Arguably "
the first music video," Bob Dylan's Subterranean Homesick Blues
is a great song with plenty of interesting, thorny lyrics to analyze.
And the visual side lends itself to the kind of analysis RankineCycler suggests.
What is it about?
It's about 2 minutes 20 seconds.
Subterranean Homesick Blues
Johnny’s in the basement
Mixin' up the medicine
I’m on the pavement
Thinkin' about the government
The man in a trench coat
Badge out, laid off
Says he’s got a bad cough
Wants to get it paid off
Look out kid
It’s somethin’ you did
God knows when
But you’re doin’ it again
You better duck down the alleyway
Lookin’ for a new friend
The man in the coonskin cap
In a pig pen
Wants eleven dollar bills
You only got ten
Maggie comes fleet foot
Face full of black soot
Talkin’ that the heat put
Plants in the bed but
The phone’s tapped anyway
Maggie says that many say
They must bust in early May
Orders from the D.A.
Look out kid
Don’t matter what you did
Walk on your tiptoes
Don’t try “No-Doz”
Better stay away from those
That carry around a firehose
Keep a clean nose
Watch the plainclothes
You don’t need a weatherman
To know which way the wind blows
Get sick, get well
Hang around the inkwell
Hang bell, hard to tell
If anything is gonna sell
Try hard, get barred
Get back, write braille
Get jailed, jump bail
Join the Army if you fail
Look out kid
You’re gonna get hit
By losers, cheaters
Six-time users
Hangin' 'round the theaters
Girl by the whirlpool
Is lookin’ for a new fool
Don’t follow leaders
Watch the parkin’ meters
Get born, keep warm
Short pants, romance, learn to dance
Get dressed, get blessed
Try to be suckcess
Please her, please him, buy gifts
Don’t steal, don’t lift
Twenty years of schoolin’
And they put ya on the dayshift
Look out kid
They keep it all hid
Better jump down a manhole
Light yourself a candle
Don’t wear sandals
Try to avoid the scandals
Don’t wanna be a bum
You better chew gum
The pump don’t work
’Cause the vandals took the handles