100 Songs

Bob Dylan

• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Year: 2017
• ISBN:
  9781501173370
• Topic: Mezzi di comunicazione e arti performative
• Subtopic: Musica

"Dylan remains the rare singer whose work is worth reading on the page. His words are consistently funny, alive to the sound of language, and of course appealingly cryptic." — The New York Times Book Review A new collection of Bob Dylan's most essential lyrics—one hundred songs that represent the Nobel Laureate's incredible range through the entirety of his career so far. Bob Dylan is one of the most important cultural figures of our time, and the first American musician in history to win the Nobel Prize for Literature. 100 Songs is an intimate and carefully curated collection of his most important lyrics that spans from the beginning of his career through the present day. Perfect for students who may be new to Dylan's work as well as longtime fans, this portable, abridged volume of these singular lyrics explores the depth, breadth, and magnitude of one of the world's most enduring bodies of work.

SONG TO WOODY

I’m out here a thousand miles from my home

Walkin’ a road other men have gone down

I’m seein’ your world of people and things

Your paupers and peasants and princes and kings

Hey, hey, Woody Guthrie, I wrote you a song

’Bout a funny ol’ world that’s a-comin’ along

Seems sick an’ it’s hungry, it’s tired an’ it’s torn

It looks like it’s a-dyin’ an’ it’s hardly been born

Hey, Woody Guthrie, but I know that you know

All the things that I’m a-sayin’ an’ a-many times more

I’m a-singin’ you the song, but I can’t sing enough

’Cause there’s not many men that done the things that you’ve done

Here’s to Cisco an’ Sonny an’ Leadbelly too

An’ to all the good people that traveled with you

Here’s to the hearts and the hands of the men

That come with the dust and are gone with the wind

I’m a-leavin’ tomorrow, but I could leave today

Somewhere down the road someday

The very last thing that I’d want to do

Is to say I’ve been hittin’ some hard travelin’ too

BLOWIN’ IN THE WIND

How many roads must a man walk down

Before you call him a man?

Yes, ’n’ how many seas must a white dove sail

Before she sleeps in the sand?

Yes, ’n’ how many times must the cannonballs fly

Before they’re forever banned?

The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind

The answer is blowin’ in the wind

How many years can a mountain exist

Before it’s washed to the sea?

Yes, ’n’ how many years can some people exist

Before they’re allowed to be free?

Yes, ’n’ how many times can a man turn his head

Pretending he just doesn’t see?

The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind

The answer is blowin’ in the wind

How many times must a man look up

Before he can see the sky?

Yes, ’n’ how many ears must one man have

Before he can hear people cry?

Yes, ’n’ how many deaths will it take till he knows

That too many people have died?

The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind

The answer is blowin’ in the wind

GIRL OF THE NORTH COUNTRY

Well, if you’re travelin’ in the north country fair

Where the winds hit heavy on the borderline

Remember me to one who lives there

She once was a true love of mine

Well, if you go when the snowflakes storm

When the rivers freeze and summer ends

Please see if she’s wearing a coat so warm

To keep her from the howlin’ winds

Please see for me if her hair hangs long

If it rolls and flows all down her breast

Please see for me if her hair hangs long

That’s the way I remember her best

I’m a-wonderin’ if she remembers me at all

Many times I’ve often prayed

In the darkness of my night

In the brightness of my day

So if you’re travelin’ in the north country fair

Where the winds hit heavy on the borderline

Remember me to one who lives there

She once was a true love of mine

MASTERS OF WAR

Come you masters of war

You that build all the guns

You that build the death planes

You that build the big bombs

You that hide behind walls

You that hide behind desks

I just want you to know

I can see through your masks

You that never done nothin’

But build to destroy

You play with my world

Like it’s your little toy

You put a gun in my hand

And you hide from my eyes

And you turn and run farther

When the fast bullets fly

Like Judas of old

You lie and deceive

A world war can be won

You want me to believe

But I see through your eyes

And I see through your brain

Like I see through the water

That runs down my drain

You fasten the triggers

For the others to fire

Then you set back and watch

When the death count gets higher

You hide in your mansion

As young people’s blood

Flows out of their bodies

And is buried in the mud

You’ve thrown the worst fear

That can ever be hurled

Fear to bring children

Into the world

For threatening my baby

Unborn and unnamed

You ain’t worth the blood

That runs in your veins

How much do I know

To...