Best Lyric?
-
Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — Bob Dylan
Bob_Loblaws_Law_Blog — 14 years ago(October 23, 2011 07:07 AM)
The lyric that really turned me on to Dylan was from Masters of War. "Even Jesus would never forgive what you do." I just think that line is so powerful when you really think about it.
Some others I think are greatfrom the same song "All the money you make will never buy back your soul" and from Let Me Die In My Footsteps, "Instead of Learning to Live You Are Learning to Die."
What's your best? -
turkeycat — 14 years ago(October 24, 2011 12:33 AM)
These are the few that just come off the top of my head - but there are 100s more.
"Your long time curse hurts but what's worse is this pain in here"
"I've been down to the bottom of a whirlpool of lies, / I ain't looking for nothing in anyone's eyes. / Don't even hear the murmur of a prayer, / It's not dark yet, but it's getting there."
"I need a steam shovel mama to keep away the dead, / I need a dump truck mama to unload my head"
"Your cracked country lips I still wish to kiss as to be by the touch of your skin / Your magnetic movement still captures the minutes I'm in"
"Advertising signs that con you into thinking you're the one that can do what's never been done, that can win what's never been won, meantime life just goes on all around you"
"A saxophone some place far off played, she was walking on by the arcade / as a light bust through a beat-up shade where he was waking up. / She dropped a coin into the cup of a blind man at the gate and forgot about a simple twist of fate." -
CasseroleWorshipper — 14 years ago(October 24, 2011 04:22 AM)
Since I have a lot of time and free will, I will list some of his lyrics that have been most meaningful to me:
I'm a-thinkin' and a-wond'rin', walkin' 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- DON'T THINK TWICE, IT'S ALL RIGHT
I heard one hundred drummers whose hands were a-blazin',
I heard ten thousand whisperin' and nobody listenin',
I heard one person starve, I heard many people laughin',
Heard the song of a poet who died in the gutter,
I heard the sound of a clown who cried in the alley,
And it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard,
It's a hard rain's a-gonna fall. - IT'S A HARD RAIN'S A-GONNA FALL
Oh, but I just thought you might want something fine
Made of silver or of golden
Either from the mountains of Madrid
Or from the coas5b4t of Barcelona ?
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
Gypsy gal, the hands of Harlem
Cannot hold you to its heat
Your temperature's too hot for taming
Your flaming feet burn up the street
I am homeless, come and take me
To the reach of your rattling drums - SPANISH HARLEM INCIDENT
The wind knocks my window, the room it is wet
The words to say I'm sorry, I haven't found yet
I think of her often and hope whoever she's met
Will be fully aware of how precious she is. - BALLAD IN PLAIN D
My love she speaks like silence
Without ideals or violence
She doesnt have to say shes faithful
Yet shes true, like ice, like fire - LOVE MINUS ZERO/NO LIMIT
When youre lost in the rain in Juarez
And its Eastertime too
And your gravity fails
And negativity dont pull you through
Dont put on any airs
When youre down on Rue Morgue Avenue
They got some hungry women there
And they really make a mess outta you - JUST LIKE TOM THUMB'S BLUES
And in comes Romeo, hes moaning
You Belong to Me I Believe
And someone says, Youre in the wrong place my friend
You better leave
And the only sound thats left
After the ambulances go
Is Cinderella sweeping up
On Desolation Row - DESOLATION ROW
The ghost of lectricity howls in the bones of her face
Where these visions of Johanna have now taken my place - VISIONS OF JOHANNA
Now the rainman gave me two cures,
Then he said, "Jump right in."
The one was Texas medicine,
The other was just railroad gin.
An' like a fool I mixed them
An' it strangled up my mind,
An' now people just get uglier
An' I have no sense of time. - STUCK INSIDE OF MOBILE WITH THE MEMPHIS BLUES AGAIN
When we meet again
Introduced as friends
Please don't let on that you knew me when
I was hungry and it was your world - JUST LIKE A WOMAN
With your mercury mouth in the missionary times
And your eyes like smoke and your prayers like rhymes
And your silver cross, and your voice like chimes
Oh, who do they think could bury you ? - SAD-EYED LADY OF THE LOWLANDS
Oh, the farmers and the businessmen they all did decide
To show you the dead angels that they used to hide
But why did they pick you to sympathize with their side ?
How could they ever mistake you ?
They wished you'd accepted the blame for the farm
But with the sea at your feet and the phony false al5b4arm
And with the child of a hoodlum wrapped up in your arms
How could they ever, ever persuade you ? - SAD-EYED LADY OF THE LOWLANDS
Well, up the stairs ran Frankie Lee
With a soulful bounding leap
And foaming at the mouth
He began to make his midnight creep
For sixteen nights and days he raved
But on the seventeenth he burst
Into the arms of Judas Priest
Which is where he died of thirst. - THE BALLAD OF FRANKIE LEE & JUDAS PRIEST
If today was not an endless highway
If tonight was not a crooked trail
If tomorrow wasnt 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 Id lie in my bed once again - TOMORROW IS A LONG TIME
May you grow up to be righteous
May you grow up to be true
May you always know the truth
And see the lights surrounding you
May you always be courageous
Stand upright and be strong
May you stay forever young - FOREVER YOUNG
We drove that car as far as we could
Abandoned it out West
Split up on a dark sad night
Both agreeing it was best.
She turned around to look at me
As I was walkin' away
I heard her say over my shoulder,
"We'll meet again someday o111cn the avenue,"
Tangled up in blue. - TANGLED UP IN BLUE
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
Lily was a princess she was fair-skinned and precious as a c
- DON'T THINK TWICE, IT'S ALL RIGHT
-
IwannabeBobDylan — 14 years ago(October 26, 2011 04:13 PM)
All of the ones you posted here are great examples, I just "discovered" Bob Dylan's music 2 years ago and everytime I just fall in love more and more with his music, recently I bought Planet Waves and I was blown away by Wedding Song, it just reminded me about my own feelings about finishing a relationship with a women I loved very much; that's were Dylan's greatness lies you just can pick a song and really relate to it.
Going back to the lyrics topic, the ones that come to my head now are: "It's all righ Ma (I'm only Bleeding)", "Positively 4th Street", "It takes a lot to laugh, it takes a train to cry", "Ballad of a Thin Man", "One of us must know (Sooner or later)", "Seor (Tales of Yankee Power)", "Lay down your weary tune", "Blind Willie Mctell", "I'm not There", well there are a lot more of his lyrics that are incredibly good but I can't recall all their names.
"You threw me far from Grace and now I fall unto it" -
The_White_Hotel — 14 years ago(November 07, 2011 04:53 AM)
And I've never gotten used to it,
I've just learned to turn it off
I can't see you anymore, I can't even touch the books you've read
Every time I go past your door I've been wishing I was somebody else instead
Ramona come closer, shut softly your watery eyes
The pangs of your sadness will pass as your senses do rise
The flowers of the city, though breath-like feel death-like at times
And there's no use in trying to deal with the dying
But I cannot explain that in lines
Aint it just like the night
To play tricks when you're trying to be so quiet
You're right from your side
I'm right from mine
And your pleasure knows no limits
Your voice is like a meadowlark
But your heart is like an ocean
Mysterious and dark.
While preachers preach of evil fates
Teachers teach that knowledge waits
Can lead to hundred-dollar plates
Goodness hides behind its gates
But even the President of the United States
Sometimes must have
To stand naked.
And you know something is happening here but you don't know what it is
Do you, Mr Jones
You find god in the church of your choice
you find Woody Guthrie at Brooklyn state hospital
I know it's only my opinion, I may be right or wrong
You find them both in the grand canyon at sundown
"Reality is the new fiction they say, truth is truer these days, truth is man-made" -
maneatingbear — 14 years ago(November 16, 2011 12:58 PM)
My # is from "Simple Twist of Fate":
He woke up, the room was bare
He didnt see her anywhere
He told himself he didnt care, pushed the window open wide
Felt an emptiness inside to which he just could not relate
Brought on by a simple twist of fate -
FidelSarcastro — 14 years ago(November 29, 2011 05:11 PM)
Not really his best, but it always makes me chuckle:
Gonna raise me an army, some tough sons of bitches
I'll recruit my army from the orphanages
More seriously, I don't think anything tops It's Alright Ma. I can't even pick out a lyric from it, just start to finish it blows my mind every time I hear it. -
CasseroleWorshipper — 14 years ago(December 01, 2011 06:51 AM)
SHE'S YOUR LOVER NOW from the Bootleg Series I like how it's grounded in reality but still contains a lot of clever Dylanisms:
The pawnbroker roared
Also, so did the landlord
The scene was so crazy, wasn't it?
Both were so glad
To watch me destroy what I had
Pain sure brings out the best in people, doesn't it?
Why didn't you just leave me if you didn't want to stay?
Why'd you have to treat me16d0 so bad?
Did it have to be that way?
Now you stand here expecting me
To remember something you forgot to say
Yes, and you, I see you're still with her
Well, that's fine because she's coming on so strange
Can't you tell?
Somebody had better explain
She's got her iron chain
I'd do it, but I, I just can't remember how
You talk to her
She's your lover now
I already assumed
That we're in the felony room
But I ain't a judge, you don't have to be nice to me
But please tell that
To your friend in the cowboy hat
You know he keeps on saying everything twice to me
You know I was straight with you
You know I've never tried to change you in any way
You know if you didn't want to be with me
That you could . . . didn't have to stay
Now you stand here saying 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
Every time she gives a speech
With her picture-books of the pyramid
And her postcards of Billy the Kid
(Why must everybody bow?)
You better talk to her about it
You're her lover now
Oh, everybody that cares
Is going up the castle stairs
But I'm not up in your castle, honey
It's true, I just can't recall
San Francisco at all
I can't even remember El Paso, uh, honey
You never had to be faithful
I didn't want you to grieve
Oh, why was it so hard for you
If you didn't want to be with me, just to leave?
NOw you stand here while your finger's going up my sleeve
And you, just what do you do anyway?
Ain't there nothing you can say?
She'll be standing on the bar soon
With a fish-head and a harpoon
An a fake beard plastered on her brow
You'd better do something quick
She's your lover now
Oh, why must I fall into this sadness?
Do I look like Charles Atlas?
Do you think I still got what you still got, baby?
Her voice is really warm
It's just that it ain't got no form
But it's just like a dead man's last pistol shot, baby
Oh, your mouth used to be naked
Your eyes used to be so blue
Your hurts used to be so nameless
And your tears used to be so few
Now your eyes cry wolf while your mouth cries
"I'm not scared of animals like you"
And you there's really nothing about you I can recall
I just saw you that one time and you were just there, that's all
But I've already been kissed
I'm not going to get into this
I couldn't make it anyhow
You do it for me
You're her lover now
Man, do I wish this had been on BLONDE ON BLONDE.
I don't mean to impose, but I am the Ocean. -
trlager — 14 years ago(January 24, 2012 12:35 AM)
I have to go with a classic from Like a Rolling Stone.
"How does it feel?
To be without a home
Like a complete unknown
Like a rolling stone"
Touches me everytime.
www.lyrics.com
http://www.lyrics.com/like-a-rolling-stone-lyrics-bob-dylan.html -
fleance-1 — 14 years ago(February 17, 2012 07:09 AM)
Theres a white diamond gloom on the dark side of this room
And a pathway that leads up to the stars
If you dont believe theres a price for this sweet paradise
Remind me to show you the scars
Theres a new day at dawn and Ive finally arrived
If Im there in the morning, baby, youll know Ive survived
I cant believe it, I cant believe Im alive
But without you it just doesnt seem right
Oh, where are you tonight? -
Funky12345 — 14 years ago(March 03, 2012 10:32 AM)
Great Thread!
I have a lot of lyrics I like from Dylan, but here are some of my favorites:
Girl from the North Country:
Please see for me if her hair hangs long,
if it rolls and flows all down her breast.
Please see for me that her hair hangs long,
for thats the way I remember her best.
"She Belongs To Me":
"She can take the dark out of the nighttime
and paint the daytime black."
Tombstone Blues:
"Now 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?'"
"Silvio":
"When it's time1c84 to go, you got an open door."
Silvio:
When I come aknockin dont throw me no bone.
"Things Have Changed":
"Only a fool in here thinks he has anything to prove."
"Things Have Changed":
"I've been tryin' to get as far away from myself as I can."
"I got you some cigarettes - you buy yourself something pretty." -
forthesafetyofpuppies — 13 years ago(July 14, 2012 04:43 AM)
I agree with every line above me.
A couple of recent and not often quoted favourites:
"Are birds free from the chains of the skyway?"- from
Ballad In Plain D
.
As a solitary line, as beautiful as anything he's ever written. The way he plucks a great symbol of freedom, twists the phrase "free as a bird", and queries it in such a poetic way. Quintessential Dylan.
And the lost gem
Lay Down Your Weary Tune
(the entirity of
Lay down your weary tune, lay down,
Lay down the song you strum,
And rest yourself 'neath the strength of strings
No voice can hope to hum.
Struck by the sounds before the sun,
I knew the night had gone.
The morning breeze like a bugle blew
Against the drums of dawn.
Lay down your weary tune, lay down,
Lay down the song you strum,
And rest yourself 'neath the strength of strings
No voice can hope to hum.
The ocean wild like an organ played
The seaweed's woven strands.
The crashin' waves like cymbals clashed
Against the rocks and sands.
Lay down your weary tune, lay down,
Lay down the song you strum,
And rest yourself 'neath the strength of strings
No voice can hope to hum.
I stood unwound beneath the skies
And clouds unbound by laws.
The cryin' rain like a trumpet sang
And asked for no applause.
Lay down your weary tune, lay down,
Lay down the song you strum,
And rest yourself 'neath the strength of strings
No voice can hope to hum.
The last of leaves fell from the trees
And clung to a new love's breast.
The branches bare like a banjo played
To the winds that listened best.
I gazed down in the river's mirror
And watched its winding strum.
The water smooth ran like a hymn
And like a harp did hum.
Lay down your weary tune, lay down,
Lay down the song you strum,
And rest yourself 'neath the strength of strings
No voice can hope to hum.
"People who live in glass houses have to answer the door"
- from
-
Junie87 — 13 years ago(August 07, 2012 06:13 AM)
Dylan has written so many great lyrics it's really hard to know even where to start in singling out his best. Personal favourites
People tell me its a sin
to know and feel too much within
-Simple Twist of Fate
You're invisible now
you got no secrets to conceal
-Rolling Stone
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"
-Ballad of a thin man
In the dime stores and bus stations
People talk of situations
Read books,
repeat quotations
Draw conclusions on the wall
Some speak of the future
My love she speaks softly
She knows theres no success like failure
And that failures no success at all
-Love minus zero no limit
Well, I rapped upon a house
With the US flag upon display
I said, "Could you help me out
I got some friends down the way
" The man says, "Get out of here
I'll tear you limp from limb"
I said, "You know they refused Jesus, too"
He said, "You're not Him
-115th dream
Rosemary started drinking hard and seeing her reflection in the knife
She was tired of the attention tired of playing the role of Big Jim's wife
She had done a lot of bad things even once tried suicide
Was looking to do just one good deed before she died
She was gazing to the future riding on the Jack of Hearts
-Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts -
Bravesfan82 — 13 years ago(August 30, 2012 04:09 PM)
The line I always think of is -
"Twenty years of schooling and they put you on the day shift."
Of course, you could pick pretty much any lyric from pretty much any song, and it'd be fantastic.
I love your screen name, by the way!
"I don't want Fop! I'm a Dapper Dan man!" -
MurderInc2014 — 13 years ago(November 17, 2012 03:41 PM)
These days I'm thinking it's, "Husband?What husband? What the hell do ya mean?!?!" lol I love that one from Tin Angel. And since there's about a thousand acceptable answers to this one, I'll go with the one that is currently in my head.
-
sadeyedladyy — 13 years ago(November 17, 2012 04:46 PM)
It's hard to pick best lyrics but besides all great ones that you've mentioned I also like:
And Ill tell it and think it and speak it and breathe it,
And reflect it from the mountain so all souls can see it,
Then Ill stand on the ocean until I start sinkin,
But Ill know my song well before I start singin
(A Hard Rains A-Gonna Fall)
Ah, but I was so much older then
Im younger than that now.
(My back pages)
Well, I try my best
To be just like I am,
But everybody wants you
To be just like them.
They say "sing while you slave," and I just get bored.
I aint gonna work on Maggies farm no more.
(Maggie's farm)
She knows theres no success like failure
And that failures no success at all
(Love minus zero)
The carpet, too, is moving under you
And its all over now, Baby Blue.
But, sooner or later, one of us must know
You just did what youre supposed to do
Sooner or later, one of us must know
That I really did try to get close to you
(One of us must know)
Evrybody knows
That Babys got new clothes
But lately I see her ribbons and her bows
(Just like a woman)
And the locusts sang, well, it give me a chill,
Yeah, the locusts sang such a sweet melody.
And the locusts sang with a high whinin trill
Yeah, the locusts sang and they was singing for me
(Day of locusts)
May you always do for others
And let others do for you
(Forever young)
Our conversation was short and sweet
It nearly swept me off-a my feet.
And Im back in the rain, oh
And you are on dry land,
You made it there somehow
Youre a big girl now.
From Idiot wind (probably my favourite):
Even you, yesterday you had to ask me where it was at,
I couldnt believe after all these years, you didnt know me any better than that
I can't help it if I'm lucky
Youll never know the hurt I suffered nor the pain I rise above,
And Ill 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,
Were idiots, babe.
Its a wonder we can even feed ourselves.
Ive seen love go by my door
Its never been this close before
Never been so easy or so slow.
Been shooting in the dark too long
When somethins not right its wrong
Youre gonna make me lonesome when you go.
Dragon clouds so high above
Ive only known careless love
(Youre gonna make me lonesome when you go)
I was burned out from exhaustion, buried in the hail,
Poisoned in the bushes an blown out on the trail,
Hunted like a crocodile, ravaged in the corn.
"Come in," she said, "Ill give you shelter from the storm."
(Youre gonna make me lonesome when you go)
I seen her on the stairs and I couldnt help but follow,
(Changing of the guards)
Seor, s5b4eor, can you tell me where were headin?
Lincoln County Road or Armageddon?
Seems like I been down this way before.
Is there any truth in that, seor?
(Senor)
You got some big dreams, baby, but in order to dream you gotta still be asleep.
(When you gonna wake up)
I hear the ancient footsteps like the motion of the sea
Sometimes I turn, theres someone there, other times its only me.
(Every grain of sand)
There are no mistakes in life some people say
It is true sometimes you can see it that way
But people dont live or die people just float
She went with the man in the long black coat.
(Man in the long black coat)
Well, I run right down n bought a ticket
To this thing called the Bear Mountain Picnic.
little did I realize
I was in for a pleasant funny surprise.
It had nothing to do with picnics
didnt come close to a mountain.
And I hate bears.
(Always makes me laugh)
I will not go down under the ground
"Cause somebody tells me that deaths comin round
An I will not carry myself down to die
When I go to my grave my head will be high,
Let me die in my footsteps
Before I go down under the ground.
The evenin dust was rollin,
I was walking down the track.
There was a one-way wind a-blowin
it was blowin at my back.
(Paths of victory)
Im si2000ck of love
I hear the clock tick
this kind of love
Im lovesick
From Mississippi:
Some people will offer you their hand and some wont
Last night I knew you, tonight I dont
I need something strong to distract my mind
Im gonna look at you til my eyes go blind
Only one thing I did wrong
Stayed in Mississippi a day too long.
You can always come back, but you cant come back all the way