Monday, June 8, 2015

Honest With Me

If you knew my mind,
You'd be honest. I love you,
But I waste my time.

"You don't understand it -- my feelings for you. You'd be honest with me if only you knew."

Dylan comes in like a ton of bricks on "Honest With Me," a zippy track off the 2001 album "Love and Theft." The line I used recurs through the song, and he uses it as a hook onto which he attaches a number of other short-short stories, some of which feel like excuses for rhymes and whimsy. Others seem to fit into the general plot. Too many of the lines, while they sound like throwaways, are entertaining and worth preserving. I've added them like a garnish for the haiku because they wouldn't fit in the main dish.

1. Stranded in New York City, avoiding some of the women who give him the creeps. His memories could strangle a man. 
2. Came ashore in the middle of the night. Quotable line: "Lots of things can get in the way when you're trying to do what's right."
3. Not sorry. Happy to have fought. Wish he'd won. PS, the Siamese twins are coming to town. They're expecting a crowd
4. Never want to go back home.
5. My gal's face: like a teddy bear, though she's tossing a baseball bat in the air. As for the meat, you couldn't cut it with a sword. He's crashing his car.
6. Me: My eyes are pretty. Smile: nice. Available for reduced price.
7. I won't keep bothering you if you prefer that I don't. I could hop the Southern Pacific railroad at 9:45. Did you know that it's hard to believe that some people were alive?
8. Stark naked, don't care. Gonna hunt naked in the woods.
9. Why I'm on earth: to create an industrial empire/do what circumstances require.
10. My parents' advice to me: don't waste your years. Everyone since then has been giving me advice.




1 comment:

  1. Hello there Robert, thank you for posting this analysis of a song from Bob Dylan's Music Box http://thebobdylanproject.com/Song/id/254/Honest-with-Me So come and join us inside and listen to every song composed, recorded or performed by Bob Dylan, plus all the covers streaming on YouTube, Spotify, Deezer and SoundCloud.

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