http://www.bobdylan.com/songs/subterranean.html
^There are the lyrics. And please, don't search on wikipedia for your answers...
2007-10-09 14:55:25 · 7 answers · asked by Isis 4 in Entertainment & Music ➔ Music ➔ Rock and Pop
haha Bill...are you trying to be a smartass? You got that from wikipedia!
2007-10-10 07:43:33 · update #1
Dylan was influenced by two Chuck Berry songs in the writing of S.H.B.-No Money Down, and Too Much Monkey Business.
Finding the meaning of many Dylan songs is a quixotic pursuit at best, particularly many from this period. You may be aware that Dylan was heavily influenced by Artur Rimbaud and other french symbolist poets. This song is a prime example of use of imagery similar to that of those poets.
It is a slice of life, a fabrication, a group of images, a long rhythmic poem, a collection of tidbits & slang from hip culture of the time.
So what does it mean?
Maybe nothing, maybe everything.
It's like dancing, what does it mean? nothing, you dance because you enjoy it.
P.S. Good catch Isis. I was going to comment, but I wouldn't have any fingers left if I pointed out all the plagiarizers.
2007-10-09 16:32:46 · answer #1 · answered by Martin 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
The song's first line is a reference to the production of LSD and the politics of the era: "Johnny's in the basement mixing up the medicine / I'm on the pavement thinkin' about the Government" The song also depicts some of the growing conflicts between "straight" or "square" (40 hour workers) and the emerging 1960s counterculture. The widespread use of recreational drugs, and turmoil surrounding the Vietnam War were both starting to take hold of the nation, and Dylan's hyperkinetic lyrics were dense with up-to-the-minute allusions to important emerging elements in the 1960s youth culture. According to rock journalist Andy Gill, "an entire generation recognized the zeitgeist in the verbal whirlwind of 'Subterranean Homesick Blues'."
The song also throws up a number of references to the struggles surrounding the American civil rights movement ("Better stay away from those / That carry around a firehose"). In spite of the political nature of the lyrics, the song went on to become the first Top 40 hit for Dylan in the United States
2007-10-09 17:02:15 · answer #2 · answered by Peepaw 7 · 0⤊ 5⤋
Some people think "I am on the pavement."
Some people think "I am in the basement."
In either case, you have a "Homesick Blues (with no direction home)."
"Don't matter what you did; keep a clean nose."
"You don't need a weather man" to be on your own!
2007-10-11 09:43:22 · answer #3 · answered by area52 6 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Something about someone getting busted for doing something illegal?? Mixing up the medicine....must bust in early May....someone payed off, the heat put plants in the bed....
2007-10-09 15:03:34 · answer #4 · answered by Nightflyer 5 · 2⤊ 1⤋
I think its about followin the rules to avoid gettin in trouble
2007-10-09 16:13:23 · answer #5 · answered by Irv-Gotti 2 · 1⤊ 1⤋
yeah its like he is telling the listener directions to follow so they can be succesful and wont get arrested :) thats what i get out of it
2007-10-09 15:09:31 · answer #6 · answered by Sabrina is going underground 5 · 2⤊ 1⤋
It dosent have to make sense to be beautiful
2007-10-09 15:05:37 · answer #7 · answered by captanmidnght 5 · 2⤊ 4⤋