Hip Hop Fan Reacts To Ballad Of A Thin Man by Bob Dylan

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[@misterjones2u]

the only writer who can get 'tax deductable charity organsiations' into a song line

[@jasonremy1627]

Dude, you've got to keep digging into Dylan. His well is so deep it has no bottom. Check out "Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues" next. It's probably my favorite.

[@2ramona959]

Yes, Tom Thumb's Blues is great. I'm reposting my suggestion list from a previous video for the hell of it: 1) Mama you've been on my mind (never released on an album, only bootleg, but brilliant), 2) I Believe in You (you can tell a real Dylan fan from posers by whether they appreciate his "crazy Christian" years, now considered his gospel period; this was the song Sinaed was going to perform before she was booed off stage at the DylanFest in 94), 3) It's Alright Ma I'm Only Bleeding (Syed already did it), 4) Brownsville Girl (shows how Dylan's phrasing is so good he could sing a novel and make it work), 5) The Groom's Still Waiting at the Altar (baddass from gospel period), 6) What Was It You Wanted (Positively 4th Street reworked by a mature artist IMO). Two bonus tracks: Just Like Tom Thumb Blues and Sweetheart Like You.

[@chillywilly9080]

Good call Jason! Tom Thumbs Blues is one of my favorite tunes period

[@lathedauphinot6820]

“They’ve got some hungry women there, and they’ll really make a mess out of you…”

[@jasonremy1627]

Dylan's writing is so deep, you've figured out two meanings, and he's got three more no one else has figured out yet.

[@bernardwright2264]

Yep

[@TrianglesAndCircles]

The ability to speak from the top of six mountains at once and switching amongst them before the echo returns is an unique form of skill that has only been shared among prophets.

[@Hexon66]

I think that's a bit reductive. Some lyrics do lend themselves to multiple meanings. But overall, it's the universality of the emotion which opens up so many lyrical interpretations. A line like "scorpio sphinx in a calico dress" is dead specific to Sara, but anyone listening to the narrative of the song, can immediately be transported into their own idiom.

[@sst3d]

Jonesing….

[@serenoart]

You’re not crazy. That interpretation is at least one of the ways of reading this.

[@Logan_Irrelevant]

You’re one of the few people I’ve ever actually gotten genuine insight on not just this song but any and these are only your initial reactions! Good shit dude.

[@t.c.bramblett617]

EXACTLY. best Dylan interpretations I have seen. Because he gets the clear references and at the same time expands the story to enlighten someone like me who has heard it a million times to new facets!

[@davescurry69]

Syed, Dylan's HIGHWAY 61 REVISITED is one of the most important LPs ever recorded. "Ballad Of A Thin Man" is just one of the masterpieces that happen to be on the album. The album's closing track, "Desolation Row", is probably it's most remarkable track. Lyrically it's an astonishing piece of music. You will love it. And once again, your reaction is intelligent, insightful, and mostly right on the money. I really enjoy seeing your appreciation for the great man.

[@gernblanston5697]

Dylan was at the cutting edge of the counterculture, hanging with poet Allen Ginsburg and other people pushing the envelope. I always interpreted this song as a ruthless attack on people from the establishment, older generation, reporters and such who were witnessing the new scene unfold and were troubled and confused. Dylan telling them not to even try to get it because they can't. You know something is happening, but you don't know what it is, do you, Mr. Jones? And, sorry, Mr. Jones, you can't and won't.

[@f.kieranfinney457]

And Dylan is tired of being identified as the leader of the movement by people who not only didn’t get it but were trying to subvert it too. Historical context is very important to understanding Dylan and this KZbinr completely misses it.

[@robertmcconnell1009]

Me 2 👍

[@robertmcconnell1009]

I just always saw it as mainstream society, reporters etc not seeing or understanding the change that was coming and was unavoidable, he who gets hurt, will be he who has stalled.

[@joelliebler5690]

Nice interpretation!👍🏻

[@DawnSuttonfabfour]

That's how I always took it.

[@Hartlor_Tayley]

I always thought this song was about the burgeoning counter culture clash with the establishment (Mr Jones.) I think your interpretation is good. But this is a surreal psychedelic take on things. Maybe try “Desolation Row”

[@SantamanitaClauscaria]

You've heard some of Dylan's best and had such great takeaways from each song you've covered. If I could pick the next one it'd be "A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall"

[@dustinboucher8102]

Agreed. Abd this version kzbin.info/www/bejne/nonRao2Bhd1pebs

[@m.ericwatson968]

so long story short, my gf and I found out we had missed Dylan in Colorado some years back, so on a lark she says "we should go to NYC to see him", I'm all "sure, ok cool" didn't think much of it, so by and by we made plans, tickets, yada, see Dylan at the Beacon theater in NY, I do dig his music though not an avid fan. First song of the encore the band starts playing this, crowd goes nuts, people rush the stage, Bob is totally cool with it (his only rule, NO freaking phones, man! Be cool and enjoy the moments) I'm sitting there enthralled, song is hitting me like a box of bricks from a 10 story building, "holy smokes, I know this song, I know the lyrics, what is this song though?" About 2/3rds in, snap my fingers..."Ballad of a Thin Man" then it hit me, I'm watching a legend live, dude has preceded the Beatles, Stones, Beach Boys, Hendrix, yada, and he is still very much alive...this is actually Bob Dylan, he and the band nailed it, incredible once in a lifetime performance and one of the best concerts I've ever seen.

[@lathedauphinot6820]

I was in Colorado with my family a few years ago, and my dad & I saw in the morning paper that Dylan was playing in Vail that night, so we drove over to see if we could get tickets. Dad wouldn’t listen to Dylan for years even though they’re born in the same month (May 1941) because “I thought he was against soldiers and I was a soldier.” (He was drafted.), but over the last 20 years he’s gone to see him three times with me. The show at Vail was sold out, but the tour bus was in the parking lot. I drove up to it and dared Dad to go knock on the door. He grew up in Brazil and usually will accept any challenge, but he declined. We walked over to the stadium and listened to the sound check, and it was a great day. A favorite memory.

[@Hamsun56]

When the song came out it was received as a critique of not only of a journalist but of square people who didn't understand what was happening in the counter culture. Later many critics picked up on the homosexual anxiety theme. Camille Paglia in her Sexual Personae from 1990 takes it as a given that is what the song is about. The song also fits in with the carnival/circus theme that runs through the album. And this song was on an album and Dylan gave thought about the order of the songs on his albums. Highway 61 Revisited starts with Like a Rolling Stone, where a young woman leaves her comfortable bourgeoisie world and has to deal with the "real" world of the streets. In many ways she represents a whole generation of young middle class kids at that time. After the first track, each song brings you into all the weird scenes that you experience and then leaves you exhausted and depleted on Desolation Row. So to fully appreciate this song, you need to see how it fits on the album. When this came out, we didn't listen to songs, we listened to albums.

[@kenkaplan3654]

Great take

[@VULGARxRM]

All truly well said... One thing I'll make an addendum to, is that listening to an amazing album start to finish is an incredible feeling, and it's something that is sadly lost on a lot of modern day music listeners.

[@kenkaplan3654]

@@VULGARxRM Yes the album was incredibly thematic and the meaning of songs had to be taken in context to all the others. Plus I extended that to Blonde on Blonde which felt like exhaustion and withdrawal after the furious assaults of BIABH and Highway 61. They all were related. And the songs on BOB also had to be taken in context of the whole. Visions of Johanna and Stuck Inside of Mobile are mirror songs to one another in s sense of being trapped. All three albums were like nothing else ever done or since. And he still had other peaks in his career, especially the great Blood on the Tracks. (boy does he have a thing about trains, and rain)

[@VULGARxRM]

@@kenkaplan3654 Again, all well said. Dylan has a lot of albums that connect well to each other, even up into the modern times... Time Out of Mind - Love & Theft - Modern Times - Together Through Life... Another underappreciated moment is the late 60's into the early 70's country-ish "phase" he was in before he took a break from things... Nashville Skyline - Self Portrait (not a great album, but it has it's moments, especially the alternate version released through the bootleg series a few years ago) - New Morning. and yes he does have a thing about trains and rain lol

[@kenkaplan3654]

@@VULGARxRM Country- and basement tapes

[@simontemplar3359]

This song is fantastic. You can definitely hear I believe to my soul in it as well. So the thing with this song is that it's about the misadventures and the life and times of a hapless reporter: Mr. Jones. The whole song really savages the media in a way that only Bob Dylan can. You mentioned the ominous sounds and the organ. That is Al Kooper. He and another guy from this project, Mike Bloomfield, worked together on a lot of fantastic music together. Very bluesy, but not cliche. Keep exploring! I love your analysis and your insights!

[@michellewheatley2007]

I think this is a story about a guy who is in denial about being bisexual. He refers to himself as Mr. Jones when he taunts him about being in denial. I think the reporter part is a two part truth, he's seeking answers about himself but refuses to see by putting his eyes in his pocket and asks others to tell him. The second truth is that even though he's still suspicious of their motives, he's already lost and sold out to the system he says he despises.

[@2ramona959]

Multiple levels, sometimes at the same time, sometimes sequentially, everything's shifting so as soon as you think you've got a handle on the meaning Dylan blows it all up. At least 3 layers jump out at me. 1) conservative music press asking him dumb questions always trying to put his music into an established box, so what's happening is a new kind of music/art that the reporters can't grasp; 2) the older generation of "squares" in society who can't figure out what the kids were doing at the time; and 3) on a more transcendental level the somebody's familiar constructs of self and world being dismantled and finding out they're cosmically all alone, thus a lot of the kind of psychedelic assault of images and word games leaving Mr. Jones utterly bewildered and adrift. All his intellect completely useless in comprehending what's happening in the present moment.

[@Code9]

And from yet another perspective, consider that you (Syed) are "Mr. Jones". You walked into the room with your analysis pencil in your hand. You're going through every lyric and phrase, knowing that he (Dylan) must be talking about something, right? But...... You don't know what it is, do you, "Mr. Jones"?

[@pierretoureille7359]

It's 1965 and a reporter from a mainstream news magazine strides into a backstage room and encounters Dylan and his entourage. Now, it's Dylan who is doing the reporting

[@lathedauphinot6820]

Yep. Watch “Bob Dylan: Don’t Look Back” about the 1965 tour of Great Britain, and you’ll see him do just that!

[@ziggymarlowe5654]

I always thought this was Dylan sneering at the freaks and weirdos that Dylan, by '65, was encountering more and more. I thought perhaps one of those 'weirdos' might be Andy Warhol. Warhol famously surrounded himself with a unique group of people. Dylan detested Warhol for his cavalier, and at times cruel treatment of people who were part of Warhols scene. And he saw many of Warhol's hangers on as pretentious. Also, that is Bob playing the piano. Brilliant, dark and wonderful song.

[@clashcitywannabe]

It's Dylan on piano with Al Kooper on the organ

[@ziggymarlowe5654]

@@clashcitywannabe Yep

[@kenkaplan3654]

Interesting personal context. I think Dylan is using those "freaks" and himself to rip the square people who make up the society he attacks in "It's All Right Ma". Here the roles are inverted. In iARM, Dylan is trapped by square, dysfunctional society. Now the shoe is on the other foot, a theme in "Like A Rolling Stone" the contempt for, the conventional society is the same. And it is full of homosexual references, ,like "Walk on the Wild Side

[@leesmith9299]

loving these dylan videos. i must be a rare breed. Dylan's my favourite artist but i am just terrible at getting lyrics. i just really dig the sound and the vibe i guess. i used to fail miserably in english literature class. i never understood what any poems were about. so hearing you dissect the lyrics really helps me appreciate it on a new level for me.

[@barrycowan3540]

Yeah, I can definitely relate to what you said about not getting the "official" meaning of poems and literature I'd offer my interpretation, and the professors would listen and then say "Anyone else?" And I'm with you in regard to the sound, I think the lyrics are deliberately enigmatic, and that's ok, this doesn't have to be a digestible narrative. I haven't heard this in ages, but the music sounds fierce and really commands your attention, very bluesy and complementing the vocal so well.

[@sharondavid-melly1498]

Your not alone we're just "the quiet type". We love Bob Dylan😍💯

[@machoward6443]

One of the problems of dipping into Dylan's music on a random basis is that you miss the context of a song needed to understand it. This is taken from the album "Highway 61 Revisited". In my view the best album Dylan ever produced - which makes it one of the best albums anyone ever produced. It also completed a major turning point in Dylan's world view. Two things happening in Dylan's life here - (1) he'd become involved with the bohemian, beatnik society of the likes of Andy Warhol and Alan Ginsberg - weird , crime, drugs and poverty soaked, and (2) his move away from the certainties and judgementalism of his folk days. All songs on the album are in some way connected to this society, it's counterculture ethos and the inability of mainstream people to understand it. From the abandonned poor little rich girl of "Like a Rolling Stone" to the surreal, genius depiction of "Desolation Row" (an absolute must for you to review, it will blow your mind 😉) Sample first line "They're selling postcards of the hanging" All songs on this album are, in some way, related to this culture. In this song - Mr Jones is that class of person - well educated, affluent, possibly a univerity researcher come to study this society (hence his pencil in his hand). What he sees is weird and unfathomable ("just what you might say when you get home"). But the truth is that, in this company, he is the one that is weird (hence the "you're a cow" etc). In truth he can't get beyond his preconceived ideas and will never understand the reality. But, as I said, Dylan is also completing the lyrical move from the judgementalism of his "protest songs" to writing only about experiences he has personally had. In "My Back Pages" he said (from his last all acoustic album) "fearing not I'd become my enemy in the instant that I preach" Dylan had come to realise that the line between righteous indignation and hypocrisy was one the righteously indignant could never see. From this point on Dylan only ever sings about exoeriences he himslef has had. And, in the last lines of "Desolation Row", which completes the album, he advises that to others - "Right now I can't read too good, don't send me no more letters no. Not unless you mail them from Desolation Row." ie don't talk to me about things yiu haven't experienced. Went down like a lead balloon with his folk fans - not helped by plugging his guitar into an amplifier 😀 I remember seeing a video of a show when Dylan was being booed by the crowd. He struck up this song and he spat out at the audience the line "You know something's happening here but you don't what it is, do you Mr jones?". How right he was - but eventually most of them learned!

[@sampayne3576]

But the poor little rich girl you refer to was actually him

[@daseer]

What MachoWard said.... exponentially more precise and accurate than my comments. Double - plus good, Macho!

[@georgecoventry8441]

@@sampayne3576 - Possibly. But I think that it was more likely Edie Sedgewick. I can see, though, how it could be interpreted as you say.

[@georgecoventry8441]

Well said, machohoward. What you say about the counterculture of the time, and Dylan's turn away from the judgementalism of the very righteous "protest" songs he'd previously done is right on the nail. He could indeed deliver that message right in the faces of the angry folk audience that was objecting so strenuously to his new sound and astonishing new material. As it happened with me, I was a folkie, but the first point at which I really started listening to Dylan was the Highway 61 Revisited album, and it completely revolutionized my whole concept of what popular music was about. I loved it on the first hearing....and it caused me to immediately branch out from my formerly purist folk tastes to all kinds of other (electric) music. So, I didn't go through that stage of objecting to it as so many of the "folk" audience did. I was instantly converted by the incredible lyrics and the biting intensity of what he was doing on that album. Sheer genius, in my opinion.

[@ilnuovoredibastoni]

John Lennon references this song ("Feel so suicidal, just like Dylan's Mr Jones") on 'Yer Blues' on the White Album three years later.

[@elston3153]

Dylan has made me insane you go deep when you're into Dylan, love his writing. Greatest creator of songs that we will ever have, people will still be talking about his music in a thousand years time

[@korybeavers6528]

I always thought This song was about a straight laced man in the United States in the early sixties, who is just discovering the new counter culture and experimenting with drugs and sex

[@shocklobster6266]

Great reaction. Would love to hear you react to Bob Dylans 115th Dream. Has some cool lyrics for you to look into

[@TheLenyon]

Bruh, you're good at this. It would be nice to see you try Leonard Cohen: Steer Your Way, Everybody Knows, Happens to the Heart, A Street, The Night of Santiago, Democracy, Closing Time, etc. Also Kris Kristofferson: Pilgrim Chapter 33, or Sunday Morning Coming Down (Austin sessions). There is really only one other reactor right now that tackles complex tunes. Im eager to see more of your work

[@lathedauphinot6820]

German exchange student taught me Leonard Cohen back in 1981. I also like Kristofferson’s “To Beat The Devil” and “Duvalier’s Dream”. That first album is brilliant throughout. I’ve heard it most of my life. The hits aren’t the deepest songs, except for “Sunday Morning”.

[@alanglover9117]

Yeah have a listen to Everybody knows

[@citizenghosttown]

I wouldn't trust anyone who says they have Dylan figured out. But I think you've done a great job here. For what it's worth. Dylan once introduced this song in concert by saying "I wrote this for a reporter who was working for the Village Voice in 1963..."

[@jasonremy1627]

This track, by the way, is the inspiration for the Counting Crows track "Mr. Jones"

[@charliecochran3035]

That was a good take re: the sexual double meaning. I've known this song a long time but never thought of it. Now I wonder how I missed it.

[@robertaxel]

I have to agree with those who mentioned sexual anxiety. When viewed from the point of view of someone who hasn't accepted his sexuality, the metaphors become clear. In the Dylan based film 'I'm not there' there is a fairly explicit scene set to this song, which uses this interpretation...

[@jamesdignanmusic2765]

That's a pretty astute reading of the song, I'd say. It's like trying to describe a nightmare after you've woken up. Keep going with Dylan - amazingly deep source, and influenced so many others. So many other tracks to try: "Visions of Johanna" is a masterpiece, the epic "Desolation Row", or for something a little lighter but still thought-provoking, try "Love Minus Zero/No Limit" or the playful "I Want You".

[@gmgroucho77]

Fantastic reaction. What a wonderful analytical mind you have. But I knew that already, Mister Syed.

[@tcrime]

If you want to do another Dylan track sometime, I think you'd really enjoy "Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands"

[@rikurodriguesneto6043]

that's my favorite dylan song

[@doriwiljt]

Yes! One of my favorites from Bob.

[@SpaceCattttt]

It's pretty long...

[@MarloMaravillas]

I recommend the movie I'm Not There, where each of Dylan's phases are portraited by different actors.

[@debrabeck9630]

Absolutely. You read my mind!

[@pauljames2017]

^^^This^^^

[@RandyHall324]

My superficial read on this one has always been that Mr. Jones is simply a proxy for the establishment at the time, who could not "get" the emerging counterculture. The "kids" with their new notions of equality and civil rights, their fashion, their music and emerging drug culture were in on the "joke" while their clueless parents were left wondering what was going on. Could never parse it beyond that.

[@barryderby]

The song is about a particular reporter, according to dylan, but it could be about any of them, or any straight who attempted to understand the scene at the time. Dylan came out of the beat movement of the 50s and had more in common with them than with the later hippies. The beat movement savaged all social norms, encouraging people to live without limits and with intense passion. The most famous beats were of course Kerouac, William Burroughs, the poets Lawrence Ferlinghetti and Gregory Corso, Dylan's friend Allan Ginsberg, and a host of others, writing experimental drama and performing their poetry to a jazz band. To an outsider like Mr Jones they would have been totally unintelligible. Also, like Dylan, they would have delighted in screwing with his mind! When asked who Mr Jones was, Dylan replied "He's a real person. You know him, but not by that name... I saw him come into the room one night and he looked like a camel. He proceeded to put his eyes in his pocket. I asked this guy who he was and he said, 'That's Mr. Jones.' Then I asked this cat, 'Doesn't he do anything but put his eyes in his pocket?' And he told me, 'He puts his nose on the ground.' It's all there, it's a true story." Which serves the reporter right for asking another dumb question.

[@kenkaplan3654]

Very insightful. On the money.

[@barryderby]

@@kenkaplan3654Thanks! If you want to see an astonishing bit of live Dylan, try One More Cup of Coffee from the Rolling Thunder Tour. Meanwhile, keep up the good work!

[@barryderby]

@@kenkaplan3654 Oops! I guess my only excuse for promoting you to the position of music reactor is that I'm not well, but I've slept so long over the past few days and nights I'm wide awake and being very silly. However, the thanks still stand, as does my comment about the live performance. One of my personal favourites, right up there with Like a Rolling Stone in Manchester (the Judas concert)

[@kenkaplan3654]

@@barryderby Thanks. So much of that tour was sensational, especially in the smaller venues. I really liked his rocking, electric version of "Hard Rain's Gonna Fall". kzbin.info/www/bejne/n4anZqakrZKLhdE

[@barryderby]

@@kenkaplan3654 I just followed your link and enjoyed watching it again! I'd have loved to have been there! I was born in London and was about 16 when I first heard his 1st album. The UK was pretty grim then, but I had been reading all the Beat stuff for about 2 years by then, listening to jazz and blues, growing my hair, and I thought it was the most astonishing thing I had ever heard. Right from the start he inhabited his songs and told the truth. And long before the hippies I dropped out so far and lived such a wild life I went mad, so I understand the Beat world Dylan was describing. The only other truth-tellers who come close are Cohen and Van Morrison, and both came from the same scene.

[@alabhaois]

I read somewhere that the “thin man” is actually Dylan. 🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️

[@doriwiljt]

I love the organ/keys on this album. Check out a song “New Pony”, “You Gotta Serve Somebody “ , “Percy’s Song”, “Call Letter Blues” ,he’s a chameleon, every album is different. Check them all out!

[@456012]

Reporter to Dylan: “Who is Mr. Jones?” Dylan: “Everyone has their Mr. Jones”

[@carlos_herrera]

Re: the chuckle, Dylan was infamous for his one take recording style, his catalog is full of moments like that.

[@maxhall1534]

Sid Barrett seemed to take it up a notch on some of the tracks on Madcap Laughs

[@wl1360]

I take this track as dylan trolling someone, or a group of people. He was the original troll. He is purposely confusing people who believe they are profoundly intelligent and smart. Bringing them to his world where they can't comprehend whats going on. Dylan is wildly talented at using surrealism and even nonsense to his advantage. Proof he's trolling: "youve been through ALL of f scott fitzgeralds books!" f scott fitzgerald only wrote 4 books.. haha!

[@michele-33]

In the live version he says 'you should be made at all times to carry a telephone' rather than 'wear earphones'...decades before cell phone popularity.. Ps: the live version during '66 tour of England with Bob at piano is historical awesomeness.

[@mikesummers-smith4091]

I'm impressed you got the gay subtext on first listen. "Mr Jones" can also be you, the listener, addressed directly by Dylan - because you don't get what the song's about..

[@daseer]

my comment was too nasty, but I was unsuccessful in my attempt to edit. I watch your Reaction Vids fairly often. And I enjoy your smart explorations of songs. But your reaction to the first verse set me off. Sorry for the uncivil tone.

[@andrespernia5397]

Do Murder Most Foul, Dylan longest song, it's from his last album and has one of the best lyrics of his career.

[@paulgerard347]

I have been watching your channel for while now. Especially loving your reactions to the wonderful Bob Dylan. You are really starting to understand the brilliance of the great wordsmith. As a 65 year old it is so beautiful to see the younger generation falling in love with his music. Loving you channel

[@jollyman4874]

You’re really sharp dude.

[@davidwhitley1476]

You need to listen to most Dylan songs several times before you start to understand them. You start that path of understanding by just listening and you will likely start to understand at a deeper level. You have to be thoughtful and let the words penetrate into your own mind before you can start to understand the whole thing. This song is not about a sex party...and not about any kind of sex...it's about the changing the depth of the Zeitgeist of American feelings and ideals in the deeper regions of one's midnight soul searching ....as we can see clearly the problems and failures of the people who gave Donald Trump's 72 American million votes in the last election...Who were these people? Why they are all Mr. Jones in their souls as Dylan is talking about in the imagery of his song! Dylan was way before our time today, but that song is about the ability to understand those who do not know how use imagination to find truth. Almost every song he has wrote was about a deeper humanity. It takes a book carefully written to understand Dylan's work. That's why he won the Nobel prizes for poetry, not a trophy for music of the moment.. Most of his lines or whole songs are more than just words. They are symbols of a deepening change in the souls of those listeners (and likely his own soul), and to those who also have their own inner shadows to deal with and their struggle to change via a depth of knowledge of these things in us all.

[@tomfowler381]

Give “Tweeter and the Monkey Man” a listen if you get a chance. Dylan as a member of the greatest supergroup of all time.

[@thebacons5943]

W take

[@jameshunter7303]

My take was always a drug/sex party (acid was becoming a thing at this time) attended by a square who thinks he’s hip (to use the terminology of the day) but the reality is he doesn’t really get what’s going down and is mocked by others without realising. There’s probably more layers to it though that are over my head!

[@tcrime]

Yeah, I always thought it was describing something like that and using it as a metaphor for the press and wider mainstream culture encountering the 60's counterculture

[@clifton8929]

John Lennon references this song in his song "Yer Blues" from The White Album - "The eagle picks my eye;; The worm he licks my bones; I feel so suicidal, just like Dylan's Mr. Jones". The Beatles were big Dylan fans.

[@tomdevlin9274]

I always read it as an attack on people who felt they owned him. To me it is a Daliesque word painting rejecting the title of 'The Voice of a Generation." Whatever the meaning is incidental. It's what the song means to you. I've been hooked since 1970. It is fantastic to watch you discover the greatest ever song writer/poet of my generation. You may have already covered 'Idiot Wind' but if you haven't, do yourself a big favour. It's majestic; full of anger and pain.

[@stevepotocin9501]

Don't bother trying to figure out what he's singing about, he does not know himself, how are you gonna know?

[@synysterjazmyngates]

this song has always given me film noir vibes, and i watch the scenes play out in my mind like a film noir

[@whatsup1952]

As an old rocker of the 60's I still believe this is a story about a day in the life of Bob Dylan presented verbally about his thoughts. Mister Jones is his tag for himself. How he sees himself in a mirror, people he meets, his agent, people on the street and how he feels about the recording industry not caring about his music but money. BTW the swirling sound is a Hammond B3 using a Leslie speaker that swirls in circles and you can control the speed. Love your work!

[@benhinds2971]

When you look at Dylans writing, he scrutinizes, scratches out, and rewrites words to get them exactly the way he wants. But when he records it seems to be the opposite. Dylan was known for making the next chord change early or late which leaves band members guessing and unable to take their eyes off of him for a second. So he wasnt worried about timing or, obviously mistakes. Muddy Waters did this too. Maybe he didnt like doing more than a few takes , or thought that excessive takes lost their fire and sponteneity.

[@Bekka_Noyb]

Dylan had several peaks really. IMHO - his late 90s early noughts were amongst his very best. Always kinda felt that it's like a dream like scenario where narrator/Mr Jones is suicidal/already dead and he's also the reporter/detective who's both the body & looking/being provoked into (by his own subconscious) into his own suicide/death. This song has been referenced in several other famous songs (Beatles' Yer Blues & Counting Crows Mr Jones)

[@MarioPetrinovich]

If you have lived in those times, there were two kinds of people, one the "old school", the established ones, "the elders", and then another group started to emerge, free freaks. And they couldn't understand each other. The new wave takes over, and the elders don't understand what's going on, the new ones want to bury them, those tones on piano are dead bells. But everybody can feel like this (John Lennon wrote in his 'Yer Blues' "I feel so suicidal, Just like Dylan's Mr Jones"), if he is living in a culture which he doesn't understand. So, this *feeling* has more than one situation.

[@MarioPetrinovich]

Here it is excellent live version, where you can clearly hear those "death bells" (on piano) for the older generation: kzbin.info/www/bejne/mKSvnJmonK9lh68

[@guillermogarcia3327]

I’ve read some people say that this song tells the story of a reporter attending a rock festival for the first time, and all of the verses seem to match with this take in my opinion.

[@jammakers]

Great channel. And good luck trying to decipher bob dylan lyrics. 😆 🤣

[@AliasMark69]

Robert Allen Zimmerman - Bob Dylan - Master Story Teller Genius with words. I suggest you add to your journey with these...."Desolation Row"... "Ballad Of Frankie Lee And Judas Priest"....... "Who Killed Davy Moore"

[@bernardwright2264]

Been working Bob out for fifty years.definitely a genius👍🙏✌️

[@phillipharrison7283]

60 years 🙃

[@robertmarlow255]

To me, the end feels like ellipses ... like he's got more to say.

[@theholyearthgod1363]

I always here the isolated human theme to so many of his poem songs. We are all here completely alone or naked with distractions infiltrating our psyce

[@asmundgjystdal4204]

There are ao many Dylan tracks you should look into. I would recommend "Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts" from Blood on the Tracks. A short story disguised as a song.

[@Theimbennn]

One of Dylans most sophisticated songs musically and the songwriting and lyrics are so clever, biting and ambigious enough that you can interpret it the way you want. Dylan plays piano on this track a cool little story Al Kooper who played the organ on the song has recalled that at the end of the session, when the musicians listened to the playback of the song, drummer Bobby Gregg said, "That is a nasty song, Bob." Kooper adds, "Dylan was the King of the Nasty Song at that time.

[@dylanmyers3082]

The man is god Dylan created music

[@IsisMusic]

I really like how you analyze the lyrics. You are a very smart man

[@danielparsons2859]

Like any good poetry it's beautiful. Written by the artist to express what was going on in his life at that time I guess. Are we still asking today, 'Who is that Man'?

[@keef7224]

Al Kooper on that crazy haunted house organ! 👻 And the late, great Mike Bloomfield on guitar! 🎸💥

[@bargell]

This song reflects the time of the 60s. The people Dylan is challenging are both the reporters, who often misunderstood him who where part of the establishment that did not understand the youth counter culture or what “was happening” with the young people say the hippies of that time. They were challenging the norm, and motives of the “straight” folks and calling them the “freaks.” They were for peace & love and drugs, rockn roll and freedom and so much more. Dylan often used carnival images in his songs to illlustrate what he was talking about.

[@gforce4063]

Freaks were the real deal

[@johnvender]

It has been suggested this song was about Brian Jones, the ex-member of The Rolling Stones, when he was losing he plot not long before he drowned in his swimming pool. Some have said he was murdered by people working on his house because he had many arguments with them and knowing his serious drug abuse and cops not being fond of him they could get away with it.

[@lathedauphinot6820]

My only hesitation there is that Brian Jones hadn’t really started spiraling down at this point. He was on top of the world, but Dylan could’ve seen something and been warning him. At that point it was four years until his death, where he was probably drowned by a workman, accidentally or not, and his stack of cash taken.

[@GrainneCarney]

Another interesting look into a classic Dylan masterpiece! I always felt that the "Mr Jones/You" is meant to be both the "ruling" generation knowing that the "youth" are doing something but cannot fathom what it is that is happening in a little link to Times they are a changing: Come mothers and fathers Throughout the land And don't criticize What you can't understand Your sons and your daughters Are beyond your command Your old road is rapidly agin' Please get out of the new one If you can't lend your hand For the times they are a-changin' But also "Mr Jones" is the youth especially the college student types, they are yet to understand the "real world", sure they've "been with the professors" and they're "very well read, it's well known" but the theory of the idealism is yet to be tested in practise. The pencil in the hand is the tool of the universtity/college student & the "reporter" who is going to "inform" the older generations of what the kids are up to. Its the pencil that Lenny used to write his jokes, and that the cop used to book Lenny in on some obscenity charge, its the pencil Dylan used to write the song and that reviewers in the media are going to use to critise something they don't understand. It's the pencil the student uses to write an article in a revolutionary newsletter lambasting the Vietnam War, but it's also the pencil being used by the soilder in the jungle to write home to his sweetheart. It's a theme I think comes up quite often at this stage of Dylans writing, the conflict of the generations and within the generations, something obviously very much to the fore of public conversation in the US and it's sphere of influence at that time. but layered around that, is the obvious savaging of the media, in a way this song is also the voice of every Lenny Bruce, Bob Dylan, William S. Burroughs et al.

[@John-ux8zj]

You need to check out “Bob Dylan’s 115th dream”. It’s one of the craziest lyrical tales I’ve heard.

[@thebacons5943]

Maybe his most underrated song in terms of brilliant and hilarious lyrics

[@vincentvancraig]

Ur takes are always interesting to me because theyre done in an enthusiastic & passionate way...both lennon & dylan kind of cringed at the constant analysis eventually, but the world was much straighter then & they were both often talking about things the reporters had no idea about....that being said, as awful as i have come to see drugs being as my life has progressed into my 40’s, i dont think u can underestimate the influence if LSD in a lot of these 1960’s scribblings (not to mention that dylan was a speed addict by this point & would often not sleep for days on end), idk, as profound as the 60’s guys sometimes were, it is just like, absurdist sometimes, the word salad; its like abstract painting.....also, like the italian play picasso did the sets for in the 1920’s...the italian & french playwrights & film makers were an influence on bob, they were crazy non-sensical because the world tomthem was non-sensical.....picasso once said “its not my place to interpret what i do, that's up to the viewer”. .....enjoyable reaction from u as always; unrelated, check out “tombstone blues” from this album, youll dig the words & also its hs 3rd and last “proto-hip hop” song

[@khonsuthecore4788]

To me the song shows reporters following Dylan into the drug scene and coming up against a veritable circus of weirdo druggies.

[@gdmyers47]

You should take a look at the KZbin video of his performance of this song during the last leg of his 1965-1966 world tour: very energetic, possibly drugged-up, performance with different musicians, the swirling organ, also, being prominent (played by Garth Hudson of the band "The Band.")

[@idoteyestoo]

I second this suggestion!

[@larsonsrud2518]

I agree, more spirited, loud drums , the Band, Dylan sushing the crowd

[@georgecoventry8441]

Further comment: This may be the only Dylan song...or one of the very few at least....which paints a social scene where not a single woman is present or alluded to in any way. It's an exclusively male environment that's being spoken of in the lyrics, and it's full of pretty obvious male sexual references which do suggest an "Eyes Wide Shut" type of secret and decidedly perverse gathering, one where men are there to have various impersonal sexual relations with other men who are complete strangers to them. "How does it feel to be such a freak?" is asked of Mr Jones. In other words, to be someone who would go for that situation. You don't get into a privately arranged scene like that unless you have "your ticket", either, otherwise they wouldn't allow you in at the door. It's by invitation only. He has many contacts "among the lumberjacks" (the working people in his field) to get him facts when someone "attacks his imagination". In other words, he is physically attracted to somebody...(another man)...but he needs to know if it's safe to approach that person. Back to the party. It's for people who are pretty high up in society. Important people. You don't get in there unless you have some kind of high level connections, and Mr Jones does, because he's "been with the professors"...they all liked his looks (he considers himself to be a pretty good catch)...he's been around great lawyers...and he's read ALL of F. Scott Fitzgerald's books! Yes, he's a member of the social and intellectual elite, this Mr Jones...but he's in a situation today which has thrown a bit more at him than he was expecting. Mr Jones is living a double life, pretending to be the high class reporter with the high profile job, very respectable. To him, Bob Dylan is "a freak", but if the public saw how Mr Jones lives his private life on the weekends, he's a whole lot freakier than Bob Dylan...even if he does work for some important news publication. *** If Bob was out to get a few wicked shots in at the reporters who were pestering him, he certainly must have enjoyed writing and singing this song. And it is unlike any other song out there.

[@lauraeliot7199]

Syed, I am so glad I found your channel. You are so awesome in your analysis of Dylan's lyrics. Love it❤

[@serenoart]

If you watch the documentary “Don’t Look Back”, you will see the exchange between Dylan and a reporter from Time magazine, which is almost certainly the inspiration for this song.

[@AliceAndrade-t4r]

“This is a song I wrote a while back in response to people who ask me questions all the time,” he told the crowd. “You just get tired of that every once in a while. You just don’t want to answer no more questions. “I figure a person’s life speaks for itself, right? So, every once in a while you got to do this kind of thing, you got to put somebody in their place… It’s not a bad thing now to be put in your place, it’s actually a good thing. It’s been done to me every once in a while and I’ve always appreciated it. So this is my response to something that happened over in England. I think it was about ’63 or ’64. Anyway the song still holds up, seems to be people around still like that, so I still sing it. It’s called ‘Ballad of a Thin Man.’”

[@rikurodriguesneto6043]

Excellent choice and interesting interpretation! I never thought about the sex story aspect of it.. to me it was always about a record executive who comes down to the studio to see what they're up to. Both mens careers are dependent upon each other, but neither understands the other. The record executive is trying to put things in a box to sell them on, and Dylan is basically fucking with him to make him see his music can't be put in a box.

[@mikeross14]

"If it don't Rhyme, Bend it!" Bob Dylan. It's Poetry," Analysis, Looking for significance is Funny!" It is what it is Enjoy it put your own meaning to it! It's about You Mr.Jones!

[@adamschmitt9480]

At 11:37 you're talking about "Youre a cow! give me some milk or else go home!" I thought Dylan is using the metaphor of a cow producing milk on command to Dylan producing amazing art on demand. He was fully aware of the massive commodification of his art that was happening and I bet that he felt like someone's prized cattle, and this was his way of mocking that idea that such people like Mister Jones are always demanding he produce one product over and over. The cow and milk metaphor also reminded me of Milk Cow Blues which is a blues song from the 30s referring to the singer's wife (she's the "milk cow") and Robert Johnson did a version of that tune. Dylan was heavily influenced by all these old folk, country, and blues guys, and his lyrics consciously make use of these references which would've been familiar to his peer musicians, and folk and blues fans in the 60s, but maybe they fly over the head of a square type like Mister Jones. I always assumed that Bob Dylan himself was all of the various people he was describing in the verses, the circus freak, the sword swallower, the one eyed midget, etc. the ultimate performance artist who can take on many different forms. It leads you to question "who really is Bob Dylan?" Which was, after all, always just the figment of Robert Zimmerman's amazingly active imagination.

[@jjeKKell]

As I understand, Dylan's said in the past, this song is about the media (hence, people who ask questions) misrepresenting the things he would say IE - Mr Jones, walks in politely, pencil in hand, see's someone "naked" expressing their innermost thoughts, then misrepresents that, because it's better to sell papers, than understand what's really going on 😏

[@nicoleabrams3049]

The song is about notorious "acid" parties in vogue at the time in England and Europe at the time, both the Beatles and the Rolling Stones also released songs about this subject, with She Said, She Said....by the Beatles. And Something happened to me yesterday......by the Rolling Stones.

[@Oh-Mercy]

There is a clip somewhere of a reporter in either a hotel room or back stage at a venue with BD and others hanging about. The reporter - I think from Newsweek- is asking inane questions and Bob just eviscerates him. I believe the song springs from that encounter- Maybe it’s from the documentary “Don’t look back” by DA Pennebaker. Great footage. I’ve just watched several of your Dylan takes in a row. Since I watch on the TV I don’t comment much but I had to go find the phone to let you know about the film. I’m really enjoying your delight in Dylan- I’ve been loving him for 60 years. He never fails. If he never wrote anything but It’s alright Ma (I’m only bleeding) he’d still be the greatest songwriter ever! Lol

[@unclehoney]

Late to the party but what the hell! Sir, you have to know, that YOU are Mister Jones. You come into your studio WITH YOUR PENCIL IN YOUR HAND and you’re going to make some notes and observations about the song and share them with your crowd. Images are presented and they are oblique slanted fuzzy and incomplete like a dream and you are confused. The surrealists worked with dream material and this is, as you point out, Dylan’s surrealist period. You know in your bones that he’s trying to convey a message. You absolutely know that there is something going on here. This isn’t nothing, some fluff or ill considered “product” that Bob D is foisting on you. You can sense it’s mysterious logic but you can’t crack the code, can you? ( need I add, Mr. Jones . . . ? ) Going line by line on the first listen seems erroneous to me. You’d be as wise to interpret a song in a language you don’t understand as to shoot from the hip coming to such dense material. Your enthusiasm is bang on though brother and your vibe is tremendous

[@barbaratomlinson4433]

Part of the imagery is that of a circus, a cheap kind that used to play in rural areas during the Depression era. The "geek", a term now unfamiliar to most, was a disgusting sideshow of an unfortunate person, mostly a mentally disabled one, or a person absolutely desperate for money, who would I believe bite the heads off of live chickens. He would be paid by the spectators to do that. "Mr. Jones" is an Establishment, conservative type of person who has come to look at the "freaks" in the "circus", a sort of "slumming" he thinks it is going to be. BUT, "Mr. Jones" is totally unprepared when the "freaks" turn on him aggressively and turn all his condescending questions back onto himself! Trying to make him look inside himself, that he is really a worse person morally and mentally, than the "freaks" and acts he looks down on. Yes, the "freaks" can be represented by Bob Dylan, and also the counterculture as a whole - "freaks" was a word often used by the counterculture people themselves. "Mr. Jones" could well be a reporter, or the establishment in general, parents, teachers, professors, all those in positions of authority. WHO is the "bad", immoral, "disgusting" person - is it the "geek"? or is it the SPECTATORS who come to stare? I am old enough, I am an elderly lady, I was THERE while this was happening! Your videos bring it back........

[@gareof]

The Hammond B3 Organ played through the rotating Leslie speakers - In 1965 it was a new sound & Dylan used it on many of his albums in those days. . "accidently" played by Al Kooper . .If you wanted a successful 'cover band' in the clubs in the 60's & '70's you needed a Hammond B3 & a Fender Rhodes piano. . .

[@dawnekay1567]

What is happening………The Sixties Rebellion.remember who Dylan is…..a musical activist.

[@beverlybennett963]

First time Dylan used electric guitar in his music, on "Ballad of a thin man" Dylan is playing lead piano in minor key. When he started playing electric guitar a lot of fans were not happy. When I first heard this in 1966 I took as a reference to politics at that time.....

[@knudz3]

Always look forward to your Dylan videos. Analysis spot on and interesting, catching details and making all these connections on your first listen is very impressive. I'd like to see your take on Desolation Row from the same album!

[@lindaraereneau484]

"high heels" could be arrogance. A "bone" could be some tidbit of info. It may not be sexual at all. The reporter wants some juicy story but not the truth if it's not juicy. The reporter doesn't have a clue.

[@AliceAndrade-t4r]

You're never going to figure out a Dylan song unless he tells you what it means. A lot of it is rhyming funky words and phrases but they don't really have meaning together. It's like you have to get the overview of the song and not so much the specifics.

[@alphajava761]

Check out The Byrds song I'll Feel A Whole Lot Better. Their debut album is a change maker in Rock in 1965 with 4 Bob Dylan songs. Bob Dylan and The Byrds changed Rock N Roll in 1965 by creating Folk Rock and Country Rock genres.

[@marianoelias2396]

You’re definetely an undercover Dylan fan structuring these videos so the other Dylan fans could appreciate his writing even more, thanks for that

[@shemanic1]

Yeah great lyrics again from Dylan, for more try "Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues" or "Positively 4th Street" & YES "Desolation Row" too.

[@crapjey97ify]

Great reaction! You should check out the live version of this song. One of my favourite Dylan performances..

[@SlowfingerJC]

It's about the confusion of idiots who know nothing but can speak words ...... but their words are meaningless

[@priceduncan9]

Firstly Bob Dylan didn't become Bob Dylan until 1962. Everything he said about hjs past has to be taken with a very large pinch of salt. Raised in Hibbing Minnesota (population 16,000) Dylan wanted a more colourful and exotic past. So he just started making things up. According to Bob he ran away from home at least eight times, working in carnivals for six years (or at other times it was on a ranch). Likewise he liked to wind up interviewers about the meaning of his lyrics. His bonkers explanation of the meaning of 'Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues' being a case in point,

[@davidgagne3569]

This song is about the youth subculture active at that time - 1965. There really was a subculture which was, for the most part, hidden from “straight” society. Sex, drugs and Rock ‘n Roll were prevalent but not on display for the general public. It would be four years until that subculture suddenly burst forth in the movie Woodstock. Suddenly sex, drugs and rock ‘n roll were on full display. But, before that, even long hair on boys was confusing to straight society. Mr. Jones stands for straight society. Everybody under 30 knew what Mr. Jones stood for. That’s why he’s called Mr. Jones. A plastic name for a plastic guy from a plastic culture. The truth is you're working to hard to find a "meaning" to this song. It's not a multi-meaning song at all. It's just a party that Mr. Straght (Jones) finds so threatening and confusing. The listeners to the song "the youth subculture" got it and did indeed laugh at straight society. That's it. Sorry, but no deep meaning here. The reporters? They were all from straight society. So yeah, Dylan and the young listeners, were all laughing at the reporters from straight society. In a similar vein Lennon purposely wrote "I Am The Walrus" to confuse people finding hidden meanings in his songs. "Semolina Pilchard Climbing up the Eiffel tower Elementary penguin singing Hare Krishna Man, you should have seen them kicking Edgar Allen Poe"

[@kenkaplan3654]

I don't think it's about a double life. I think Dylan is using "freaks" and himself (incredible outsiders)to rip the square people who make up the society he attacks in "It's All Right Ma". Here the roles are inverted. In IARM, Dylan is trapped by square, dysfunctional society. Now the shoe is on the other foot, a theme in "Like A Rolling Stone", the contempt for the conventional society is the same. And it is full of homosexual references, like "Walk on the Wild Side. I would not be so literal in the "lumberjacks" verse. The people and society Dylan assaults are filled with mind controlling activities, the same as "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" Mr. Jones could be this guys boss. A famous book was "The Organization Man" about corporate America (1956). The TV show "Mad Men" is about the same culture. These all are "Mr. Jones". This is not about a knowledgeable or willing participant in this world wildly outside convention, he is trapped. The music drives the song as the piano and organ have an eerie horror show sound. I love your appreciation of Dylan.

[@BarerMender]

Another phallic symbol pops right at the beginning: "with your pencil in your hand." Lumberjacks, aka "loggers," are not shady characters, but in popular culture they have come to have connotations of homosexuality clouded around them, including dirty jokes about what loggers in the wilderness do to get sex. "Nose to the ground" makes me think of where your rear end will be in that position. It was a good catch to note that eyes, in this case, could refer to glasses. I don't know it it's relevant, but "Jones," in drug culture, refers to an addiction, and it has become popular, if mistaken, to refer to compulsive behaviors, such as compulsive sex, as addictions.