Bob Dylan

Released: August 8, 1964

Songwriter: Bob Dylan

Producer: Tom Wilson (producer)

[Verse 1]
I pounded on a farmhouse
Looking for a place to stay
I was mighty, mighty tired
I'd come a long, long way
I said, “Hey, hey, in there
Is there anybody home?”
I was standin' on the steps
Feeling most alone
When out comes a farmer
He must've thought that I was nuts
He immediate looked at me
And stuck a gun into my guts

[Verse 2]
I fell down
To my bended knees
Saying, “I dig farmers
Don’t shoot me, please!”
He cocked his rifle
And begin to shout
“Are you that travelin' salesman
That I have heard about”
I said, “No! No! No!
I’m a doctor and it’s true
I’m a clean-cut kid
And I been to college, too”

[Verse 3]
Then in comes his daughter
Whose name was Rita
She looked like she stepped out of
La Dolce Vita
I immediately tried to cool it
With her dad
And told him what a
Nice, pretty farm he had
He said, “What do doctors
Know about farms, pray tell?”
I said, “I's born
At the bottom of a wishing well”

[Verse 4]
Well, by the dirt 'neath my nails
I guess he knew I wouldn’t lie
He said “I guess you’re tired”
He said it kind of sly
I said, “Yes, ten thousand miles
Today I drove”
He said, “I got a bed for you
Underneath the stove
Just one condition
You can go to sleep right now
That you don’t touch my daughter
And in the morning, milk the cows”

[Verse 5]
I was sleeping like a rat
When I heard something jerkin’
There stood Rita
Looking just like Tony Perkins
She said, “Would you like to take a shower?
I’ll show you up to the door”
I said, “Oh, no! no!
I’ve been through this movie before”
I knew I had to split
But I did not know how
When she said
“Would you like to take that shower, now?”

[Verse 6]
Well, I couldn’t leave
Unless the old man chased me out
Because I’d already promised
That I’d milk his cows
I had to say somethin'
To strike him very weird
So I yelled out
“I like Fidel Castro and his beard”
Rita looked offended
But she got out of the way
As he came charging down the stairs
Sayin', “What’s that I heard you say?”

[Verse 7]
I said, “I like Fidel Castro
I think you heard me right”
And I ducked as he swung
At me with all his might
Rita mumbled somethin'
'bout her mother on the hill
As his fist it hit the icebox
He said he’s gonna kill me
If I don’t get out the door
In two seconds flat
“You unpatriotic
Rotten doctor Commie rat”

[Verse 8]
Well, he threw a Reader’s Digest
At my head and I did run
I did a somersault
As I seen him get his gun
And crashed through the window
At a hundred miles an hour
And landed fully blast
In his garden flowers
Rita said, “Come back!”
As he started to load
The sun was coming up
And I was running down the road

[Verse 9]
Well, I don’t figure I’ll be back
There for a spell
Even though Rita moved away
And got a job in a motel
He still waits for me
Constant, on the sly
He wants to turn me in
To the F.B.I
Me, I romp and stomping
Thankful as I romp
Without freedom of speech
I might be in the swamp

Bob Dylan (born Robert Zimmerman May 24, 1941), is an American singer-songwriter, writer, and artist who has influenced popular music and culture for more than five decades. Dylan has especially played a critical role in the American folk music revival.

Dylan’s songs are built from myriad political, social, philosophical and literary influences. Many of his anti-war and civil-rights-influenced songs set social unrest, as journalists widely named him the “spokesman for his generation” in the 1960s.

The musician has a signature change in voice and style in many different albums of his throughout the decades. He has notably explored and experimented with the genres of folk, rap, blues, and rock.

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