Bob Dylan – "Subterranean Homesick Blues" (1965)

Twenty years of schooling

And they put you on the day shift

Before I discuss today’s featured song, I need to discuss the elephant in the room.

The Rolling Stones’ one and only drummer, Charlie Watts, died in August.  Anyone who reads this blog knows that I believe that the Stones’ best records are the ne plus ultra of classic rock music, and Charlie Watts’s drumming was an absolutely essential element of those records.

So why have I waited so long to pay tribute to the late Watts?  

You need to understand that each 2 or 3 lines post is like a mighty ship – it takes a long time to bring it to a stop and turn it in a different direction.  (Remember that huge container ship that got ran aground in the Suez Canal earlier this year, blocking traffic through the canal for days?  2 or 3 lines is kind of like that ship.)

When Watts passed away, we were in the middle of a series of posts about this year’s group of inductees into the 2 OR 3 LINES “GOLDEN DECADE” ALBUM TRACKS HALL OF FAME – one of which was the Stones’ “Monkey Man,” which features some very strong drumming by Watts.  And one simply does not interrupt a series of 2 OR 3 LINES “GOLDEN DECADE” ALBUM TRACKS HALL OF FAME posts in midstream.

But fear not – the very next 2 or 3 lines will kick off a group of posts that pay tribute to Charlie Watts.  After all, it is right, and a good and joyful thing, always and everywhere, to give thanks for his life and his music.  (Amen.)

And now, it’s time to return to our regularly scheduled program . . . 

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“Like a Rolling Stone” is the best record Bob Dylan ever recorded – it’s arguably the best record made in the sixties – but “Subterranean Homesick Blues” has the best lyrics Dylan ever wrote.  

That’s saying something, because Dylan won the Nobel Prize for Literature for his song lyrics.  That was a ridiculous decision, of course – song lyrics need to be sung along with their accompanying music, not put on a printed page and read like poetry – but there’s no doubt Dylan wrote some amazing lyrics.

But Dylan’s lyrics would have been even better if he had run them by me before finalizing them – they could have used a bit of editing.

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To wit: consider these lines from “Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again,” which are spoken to the singer of the song by a shady young woman named “Ruthie”:

Your debutante knows what you need

But I know what you want

Dylan is clearly saying that Ruthie is offering the singer something more satisfying than his prissy little debutante girlfriend if offering.

(Not the same Ruthie.)

But instead of saying that the debutante know what he needs while Ruthie knows what he wants, shouldn’t it be the other way around?  

I’m guessing that the debutante may know what the singer wants – or at least what he thinks he wants, and has told her he wants – but she can’t provide what he really needs deep down inside.  After all, he may not know himself what he really needs.

Ruthie can fulfill his needs because she has a much deeper understanding of him than he has of himself – and a much deeper understanding of him than the debutante.

So shouldn’t the line read as follows?

Your debutante knows what you want

But I know what you need

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Today’s featured song contains another example of a Dylan lyric gone awry.

Think about the lines quoted at the beginning of this post:

Twenty years of schooling

And they put you on the day shift 

Dylan is making the point that the world is F.U.B.A.R. – after all, it makes no sense for someone to be sent to school for twenty years and then given a factory job.

But Dylan should have used night shift in those lyrics – not day shift.  

The day shift is almost always preferable to the night shift.  Working the night shift will play havoc with your body clock, making it difficult for to sleep well.  And it will likely also play havoc with your relationships because most people work during the day, not at night.

It’s bad enough to go to school for twenty years and end up working the day shift at a factory, but it adds insult to injury to end up working the night shift – that’s a real kick in the pants, especially for someone with that much edumacation.

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I think Bob Dylan’s a little overrated – he did write a lot of bad songs, after all – but the genius of “Subterranean Homesick Blues” can’t be denied.  The lyrics are insane in the membrane, and I love the irregularity of the lines – the record’s herky-jerky line structure is something that differentiates it from every other record of that era.

Click here to listen to “Subterranean Homesick Blues,” which was released in 1965 on Bringing It All Back Home, Dylan’s fifth studio album.

Click below to buy the record from Amazon: