Sunday, 2 March 2014
Huck's Tune
Well, I wandered alone through a desert of stone
And I dreamt of my future wife
My sword's in my hand and I'm next in command
In this version of death called life
My plate and my cup are right straight up
I took a rose from the hand of a child
When I kiss your lips, the honey drips
I'm gonna have to put you down for a while
Everyday we meet on any old street
And you're in your girlish prime
The short and the tall are coming to the ball
I go there all the time
Behind every tree, there's something to see
The river is wider than a mile
I tried you twice, you can't be nice
I'm gonna have to put you down for a while
Here come the nurse with money in her purse
Here come the ladies and men
You push it all in and you've no chance to win
You play 'em on down to the end
I'm laying in the sand, getting a sunshine tan
Moving along, riding in style
From my toes to my head you knock me dead
I'm gonna have to put you down for a while
I count the years and I shed no tears
I'm blinded to what might have been
Nature's voice makes my heart rejoice
Play me the wild song of the wind
I found hopeless love in the room above
When the sun and the weather were mild
You're as fine as wine, I ain't handing you no line
I'm gonna have to put you down for a while
All the merry little elves can go hang themselves
My faith is as cold as can be
I'm stacked high to the roof and I'm not without proof
If you don't believe me, come see
You think I'm blue, I think so too
In my words you'll find no guile
The game's gotten old, the deck's gone cold
And I'm gonna have to put you down for a while
The game's gotten old, the deck's gone cold
I'm gonna have to put you down for a while
BOB DYLAN
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
"... In my words you'll find no guile ..."
(Bob Dylan)
"What makes Dylan's music endlessly fascinating is that you think you know what a song is about, and at some point down the line you realize there is another whole layer of meaning to it. I've never run across another songwriter who consistently writes songs capable of holding your interest for a lifetime."
(comment from the Expecting Rain website)
"Huck's Tune" is among my favorite songs by Bob Dylan. Another example of 'beauty walking the razor's edge" between levity and gravity. Just now it is occurring to me that it might have echoes of "Just Like A Woman." I'm startled to see on the Bob Dylan website that its publishing date is given as 2007. It sounds as if it came from an earlier era.
Thank you for this today.
It's a beautiful song, isn't it? I think it's another of those Daniel Lanois arrangements. And, as you put it so perfectly, "Another example of 'beauty walking the razor's edge' between levity and gravity."
Ambiguous, and multi-layered, and teasing, to be sure. I love that line 'In my words you'll find no guile'. It makes me smile! For, of course, there's always, to a greater or lesser extent, guile in the songwriter's and artist's craft. And he knows it. Yet he gets closer to hard reality, to truth, to spiritual insight, to guileless beauty than any other songwriter I know.
I share his contempt for elves. Cheerful little bastards.
Well said, Goat. Anything elvish gives me the creeps too.
Post a Comment