where I can get ride of these things
- And Louie the King said let me think for a minute son
- And he said yes I think it can be easily done
- Just take everything down to Highway 61.
- Now the fift daughter on the twelfth night
- Told the first father that things weren't right
- My complexion she said is much too white
- He said come here and step into the light he says hmmm you're right
- Let me tell second mother this has been done
- But the second mother was with the seventh son
- And they were both out on Highway 61.
- Now the rowin' gambler he was very bored
- He was tryin' to create a next world war
- He found a promoter who nearly fell off the floor
- He said I never engaged in this kind of thing before
- But yes I think it can be very easily done
- We'll just put some bleachers out in the sun
- And have it on Highway 61.
- When you're lost in the rain in Juarez
- And it's Eastertime too
- And your gravity fails
- And negativity don't pull you through
- Don't put on any airs
- When you're down on Rue Morgue Avenue
- They got some hungry women there
- And they really make a mess outa you.
- Now if you see Saint Annie
- Please tell her thanks a lot
- I cannot move
- My fingers are all in a knot
- I don't have the strength
- To get up and take another shot
- And my best friend, my doctor
- Won't even say what it is I've got.
- Sweet Melinda
- The peasants call her the goddess of gloom
- She speaks good English
- And she invites you up into her room
- And you're so kind
- And careful not to go to her too soon
- And she takes your voice
- And leaves you howling at the moon.
- Up on Housing Project Hill
- It's either fortune or fame
- You must pick up one or the other
- Though neither of them are to be what they claim
- If you're lookin' to get silly
- You better go back to from where you came
- Because the cops don't need you
- And man they expect the same.
- Now all the authorities
- They just stand around and boast
- How they blackmailed the sergeant-at-arms
- Into leaving his post
- And picking up Angel who
- Just arrived here from the coast
- Who looked so fine at first
- But left looking just like a ghost.
- I started out on burgundy
- But soon hit the harder stuff
- Everybody said they'd stand behind me
- When the game got rough
- But the joke was on me
- There was nobody even there to bluff
- I'm going back to New York City
- I do believe I've had enough.
- They're selling postcards of the hanging
- They're painting the passports brown
- The beauty parlor is filled with sailors
- The circus is in town
- Here comes the blind commissioner
- They've got him in a trance
- One hand is tied to the tight-rope walker
- The other is in his pants
- And the riot squad they're restless
- They need somewhere to go
- As Lady and I look out tonight
- From Desolation Row.
- Cinderella, she seems so easy
- And puts her hands in her back pockets
- Bette Davis style
- And in comes Romeo, he's moaning
- And someone says, "You're in the wrong place, my friend
- You better leave"
- And the only sound that's left
- After the ambulances go
- Is Cinderella sweeping up
- On Desolation Row.
- Now the moon is almost hidden
- The stars are beginning to hide
- The fortunetelling lady
- Has even taken all her things inside
- All except for Cain and Abel
- And the hunchback of Notre Dame
- Everybody is making love
- Or else expecting rain
- And the Good Samaritan, he's dressing
- He's getting ready for the show
- He's going to the carnival tonight
- On Desolation Row.
- Now Ophelia, she's 'neath the window
- For her I feel so afraid
- On her twenty-second birthday
- She already is an old maid
- To her, death is quite romantic
- She wears an iron vest
- Her profession's her religion
- Her sin is her lifelessness
- And though her eyes are fixed upon
- Noah's great rainbow
- She spends her time peeking
- Into Desolation Row.
- Einstein, disguised as Robin Hood
- With his memories in a trunk
- Passed this way an hour ago
- With his friend, a jealous monk
- He looked so immaculately frightful
- As he bummed a cigarette
- Then he went off sniffing drainpipes
- And reciting the alphabet
- You would not think to look at him
- But he was famous long ago
- For playing the electric violin
- On Desolation Row.
- Dr. Filth, he keeps his world
- Inside of a leather cup
- But all his sexless patients
- They're trying to blow it up
- Now his nurse, some local loser
- She's in charge of the cyanide hole
- And she also keeps the cards that read
- They all play on penny whistles
- You can hear them blow
- If you lean your head out far enough
- From Desolation Row.
- Across the street they've nailed the curtains
- They're getting ready for the feast
- The Phantom of the Opera
- In a perfect image of a priest
- They're spoonfeeding Casanova
- To get him to feel more assured
- Then they'll kill him with self-confidence
- After poisoning him with words
- And the Phantom's shouting to skinny girls
- Casanova is just being punished for going
- To Desolation Row.
- At midnight all the agents
- And the superhuman crew
- Come out and round up everyone
- That knows more than they do
- Then they bring them to the factory
- Where the heart-attack machine
- Is strapped across their shoulders
- And then the kerosene
- Is brought down from the castles
- By insurance men who go
- Check to see that nobody is escaping
- To Desolation Row.
- They be to Nero's Neptune
- The Titanic sails at dawn
- Everybody's shouting
- And Ezra Pound and T. S. Eliot
- Fighting in the captain's tower
- While calypso singers laugh at them
- And fishermen hold flowers
- Between the windows of the sea
- Where lovely mermaids flow
- And nobody has to think too much
- About Desolation Row.
- Yes, I received your letter yesterday
- About the time the door knob broke
- When you asked me how I was doing
- Was that some kind of joke ?
- All these people that you mention
- Yes, I know them, they're quite lame
- I had to rearrange their faces
- And give them all another name
- Right now I can't read too good
- Dont send me no more letters no
- Not unless you mail them
- From Desolation Row.
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