Index:

  • Birds
  • Birds' Nests in Hair
  • Blood/Wine
  • Boxing

    Birds

    Ah, my friends from the prison, they ask unto me, 
    "How good, how good does it feel to be free?" 
    And I answer them most mysteriously, 
    "Are birds free from the chains of the skyway?" 
                        "Ballad in Plain D" 
     
    Black crows in the meadow
    Across a broad highway.       
                        "Black Crow Blues"
     
    Carolina born and bred, love to hunt the little quail.
    Got a hundred-acre spread, got some huntin' dogs for sale.
                        "Catfish"
     
    A messenger arrived with a black nightingale.
    I seen her on the stairs and I couldn't help but follow,
    Follow her down past the fountain where they lifted her veil.
                        "Changing of the Guards"
     
    I got a bird that whistles, I got a bird that sings.
    But I ain' a-got Corrina, life don't mean a thing.          
                        "Corrina Corrina"
     
    Oh, the benches were stained with tears and perspiration,
    The birdies were flying from tree to tree.
    There was little to say, there was no conversation
    As I stepped to the stage to pick up my degree.
                        "Day of the Locusts"
     
    I went down where the vultures feed,
    I would've gone deeper, but there wasn't any need,
                        "Dignity"
     
    I am hanging in the balance of the reality of man,
    Like every sparrow falling, like every grain of sand.
                        "Every Grain of Sand"
     
    Father, who teacheth the bird to fly,
    Builder of Rainbow up in the sky,       
                        "Father of Night"
     
    Of war and peace the truth just twists, 
    Its curfew gull it glides,    
                        "Gates of Eden"
     
    Relationships of ownership they whisper in the wings,
    To those condemned to act accordingly, 
    And wait for succeeding kings,
    And I try to harmonize with songs the lonesome sparrow sings,
    There are no kings inside the gates of Eden.
                        "Gates of Eden"
     
    As he weeps, two wicked birds of prey,
    Who pick up on his breadcrumbs sins,
    And there are no sins inside the gates of Eden.
                        "Gates of Eden"
     
    Mister Rockefeller sets up as high as a bird,
    Old Mister Empire never says a word.
                        "Hard Times in New York Town"
     
    If not for you, the winter would have no spring,
    Couldn't hear a robin sing,   
                        "If Not For You"
     
    Well, that mockingbird's gonna sail away,
    We're gonna forget it.        
                        "I'll Be Your Baby Tonight"
     
    It's high above on the gallows tree
    The crows will pick your bones."        
                        "Jim Jones"
     
    Jokerman dance to the nightingale tune,
    Birds fly high by the light of the moon,
    Wo-oh oh oh oh Jokerman.      
                        "Jokerman"
     
    Little rooster crowing, there must be something on his mind.
    Well I feel just like that rooster,
    Honey you treat me so unkind.      
                        "Meet Me in the Morning"
     
    The birds are flying low, Babe, Honey, I feel so exposed,
    The birds are flying low, babe, Honey, I feel so exposed,
    Well now, I ain't got any matches,
    And the station doors are closed.
                        "Meet Me in the Morning (missing verse)"
     
    Well, he deep in number and heavy in toil,
    Mighty Mockingbird, he still has such a heavy load.
                        "Minstrel Boy"
     
    Can't you hear that rooster crowin'?
    Rabbit runnin' down across the road
    Underneath the bridge where the water flowed through
                        "New Morning"
     
    And your pleasure knows no limits, 
    Your voice is like a mellow lark,
    But your heart is like an ocean, 
    Mysterious and dark,               
                        "One More Cup of Coffee"
     
    I can drink like a fish, I can crawl like a snake,
    I can bite like a turkey, I can slam like a drake.
                        "Please Mrs Henry"
     
    Everyone's 'neath the trees, feeding pigeons on a limb,
    But when Quinn the Eskimo gets here,
    All the pigeons gonna run to him.       
                        "Quinn the Eskimo"
     
    The only thing I knew how to do,
    Was to keep on keeping on, like a bird that flew,
    Tangled up in blue. 
                        "Tangled Up in Blue"
     
    The dogs and pigeons fly up and they flutter around,
    A man with a badge skips by,            
                        "Three Angels"
     
    One bird book and a buzzard and a crow,
    Tell 'em all that Tiny's gonna say hello.    
                        "Tiny Montgomery"
     
    The Commander-in-Chief answers him while chasing a fly
    Saying "Death to all those who would whimper and cry"
    And dropping a barbell he points to the sky,
    Saying, "The sun's not yellow, it's chicken."
                        "Tombstone Blues"
     
    Let the bird sing, let the bird fly,
    One day the man in the moon went home and the river went dry.
                        "Under the Red Sky"
     
    Well, it's four in the morning by the sound of the birds,
    I'm staring at your picture, I'm hearing your words,
    Baby, they ring in my head like a bell!
                        "Under Your Spell"
     
    Death kept following us, tracking us down,
    At least I heard your bluebirds sing         
                        "Up to Me"
     
    Dupree came in pimpin' tonight,
    To the Thunderbird Cafe, 
                        "Up to Me"
     
    Yonder comes sin,
    Walking like a man, talking like an angel,
    Yonder comes sin,
    Proud like a peacock, swift like an eagle,
                        "Yonder Comes Sin"
     
    The call of the wild is forever at my door,
    Wantin' me to fly like an eagle,
    While being chained to the floor,  
                        "You Changed My Life"
     
    Bird on the horizon, sittin' on a fence.
    He's singing his song for me at his own expense.
    And I'm just like that bird, oh-oh, singin' just for you.   
                        "You're a Big Girl Now"
    

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    Birds' Nests in Hair

    Satan got you by the heel, there's a bird's nest in your hair.
    Do you have any faith at all? 
    Do you have any love to share?
                        "Dead Man, Dead Man"
      
    Here comes Satan, prince of the power of the air,
    Hes gonna make you a law unto yourself, 
    Gonna build a birds nest in your hair.
                        "Trouble in Mind"
    

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    Blood/Wine

    Mona tried to tell me to stay far away from the train line.
    She said that all the railroad men drink your blood like wine.
                        "Stuck inside of Mobile"
    
    I never could learn to drink that blood,
    And call it wine,
    I never could learn to hold you, love,
    And call you mine.            
                        "Tight Connection to my Heart"
    

    Just Blood

    I saw a black branch with blood that kept drippin',
    I saw a room full of men with their hammers a-bleedin',
                        "A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall"
     
    Blood drying in my yellow hair as I go from shore to shore,
    I know what it is that has drawn me to your door,
    But whatever could it be that makes you think you've seen me before?   
                        "Angelina"
     
    The rats have got your flour,
    Bad blood it got your mare.
                        "Ballad of Hollis Brown"
     
    They gave him dope to smoke, drinks and pills,
    A jeep to drive, blood to spill.   
                        "Clean Cut Kid"
     
    You heard about Pharaoh's army tramplin' through the mud,
    You heard about the Hebrew children, redeemed by blood.
                        "Cover Down, Break Through"
     
    Go away little boy, you're making me sad,
    I don't wanna see you bleed, she's the one you need,
                        "Go Away Little Boy"
     
    Swords piercing your side, 
    Blood and water flowing through the land.
                        "Gonna Change My Way of Thinking"
     
    Dig my grave with a bloody spade,
    See that my digger gets well paid, 
                        "Gospel Plow"
     
    Looked for the answer, found a solution,
    Too rich for my blood and I needed a transfusion.
    Don't know what I say about Claudette, 
    She could be in the mountains or the prairies,
    She could be respectably married, or running a whorehouse in
    Buenos Aires.
                        "Groom's Still Waiting at the Altar"
                        - (Warfield Version)
     
    Enter Patty Valentine from the upper hall,
    She sees a bartender in a pool of blood,     
                        "Hurricane"
     
    One day you'll be in the ditch, 
    Flies buzzin' around your eyes,
    Blood on your saddle.                   
                        "Idiot Wind"
     
    I got the heart and you got the blood,
    We cut through iron and we cut through mud.
                        "In the Summertime"
     
    I pity the poor immigrant, who tramples through the mud, 
    Who fills his mouth with laughing, 
    And who builds his town with blood,  
                        "I Pity the Poor Immigrant"
     
    Take back your acid rain,
    Let your T.V. bleed.               
                        "Jammin' Me"
     
    And you know that there's no drug that'll do for the healin'
    And no liquor in the land to stop yer brain from bleeding
                        "Last Thoughts on Woody Guthrie"
     
    Let me drink from the waters where the mountain streams flood
    Let me smell of wildflowers flow free through my blood
                        "Let Me Die in my Footsteps"
     
    The war guns they went off wild, the whole world bled its blood.
    Men's bodies floated on the edge of oceans made of mud.     
                        "Long Ago, Far Away"
     
    You hide in your mansions while the young people's blood,
    Flows out of their bodies and gets buried in the mud.
                        "Masters of War"
     
    For threatening my baby, unborn and unnamed,
    You ain't worth the blood that runs in your veins.
                        "Masters of War"
     
    Maybe someday you'll remember what you felt,
    When there was blood on the moon in the cotton belt,
                        "Maybe Someday"
     
    He buys obsolete weapons and he won't be denied
    But no one sends flesh and blood to fight by his side.
    He's the neighborhood bully.       
                        "Neighborhood Bully"
     
    But the magician is quicker and his game
    Is much thicker than blood and blacker than ink.
                        "No Time to Think"
     
    A bullet from the back of a bush took Medgar Evers' blood.
    A finger fired the trigger to his name. 
                        "Only a Pawn in Their Game"
     
    Now there's spiritual warfare,
    Flesh and blood breaking down.          
                        "Precious Angel"
     
    We are covered in blood, girl, 
    You know our forefathers were slaves.
    Let us hope they've found mercy 
    In their bone-filled graves.  
                        "Precious Angel"
     
    I've been saved, by the blood of the lamb,
    Saved, by the blood of the lamb,   
                        "Saved"
     
    'Twas in another life time, full of toil and blood,
    When blackness was a virtue, and the road was full of mud,
                        "Shelter from the Storm"
     
    I can hear that hot-blooded singer, on the bandstand croon,
    Poisoned love, Red Roses for a Blue Lady, and Memphis in June,
                        "Someone's Got a Hold of My Heart"
     
    Never could learn to drink that blood and call it wine,
    Never could learn to look at your face and call it mine,
                        "Someone's Got a Hold of My Heart"
     
    I don't wanna see you bleed, I know what you need, 
    But it ain't what you deserve.     
                        "Something's Burning, Baby"
     
    I can feel it in the rain, in the rain, in the rain, 
    I don't want to see you bleed.
                        "Something's Burning, Baby" (early version)
     
    Got to have your own harem when you come in the door,
    Got to play your harp until your lips bleed.
                        "Sweetheart Like You"
     
    Satan will give you a little taste, 
    Then he'll move in with rapid speed,
    Lord keep my blind side covered and see that I don't bleed.
                        "Trouble in Mind"
     
    Once there was a man who had no eyes,
    Every lady in the land told him lies,
    He stood beneath the silver skies,
    And his heart began to bleed.      
                        "Unbelievable"
     
    What's lost is lost, 
    We can't regain what went down in the flood,
    But happiness to me is you 
    And I love you more than blood.              
                        "Wedding Song"
     
    Everything you've gotten
    You've gotten by sweat, blood and muscle
                        "Ye Shall be Changed"
     
    Well, her eyes may be different color than mine,
    But her blood is red and her bones are white,
                        "Yonder Comes Sin"
     
    My brother's blood is crying from the grave, 
    But you cannot hear the voice.          
                        "Yonder Comes Sin"
    

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    Boxing

    He was wearing boxing gloves, he took a dive one day,
    Off the Golden Gate Bridge into China Bay. 
                        "Clean Cut Kid"
      
    Comes right outta nowhere and you're down for the count,
                        "Disease of Conceit"
    
    Rubin could take a man out with just one punch,
    But he never did like to talk about it all that much.
                        "Hurricane"
     
    I was shadow-boxing earlier in the day,
    I figured I was ready for Cassius Clay.
    I said "Fee, fie, fo, fum, Cassius Clay, here I come,
    26, 27, 28, 29, I'm gonna make your face look just like mine,
    Five, four, three, two, one, Cassius Clay you'd better run,
    99, 100, 101, 102, your ma won't even recognize you,
    14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, gonna knock him clean right out of his spleen."
                        "I Shall be Free #10"
     
    Well, I looked at my watch, I looked at my wrist,
    I punched myself in the face with my fist.
                        "Million Dollar Bash"
    
    I said, "I like Fidel Castro,
    I think you heard me right,"
    And ducked as he swung
    At me with all his might.
                        "Motorpsycho Nitemare"
     
    Well, there's fist fights in the kitchen
    They're enough to make me cry      
                        "On the Road Again"
     
    He just smoked my eyelids,
    And punched my cigarette.     
                        "Stuck Inside of Mobile"
     
    I moved in closer, got up on my toes,
    Two men in front of me were coming to blows.
                        "TV Talkin' Song"
     
    "Not I," says the referee,
    "Don't point your finger at me.    
                        "Who killed Davey Moore?"
     
    "Not us," says the angry crowd,
    Whose screams filled the arena loud. 
                        "Who killed Davey Moore?"
     
    "Not me," says his manager,
    Puffing on a big cigar.  
                        "Who killed Davey Moore?"
     
    "Not me," says the gambling man,
    With his ticket stub still in his hand.
    "It wasn't me that knocked him down,
                        "Who killed Davey Moore?"
     
    "Not me," says the boxing writer,
    Pounding print on his old typewriter,
    Sayin', "Boxing ain't to blame,
    There's just as much danger in a football game."
    Sayin', "Fist fighting is here to stay,
    It's just the old American way.    
                        "Who killed Davey Moore?"
     
    "Not me," says the man whose fists
    Laid him low in a cloud of mist 
                        "Who Killed Davey Moore?"
    
    Seth Rogavoy wrote:
     
    Put in a prison cell but one day he coulda been 
    the Champion of the World...       
                        "Hurricane"
     
    "You may be the heavyweight Champion of the World" 
                                       
                        "Gotta Serve Somebody"
     
    My take on this one is that in a funny way, on "Serve Somebody"
    Dylan was disavowing or backtracking his having made Rubin
    Carter into a hero in "Hurricane," or at least suggesting that
    no matter what kind of hero you are, there's a greater hero than you....
                   --Seth Rogovoy
    

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