General Music Chat

http://youtube.com/watch?v=PeeLSTQboAk
above is the song set to a war protest... I think that would probably make bob mad as he has often suggested that he felt used by the 'anti war' movement.

this song blows my mind.
another free association style piece.

ok I'll go out on a limb and tell you my interpretations:

everything went from bad to worse... money never changed a thing = anyone who has been broke for a long time... I mean really broke... and then finally gets to a point where money really isn't the central hurdle in +your life... comes to the realization that ultimately you just exchange the old problems for new ones

some people say that the
+'somebody had to show their hand' refers to bobs decision to go electric, which upset many of his fans. bob may have even been booed off stage at one point, supposedly over this decision and the departure from 'folk music'.
I would guess it is referring to the point in a relationship where one faces the fear of not being reciprocated when one tells their significant other that they love them. this might rep bobs relationship with his crowd

"paid attention to what others were thinking"... crowd booing him?
"someone had to reach for the rising star"...

+union central = urgency - it's pulling out... opportunity fading
+orchids = bloom in fall to winter... suggesting the end of something.
+'revelation... betrayed me with your touch'
+'nothing had changed that much' - refers to his musical d eparture
+rounder in the iron mask - rounder = a dissolute person (lacking moral judgment)
+'slipped me the master key'? if a person representing a lack of morals gives me a key he's letting me be without morals
+'officers club' - bob wants to follow - he's seing americans going in one after the other... to war? 'hoping one of us could get free'?
+'postal clerk' - pull your picture down off the wall... did bob protect someone? himself?
+'everything I need in love but I can't be swayed by that' -
+panomime - a jesture
+sermon on the mount is too complex? what bob was saying was more than the crowd could understand... and he knew it... it transcended the war movement... it was about people themselves being better not yelling at the government that it's doing wrong while never looking inward and trying to be a better person...
+pay the penalty for biting off too much?
+dupree... crystal wanted to talk to him... had to look the other way
+note in the bottle = rescue bob?
+both heard voices for a while rest is history (heard each others voice?)
+girl behind the shades is not my property... bob has too hit the road
+'he blew the harmonica for free' - meaning he never did it for the money (his music)... he felt he needed to deliver HIS message...
+'if we never meet again'.. meaning if his ride to stardome is over...

what... did you think I was going to tell you what he means overall? I have no idea.

I feel it means ol Bob still cant sing, even when sober.
But he could share some of HIS money with me and I would not complain.

I thought the song was about Sara Dylan, who he secret married and had 4 children with. She shunned the spotlight, and he continued in his career. They later divorced. Their son Jakob, was lead singer of The Wallflowers.

Regardless, he is an amazing lyricist and songwriter.

just like the greatest magicians... bob knows better than to ever give up his secret (of the actual meaning to him). the opinions on the matter vary far and wide... and no one is more likely than the other.

i have to believe bob actually wrote 'one headlight'... I'm pretty sure jacob gets credit but it's so bob's style...

granted his son is a way better singer... but then I can't hear any of that music to anyone else's voice... then again I'm a big tom waitts fan... and I love toms voice... and I hate celine dion's... mariah carey's... ( i know this hurts you sanshouheil... but it's not intentional(hehe).

Free association stuff comes across to me like random thoughts. There's no cohesion, & thus I can make very little out of it, except for the overall mood of the piece.

I suffer from concretitis, with lyrics. If you can't say something in a concrete form that is plainly understood, it'll most likely go over my head.

I respect ppl that "get it," & those that write it, but it seems to be wasted on me, for the most part. Guess I shoulda paid more attention in English class when it came to understanding poetry.

Free association stuff comes across to me like random thoughts. There's no cohesion, & thus I can make very little out of it, except for the overall mood of the piece.

I suffer from concretitis, with lyrics. If you can't say something in a concrete form that is plainly understood, it'll most likely go over my head.

I respect ppl that "get it," & those that write it, but it seems to be wasted on me, for the most part. Guess I shoulda paid more attention in English class when it came to understanding poetry.

Free association stuff comes across to me like random thoughts. There's no cohesion, & thus I can make very little out of it, except for the overall mood of the piece.

I suffer from concretitis, with lyrics. If you can't say something in a concrete form that is plainly understood, it'll most likely go over my head.

I respect ppl that "get it," & those that write it, but it seems to be wasted on me, for the most part. Guess I shoulda paid more attention in English class when it came to understanding poetry.

Cripes! Of all the posts I've made - THIS is the one that got posted 3 times? EEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeeeek!

Satellite misfunction, no doubt.

I'm not that much of a maroon that I'd hit the "submit" button 3 times, am I?

I respect your honesty philby...
the cohesion part is supposed to come from your subconscious.
On a base-plane leve I think it's there... it's a song about a relationship between the singer and someone else.
I may be reading way too much into it to think it's someone other than just a girl, but I'm not the first one who has come to a similar conclusion. An when taken in conjunction with a few other songs by bob... you start to see this common theme of a girl who seems to represent more than just a girl...
black diamond bay - girl wearing necktie and panama hat
visions of johanna - (some say this is about joan baez)
talking wwIII blues - adam and eve
I guess we'll never know... but I for one have learned a lot from trying.