What's your favorite line from a Bob Dylan song?

Question

I just realized I never asked a Bob Dylan question (that I can recall) so here we go!

PBS is playing his Live in Newport 1963-1965 right now so I got inspired :0)

Mine: "You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows"

Yours?

Ops, not PBS, it's WLIW21

Answer 1

I LOVE everything the man has done. His songs are either good or they're great, so it's hard to choose a favorite line...but I'll give you a few that first come to mind:

"Does it take much of a man to see his whole life go down,
To look up on the world from a hole in the ground,
To wait for your future like a horse that's gone lame,
To lie in the gutter and die with no name?"
-Only A Hobo-

"I was born here and I'll die here against my will
I know it looks like I'm moving, but I'm standing still
Every nerve in my body is so vacant and numb
I can't even remember what it was I came here to get away from..."
-Not Dark Yet-

"He not busy being born is busy dying..."
-It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)-

"Every pleasures got an edge of pain, pay for your ticket and don't complain."
-Silvio-

"Let me ask you one question.
Is your money that good?
Will it buy you forgiveness?
Do you think that it could?
I think you will find,
When your death takes its toll,
All the money you made
Will never buy back your soul."
-Masters of War-

...and oh so many more! The guy is brilliant.

Answer 2

You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows

I said give me some Suzette, and make it Crick

Well your stuck in the rain in Juarez, and it's eastertime too

It's gettin dark, to dark to see

They'll stone you at the breakfast table

the cracked bell and washed out horns blow into my face with scorn

When you ain't got nothin you got nothin to lose

Well I ride on a mail train, can't buy a thrill. Well I been up all night cleanin on the windowsill

Answer 3

"There must be some kind of way out of here, said the joker to the thief. There's too much confusion"
~ All Along the Watchtower

"Your pleasure knows no limits, your voice is like a lark. But your heart is like an ocean, mysterious and dark"
~ One More Cup of Coffee

"All these people that you mention, yes, I know them, they're quite lame"
~ Desolation Row

"It was raining from the first, and I was dying there of thirst.
So I came in here"
~ Just Like A Woman

Answer 4

ALL of them. I always say there's a Dylan quote for every occasion...

If I had to choose one, though...

"Even the President of the United States sometimes must have to stand naked!"- "It's Alright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)"

(thinking of the "Before The Flood" live version where the audience goes nuts at that line...Watergate was still going on at the time...)

Answer 5

"There must be some way out of here," said the joker to the thief,
"There's too much confusion, I can't get no relief.
Businessmen, they drink my wine, plowmen dig my earth,
None of them along the line know what any of it is worth."

"No reason to get excited," the thief, he kindly spoke,
"There are many here among us who feel that life is but a joke.
But you and I, we've been through that, and this is not our fate,
So let us not talk falsely now, the hour is getting late."

All along the watchtower, princes kept the view
While all the women came and went, barefoot servants, too.

Outside in the distance a wildcat did growl,
Two riders were approaching, the wind began to howl.

Answer 6

"A lot of people don't have a lot of food on their table,
But they got a lot of forks and knives.
And they gotta cut something"
Talkin' New York

Answer 7

He looked so immaculately frightful
As he bummed a cigarette
Then he went off sniffing drainpipes
And reciting the alphabet

Sooo genius. I love that word 'immaculately'.

And:

Your magnetic movements
still capture the minutes I'm in.

andd

He just smoked my eyelids and punched my cigarette.

Amazing. Bob Dylan is amazing.

Answer 8

He not busy being born is busy dying.

She knew there was no success like failure, and failure's no success at all.

Don't ask me nothin about nothin, I might just tell yah the truth.

From Idiot Wind:
-I can't feel you anymore, I can't even touch the books you've read
- I can't remember your face anymore, your mouth has changed, your eyes don't look into mine!
-Every time I crawl past your door, I been wishin' I was somebody else instead.

That's it for now, although I could go on and on!

Answer 9

There's so many great ones to choose from, so I think I'll just go with a few of my favourites;

"I wouldn't worry about it none though,
them old dreams are only in your head"
(Talking World War III Blues)

"I bargained for salvation and she gave me a lethal dose"
(Shelter from the Storm)

"I heard 10,000 whispering and nobody listening,
I heard one person starve, I heard many people laughing"
(A hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall")

Edit:

"Nobody has to guess that baby can't be blessed,
Til she finally sees that she's like all the rest"
(Just Like a Woman")

Answer 10

They walked together in the park as the evening sky grew dark/ She looked at him and he felt a spark tingle to his bone 'twas then he felt alone and wished that he'd gone STRAIGHT and watched out for a simple twist of fate
"Simple Twist of Fate" , Blood on the Tracks