Subterranean Homesick Blues

This song came on in the car on the way home from a camping trip to Devil's Lake, which seemed perfect in a few respects: 1) Dylan and camping just seem to go together; 2) It was the second of a two-song set, the first of which made me cry, and I was glad for something a little more up tempo (not to mention something that had a prayer of drowning out the happy mayhem coming from the back seat):

Johnny's in the basement
Mixing up the medicine
I'm on the pavement
Thinking about the government
The man in the trench coat
Badge out, laid off
Says he's got a bad cough
Wants to get it paid off
Look out kid
It's somethin' you did
God knows when
But you're doin' it again
You better duck down the alley way
Lookin' for a new friend
The man in the coon-skip cap
In the big pen
Wants eleven dollar bills
You only got ten.

The video linked above has Bob holding up cue cards for these lyrics -- super cute -- and I'm usually not one to truncate the words of one of my favorite poets -- but watching that sealed the deal on this one:

Maggie comes fleet foot
Face full of black soot
Talkin' that the heat put
Plants in the bed but
The phone's tapped anyway
Maggie says that many say
They must bust in early May
Orders from the DA
Look out kid
Don't matter what you did
Walk on your tip toes
Don't try, 'No Doz'
Better stay away from those
That carry around a fire hose
Keep a clean nose
Watch the plain clothes
You don't need a weather man
To know which way the wind blows.

Get sick, get well
Hang around an ink well
Ring bell, hard to tell
If anything is goin' to sell
Try hard, get barred
Get back, write Braille
Get jailed, jump bail Join the army, if you failed
Look out kid
You're gonna get hit
But users, cheaters
Six-time losers
Hang around the theaters
Girl by the whirlpool
Lookin' for a new fool
Don't follow leaders
Watch the parkin' meters.

It's all pretty great, but I think the next few lines might just be my favorite:

Ah get born, keep warm
Short pants, romance, learn to dance
Get dressed, get blessed
Try to be a success
Please her, please him, buy gifts
Don't steal, don't lift
Twenty years of schoolin'
And they put you on the day shift
Look out kid
They keep it all hid
Better jump down a manhole
Light yourself a candle
Don't wear sandals
Try to avoid the scandals
Don't wanna be a bum
You better chew gum
The pump don't work
'Cause the vandals took the handles.

Feels like kinda an abrupt ending, doesn't it? We're all feeling the same way about the end of the weekend tonight. There was something about being up at Devil's Lake on opening weekend -- the only weekend people like us who don't tend to plan a year in advance can camp there -- when the sun felt hot but the trees had yet to leaf in -- that made us wish we could just stay up there and watch the spring come rather than coming home and going back to work and school...