Genius Meanings
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Bob Dylan – It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)
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With tight internal rhymes and surrealist imagery, “It’s Alright Ma” is the kind of talking blues Dylan made famous with the same album’s “Subterranean Homesick Blues”.
The epic
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Bob Dylan – It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding) (Dylan 30th Anniversary)
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[Verse 1] / Darkness at the break of noon / Shadows even the silver spoon / The handmade blade, the child's balloon / Eclipses both the sun and moon / To understand you know too
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Roger McGuinn – It's Alright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)
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Darkness at the break of noon / Shadows even the silver spoon / The handmade blade, the child's balloon / Eclipses both the sun and moon / To understand you know too soon / There
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Fairport Convention – It's Alright Ma, It's Only Witchcraft
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Looking through the window / To see which way the wind blows / It seems as though a hurricane is due today / Sunny on the outside / Stormy on the inside / Stormy weather's always
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The Dismemberment Plan – Back and Forth
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Travis Morrison has said that the verse structure of this song was based off of “It’s Alright Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)” by Bob Dylan
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Paul Simon – A Simple Desultory Philippic
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[Intro] / A Simple Desultory Philippic / Or How I Was Lyndon Johnson’d Into Submission / [Verse 1] / I was Union Jacked, Kerouac'd / John Birched, stopped and searched / Rolling
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Bob Dylan – Girl Of The North Country (Dylan 30th Anniversary)
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If you're traveling in the north country fair / Where the winds hit heavy on the borderline / Remember me to the one who lives there / For she once was a true love of mine / If you
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Chrissie Hynde – I Shall Be Released
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They say everything can be replaced / Yet every distance is not near / So I remember every face / Of every man that put me here / I see my light come shinin' / From the west unto
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Neil Young – All Along The Watchtower (Dylan 30th Anniversary)
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[Spoken] / This song's for you, Bob! Thanks for havin' Bob-fest! / "There must be some way out of here" / Said the joker to the thief / "There's too much confusion / I can't get
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Stevie Wonder – Blowin' In The Wind (Dylan 30th Anniversary)
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How many roads must a man walk down / Before they call him a man? / How many seas must a white dove sail / Before she sleeps in the sand? / How many times must those cannonballs be
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Roger McGuinn – Mr. Tambourine Man
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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
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Bob Dylan – Knockin' On Heaven's Door (Dylan 30th Anniversary)
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Mama take this badge off of me / I can't use it anymore / It's getting dark, too dark to see / Feels like I'm knockin' on heaven's door / Knock knock knockin' on heaven's door
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Eric Clapton – Don't Think Twice, It's All Right
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Ain't no use to sit and wonder why, babe / It don't matter anyhow / Ain't no use to sit and wonder why, babe / If you don't know by now / When your rooster crows at the break of
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Bob Dylan – One of Us Must Know (Sooner or Later) [Live at Nippon Budokan Hall, Tokyo, Japan - March 1, 1978]
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[Verse 1] / I didn't mean to hurt you so bad / You shouldn't take it so personal / I didn't mean to make you so sad / You just happened to be there, that's all / When I saw you say
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Ron Wood – Seven Days (Dylan 30th Anniversary)
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Seven days, seven more days she'll be comin' / I'll be waiting at the station for her to arrive / Seven more days, all I gotta do is survive / She been gone ever since I been a
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Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers – License to Kill
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Man thinks 'cause he rules the earth he can do with it as he please / And if things don't change soon, he will / Oh, man has invented his doom / First step was touching the moon
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Bob Dylan (Ft. Eric Clapton, George Harrison, Neil Young, Roger McGuinn & Tom Petty) – My Back Pages (Dylan 30th Anniversary)
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[Roger McGuinn: Verse] / Crimson flames tied through my ears / Rolling high and mighty traps / Pounced with fire on flaming roads / Using ideas as my maps / “We’ll meet on edges
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Genius Lists – Songs of Protest and Politics
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Political and protest songs have a long history in music, and some of them are great music as well as political commentary or plea for social change.
This list covers all music
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John Mellencamp – Like a Rolling Stone
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Once upon a time you dressed so fine / Threw the bums a dime in your prime, didn't you? / People'd call, say, "Doll, you're bound to fall" / You thought they were all kiddin' you
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The Clancy Brothers (Ft. Robbie O’Connell & Tommy Makem) – When the Ship Comes In (Dylan 30th Anniversary)
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Oh, the time will come up / When the winds will stop / And the breeze will cease to be breathing / Like the stillness in the wind / Before the hurricane begins / The hour that the
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Bob Dylan – The Man in Me (Live at Nippon Budokan Hall, Tokyo, Japan - March 1, 1978)
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[Vocals: Bob Dylan; Debi Dye, Jo Ann Harris & Helena Springs; and together] / [Verse 1] / The man in me will do nearly anything / As for compensation, whatever you wanna bring
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Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers – Rainy Day Women #12 & 35
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Well, they'll stone ya when you're trying to be so good / They'll stone ya just a-like they said they would / They'll stone ya when you're tryin' to go home / Then they'll stone ya
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Bob Dylan – The Times They Are A-Changin’ (Live at Nippon Budokan Hall, Tokyo, Japan - February 28, 1978)
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[Verse 1] / Come gather 'round people, wherever you roam / And admit that the waters around you have grown / And accept it that soon you'll be drenched to the bone / If your time
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The O'Jays – Emotionally Yours
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[Intro] / Baby, I'm yours / Yours, baby, baby, yours / Yours, I just wanna be yours / [Verse 1] / Come baby, find me, come baby / Remind me of where I once begun / Come baby, show
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Eddie Vedder (Ft. Mike McCready) – Masters of War
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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
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Lou Reed – Foot of Pride
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Like the lion tears the flesh off of a man / So can a woman who passes herself off as a male / They sang "Danny Boy" at his funeral and the Lord's Prayer / Preacher talking 'bout
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George Harrison – Absolutely Sweet Marie
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(Can you handle another guitar hero? / Let me give you a little clue: / Hallelujah, Hare Krishna, Yeah yeah yeah ! / George Harrison!) / Well, your railroad gate, you know I just
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Pitchfork – The 200 Best Songs of the 1960s
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1. The Beach Boys – God Only Knows / 2. The Jackson 5 – I Want You Back / 3. Sam Cooke – A Change Is Gonna Come / 4. Bob Dylan – Like A Rolling Stone / 5. The Beatles – A Day In
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Kris Kristofferson – I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight (Dylan 30th Anniversary)
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Close your eyes, close the door / You don't have to worry any more / I'll be your baby tonight / Shut the light, shut the shade / You don't have to be afraid / I'll be your baby
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Tracy Chapman – The Times They Are A-Changin'
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Come gather 'round people / Wherever you roam / And admit that the waters / Around you have grown / And accept it that soon / You'll be drenched to the bone / If your time to you
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Bob Dylan & The Band – Lay Lady Lay [Before the Flood]
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[Verse 1] / 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
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Bob Dylan & The Band – Blowin’ in the Wind [Before the Flood]
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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
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Bob Dylan & The Band – The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down [Before the Flood]
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Virgil Caine is the name / And I served on the Danville train / 'Til Stoneman's cavalry / Came and tore up the tracks again / In the winter of '65 / We were hungry, just barely
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Bob Dylan & The Band – Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door [Before the Flood]
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Mama, take this badge off of me / I can’t use it anymore / It’s getting dark, too dark to see / Feel like I’m knockin' on heaven’s door / Knock, knock, knockin' on heaven’s door
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Bob Dylan & The Band – Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right [Before the Flood]
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It ain’t no use to sit and wonder why, babe / It don’t matter, anyhow / An’ it ain’t no use to sit and wonder why, babe / If you don’t know by now / When your rooster crows at the
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Bob Dylan – Going, Going, Gone (Live at Nippon Budokan Hall, Tokyo, Japan - February/March 1978)
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[Verse 1] / Well I just reached a place / Where I can’t stay awake / I got to leave you baby / Before my heart will break / I’m going / I’m going / I’m gone / [Verse 2] / Come over
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Bob Dylan – Blowin’ in the Wind (Live at Nippon Budokan Hall, Tokyo, Japan - February/March 1978)
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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
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Bob Dylan – Outlaw Blues
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Lyric research by Parker Fishel
“Outlaw Blues” was a commentary on the anti-miscegenation laws that were in effect in the American South. Recorded on January 14, 1965 at Columbia
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