Dylan's WORST lyrics?

The recent threads discussing two of the Bobster's least acclaimed albums (Knocked Out Loaded and Down in the Groove) got me thinking: What do folks consider to be the worst lines & verses by the man considered by many to be rock's greatest lyricist?

With over 500 songs in a career spanning more than 50 years, surely even the most steadfast of fanboys would have to admit that not every line is golden. (At least I would hope so.) Anyway, here's a couple to get the ball rolling:

"Slow Train Coming"
...All that foreign oil controlling American soil
Look around you, it's just bound to make you embarrassed
Sheiks walking around like kings, wearing fancy jewels and nose rings
Deciding America's future from Amsterdam and to Paris...

"Baby Stop Crying"
...Go get me my pistol, babe
Honey, I can't tell right from wrong...

 

"God Gave Names to all the Animals"

He saw an animal that liked to growl
Big furry paws and he liked to howl
Great big furry back and furry hair
“Ah, think I’ll call it a bear”

I love "Slow Train Coming", but the lyrics are very dumbed-down from his previous work.

 

Wiggle wiggle like a bowl of soup....

 

dude, i dont know if this thread is going to work out in a postive manner. it seems odd, but most of your posts are shots at bob.

 

I am sure Wiggle Wiggle will get a lot of mentions but as opening song it is silly and I think it works because of that. If it was anywhere else on the album not so much.

My vote goes to Beyond Here Lies Nothing


"Down every street there's a window
And every window made of glass"

Umm, what else would a window be made of?

 

I always thought it was " Honey, I aim to tell right from wrong" which is a great.

 

Oh, he's had some howlers.

"Sheiks walkin' around like kings, wearing fancy jewels and nose rings/Deciding America's future from Amsterdam to Paris"

"If dogs run free, then why can't we?"

"Conceit is a disease that the doctors got no cure/They've done a lot of research on it, but what it is, they're still not sure"

"He pondered the future of his fate"

"Sets my heart a-reeling/From my toes up to my ears"

 

Covenant Woman got a contract with the Lord

 

Or from "Lenny Bruce"
Never robbed any churches nor cut off any babie's heads.

Like why would he Bob??

 

It's not really fair...anything taken out of musical context can be made to sound awkward.

I remember seeing an old clip of Steve Allen reading the lyrics to Be Bop A Lula -- of course it sounded silly.

 

Musically, a terrific album. "When He Returns" is simply magnificent.
(See that, goombay? I can say something positive about Bob.)

Lyrically...not so much.

 

troll on.

 

I was thinkin' 'bout Alicia Keys, couldn't keep from crying
When she was born in Hell's Kitchen, I was living down the line
I'm wondering where in the world Alicia Keys could be
I been looking for her even clear through Tennessee

From Thunder On The Mountain.

 

The entire song--Joey.

 

While I sincerely agree with this sentiment, the lyrics to "Be-Bop-A-Lula" are pretty silly even with the music! But that's not a bad thing. By the way, wouldn't they just be 'red jeans', saying 'red blue jeans' implies they may be purple.

As far as Dylan goes, I'm actually really curious to see more comments from people. Dylan can be so incredible with lyrics, but sometimes, I'm just not 'there' with some of them. Meaning, I don't understand them in meaning or from an artistic stand point. And I usually chalk that up to "I just don't get it" and don't really judge them one way or the other. At the same time, I've loved certain lines where people say "I hate that, it's so stupid" and I'm thinking "Hmmm... I wonder why!"

 

"Oh, Sister, when I come to lie in your arms/You should not treat me like a stranger/
Our Father would not like the way that you act/And you must realize the danger."

Way to guilt trip ol' Joan, Bob.

(Joan Baez's reply song: "Oh, Brother".)

 

Like: "Someone left the cake out in the rain/ I don't think that I can take it/ 'Cause it took so long to bake it/ And I'll never have that recipe again." (?)

 

Maybe if it were auto-tuned.

 

Another jewel from "Wiggle Wiggle":

Wiggle 'til you're high
Wiggle 'til you're higher
Wiggle 'til you vomit fire

 

I know one of the highlights of the first Bootleg Series, for many, was "Angelina". I thought it was HORRIBLE; I laughed hysterically at each pained rhyme with the title character (concertina, hyena, subpoena, Argentina, arena). This verse seems particularly brutal to me:

His eyes were two slits that would make a snake proud
With a face that any painter would paint as he walked through the crowd
Worshipping a god with the body of a woman well endowed
And the head of a hyena ​

I look forward to hearing an outtake version that somehow incorporates emphysema.

 

I've done that before

 

That is not bad. I got it he was referring to Alice Cooper with the babies heads used as spectacle, and not real baby murder.

 

I don't have a problem with a lot of the lyrics that have been posted (Wiggle Wiggle sets out to be a kids' song, I suspect, and works fine for what it is if you bear that in mind, and Man Gave Names to All the Animals I would lump in the same category). Disease of Conceit has some real clunkers, though. In addition to the lines from the absurdly bad bridge mentioned above, "makes you feel like a piece of meat, the disease of conceit" always makes me wince.

I had not caught the line re: windows made of glass before. Definitely another howler.

 

We want to put his ass in stir
We want to pin this triple mur-
-der on him
He ain't no Gentleman Jim

*eats hand*