Thanks for posting, Carlos. I agree - the song has so many levels to it. I've been reading some commentary on it - on one hand it seems very simple, but there is so much underneath it. You get a sense of a warrior back from battle, but the war isn't over yet. He's out on the trains going somewhere, starting again - or is it just a dream? It sounds romantic, but its very sorrowful. The last line is just an indictment. "My cruel weapons have been put on the shelf ..." what on earth does he mean? Obviously someone is standing off, not sure to come closer and he's saying he's no longer dangerous. What in the world does he mean? He was traveling with Merle Haggard (who has his own workingman's blues song) about the time he wrote it. I'm still puzzling over it. But I really love it. The feeling it invokes is haunting.
I love the weary sound that Dylan puts into it. My favorite Lyric is "I'll drap em all down to hell and stand em on the wall and sell them to their enemies". The whole song is like a glimmer of his earlier periods when his songs were saturated with confounding symbols and metaphors. All through it though, he seems relatively calm and steadfast in his ability to weather all that life throws at him.
I love this song and commentary too. I also love the photograph, he looks well, and of course he is not a "tame lion." His voice sounds certain. Thanks, BB and Carlos.
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This is one of his best songs on that album! Thanks Baby Blue!
Thanks for posting, Carlos. I agree - the song has so many levels to it. I've been reading some commentary on it - on one hand it seems very simple, but there is so much underneath it. You get a sense of a warrior back from battle, but the war isn't over yet. He's out on the trains going somewhere, starting again - or is it just a dream? It sounds romantic, but its very sorrowful. The last line is just an indictment. "My cruel weapons have been put on the shelf ..." what on earth does he mean? Obviously someone is standing off, not sure to come closer and he's saying he's no longer dangerous. What in the world does he mean? He was traveling with Merle Haggard (who has his own workingman's blues song) about the time he wrote it. I'm still puzzling over it. But I really love it. The feeling it invokes is haunting.
bb
I love the weary sound that Dylan puts into it. My favorite Lyric is "I'll drap em all down to hell and stand em on the wall and sell them to their enemies". The whole song is like a glimmer of his earlier periods when his songs were saturated with confounding symbols and metaphors. All through it though, he seems relatively calm and steadfast in his ability to weather all that life throws at him.
I love this song and commentary too. I also love the photograph, he looks well, and of course he is not a "tame lion." His voice sounds certain. Thanks, BB and Carlos.
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