Always one of my favorite songs (I was too young to know it when it came out in 1965 but this really blew open the walls for pop/rock music):
Like a Rolling Stone
Bob Dylan
Once upon a time you dressed so fine
Threw the bums a dime in your prime, didn’t you?
People call say ‘beware doll, you’re bound to fall’
You thought they were all kidding you
You used to laugh about
Everybody that was hanging out
Now you don’t talk so loud
Now you don’t seem so proud
About having to be scrounging your next meal
How does it feel, how does it feel?
To be without a home
Like a complete unknown, like a rolling stone
Ahh you’ve gone to the finest schools, alright Miss Lonely
But you know you only used to get juiced in it
Nobody’s ever taught you how to live out on the street
And now you’re gonna have to get used to it
You say you never compromise
With the mystery tramp, but now 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?
How does it feel, how does it feel?
To be on your own, with no direction home
A complete unknown, like a rolling stone
Ah you never turned around to see the frowns
On the jugglers and the clowns when they all 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 a chrome horse with your diplomat
Who carried on his shoulder a Siamese cat
Ain’t it hard when you discovered that
He really wasn’t where it’s at
After he took from you everything he could steal
How does it feel, how does it feel?
To have on your own, with no direction home
Like a complete unknown, like a rolling stone
Ahh princess on a steeple and all the pretty people
They’re all drinking, thinking that they’ve got it made
Exchanging all precious gifts
But you better take your diamond ring, you better pawn it babe
You used to be so amused
At Napoleon in rags and the language that he used
Go to him he calls you, you can’t refuse
When you ain’t got nothing, you got nothing to lose
You’re invisible now, you’ve got no secrets to conceal
How does it feel, ah how does it feel?
To be on your own, with no direction home
Like a complete unknown, like a rolling stone
“Like a Rolling Stone: was the first one that sprang to my mind when I heard the announcement. Next I thought of “Blowin’ in the Wind”, and then these two:
Just Like a Woman
Nobody feels any pain
Tonight as I stand here in the rain
Everybody knows that baby’s got new clothes
But lately I see her ribbons and her bows
Have fallen from her curls
She takes just like a woman
She makes love just like a woman
And then she aches just like a woman
But she breaks just like a little girl
Queen Mary, she’s my friend
Yes I believe I’ll go see her again
Nobody has to guess that baby can’t be blessed
‘Till she finally sees that she’s like all the rest
With her fog, her amphetamines, and her pearls
She takes just like a woman
She makes love just like a woman
And then she aches just like a woman
But she breaks just like a little girl
It raining at first, and I was dying there of thirst
So I came in here
And your long-time curse hurts, but what’s worse
Is this pain in here
I can’t stay in here
Ain’t it clear
That I just can’t fit
I believe it’s time for us to quit
But when we met again and are introduced as friends
Please don’t let on that you knew me when
I was hungry, and it was your world
You take just like a woman
You make love just like a woman
And then you ache just like a woman
But you break just like a little girl
Lay Lady Lay
Lay lady lay, lay across my big brass bed
Lay lady lay, lay across my big brass bed
Whatever colors you have in your mind
I’ll show them to you and you’ll see them shine
Lay lady lay, lay across my big brass bed
Stay lady stay, stay with your man awhile
Until the break of day, let me see you make ‘em smile
Your clothes are dirty but your hands are clean
And I’m the best thing that you’ve ever seen
(Stay lady stay, stay with your man awhile)
Why wait any longer for the world to begin?
You can have your cake and eat it too
(Why wait any longer for the one you love?
I am standin’ in front of you)
Lay lady lay, lay across my big brass bed
Stay lady stay, stay with your man awhile
You long to see me in the morning light
You long to reach for me in the night
(Stay lady stay, stay while the night is still ahead)
So maybe I’ll stay, stay while the night is still ahead
(Stay lady stay, stay while the night is still ahead)
So maybe I’ll stay
Stay while the night is still ahead