The Folk Years
Take 2 from The 1st Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan
recording session 24 April 1962.
Last verse from take 2 from The 4th Freewheelin’ Bob
Dylan recording session 26
October 1962
Take 2 from The 3rd Freewheelin’
Bob Dylan recording session 9 July 1962
Take 2 from the 3rd
Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan recording session 9 July 1962
Take 9 from the 5th Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan
recording session 1 November 1962
I'm
Troubled And I Don't Know Why
Love Is Just A Four-Letter Word
The queen of his
diamonds
And the jack his
knave
Won't you dig my
grave
With a silver
spade?
And forget my name.
I'm twenty years
old.
That's twenty years
gone.
Can't you see me
crying,
Can't you see me
dying,
I'll never reach
twenty-one ...
[Source: fragment reprinted in Robert Shelton: No
Direction Home]
[TOP]
I knew a boy named Hugh Brown
He's the laziest
man in town
Got up this morning
and combed his hair
He's so lazy, he
just don't go anywhere
He just kinda opens
his door and walks out
And looks around
and walks away
Well, he sprained
his arm combing his hair
I don't think
that's quite really fair
He lays in bed all
the time
I don't think
that's very right
He's such a lazy
bastard
You know it was
raining the other day,
I mean the other night,
And Hugh Brown said
And Hugh Brown,
he's so lazy that,
He said to me
"Bob, it's raining on my bed"
And I says
"Oh" - and he says "Yeah" - and I says "Oh"
Hugh Brown never
closed the window
Oh, that's the end.
[Source: The Wicked Messenger # 364]
[TOP]
Come gather 'round
you people, a story I will tell,
About a night not
long ago, you all remember well.
I tell it to you
straight and true, I tell it like friend.
All about the
fearful night, we thought the world would end.
I was walking down
the sidewalk not causing any harm
The radio reported
it sounded with alarm
The Russian ships
were sailing all out across the sea.
We all feared by
daybreak it would be World War Number Three.
I was worried about
an argument I had the day before
Over some small
matter, I'm sure it was nothin' more.
But just a day ago,
how it wrinkled up my brow.
The same thing
today seem so unimportant now.
[Source: Tape: Broadside Office, New York City, New
York, Late 1962]
[TOP]
This is all about
what the Devil is. Some people say that there is no Devil ...
Well, sometimes you
can't see him so good,
When he hides his
head in his snow white hood,
And rides to kill
with his face well hid
And then goes home
to his wife and kids.
Wonder if his kids
know who he is?
Well, he wants you
to hate, he wants you to fear,
He wants you to
fear something that's not even there,
He'll give you your
hate, he'll give you his lies,
He'll give you the
weapons to run out and die.
And you give him
your soul.
[Source: Tape: Broadside Office, New York City, New
York, 19 January 1963]
[TOP]
I came down to New
York Town,
Got out and started
walking around,
I's up around
Sixty-Second Street,
All of a sudden comes
a cop on his beat,
Said my hair was
too long, said my boots were too dirty,
Said my hat was
un-American, said he'd throw me in jail.
So I got out on a
subway and took a seat
Got out on
forty-second street
I met this fellow
named Delores there
He started rubbin'
his hands thru my hair
I figured somethin'
was wrong so I ran through 10 hot dog stands,
4 movie houses and
a couple a dancing studios to get back on the subway train.
The wind it blew me
north and south
It blew me in a
coffee house
I met this fellow
with sun glasses on
He told me he sung
folksongs
I believed him
'cause he was wearin' sun glasses.
He sung
"Scarlet Ribbons" 'bout ten times or more
He sung
"Michael row the boat ashore"
He sung "Where
do all the flowers go?"
There was no
folksong he didn't know
The ones he didn't
know he didn't like anyway.
On MacDougal Street
I saw a cubby hole
I went in to get
out of the cold
Found out after I
entered
The place was
called the Folklore Center
Owned by Izzy Young
- he's always in the back - of the center.
They got real
records and real books
Anybody can walk in
and look
You don't have to
own a Cadillac car
Or a nine-hundred
and fifty-two dollar guitar
Do like most people
do - walk in - walk around - walk out.
But that's not the
way you see
That ain't the way
it oughta be
There's just one
way a lookin' at it
You shouldn't take
this place for granted
That'll always be
here.
So go down and buy
a record or a book
Don't just walk
around and look
You can do that when
you go uptown
When you come down
here you're on common ground
Common people
ground - common guitar people ground
WE NEED EVERY INCH
OF IT!
[Source: Occassionally #1]
[TOP]
(Recorded version)
Well, I took me a
woman late last night,
I's three-fourths
drunk, she looked all right,
Till she started
peelin' off her onion gook
She took off her
wig, said "how do I look?"
I's high-flyin' ...
bare-naked ...
Out the window!
Well, sometimes I
might get drunk,
Walk like a duck
and smell like a skunk.
Don't hurt me none,
don't hurt my pride
Cause I got my
little lady right by my side.
She's a-tryin' to
hide
Pretendin' she
don't know me
I's out there
paintin' on the old woodshed
When a can a black
paint it fell on my head.
I went down to
scrub and rub
But I had to sit in
back of the tub.
Cost a quarter
Half price
Well, my telephone
rang it would not stop,
It's President
Kennedy callin' me up
He said "My
friend, Bob, what do we need to make the country grow?"
I said "My
friend, John, Brigitte Bardot"
"Anita
Ekberg"
"Sophia
Loren"
"Country'll
grow!"
Well, I got a woman
five feet short
She yells and
hollers and screams and snorts.
She tickles my nose
and pats me on my head
Rolls me over and kicks
me out of bed
She's a man-eater
... meat grinder ...
Bad loser!
Oh, there ain't no
use in me working all the time
I got a woman who
works herself blind
Works up to her
bridges, up to her neck
Writes me letters
and sends me checks.
She's a humdinger
Folk singer
Late one day in the
middle of the week
Eyes were closed I
was half asleep.
I chased me a woman
up the hill
Right in the middle
of an air raid drill.
I jumped a fallout
shelter
I jumped a string
bean
I jumped a T.V.
dinner
I jumped a shotgun.
Now the man on the
stand he want my vote,
He's a-runnin' for
office on the ballot note.
He's out there
preachin' in front of the steeple,
Tellin' me he loves
all kinds-a people.
He's eatin' bagels.
He's eatin' pizza.
He's eatin'
chitlins.
Oh, I set me down
on a television floor,
I flipped the
channel to number four.
Out of the shower
comes a football man
With a bottle of
oil in his hand.
Greasy kid stuff!
What I want to
know, Mr Football Man, is
What do you do
about Willy Mays, Martin Luther King,
Olatunji
Well the funniest
woman I ever seen
Was the
great-granddaughter of Mr Clean.
She takes about
fifteen baths a day
Wants me to grow a
moustache on my face.
She's insane!
Well, ask me why
I'm drunk alla time,
It levels my head
and eases my mind.
I just walk along
and stroll and sing
I see better days
and I do better things
I catch dinosaurs
I make love to
Elizabeth Taylor ...
Catch hell from
Richard Burton!
[Source: The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan]
[TOP]
Corrina,
Corrina
Gal, what’s
on your mind
Corrina,
Corrina
Gal, what’s
on your mind
Well, I’m
sittin’ down thinkin’
I just
can’t keep from crying
I got a bird that
whistles
I got a bird that
sings
I got a bird that
whistles
I got a bird that
sings
But I ain’t got
Corrina
Life don’t mean a
thing
Ain’t got Corrina
I can’t be
satisfied
Ain’t got Corrina
I can’t be
satisfied
Got a black cat
on my trail
The devil’s by my
side.
Corrina, Corrina
Where you been so
long?
Corrina, Corrina
Gal, where you
been so long?
I been worr’in’
’bout you, baby
Baby, please come
home
<the third verse is new>
Down the road baby,
Down the road I’m bound to go
But I really love you
But I can’t stay around no more
<new verse>
[Source: The 50th Anniversary Collection]
[TOP]
Sometimes I’m in the
mood, I wanna hear my milk cow moan
Sometimes I’m in the
mood, I wanna leave my lonesome home
Sometimes I’m in the
mood, I wanna hit that highway road
But then again, and then
again, and then again,
Oh babe, I’m in the
mood for you
Sometimes I’m in the
mood, I wanna lay right down and die
Sometimes I’m in the
mood, I wanna sit right here and cry
Sometimes I’m in the
mood, Lord I wanna kiss you tonight
And then again, and then again, I said
Oh babe, I’m in the
mood for you
Sometimes I’m in the
mood, I wanna change my house around
Sometimes I’m in the
mood, I’m gonna make a change in this here town
Sometimes I’m in the
mood, I’m gonna change the world around
But then oh, I said
oh, I said oh, I said oh
Oh babe, I’m in the
mood for you
Sometimes I’m in the
mood, I wanna rag up against the wall
Sometimes I’m in the
mood, I’m gonna live in my pony’s stall
And sometimes I’m in
the mood, I ain’t gonna do nothin’ at all
But then again, I said
oh, I said oh,
Oh babe, I’m in the
mood for you
[Source: The 50th Anniversary Collection]
[TOP]
Well, I feel like
runnin’ down the Shenandoah
I got a home on the
highway,
I feel I’m bound to go
Bound to go, bound to
go.
And the Lone Ranger
and Tonto
They are ridin’ down
the line
They’re fixin’
ev’rybody’s troubles
Ev’rybody’s ’cept mine
Somebody musta tol’
’em
That I was doin’ fine
Oh you five and ten
cent women
With nothin’ in your
heads
I got a real gal I’m
lovin’
And I’ll love her till
I’m dead
Go away from my door
and my window too
I ain’t goin’ down to
no race track
See no sports car run
I don’t have no sports
car
Lord, I don’t even
wish to have one
I can walk all the way
around the block
I got a clock in my
stomach
And a watch in my head
I’m a-tickin’ so loud,
Lord, I’m gonna wound
up dead
Yes, I will, no I
won’t, maybe I will
Well, I gotta keep on
a-goin’
Up and down the street
With my hat in my hand
And my boots on my
feet
Here I come, here I
go, come again
Look-a here buddy
You want to be like me
Pull out your gun
And rob every bank you
can see
Tell the judge I said
it was all right
Yes!
<first and fifth verse are new>
[Source: The 50th Anniversary Collection]
[TOP]
I got mixed up
confusion
Man, it’s a-killin’ me
Well, there’s just too
many people
And they’re all too
hard to please
And my hat’s in my
hand
Babe, I’m walkin’ down
the line
I’m lookin’ for a
woman
Whose head’s mixed up
like mine
I’m too old to lose
Baby, I’m just too
young to win
And I feel like a
stranger
In the world I’m
livin’ in
And I’m walkin’ and
a-wonderin’
My poor feet don’t
ever stop
Seein’ my reflection
I’m hung over, hung
down, hung up!
<third verse is new>
[Source: The 50th Anniversary Collection]
[TOP]
Tenderly William
kissed his wife.
Her knuckles were
white on the kitchen knife
And the swan on the
river goes gliding by.
Lady Margaret's
pillow is wet with tears.
No-one has touched
her in twenty years.
And the swan on the
river goes gliding by.
The swan on the
river goes gliding by.
The doctor gave
Sally a sad surprise.
A seven pound baby
with no eyes.
And the swan on the
river goes gliding by.
Little Billy Brown
will shake with fright.
He has a new father
every night.
And the swan on the
river goes gliding by.
The swan on the
river goes gliding by.
My father will
drink, my mother will mope.
The girl I'm in
love with takes dope.
And the swan on the
river goes gliding by.
The swan on the river
goes gliding by.
Oh, when will the
swan begin to sing?
For we are weary of
everything.
And the swan on the
river goes gliding by.
The swan on the
river goes gliding by.
Tenderly William
kissed his wife.
Then he opened her
head with a butcher knife.
And the swan on the
river went gliding by.
Lady Margaret's
pillow was wet with tears.
Nobody's been on it
in twenty years.
And the swan on the
river goes gliding by.
The swan on the
river goes gliding by.
Little Billy Brown
will shake with fright.
He's got a new
daddy and mommy every night.
And the swan on the
river goes laughing by.
The swan on the
river goes laughing by.
"I've got a
sad surprise" the doctor said
"A twenty
pound baby without any head"
The swan on the
river went lookin' ......
[Source: Steppin' Out]
[TOP]
I'm troubled and I
don't know why
I'm troubled and I
don't know why
There's trouble on
my mind
And it's driving me
blind
I'm troubled and I
don't know why
What did the
newspaper tell?
What did the
newspaper tell?
Well it rolled in
the door
And it bounced on
the floor
And thing's ain't
going too well
What did the
television squawk?
What did the
television squawk?
Well it roared and
it boomed
And it bounced
around the room
And it didn't say
nothing at all
What did the movie
screen lecture?
What did the movie
screen lecture?
Well, it sank and
it rose
And it took off all
it's clothes
And I left in the
middle of the picture
I'm troubled and I don't
know why
I'm troubled and I
don't know why
There's trouble on
my mind
And it's driving me
blind
I'm troubled and I
don't know why
[Source: Some Other Kind Of Songs]
[TOP]
Seems like
only yesterday
I left my
mind behind
Down in the
Gypsy Caf`
With a
friend of a friend of mine
She sat
with a baby heavy on her knee
Yet spoke
of life most free from slavery
With eyes
that showed no trace of misery
A phrase in
connection first with she
Offered
that love is just a four-letter word.
Outside a
rattling store-front window
Cats meowed
to the break of day
Me, I kept
my mouth shut, too
I had no
words to say
My
experience was limited none the same
You did all
the talking while I hid
To the one who
was the father of your kid
You
probably didn't think I did
But I heard
you say that love is just a four-letter word.
I said
goodbye unnoticed
Pushed
forth into my own games
Drifting in
and out of lifetimes
Unmentionable
by name
Searching
for my double, looking for
Complete
evaporation to the core
Though I
tried and failed in finding any door
I must have
thought that there was nothing more
Absurd than
that love is just a four-letter word.
Though I
never knew just what you meant
When you
were speaking to your man
I can only
think in terms of me
And now I
understand
After
waking enough times to think I see
The Holy
Kiss that's supposed to last eternity
Blow up in
smoke, its destiny
Falls on
strangers, travels free
Yes, I know
now, traps are only set by me
And I do
not really need to be
Assured
that love is just a four-letter word.
Strange it
is to be beside you
Many years,
the tables turned
You'd
probably not believe me
If I told
you all I've learned
And it is
very, very weird indeed
To hear
words like "forever" plead
Though
ships run through my mind, I cannot cheat
It's like
looking in the teacher's face complete
I can say
nothing to you but repeat
What I
heard that love is just a four-letter word.
[Source: Joan Baez studio recording with help from Ron
Mura]
[TOP]
Oh my name it is
nothing
My age it means
less
The country I come
from
Is called the
midwest
I was taught and
brought up there
The laws to abide
And that the land
that I live in
Has God on its
side.
Oh the history
books tell it
They tell it so
well
The cavalries
charged
The indians fell
The cavalries
charged
The indians died
Oh the country was
young
With God on its
side.
Oh the Spanish American
War had its day
And the civil war
too
Was soon laid away
And the names of
the heroes
I was made to
memorize
With guns in their
hands and
And God on their
side.
Oh the first world
war boys
It closed out its
fate
The reason for
fighting
I never got
straight
But I learned to
accept it
Accept it with
pride
For you don't count
the dead
When God's on your
side.
When the second
world war
Came to an end
We forgave the
Germans
And we were friends
Though they
murdered six million
In the ovens they
fried
The Germans now too
Have God on their
side.
In the nineteen
sixties
Came the Vietnam
War
Can somebody tell
me
What we were
fighting for
So many young men
died
So many mothers
cried
Now I ask the
question
Was God on our
side?
I've learned to
hate Russians
All through my
whole life
If another war
starts
It's them we must
fight
To hate them and
fear them
To run and to hide
And accept it all
bravely
With God on my
side.
But now we've got
weapons
Of chemical dust
If fire them we're
forced to
Then fire them we
must
One push of the
button
And a shot the
world wide
And you never ask
questions
When God's on your
side.
In many a dark hour
I've been thinking
about this
That Jesus Christ
was
Betrayed by a kiss
But I can't think
for you
You'll have to
decide
Whether Judas
Iscariot
Had God on his
side.
So now as I'm
leaving
I'm weary as hell
The confusion I'm
feeling
Ain't no tongue can
tell
The words fill my
head
And fall to the
floor
If God's on our
side
He'll stop the next
war.
[Source: tape from Radio City Music Hall, NYC, October
16, 1988]
[TOP]
Come you
phoney super-patriotic people that say
That hating
and fearing is my only way
That this
here country has got to be
You're
thinking of yourselves, you ain't thinking of me.
You're not
thinking of any George Washington
You're not
thinking of any Thomas Jefferson
But you say
that you are and you lie and mislead
For your
aims for yourself and your greed.
Don't speak
to me of your patriotism
When you
throw the Southern black boy in prison
And you say
that the only good niggers are the ones that have died
Don't think
I'd ever stand on your side.
Though you
make it so hard for me to love
My face
will never feel the slap of your glove
My hands
will never buy the cards that you play
My feet
will never walk down the road that you lay.
Get out in
the open, stop standing afar
Let the
whole world see what a hypocrite you are
I ain't
joking and it ain't no gag
You bin
hiding too long behind the American flag.
[Source: tape from Town Hall, New York City, 12 April
1963]
[TOP]
This page last
updated 12 June 2013.