Originally Posted by Lisnaholic

A reason to discuss Dylan`s lyrics is always welcome, and I read the analysis of Like A Rolling Stone with great interest. As you say, it`s one of Dylan`s rather unkind put-down songs, but he does it with such relentless scorn and style that his anger is always convincing.
In contrast, from the same album, Ballad Of A Thin Man sounds to me like a very ill-judged exercise in bragging; "we`re cool and you`re not, Mr.Jones". What`s this song about, apart from revelling in the recently created Generation Gap ? Maybe David Bowie had this song in mind when he wrote, "You turned a few more people on but put the fear in a whole lot more."

Thanks to your analysis I can now see some things in the lyrics that I hadn`t noticed before, like the importance of the line "Like a complete unknown". Also, I had no idea that the song was about a specific girl.
However, I think you come down a bit hard on Dylan in this section :



Firstly, when he talks about Napoleon, I imagine he could be talking about someone who just reminds him of Napoleon in some way, and not the actual historical figure. If he is talking about the real Napoleon, I`m sure Dylan, like the rest of us, is well aware that he`s dead. When Dylan sings, "Now Shakespeare he`s in the alley", does he imagine that Shakespeare is alive ?
"Napoleon in rags" is a tremendous phrase. Once he thought of it, I bet Dylan couldn`t bear to let it go! Perhaps he uses it to conjure up Napoleon`s period of exile on the island of Elba.
"When you ain`t got nothing, you got nothing to lose" is one of Dylan`s greatest epigrams. If you take it out of the context of the song he seems to be saying, " People without a lot of material possessions can be more adventurous in their lives", so I prefer to go with that interpretation.

To sum up, though, it`s a really great analysis. Any chance of more of the same ?
In the meantime, instead of analysis, here`s a little quiz question :
Besides Napoleon and Shakespeare, how many other famous people does Dylan mention by name in his songs ?