Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[peguro]

Dear teachers:
I like the song "Mr. Tambourine Man"very much,which were wrote by Bob Dylan. But the meaning of lyrics is unclear to me, and I've saw the movie"Dangerous Minds" before, and in the movie the song was discussed on the class.
I would like to know why they say "Mr. Tambourine Man"=Drug Dealer, and "Play a song for me"=give me a joint . Would you please tell me that or something more about this song or the situation of society that time? Thanks a lot!!



Best wishes,
peguro Fu : )

[CP]

I love the song, too, and I think Dylan's own singing of it makes for the best versions recorded.

There is no one clear meaning to the song, no single interpretation that is true. Bob Dylan was very young when he wrote it, but even then he was wise enough not to interpret it (or any of his songs) for anyone. It is so lyrical and suggestive, so lovely and evocative, it can mean something different every time you hear it.

In a rare interview recently, Dylan himself marveled at the lyrics, like "Yes, to dance beneath the diamond sky with one hand waving free, / Silhouetted by the sea, circled by the circus sands, / With all memory and fate driven deep beneath the waves, / Let me forget about today until tomorrow." He wondered out loud how he could have written them, speculating that he could never write anything that magical again.

In the movie, when they discussed the lyrics, the students were not telling the audience what the song "really" means, but just giving their ideas about this work of art, discussing it as it deserves to be discussed.

Maybe Mr. Tambourine Man is the embodiment of music itself, or art, and the lyrics mean that I am ready for art to take me away from this world. Maybe Mr. Tambourine Man is every person I will ever meet, and I want to remember to experience that person uniquely and treasure him or her as an individual. Maybe a lot of things.

The lyrics, from the official Bob Dylan Web site, www.bobdylan.com:

Hey! Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me,
I'm not sleepy and there is no place I'm going to.
Hey! Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me,
In the jingle jangle morning I'll come followin' you.

Though I know that evenin's empire has returned into sand,
Vanished from my hand,
Left me blindly here to stand but still not sleeping.
My weariness amazes me, I'm branded on my feet,
I have no one to meet
And the ancient empty street's too dead for dreaming.

Hey! Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me,
I'm not sleepy and there is no place I'm going to.
Hey! Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me,
In the jingle jangle morning I'll come followin' you.

Take me on a trip upon your magic swirlin' ship,
My senses have been stripped, my hands can't feel to grip,
My toes too numb to step, wait only for my boot heels
To be wanderin'.
I'm ready to go anywhere, I'm ready for to fade
Into my own parade, cast your dancing spell my way,
I promise to go under it.

Hey! Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me,
I'm not sleepy and there is no place I'm going to.
Hey! Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me,
In the jingle jangle morning I'll come followin' you.

Though you might hear laughin', spinnin', swingin' madly across the sun,
It's not aimed at anyone, it's just escapin' on the run
And but for the sky there are no fences facin'.
And if you hear vague traces of skippin' reels of rhyme
To your tambourine in time, it's just a ragged clown behind,
I wouldn't pay it any mind, it's just a shadow you're
Seein' that he's chasing.

Hey! Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me,
I'm not sleepy and there is no place I'm going to.
Hey! Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me,
In the jingle jangle morning I'll come followin' you.

Then take me disappearin' through the smoke rings of my mind,
Down the foggy ruins of time, far past the frozen leaves,
The haunted, frightened trees, out to the windy beach,
Far from the twisted reach of crazy sorrow.
Yes, to dance beneath the diamond sky with one hand waving free,
Silhouetted by the sea, circled by the circus sands,
With all memory and fate driven deep beneath the waves,
Let me forget about today until tomorrow.

Hey! Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me,
I'm not sleepy and there is no place I'm going to.
Hey! Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me,
In the jingle jangle morning I'll come followin' you.

Copyright � 1964; renewed 1992 Special Rider Music
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