The next lines, “But users, cheaters, six-time losers, hang around the theaters, girl by the whirlpool, lookin' for a new fool.”, are about drug users and dealers, pimps, and prostitutes that hang out around theaters at night, particularly 42nd street (a street in Manhattan referenced in multiple songs by Dylan which in the 60's to the late 80's was well known for it's low class, ghetto inhibitors). Then you “Get back, write braille, get jailed, jump bail, join the army, if you fail.”, meaning that you should try something new, writing braille is a term for being really drunk, try to do something with your life, and if all else fails, join the army. “Try hard” and put in a lot of effort as a dealer, “get barred”, get busted for dealing. “Ring bell”, like a service bell at a store, “hard to tell if anything is goin' to sell”, it's really tough to make it as a drug dealer. “Get sick”, when your drug supply is dry, then “get well” when they come back around, “hang around a ink well” is hanging out with other junkies. Then Dylan warns to “Better stay away from those, that carry around a fire hose”, which are the riot police, and “Keep a clean nose, watch the plain clothes”, which are undercover cops, and “You don't need a weather man to know which way the wind blows.”, meaning that you don't need a random person to tell you what's going on with the world and what to believe when you can figure it out for yourself. “Walk on your tip toes, don't try 'No Doz'”, be careful with what you do. A.” Maggie says that she's heard some of the underground warnings that busts have been ordered in early May by the District Attorney. In the next lines, “The phone's tapped anyway, Maggie says that many say, they must bust in early May, orders from the D.
#SUBTERRANEAN HOMESICK BLUES FULL#
In the second verse, Dylan says, “Maggie comes fleet foot, face full of black soot, talkin' that the heat put plants in the bed but”, Maggie comes running downstairs where they make their booze saying that the “heat” (cops) planted microphones in the bedrooms, which was a common practice for drug busts in the 60's. He then describes a cop as “The man in the coon-skin cap”, “In the big pen”, which is jail, and he “Wants eleven dollar bills” to bail you out of jail when he knows that “you only got ten.”, but that's just how it is, because the cop can do that. Dylan gives advice that “You better duck down the alley way, lookin' for a new friend”, when you're running away from the cops and just try again. So you better “Look out kid, it's somethin' you did, god knows when, but you're doin' it again.” because even if you didn't really do anything wrong, the cops have the power to get you in trouble.
#SUBTERRANEAN HOMESICK BLUES FREE#
He talks about “The man in the trench coat”, an off duty cop, with his “badge out, laid off”, coming up to his door, who “says he's got a bad cough”, wants some “cough medicine”, and “wants to get it paid off”, meaning that he wants it free so he's blackmailing them and will arrest them if they don't give it to him. The song starts out with an average Johnny, “in the basement mixing up the medicine”, meaning he's making booze (which is commonly referred to as “grandpa's cough medicine”) in the basement, which an average Johnny has the ability to make, while Dylan's “on the pavement thinking about the government.” Dylan is out on the street with the rest of the young generation as he begins his loud rant about the government's corruption. Subterranean Homesick Blues is sort of a protest song, but more of a warning to the youth about the corruption of the government and how they basically screw the youth over, and he's telling them that regardless of what the government says, you should live freely.
He began to walk away from the solo-acoustic-folk direction and bought a nice loud amp that his new makeshift band could hear him bang his guitar through.
This album was about when Dylan's stability began to deteriorate. My InterpretationOne of the first noticeable steps into Dylan's electric instability is the first song off his first '65 album Bringing It All Back Home, “Subterranean Homesick Blues”. Wants eleven dollar bills, you only got tenĭon't follow leaders, watch the parkin' meters A man in the coonskin cap, in the pig pen
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