Mr. Tambourine Man by Bob Dylan - Why it is a Classic
Uploaded by Lili Wolff on Sep 15, 2001
Mr. Tambourine Man - Bob Dylan
Chorus
Hey, Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me
I’m not sleepy and there is no place I’m going to
Hey, Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me
In the jingle jangle morning I’ll come following you
Though I know the evening’s empire has returned into sand
Vanished from my hand
Left me blindly here to stand but still not sleeping
My weariness amazes me, I’m branded on my feet
I have no one to meet
And the ancient empty street’s too dead for dreaming...
->CHORUS
Take me on a trip on your magic swirling ship
My senses have been stripped
My hand’s can’t feel to grip
My toes too numb to step
Wait only for my bootheels to be wandering
I’m ready to go anywhere, I’m ready for to fade
Into my own parade
Cast your dancing spell my way, I promise to go under it...
->CHORUS
Though you might hear laughing, spinning, swinging madly across the sun
It’s not aimed at anyone
It’s just escaping on the run
And but for the sky there are no fences facing
And if you hear vague traces of skipping reel rhyme
To your tambourine in time
It’s just a ragged clown behind
I wouldn’t pay it any mind
It’s just a shadow you’re seeing that he’s chasing
->CHORUS
Take me disappearing through the smoke rings of my mind
Down the foggy ruins of time
Far past the frozen leaves
The haunted frightened trees
Out to the windy beach
Far from the twisted reach of crazy sorrow
Yes to dance beneath the diamond sky with one hand waving free
Silhouetted by the sea
Circled by the circus sands
With all memory and fate driven deep beneath the waves
Let me forget about today until tomorrow...
->CHORUS
Why Mr. Tambourine Man is A Modern Classic
The most obvious and popular interpretation of Bob Dylan’s Mr. Tambourine Man is that the song is about drugs. This makes sense, as it was against the law to write songs about drugs in the 1960s when ‘Mr. Tambourine Man’ was composed. The metaphors are simple: ‘Mr. Tambourine Man’ is the drug-dealer. “Take me on a trip upon your magic swirling ship...” is asking the drug-dealer for the drugs, and then the lyrics go on to describe the physical effects on the body after consuming hallucinogens:
“My senses have been stripped
My hands can’t feel to grip
My toes too numb to step. . .”
Another obvious reference to drug-taking comes from the fourth verse, “Take me disappearing through the smoke rings of my mind...” The smoke rings relating literally to drugs being smoked, and the last line...