Moshe

This song was from Dylans' absurd "hipster" period. While the song is at time brilliantly written with strong imagery, it portrays Dylan at a time when to him what was "hip" was everything to be be "unhip" meant you were nothing & worthless. This was Dylan at his hipster worset, who seem ed to gain self esteem by denigrating humiliating & sneering at others

Once upon a time you dressed so fine
You threw the bums a dime in your prime, didn't you ?
People'd call, say, "Beware doll, you're bound to fall"
You thought they were all kiddin' you
You used to laugh about
Everybody that was hangin' out
Now you don't talk so loud
Now you don't seem so proud
About having to be scrounging for your next meal.
This sets the scene but was in fact Dylans' fantasy. The lady who is the target of his diatribe came from a swealthy family & went back to them & was very comfortably settled

How does it feel
How does it feel
To be without a home
Like a complete unknown
Like a rolling stone ?

In the chorous we see Dylans' idea at the time that it was a fate worse than death to be "unknown". The most damning line is where calls the woman a "complete unknown"
To him at that time to be "hip" & famous was EVERYTHING.
I must stress that the motorcycle crash would not only break Dylans leg but would bring him back down to earth to a better apreciation of what really matters in life
But at this time there was no Maturity to Dylan. In another song he would even scoff at his previous self
"oh, but I was so much older then
I'm you nger than that now". Dylan celebrated his return to infantalism, rediculing his previous more mature concern at social issues & peoples well fare
You've gone to the finest school all right, Miss Lonely
But you know you only used to get juiced in it
And nobody has ever taught you how to live on the street
And now you find out you're gonna have to get used to it
You said you'd never compromise
With the mystery tramp, but know you realize
He's not selling any alibis
As you stare into the vacuum of his eyes
And say do you want to make a deal?
Here we see Dylan reacting against this posh girls priveledged background, & berates her for not beiung grounded in reality exactly at a time when Dylan himself had lost sight of what is really important in life & was seperated from real life by drugs

You never turned around to see the frowns on the jugglers and the clowns
When they all come down and did tricks for you
You never understood that it ain't no good
You shouldn't let other people get your kicks for you
You used to ride on the chrome horse with your diplomat
Who carried on his shoulder a Siamese cat
Ain't it hard when you discover that
He really wasn't where it's at
After he took from you everything he could steal.
All I have to say about this verse is it is Dylans' writting at its best. Great phrasing, full of imagery & highly evocative. Dylan was at the top of his powers. A pity he wasted it in tirades against former friends

Princess on the steeple and all the pretty people
They're drinkin', thinkin' that they got it made
Exchanging all precious gifts
But you'd better take your diamond ring, you'd better pawn it babe

Now the above half verse again excels with brilliant writing. Clever obserevation.
But the rest of the verse sees Dylan so imersed in his tiny world that he loses sight of reality

You used to be so amused
At Napoleon in rags (Napoleon wore a french army uniform, not rags) and the language that he used(He spoke French)
Go to him now, he calls you, you can't refuse (Napoleon was LONG dead by the 1960's)
When you got nothing, you got nothing to lose(Nothing to lose? She was a rich girl who simply went back to her bourgoise life)
You're invisible now, you got no secrets to conceal.(Here again Dylan reveals his obsession with fame and "hipdom"
"You're invisible" being another form of "complete unknown"
Oooh, Shudder!!

Any comments?