Ain't that the truth! And all these years later it seems those kinda times, still ain't changin much! Some haven't figured out yet that it's children that pay the price of parents and other adults choices! Ya know what a good many adults are in other words? A- Dolts. Your so very important post reminds us to think from motivation and intent. To Always remember to see through the heart and minds eyes of a child and to be kind. And for that, I Thank- You and of course, Mr.D too!
I loved it when I heard it at 16, not so much now. The ones I like are the last ones. I don't think he just concludes with them, I think they're the conclusions he comes to: "And if my thought-dreams/ Could be seen They'd probably put my head/ In a guillotine. But it's alright ma It's life and life only." It's hard to do better than that.
That line has two meanings....one, the obvious...we all get closer to death every day, but the second means that you have to be learning and growing in order to avoid spiritually dying.
@@joemarshall4226 Right, that's what it means to me. Spiritual/creative: that you're willing to let go of the known and step into the unknown and don't stop doing that. It's profound and found in mystical religions, the idea of death and rebirth as a process.
I am 69 yrs old & feel so damn lucky to have grown up in the 60's & 70's. We had the best music, the best cars, the best ladies, the best friends, & the best parents ❤️👍🏻🎸🎶
Best music but compared to what? Lyrics are nice but classical, who writes like that anymore. I’m sure my grandparents would argue that. 90s had good music too. Truth is there is good all around just be open to it all new and old. There is always something new and honest.
@@heynow2302 Well, that's not in question. But he still has multiple takes for many of his songs, yet he recorded one take and one take alone of this song and nailed it in one, even after moments earlier saying he really didn't want to do it because it's so long. The fact it's so long and lyrically dense and he still just knocked it out in one is wild to me.
@@roquetinsixtysix And so MANY songs equally as profound, written in the three years before this one.....Mr Tambourine Man, Masters of War, God on their Side, Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll, Ballad of Hollis Brown, Ramblin' Gamblin' Willie, The Times They are A Changin', Don't Think Twice, Walls of Red wing, North Country Blues, Lay Down Your Weary Tune, Who Killed Davey Moore?, Only A Pawn in Their Game, Blowin In The Wind., Ballad in Plain D, Chimes of Freedom........etc etc etc...some of them never made it to an album! Too many other good ones blocking their way!
I listened to this while laying in bed at the peak of an acid trip. While all the other songs happened around me, this one seemed to live directly inside my brain. I looked up at the shadows on the candlelit ceiling and saw Christ on the cross. Very strange.
[Verse 1] Darkness at the break of noon Shadows even the silver spoon The handmade blade, the child's balloon Eclipses both the sun and moon To understand you know too soon There is no sense in trying [Verse 2] Pointed threats they bluff with scorn Suicide remarks are torn From the fools gold mouthpiece the hollow horn Plays wasted words, proves to warn That he not busy being born Is busy dying [Verse 3] Temptation's page flies out the door You follow, find yourself at war Watch waterfalls of pity roar You feel to moan, but unlike before You discover that you'd just be one more Person crying [Chorus] So don't fear if you hear A foreign sound to your ear It's alright, Ma, I'm only sighing [Verse 4] As some warn victory, some downfall Private reasons, great or small Can be seen in the eyes of those that call To make all that should be killed to crawl While others say don't hate nothing at all Except hatred [Verse 5] Disillusioned words like bullets bark As human gods aim for their mark Make everything from toy guns that spark To flesh-colored Christs that glow in the dark It's easy to see without lookin' too far That not much is really sacred [Verse 6] While preachers preach of evil fates Teachers teach that knowledge waits Can lead to hundred-dollar plates Goodness hides behind its gates But even the President of the United States Sometimes must have to stand naked [Chorus] And though the rules of the road have been lodged It's only people's games that you got to dodge And it's alright, Ma, I can make it [Verse 7] Advertising signs that con You into thinking you're the one That can do what's never been done That can win what's never been won Meantime, life outside goes on All around you [Verse 8] You lose yourself, you reappear You suddenly find you got nothing to fear Alone you stand with nobody near When a trembling distant voice, unclear Startles your sleeping ears to hear That somebody thinks they really found you [Verse 9] A question in your nerves is lit Yet you know there is no answer fit To satisfy, ensure you not to quit To keep it in your mind and not forget That it is not he, or she, or them, or it That you belong to [Chorus] But though the masters make the rules For the wise men and the fools I got nothing, Ma, to live up to [Verse 10] For them that must obey authority That they do not respect in any degree Who despise their jobs, their destiny Speak jealously of them that are free Do what they do just to be Nothing more than something they invest in [Verse 11] While some on principles baptized To strict party platform ties Social clubs in drag disguise Outsiders they can freely criticize Tell nothing except who to idolize And say "God bless him" [Verse 12] While one who sings with his tongue on fire Gargles in the rat race choir Bent out of shape from society's pliers Cares not to come up any higher But rather get you down in the hole That he's in [Chorus] But I mean no harm, nor put fault On anyone that lives in a vault But it's alright, Ma, if I can't please him [Verse 13] Old lady judges watch people in pairs Limited in sex, they dare To push fake morals, insult and stare While money doesn't talk, it swears Obscenity, who really cares Propaganda, all is phony [Verse 14] While them that defend what they cannot see With a killer's pride, security It blows the minds most bitterly For them that think death's honesty Won't fall upon 'em naturally Life sometimes must get lonely [Verse 15] My eyes collide head-on with stuffed Graveyards, false goals, I scuff At pettiness which plays so rough Walk upside down inside handcuffs Kick my legs to crash it off Say, okay, I've had enough What else can you show me? [Chorus] And if my thought-dreams could be seen They'd probably put my head in a guillotine But it's alright, Ma, it's life, and life only
biggest mistake of my life was listening to one (1) of his songs i didnt end up liking and letting that put me off from the rest of his music for months.... bro is a poet fr
Collin Adams - it’s timeless you would not think it was written 55 years ago probably the most profound song I have listen to I have always wondered how he played this on the guitar tried it myself but can not find a version with the chords or notes he is using whilst he recorded this
@@tuscanyiscol He accepted it, he wrote a nice note thanking them....he just didn't want to travel all the way to Sweden for it...and who can blame him, especially at that age.....
I’m a Millennial here in 2025 and this song has absolutely blown me away. I grew up on Dylan but never did my own deep dive until the past month after seeing A Complete Unknown. I think this album is shaping up to be my fave.
Memorized the lyrics and performed it as a spoken piece for a high school drama final. The room was just silent. I got an A. The song still has that shock value
He admitted there was a magic(devils) that came over him and that he couldn't do it again of he tried. In an interview speaking about his bargain with the devil.
Don't you love it that he is too? How amazing that is. And I see being an older boomer how we saw him speaking for our generation: Cuban Missile Crisis, JFK Assassination, then Vietnam War. Our innocence from the 50's was lost and things looked bleak.
@@kathym.248I was born in the middle 60s and grew up with the best sound track you could imagine - Dylan, Beatles and early Bowie are the highlights. How blessed! We couldn’t predict that the beautiful ideals of the 60s and 70s would turn into the world as it is now. Almost as if it’s being ruined on purpose. Or maybe the human condition has always been problematic. Dylan’s music is as fresh and profound today as it was when he wrote it. ❤❤❤❤❤
Självklart har du rätt, bob Dylan har alltid varit störst och resten är efteråt och det har pågått sedan 60 talet. Världens största poet levande och hitintills. Tror att det lär förblir så
So Bob Dylan was the voice of his generation. Hes won a Nobel Prize...Had over 6000 different singers sing his songs...The best song writer on earth, ever....AND, the cut the first Rap song !!!!!..... The man truly is a genius..
There are probably more quotable Dylan gems in this song than in any of the others. I saw him interviewed years ago by Ed Bradley (60 Minutes, I think) and he said rather wistfully that he can't write like this any more (quoting this song specifically). But here we are in 2024, he's still on tour, NOT doing a Golden Oldies thing, and turned out one of his finest albums in 2020, when he was 79. It came when a lot of us were in despair and wondering when anything good was going to happen again. Right at the darkest point in lockdown, Dylan was back - or, should I say, he was never away. He has been part of my life for nearly 60 years, through everything.
I got the feeling that he was saying he couldn't write some of the songs he wrote when he was younger, because they questioned authority, and he has been told not to do that anymore....or else.
I think people misunderstand that quote of his. Bob was not saying he still couldn't write great songs, he was saying that his early work just poured out of him in a magical way but in old age the lyrics are more of a labor of love based on real life experience in the mold of Leonard Cohen. They are both valid methods of great songwriting
I’m a Millennial here in 2025 and this song has absolutely blown me away. I grew up on Dylan but never did my own deep dive until the past month after seeing A Complete Unknown. I think this album is shaping up to be my fave after Blood on the Tracks.
I think you might be right with that, nobody ever had as much scope in their songwriting, nobody ever made me think so much about what I was listening to-he has enriched my life no end..
@@Blackbird58 Agreed. When I hear people say that Townes Van zandt, Joni Mitchell, Paul SImon, John Prine, Robert Hunter, or Conor Oberst are Bob's equalls, or even better, I use this same argument. Their best songs are right up there with some of his best......Both Sides Now, Tecumseh Valley, Sounds of Silence, Paradise, etc....but the variety and scope, and depth in Dylan is rivalled by no one. So many different subjects, so much analysis, so many different rhyme schemes, so many styles.....lyrically, he's in a class by himself.
Back then, Bob was more of a poet who could put music to his work. He was the next in line after Paul Simon to make an impact in the 60's with very thoughtful lyrics.
A flat out masterpiece, among a library of masterpieces. I danced around the room when Dylan won the Nobel Prize in Literature - as deserving as anyone. How many times have I said "He not busy being born is busy dying." In the history of contemporary music, Dylan stands alone.
I'm a Dylan fan and I didn't dance with the prize. He ignored it for months, he didn't even initially want it. I understand its just a popularity contest, often going to those who are the most politically aligned with the times, proven by the long list of deserved authors who were ignored by it for the contemporary Pied Piper of that moment.... I love Dylan but prizes are nothing, nor are criticisms.
What makes the music of this era so great,is it relevancy. The music of today will have no relevance 20 years from now,... forget about 30,40 or 50 years from now. The so called music artists of today, won't even be known 😢
GREAT SONG !!!!! GREAT POEM!!!!!!!! GREAT MAN!!!!! GREAT WRITER!!!!GREAT MUSICIAN!!!!!! GREAT CREATER!!!! REMEMBER GOD WORK'S IN MYSTERIOUS WAYS!!!!!✨👍✌️❤️✨🎼🎶🎵🎶🎵🎶🎵🎶🎶🎵🎶✌️
One of my biggest regrets during my 4+ decades on this planet is that I've never been able to appreciate Dylan as much as I feel I should.. Dare ı say it, I might finally be starting to see the light.
Once you get it; you get it. There is no turning back or shutting that door. Revelation of epic proportions. Same with an epiphany/ontological confrontation after taking LSD or psilocybin.
@@sethstine4698You've hit the nail on the head there, once you get Dylan, that's it, you become aware, like acid, you see things in a different light, you realise you're here, breathing, being, that's what getting Dylan is like, he's a true legend, he is in the musical company of The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, such big influences. Some people never get Dylan, they say "I like that song he wrote that someone else done", aaahh. Anyway I love Dylan, to the extent I have almost all of his releases, apart from his 'Sinatra' trilogy, I have all of his studio releases, all of the bootleg series Vol 1-15, and over half of his live albums, which I will complete soon.
If any other artist released 'Bringing it all back home' it would be their magnum opus and they would dine out on it for decades afterwards. For Dylan it was just another album. Amongst his back catalogue it doesn't even really stand out. A freakish talent
It does come on it’s an amazing album it is definitely one of his best definitely top 5 anyway, it stands out massively w sum of his best songs like it’s all over now baby blue mr tambourine man subterranean homesick blues and gates of Eden and love minus zeros
And to think rolling stone put Kanye west on their list off albums ahead of this masterpiece of an album what drugs are they smoking this song alone is better anything Kanye west done and will ever do
@@elstonngunn4193 Oh I'm right there with ya it's a stunning album. I just think in an amongst Freewheelin, BOTT, Highway 61, Blonde on Blonde, John Wesley Harding, Desire, Oh Mercy etc etc it really is just another album
1965. Crazy to think this song is 58 years old as the lyrics are still as fresh as the day they were written. Dylan's greatest lyric, without question. IMO.
His birthday is on Monday. Eighty years old. A miracle that him and I are still both alive. And I agree..some of his songs are true poetry set to music. It has been said, poetry is the only magic there is. They can teach you to do just about anything but not how to write a real poem. God bless
If they have their choice, most people will worship the human form, and language. It branches out from there, but those two things seem to be at the core.
It's amazing that he could write something like this and then do an about face and be totally calm and removed from all the bullshit and in a knowing and contemplative spirit write something like Watching The River Flow with Leon Russell. If you've never heard: ruclips.net/video/_xRlojtDdEs/видео.html
@@anarchyeddy27 Sad Eyed Lady f the Lowland. With God on Our Side. The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll, North country Blues. A Hard Rain's a Gonna Fall. Subterranean Homesick Blues, Lilly Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts. Highway 61. Like A Rolling Stone. Masters of War. Ballad in Plain D. Mr Tambourine Man.Don't Think Twice, It's Alright, Visions of Johanna. Blind Willie McTell, Ramblin, Gamblin Willie, Who Killed Davey Moore. Sign On the Window etc etc etc
I'm 49, grew up on the road and in rainforests with hippy parents - a Dad that sang Bob Dylan in the car and quoted his lyrics. My middle son and I share the Bob bond the main songs being Hey Mr Tamborine Man (the first fave), A Hard Rain's gonna fall, A Simple Twist of Fate, and followed by Lay Lady Lay and now Positively Fourth Street. For me the list goes on...Tangled Up in Blue, Don't Think Twice, Shelter from the Storm, Masters of War etc, etc , etc
Best lyrics he ever wrote. I was a teenager when I first heard this, and it gave me chills....Still does...To say the least, he speaks the truth, the raw truth....
@@meyou-dv8ns Some lyrics are somewhat up to interpretation but some have solid meanings that really put things into perspective, I encourage you to find and read the lyrics instead of looking for other people's explanations online, as some of those explanations are plagued by the same things the lyrics try to warn you about, really does say a lot. If you're into Frank Zappa then you probably shouldn't have to go far to find the meaning. Zappa shared a large part of his ideology with Dylan, but unfortunately, unlike Dylan, his lyrics mostly fell on deaf ears.
Those who wax on about popularity and acceptance don't seem to understand that those issues were not a priority for Bob especially as he matured....he followed his inspiration and let the chips fall where they may
Damn it! He is our modern Shakespeare. This puts current music to embarrassment and shame. Current songwriters hide under their beds counting money while the things that need to be sung about stay unsung as Rome falls
This is the most perfect song ever. The lyrics cover literally every theme imaginable and you can always find new meaning in this after hearing it more than 1,000 times. I would know.
It doesn't get any better than this. Hands down my favorite song ever by anybody. Never has so much truth been spoken in one song. Cuts right through the bullshit we are fed on a daily basis. Sobering
With you totally on that. I personally cannot listen to this song without following it with Mr Tambourine Man, which somehow to me is like the next place to go after all the bullshit Dylan describes has been torn down, or at least neutralised in our own minds.. For me, Tambourine Man is the resolution of Its Alright Ma.
"Money doesn't talk, it swears." What a fucking line.
Ain't that the truth!
And all these years later it seems those kinda times, still ain't changin much! Some haven't figured out yet that it's children that pay the price of parents and other adults choices!
Ya know what a good many adults are in other words? A- Dolts.
Your so very important post reminds us to think from motivation and intent. To Always remember to see through the heart and minds eyes of a child and to be kind. And for that, I Thank- You and of course, Mr.D too!
Ask a man who is dying he just want a day more to live not money or women.
I loved it when I heard it at 16, not so much now. The ones I like are the last ones. I don't think he just concludes with them, I think they're the conclusions he comes to:
"And if my thought-dreams/ Could be seen
They'd probably put my head/ In a guillotine.
But it's alright ma
It's life and life only."
It's hard to do better than that.
100
fucking a!
Every line in this song would be a career defining for almost everybody else.
This song opens all the windows: pure genius, it is as relevant now as it was in 1965.
DUde grow up.
Vicky You are Correct my dear 😊
It is relevant as it's not ever goin to change with the Master of War 😅
Yep… the dogs of war. Pink Floyd
You grow up!@@catbreath8361
"He not busy being born is busy dying."
Happy Birthday, Bob Dylan! 80 years old today. :)
And STILL doing his NET Never Ending Tour.
That line has two meanings....one, the obvious...we all get closer to death every day, but the second means that you have to be learning and growing in order to avoid spiritually dying.
@@joemarshall4226 Right, that's what it means to me. Spiritual/creative: that you're willing to let go of the known and step into the unknown and don't stop doing that. It's profound and found in mystical religions, the idea of death and rebirth as a process.
❤
One of the most accurate and scathing attacks on the sacred cow of American values ever written. The man is a prophet.
Brilliant song and songwriter. Not a prophet
I think it's deeper then America. I always looked at as a comment on The Human Condition
Get you down in the hole HEs in.
I just cannot please him
a prophet? lol, if his song was accurate and an attempt to improve for life for everyone it wouldn't still be relevant
One of the best songs ever written in the history of mankind.
That's a big like from me
And me..
It’s life and life only
you took the comment right out of my brain
Second that
I am 69 yrs old & feel so damn lucky to have grown up in the 60's & 70's. We had the best music, the best cars, the best ladies, the best friends, & the best parents ❤️👍🏻🎸🎶
Best music but compared to what? Lyrics are nice but classical, who writes like that anymore. I’m sure my grandparents would argue that. 90s had good music too. Truth is there is good all around just be open to it all new and old. There is always something new and honest.
It always blows my mind that this was recorded in one take.
Dylan is a true Music Artist that's my thoughts on it.🙂
@@heynow2302 Well, that's not in question. But he still has multiple takes for many of his songs, yet he recorded one take and one take alone of this song and nailed it in one, even after moments earlier saying he really didn't want to do it because it's so long. The fact it's so long and lyrically dense and he still just knocked it out in one is wild to me.
Because it had to be said and he knew he was the one who had to say it
I think everything was those days
@@Blandy0487 It wasn't.
Favourite lyrics of all time in this song
On this day 60 Years Ago, Bob Dylan recorded this song. One of my all-time favourites.
He was 23 yrs old when he wrote this. 🤯
Effing amazing, isn't it? It's like there had to be an older soul residing in that body for such a young person to create something like this!
I was thinking that very same thing!
@@roquetinsixtysixI was thinking something more spiritual. 🤔
@@roquetinsixtysix The Jewish Tavistock Institute made him do it, devil in disguise and all that.
@@roquetinsixtysix And so MANY songs equally as profound, written in the three years before this one.....Mr Tambourine Man, Masters of War, God on their Side, Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll, Ballad of Hollis Brown, Ramblin' Gamblin' Willie, The Times They are A Changin', Don't Think Twice, Walls of Red wing, North Country Blues, Lay Down Your Weary Tune, Who Killed Davey Moore?, Only A Pawn in Their Game, Blowin In The Wind., Ballad in Plain D, Chimes of Freedom........etc etc etc...some of them never made it to an album! Too many other good ones blocking their way!
I’m here in 2024 to say…. Man, Bob Dylan was SPITTIN’!!! 🔥💨
Simple song. Pure and simple.with such profound expression.
I listened to this while laying in bed at the peak of an acid trip. While all the other songs happened around me, this one seemed to live directly inside my brain. I looked up at the shadows on the candlelit ceiling and saw Christ on the cross. Very strange.
I believe u
WOW!!!
Its on my shroom play list
I SEE HIM THERE EVERY NIGHT, COOL SHIT YEAH. PEACE BE WITH YOU ALL MY FRIEND'S. 🙏✌️😎🏴
Good choice sir
"Bent out of shape from society's pliers". Ok, the Nobel prize is deserved for that line just by itself.
Walk Upside Down Inside Handcuffs......that's a painting, right there....
I now think of the ‘Joker’ when I hear that line.
I love that part of the song.
Well, this song's a masterpiece.
More meaning in one song than many artists can achieve in an entire career
Than any artist...
Maybe the Smiths
or takes a lifetime to get nuance after nuance & still not uncover them all like doin a jigsaw puzzle without the picture on the box
Written by the best song writer ever
@@denniscannon7834 Got that right!
@@denniscannon7834nope. The best song writer ever was Leonard Cohen.
[Verse 1]
Darkness at the break of noon
Shadows even the silver spoon
The handmade blade, the child's balloon
Eclipses both the sun and moon
To understand you know too soon
There is no sense in trying
[Verse 2]
Pointed threats they bluff with scorn
Suicide remarks are torn
From the fools gold mouthpiece the hollow horn
Plays wasted words, proves to warn
That he not busy being born
Is busy dying
[Verse 3]
Temptation's page flies out the door
You follow, find yourself at war
Watch waterfalls of pity roar
You feel to moan, but unlike before
You discover that you'd just be one more
Person crying
[Chorus]
So don't fear if you hear
A foreign sound to your ear
It's alright, Ma, I'm only sighing
[Verse 4]
As some warn victory, some downfall
Private reasons, great or small
Can be seen in the eyes of those that call
To make all that should be killed to crawl
While others say don't hate nothing at all
Except hatred
[Verse 5]
Disillusioned words like bullets bark
As human gods aim for their mark
Make everything from toy guns that spark
To flesh-colored Christs that glow in the dark
It's easy to see without lookin' too far
That not much is really sacred
[Verse 6]
While preachers preach of evil fates
Teachers teach that knowledge waits
Can lead to hundred-dollar plates
Goodness hides behind its gates
But even the President of the United States
Sometimes must have to stand naked
[Chorus]
And though the rules of the road have been lodged
It's only people's games that you got to dodge
And it's alright, Ma, I can make it
[Verse 7]
Advertising signs that con
You into thinking you're the one
That can do what's never been done
That can win what's never been won
Meantime, life outside goes on
All around you
[Verse 8]
You lose yourself, you reappear
You suddenly find you got nothing to fear
Alone you stand with nobody near
When a trembling distant voice, unclear
Startles your sleeping ears to hear
That somebody thinks they really found you
[Verse 9]
A question in your nerves is lit
Yet you know there is no answer fit
To satisfy, ensure you not to quit
To keep it in your mind and not forget
That it is not he, or she, or them, or it
That you belong to
[Chorus]
But though the masters make the rules
For the wise men and the fools
I got nothing, Ma, to live up to
[Verse 10]
For them that must obey authority
That they do not respect in any degree
Who despise their jobs, their destiny
Speak jealously of them that are free
Do what they do just to be
Nothing more than something they invest in
[Verse 11]
While some on principles baptized
To strict party platform ties
Social clubs in drag disguise
Outsiders they can freely criticize
Tell nothing except who to idolize
And say "God bless him"
[Verse 12]
While one who sings with his tongue on fire
Gargles in the rat race choir
Bent out of shape from society's pliers
Cares not to come up any higher
But rather get you down in the hole
That he's in
[Chorus]
But I mean no harm, nor put fault
On anyone that lives in a vault
But it's alright, Ma, if I can't please him
[Verse 13]
Old lady judges watch people in pairs
Limited in sex, they dare
To push fake morals, insult and stare
While money doesn't talk, it swears
Obscenity, who really cares
Propaganda, all is phony
[Verse 14]
While them that defend what they cannot see
With a killer's pride, security
It blows the minds most bitterly
For them that think death's honesty
Won't fall upon 'em naturally
Life sometimes must get lonely
[Verse 15]
My eyes collide head-on with stuffed
Graveyards, false goals, I scuff
At pettiness which plays so rough
Walk upside down inside handcuffs
Kick my legs to crash it off
Say, okay, I've had enough
What else can you show me?
[Chorus]
And if my thought-dreams could be seen
They'd probably put my head in a guillotine
But it's alright, Ma, it's life, and life only
Thank you for posting the lyrics
@@walkingmanhisdogtakingvide3901 You are welcome.
That was helpful, obviously a die hard fan. :)
@@coffeehugger there are many here among us who think that life is but a joke
Verset 6 mauvaise traduction... C'est plutôt.. Même le président des États-Unis doit un moment se tenir nu !
The songwriting is amazing. It means everything and means nothing at the same time
“The masters make the rules, for the wise men and the fools” is a line that reoriented my thinking for the rest of my life
The old Republic will rise in the ashes of this new world like a phoenix.
No kidding
The Song goes deep
MASONS
@@jm-tl6od The globe-Earth is a Masonic lie.
Bob was led the the Almighty Spirit here for sure.
Bob is far beyond your idea of a personified God.
biggest mistake of my life was listening to one (1) of his songs i didnt end up liking and letting that put me off from the rest of his music for months.... bro is a poet fr
Nobody writes for bob dylan!!!
Only Dylan could have released such a sharp, biting song that is still relevant to this day.
Try Steppenwolf,s Monster.
Something about the song it’s deep you get dragged in by the lyrics and the guitar at the same time - it’s kind of hypnotic beyond its time
And I think it shall always be relevant.
Collin Adams - it’s timeless you would not think it was written 55 years ago probably the most profound song I have listen to I have always wondered how he played this on the guitar tried it myself but can not find a version with the chords or notes he is using whilst he recorded this
@@paulhynes170 try the version on dylanchords.info
Imagine hearing this on the radio today...
no chance. there would be uproar from the powers that be.
@@MrPiccolop it would be nipped in the bud by the censors that be, im so glad to hear it live.
The public today are so impressed by image,fireworks and totally meaningless lyrics😢
How someone can be upset Bob Dylan won a Nobel Prize for Literature I will never understand.
I think Bob was upset by it - he didn’t accept it. he doesn’t like awards
@@tuscanyiscol He accepted it, he wrote a nice note thanking them....he just didn't want to travel all the way to Sweden for it...and who can blame him, especially at that age.....
@@tuscanyiscolhe made them wait until the very last minute, virtually, with regards to the one year deadline to accept.
@@joemarshall4226 He had a gig that night! But that's exactly why he won - his one-thousand-per-cent, lifelong devotion to his art.
I’m a Millennial here in 2025 and this song has absolutely blown me away. I grew up on Dylan but never did my own deep dive until the past month after seeing A Complete Unknown. I think this album is shaping up to be my fave.
Memorized the lyrics and performed it as a spoken piece for a high school drama final. The room was just silent. I got an A. The song still has that shock value
Horse balls.
Wow!!!
And some of your school mates stil remember l bet .👍
Yes, the devil is said to have written it
Excellent feat dude
Blows my mind every time that a person actually wrote those lyrics
I thought this was a pretty good track all in all
The rhyme scheme is so complex it is almost ridiculous
More like the devil..
He admitted there was a magic(devils) that came over him and that he couldn't do it again of he tried. In an interview speaking about his bargain with the devil.
@@chrismendoza4355 lol
It's easy to forget just how good this young man was....
There’s something darkly magical about Bob Dylan idk how to explain it. It’s like someone seeing through a veil
Even Bob himself says he's in awe of this song. And to think he wrote it when he was just 23. I love Bob Dylan so much and I totally love this song.
Don't you love it that he is too? How amazing that is. And I see being an older boomer how we saw him speaking for our generation: Cuban Missile Crisis, JFK Assassination, then Vietnam War. Our innocence from the 50's was lost and things looked bleak.
@@kathym.248I was born in the middle 60s and grew up with the best sound track you could imagine - Dylan, Beatles and early Bowie are the highlights. How blessed!
We couldn’t predict that the beautiful ideals of the 60s and 70s would turn into the world as it is now. Almost as if it’s being ruined on purpose. Or maybe the human condition has always been problematic.
Dylan’s music is as fresh and profound today as it was when he wrote it.
❤❤❤❤❤
Unbelievable 🤯 the young talent of the day in general - The Rolling Stones etc.
So I turn 60 next year I've heard this song my whole life and it's desperation is timeless and still makes me cry
its
With a song like this one could argue that Bob was the godfather of rap
I totally agree🎉🎉🎉My sons a rapper and he totally agrees too!
You might actually be surprised to know that a lot of lyrically inclined gen x rappers count Dylan as an inspiration.
Rappers still drop references to Bob Dylan quite often.
No because this song is intelligently written
ruclips.net/video/MGxjIBEZvx0/видео.html
2023 - great lyrist in the 60's, better than Beatles, Stones
Självklart har du rätt, bob Dylan har alltid varit störst och resten är efteråt och det har pågått sedan 60 talet. Världens största poet levande och hitintills. Tror att det lär förblir så
@@BjarnePetersson Bob did not write most of his songs, as beetles etc CIA did
Maybe you should get the CIA to write your comments for you. Sad.@@JacksonJones-je9uk
@@JacksonJones-je9ukYou're kidding right?
Even he doesn't know how he did those earlier songs.
So Bob Dylan was the voice of his generation. Hes won a Nobel Prize...Had over 6000 different singers sing his songs...The best song writer on earth, ever....AND, the cut the first Rap song !!!!!..... The man truly is a genius..
Easy to see why Bob Dylan was awarded the Nobel Prize, his verses are so meaningful and enduring.
His Words are so deep indeed so many depths
True
Nobel equals shit now that the mindboggling Bob Dylan has departed the deep state
The Holy Earth God - when then enjoy your prize..
Brian Ripley - jeez , took long enough ..
There are probably more quotable Dylan gems in this song than in any of the others. I saw him interviewed years ago by Ed Bradley (60 Minutes, I think) and he said rather wistfully that he can't write like this any more (quoting this song specifically). But here we are in 2024, he's still on tour, NOT doing a Golden Oldies thing, and turned out one of his finest albums in 2020, when he was 79. It came when a lot of us were in despair and wondering when anything good was going to happen again. Right at the darkest point in lockdown, Dylan was back - or, should I say, he was never away. He has been part of my life for nearly 60 years, through everything.
I got the feeling that he was saying he couldn't write some of the songs he wrote when he was younger, because they questioned authority, and he has been told not to do that anymore....or else.
I think people misunderstand that quote of his. Bob was not saying he still couldn't write great songs, he was saying that his early work just poured out of him in a magical way but in old age the lyrics are more of a labor of love based on real life experience in the mold of Leonard Cohen. They are both valid methods of great songwriting
Imagine being able to write this song. Bob's a fucking master, there's no other song like this one, fucking great.
There are other songs, they're also Bob Dylan songs.
You know Kidda😉
Hey man, don't sit on the fence - say what you really think! 😉
He is the best boss in the poetry. Pure bliss like gold.
Like, what was going on in his head? This is theology via guitar n song.
This gem is just as relevant today as it ever was.
I’m a Millennial here in 2025 and this song has absolutely blown me away. I grew up on Dylan but never did my own deep dive until the past month after seeing A Complete Unknown. I think this album is shaping up to be my fave after Blood on the Tracks.
This might be the most amazing song Dylan ever wrote!
Sounds like folk rap 😁
I think you might be right with that, nobody ever had as much scope in their songwriting, nobody ever made me think so much about what I was listening to-he has enriched my life no end..
@@Blackbird58 Agreed. When I hear people say that Townes Van zandt, Joni Mitchell, Paul SImon, John Prine, Robert Hunter, or Conor Oberst are Bob's equalls, or even better, I use this same argument. Their best songs are right up there with some of his best......Both Sides Now, Tecumseh Valley, Sounds of Silence, Paradise, etc....but the variety and scope, and depth in Dylan is rivalled by no one. So many different subjects, so much analysis, so many different rhyme schemes, so many styles.....lyrically, he's in a class by himself.
Agreed.
Greatest lyricist of the 60's , even the Beatles.
This is probably the best song I've ever heard. Brilliant songwriting. So glad I found Bob Dylan.
If you like Dylan you should check out John Prine. One of my favorite folk singers and lyricists. And he’s funny as shit to boot.
Did not know that you lost him
Ameen/Amen to that
@@CivilizedWarrior... and wasn't rapped up in himself
Back then, Bob was more of a poet who could put music to his work. He was the next in line after Paul Simon to make an impact in the 60's with very thoughtful lyrics.
It’s alright ma i got nothing left to live up to
The man pushed lyrical structure to it's breaking point!
So true .... the structure, or architecture, in Dylan's songs were amazing.
I can't believe I've listened to this song almost 700,000 times.
I also can't believe that.
4.38(the length of the song in minutes)x700 000=3066000 seconds
3066000=851.6666667 hours.
@@whatisup4811 I actually clicked on the song 7000 times at once, and did it once every day for the next ten days.
@@Max_j9578 Why? I get it, I like the song but that seems excessive
The lyrics.... one or maybe the most profound and perhaps the deepest ever written.
As far as song writers Bob Dylan is on top by himself and it’s not even close!!!!!
Nobody even in the neighborhood, let alone the ballpark.
No wonder he was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature.
Nobody can top this one. Greatest ever written.
Easily some of the most haunting lyrics ever and presented in a haunting way
True - not only the words but the voice are full of the shock of the whatever it is that makes things true.
he was... connected!
A masterpiece of poetry.
A flat out masterpiece, among a library of masterpieces. I danced around the room when Dylan won the Nobel Prize in Literature - as deserving as anyone. How many times have I said "He not busy being born is busy dying." In the history of contemporary music, Dylan stands alone.
Also give kendrick Lamar credit. It was an unconventional but well deserved tip of the cap.
Kendrick Lamar is the Bob Dylan of modern music
Master of words. A magician of words. Cheers mr. Bob Zimmerman Dylan. Live long.
I'm a Dylan fan and I didn't dance with the prize. He ignored it for months, he didn't even initially want it. I understand its just a popularity contest, often going to those who are the most politically aligned with the times, proven by the long list of deserved authors who were ignored by it for the contemporary Pied Piper of that moment.... I love Dylan but prizes are nothing, nor are criticisms.
Artistically,culturally,to me,the 20th century is Dylan,The Beatles and Picasso. Iconic,gigantic forces of art,creativity
What makes the music of this era so great,is it relevancy. The music of today will have no relevance 20 years from now,... forget about 30,40 or 50 years from now. The so called music artists of today, won't even be known 😢
GREAT SONG !!!!! GREAT POEM!!!!!!!! GREAT MAN!!!!! GREAT WRITER!!!!GREAT MUSICIAN!!!!!! GREAT CREATER!!!! REMEMBER GOD WORK'S IN MYSTERIOUS WAYS!!!!!✨👍✌️❤️✨🎼🎶🎵🎶🎵🎶🎵🎶🎶🎵🎶✌️
'Bent out of shape by society's pliers'. So much truth here if almost scary.
Cares not to come up any higher,but rather drag u down in the hole that hes in.😊
Listening to this song in my truck while parked in the leaves in the woods with a bad catalytic converter is my favorite thing to do man
To hear this song is like listening to a Buddhist Blessing Mantra.
One of those songs you can return to at any time and still appreciate.
Simply genius at some point in every human beings life they should hear this
Wow. Just wow. Its like someone distilled all of the thoughts of millions of people about the problems of life into a seven minute song. Incredible
One of my biggest regrets during my 4+ decades on this planet is that I've never been able to appreciate Dylan as much as I feel I should.. Dare ı say it, I might finally be starting to see the light.
His concerts in the 70's & 80's were killers. Unfortunately his voice as of late is getting too rough. But I'd take a Dylan song anyday!
Once you get it; you get it. There is no turning back or shutting that door. Revelation of epic proportions. Same with an epiphany/ontological confrontation after taking LSD or psilocybin.
better late than never
Wow really spoke to me in my teens
@@sethstine4698You've hit the nail on the head there, once you get Dylan, that's it, you become aware, like acid, you see things in a different light, you realise you're here, breathing, being, that's what getting Dylan is like, he's a true legend, he is in the musical company of The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, such big influences. Some people never get Dylan, they say "I like that song he wrote that someone else done", aaahh. Anyway I love Dylan, to the extent I have almost all of his releases, apart from his 'Sinatra' trilogy, I have all of his studio releases, all of the bootleg series Vol 1-15, and over half of his live albums, which I will complete soon.
This song is truer today than ever!!!!
I am blown away every time I listen to this masterpiece. A cutting edge look at how really fucked up humanity is. The man transcends the word iconic.
If any other artist released 'Bringing it all back home' it would be their magnum opus and they would dine out on it for decades afterwards. For Dylan it was just another album. Amongst his back catalogue it doesn't even really stand out. A freakish talent
It does come on it’s an amazing album it is definitely one of his best definitely top 5 anyway, it stands out massively w sum of his best songs like it’s all over now baby blue mr tambourine man subterranean homesick blues and gates of Eden and love minus zeros
Truth
'freakish talent', well put
And to think rolling stone put Kanye west on their list off albums ahead of this masterpiece of an album what drugs are they smoking this song alone is better anything Kanye west done and will ever do
@@elstonngunn4193 Oh I'm right there with ya it's a stunning album. I just think in an amongst Freewheelin, BOTT, Highway 61, Blonde on Blonde, John Wesley Harding, Desire, Oh Mercy etc etc it really is just another album
My first time hearing this. Holy shit, amazing. Every word even more appropriate today 55 years later. And I never knew that Bob Dylan invented rap 😀
Listen to Subterranean Homesick Blues
@@mattmoore377 Amen!
I swear bob dylan was the first rapper
1965. Crazy to think this song is 58 years old as the lyrics are still as fresh as the day they were written.
Dylan's greatest lyric, without question. IMO.
His birthday is on Monday. Eighty years old. A miracle that him and I are still both alive. And I agree..some of his songs are true poetry set to music. It has been said, poetry is the only magic there is. They can teach you to do just about anything but not how to write a real poem. God bless
Bob is bob only one in millions. Live long bob Zimmerman. Pure poetry pure truth.truth hurts but truth is like the sun. Shining always.
If they have their choice, most people will worship the human form, and language. It branches out from there, but those two things seem to be at the core.
It's amazing that he could write something like this and then do an about face and be totally calm and removed from all the bullshit and in a knowing and contemplative spirit write something like Watching The River Flow with Leon Russell. If you've never heard:
ruclips.net/video/_xRlojtDdEs/видео.html
Bob Dylan Spokesman for a generation: Pure Genius !!!!!
I don't say this lightly - This IS lyrically the BEST song EVER written and recorded.
I agree, but I think that about a lot of his songs.
Joel Coote oh yes. He shares his heart and story✝️🕊🎶👍
He was a master of 1 liners. "I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now"
@@anarchyeddy27 Sad Eyed Lady f the Lowland. With God on Our Side. The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll, North country Blues. A Hard Rain's a Gonna Fall. Subterranean Homesick Blues, Lilly Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts. Highway 61. Like A Rolling Stone. Masters of War. Ballad in Plain D. Mr Tambourine Man.Don't Think Twice, It's Alright, Visions of Johanna. Blind Willie McTell, Ramblin, Gamblin Willie, Who Killed Davey Moore. Sign On the Window etc etc etc
I think these words aren't worldly thier heavenly
"Proves to warn that he not busy being born
Is busy dying"
What a fucking line! And to imagine he wrote this song in his early 20s.
I would like to thank Bob Dylan for enriching my life. He is the caffeine in my coffee, and a whole lot more.
Bob Dylan paints a picture in his songs because he is such a good story teller. This song is life squeezed into a seven minute song.
This is the fabric of life in a song. No judgement no expectations...and most importantly no explanation. Thank you mrD. For all of it.
There's plenty of judgement, in that his perspective attributes damning, unscrupulous motives for humanity's leaders who lack moral compass
One of the best songs ever written
"It's easy to see without looking too far/that not much is really sacred."
I'm 49, grew up on the road and in rainforests with hippy parents - a Dad that sang Bob Dylan in the car and quoted his lyrics. My middle son and I share the Bob bond the main songs being Hey Mr Tamborine Man (the first fave), A Hard Rain's gonna fall, A Simple Twist of Fate, and followed by Lay Lady Lay and now Positively Fourth Street. For me the list goes on...Tangled Up in Blue, Don't Think Twice, Shelter from the Storm, Masters of War etc, etc , etc
Best lyrics he ever wrote. I was a teenager when I first heard this, and it gave me chills....Still does...To say the least, he speaks the truth, the raw truth....
What does it mean? At least Frank Zappa got to the point when he wrote Trouble coming every day on his 1966 freak out album
@@meyou-dv8ns If you really don't understand these lyrics, then you must live in a fairy land bubble....
@@meyou-dv8ns Some lyrics are somewhat up to interpretation but some have solid meanings that really put things into perspective, I encourage you to find and read the lyrics instead of looking for other people's explanations online, as some of those explanations are plagued by the same things the lyrics try to warn you about, really does say a lot.
If you're into Frank Zappa then you probably shouldn't have to go far to find the meaning. Zappa shared a large part of his ideology with Dylan, but unfortunately, unlike Dylan, his lyrics mostly fell on deaf ears.
I was a teenager as well when I first heard this. I got the chills then and now at 73!
@@jackzaffos9347 Agreed...
Those who wax on about popularity and acceptance don't seem to understand that those issues were not a priority for Bob especially as he matured....he followed his inspiration and let the chips fall where they may
Hello dear, how’re you doing today?
It’s nice meeting you on here.
Dylan was one of the best if not the best lyricist of all time!
Loved this. Masters of War should be right up your street.
Only Dylan could do a song like this. That's how I define a genius .
I'm still Spellbound after all of these years I can't get enough of this guy he's infectious
Hello dear, how’re you doing today?
It’s nice meeting you on here.
1:51 that's them Preachers of a book of fiction from the minds of the world of the watchers who love their control over people
lol I had a lit teacher who got really mad when Dylan won the Nobel Prize and said he was a "pop singer"... Some people's arrogance really blinds them
Has there ever been a greater, more prolific poet? I think not.
Yes,it is.
@@ideaswithinart.it’s only people’s games you got to dodge!
Try Paul Simon
@@ideaswithinart Wash your mouth out boy, Kayne West and go West and stay. Hogwash
@@andygrant9733 Simon? lolololololololololololol stop
Every line of this song swears. Love it
Today, Bob has no idea how he wrote songs like this. That magic is long gone. This from an interview he did on 60 minutes.
The clip of him saying that brought me here. 😆 He iight'
he stopped taking speed
Have you listened to 2020's Rough and Rowdy Ways? They are among the finest songs he has ever written.
Damn it! He is our modern Shakespeare. This puts current music to embarrassment and shame. Current songwriters hide under their beds counting money while the things that need to be sung about stay unsung as Rome falls
AMEN
One of the greatest song ever written. Bob is the greatest artist of our times.
Yes I agree--the greatest artist of our time!
the poet laureate of American music. Period.
In 500 years time only one artist from our time will be celebrated still... Bob Dylan.
Bro you need to experience more music
@@benjaminorinconcito5154 check back with me in 500 years. Who do you think will still be playing 500 years from now?
Lennon too, with and without McCartney.
@@balaw1980The period from the 60’ and 70’s will literally last forever. This exact RUclips video might be watched exactly 500 years from this moment.
This is the most perfect song ever. The lyrics cover literally every theme imaginable and you can always find new meaning in this after hearing it more than 1,000 times. I would know.
I know huh, lol
That's why he is called the poet!
totally agree.
Allways fresh, even after a 1000 times
I agree. Can't wait to see your movie
It doesn't get any better than this. Hands down my favorite song ever by anybody. Never has so much truth been spoken in one song. Cuts right through the bullshit we are fed on a daily basis. Sobering
With you totally on that.
I personally cannot listen to this song without following it with Mr Tambourine Man, which somehow to me is like the next place to go after all the bullshit Dylan describes has been torn down, or at least neutralised in our own minds..
For me, Tambourine Man is the resolution of Its Alright Ma.
Unutterably brilliant. Pins down the crazed world we struggle in today
There aren't words sufficient enough to describe this song's greatness
To think this was written in the 60s but is still just as relevant today in 2024 shows how much of a genius Bob really is.
This song and "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue" were the last two songs on the album. I defy anyone to name another album with a more powerful ending.
The greatest song of all time. Period.