Another Side Of Bob Dylan

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Crimson flames tied through my ears
Rollin' high and mighty traps
Pounced with fire on flaming roads
Using ideas as my maps
"we'll meet on edges, soon," said i
Proud 'neath heated brow.
Ah, but i was so much older then,
'm younger than that now.

Half-wracked prejudice leaped forth
"rip down all hate," i screamed
Lies that life is black and white
Spoke from my skull. i dreamed
Romantic facts of musketeers
Foundationed deep, somehow.
Ah, but i was so much older then,
I'm younger than that now.

Girls' faces formed the forward path
From phony jealousy
To memorizing politics
Of ancient history
Flung down by corpse evangelists
Unthought of, though, somehow.
Ah, but i was so much older then,
I'm younger than that now.

A self-ordained professor's tongue
Too serious to fool
Spouted out that liberty
Is just equality in school
"equality," i spoke the word
As if a wedding vow.
Ah, but i was so much older then,
I'm younger than that now.

In a soldier's stance, i aimed my hand
At the mongrel dogs who teach
Fearing not that i'd become my enemy
In the instant that i preach
My existence led by confusion boats
Mutiny from stern to bow.
Ah, but i was so much older then,
I'm younger than that now.

Yes, my guard stood hard when abstract threats
Too noble to neglect
Deceived me into thinking
I had something to protect
Good and bad, i define these terms
Quite clear, no doubt, somehow.
Ah, but i was so much older then,
I'm younger than that now.

I pounded on a farmhouse
Lookin' for a place to stay.
I was mighty, mighty tired,
I had gone a long, long way.
I said, "hey, hey, in there,
Is there anybody home?"
I was standin' on the steps
Feelin' most alone.
Well, out comes a farmer,
He must have thought that i was nuts.
He immediately looked at me
And stuck a gun into my guts.

I fell down
To my bended knees,
Saying, "i dig farmers,
Don't shoot me, please!"
He cocked his rifle
And began to shout,
"you're that travelin' salesman
That i have heard about."
I said, "no! no! no!
I'm a doctor and it's true,
I'm a clean-cut kid
And i been to college, too."

Then in comes his daughter
Whose name was rita.
She looked like she stepped out of
La dolce vita.
I immediately tried to cool it
With her dad,
And told him what a
Nice, pretty farm he had.
He said, "what do doctors
Know about farms, pray tell?"
I said, "i was born
At the bottom of a wishing well."

Well, by the dirt 'neath my nails
I guess he knew i wouldn't lie.
"i guess you're tired,"
He said, kinda sly.
I said, "yes, ten thousand miles
Today i drove."
He said, "i got a bed for you
Underneath the stove.
Just one condition
And you go to sleep right now,
That you don't touch my daughter
And in the morning, milk the cow."

I was sleepin' like a rat
When i heard something jerkin'.
There stood rita
Lookin' just like tony perkins.
She said, "would you like to take a shower?
I'll show you up to the door."
I said, "oh, no! no!
I've been through this before."
I knew i had to split
But i didn't know how,
When she said,
"would you like to take that shower, now?"

Well, i couldn't leave
Unless the old man chased me out,
'cause i'd already promised
That i'd milk his cows.
I had to say something
To strike him very weird,
So i yelled out,
"i like fidel castro and his beard."
Rita looked offended
But she got out of the way,
As he came charging down the stairs
Sayin', "what's that i heard you say?"

I said, "i like fidel castro,
I think you heard me right,"
And ducked as he swung
At me with all his might.
Rita mumbled something
'bout her mother on the hill,
As his fist hit the icebox,
He said he's going to kill me
If i don't get out the door
In two seconds flat,
"you unpatriotic, rotten doctor commie rat."

Well, he threw a reader's digest
At my head and i did run,
I did a somersault
As i seen him get his gun
And crashed through the window
At a hundred miles an hour,
And landed fully blast
In his garden flowers.
Rita said, "come back!"
As he started to load
The sun was comin' up
And i was runnin' down the road.

Well, i don't figure i'll be back
There for a spell,
Even though rita moved away
And got a job in a motel.
He still waits for me,
Constant, on the sly.
He wants to turn me in
To the f.b.i.
Me, i romp and stomp,
Thankful as i romp,
Without freedom of speech,
I might be in the swamp.

Ramona, come closer,
Shut softly your watery eyes.
The pangs of your sadness
Shall pass as your senses will rise.
The flowers of the city
Though breathlike, get deathlike at times.
And there's no use in tryin'
T' deal with the dyin',
Though i cannot explain that in lines.

Your cracked country lips,
I still wish to kiss,
As to be under the strength of your skin.
Your magnetic movements
Still capture the minutes i'm in.
But it grieves my heart, love,
To see you tryin' to be a part of
A world that just don't exist.
It's all just a dream, babe,
A vacuum, a scheme, babe,
That sucks you into feelin' like this.

I can see that your head
Has been twisted and fed
By worthless foam from the mouth.
I can tell you are torn
Between stayin' and returnin'
On back to the south.
You've been fooled into thinking
That the finishin' end is at hand.
Yet there's no one to beat you,
No one t' defeat you,
'cept the thoughts of yourself feeling bad.

I've heard you say many times
That you're better 'n no one
And no one is better 'n you.
If you really believe that,
You know you got
Nothing to win and nothing to lose.
From fixtures and forces and friends,
Your sorrow does stem,
That hype you and type you,
Making you feel
That you must be exactly like them.

I'd forever talk to you,
But soon my words,
They would turn into a meaningless ring.
For deep in my heart
I know there is no help i can bring.
Everything passes,
Everything changes,
Just do what you think you should do.
And someday maybe,
Who knows, baby,
I'll come and be cryin' to you.

I'm just average, common too
I'm just like him, the same as you
I'm everybody's brother and son
I ain't different from anyone
It ain't no use a-talking to me
It's just the same as talking to you.

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."

Well, i don't know, but i've been told
The streets in heaven are lined with gold
I ask you how things could get much worse
If the russians happen to get up there first.
Wowee' pretty scary!

Now, i'm liberal, but to a degree
I want ev'rybody to be free
But if you think that i'll let barry goldwater
Move in next door and marry my daughter
You must think i'm crazy!
I wouldn't let him do it for all the farms in cuba.

Well, i set my monkey on the log
And ordered him to do the dog
He wagged his tail and shook his head
And he went and did the cat instead
He's a weird monkey, very funky.

I sat with my high-heeled sneakers on
Waiting to play tennis in the noonday sun
I had my white shorts rolled up past my waist
And my wig-hat was falling in my face
But they wouldn't let me on the tennis court.

I gotta woman, she's so mean
She sticks my boots in the washing machine
Sticks me with buckshot when i'm nude
Puts bubblegum in my food
She's funny, wants my money, calls me "honey."

Now i gotta friend who spends his life
Stabbing my picture with a bowie-knife
Dreams of strangling me with a scarf
When my name comes up he pretends to barf.
I've got a million friends!

Now they asked me to read a poem
At the sorority sister's home
I got knocked down and my head was swimmin'
I wound up with the dean of women
Yippee! i'm a poet, and i know it.
Hope i don't blow it.

I'm gonna grow my hair down to my feet so strange
So i look like a walking mountain range
And i'm gonna ride into omaha on a horse
Out to the country club and the golf course.
Carry the new york times, shoot a few holes, blow their minds.

Now you're probably wondering by now
Just what this song is all about
What's probably got you baffled more
Is what this thing here is for.
It's nothing
It's something i learned over in england.

I ain't lookin' to compete with you,
Beat or cheat or mistreat you,
Simplify you, classify you,
Deny, defy or crucify you.
All i really want to do
Is, baby, be friends with you.

No, and i ain't lookin' to fight with you,
Frighten you or tighten you,
Drag you down or drain you down,
Chain you down or bring you down.
All i really want to do
Is, baby, be friends with you.

I ain't lookin' to block you up
Shock or knock or lock you up,
Analyze you, categorize you,
Finalize you or advertise you.
All i really want to do
Is, baby, be friends with you.

I don't want to straight-face you,
Race or chase you, track or trace you,
Or disgrace you or displace you,
Or define you or confine you.
All i really want to do
Is, baby, be friends with you.

I don't want to meet your kin,
Make you spin or do you in,
Or select you or dissect you,
Or inspect you or reject you.
All i really want to do
Is, baby, be friends with you.

I don't want to fake you out,
Take or shake or forsake you out,
I ain't lookin' for you to feel like me,
See like me or be like me.
All i really want to do
Is, baby, be friends with you.

I once loved a girl, her skin it was bronze.
With the innocence of a lamb, she was gentle like a fawn.
I courted her proudly but now she is gone,
Gone as the season she's taken.

Through young summer's breeze, i stole her away
From her mother and sister, though close did they stay.
Each one of them suffering from the failures of their day,
With strings of guilt they tried hard to guide us.

Of the two sisters, i loved the young.
With sensitive instincts, she was the creative one.
The constant scapegoat, she was easily undone
By the jealousy of others around her.

For her parasite sister, i had no respect,
Bound by her boredom, her pride to protect.
Countless visions of the other she'd reflect
As a crutch for her scenes and her society.

Myself, for what i did, i cannot be excused,
The changes i was going through can't even be used,
For the lies that i told her in hopes not to lose
The could-be dream-lover of my lifetime.

With unknown consciousness, i possessed in my grip
A magnificent mantelpiece, though its heart being chipped,
Noticing not that i'd already slipped
To a sin of love's false security.

From silhouetted anger to manufactured peace,
Answers of emptiness, voice vacancies,
Till the tombstones of damage read me no questions but, "please,
What's wrong and what's exactly the matter?"

And so it did happen like it could have been foreseen,
The timeless explosion of fantasy's dream.
At the peak of the night, the king and the queen
Tumbled all down into pieces.

"the tragic figure!" her sister did shout,
"leave her alone, god damn you, get out!"
And i in my armor, turning about
And nailing her to the ruins of her pettiness.

Beneath a bare light bulb the plaster did pound
Her sister and i in a screaming battleground.
And she in between, the victim of sound,
Soon shattered as a child 'neath her shadows.

All is gone, all is gone, admit it, take flight.
I gagged twice, doubled, tears blinding my sight.
My mind it was mangled, i ran into the night
Leaving all of love's ashes behind me.

The wind knocks my window, the room it is wet.
The words to say i'm sorry, i haven't found yet.
I think of her often and hope whoever she's met
Will be fully aware of how precious she is.

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?"