Released: August 30, 1965
Songwriter: Bob Dylan
Producer: Bob Johnston
[Verse 1]
The sweet pretty things are in bed now of course
The city fathers they’re trying to endorse
The reincarnation of Paul Revere’s horse
But the town has no need to be nervous
The ghost of Belle Starr she hands down her wits
To Jezebel the nun she violently knits
A bald wig for Jack the Ripper who sits
At the head of the chamber of commerce
[Chorus]
Mama’s in the factory
She ain't got no shoes
Daddy’s in the alley
He’s lookin' for food
I am in the kitchen
With the tombstone blues
[Verse 2]
The hysterical bride in the penny arcade
Screaming she moans, “I’ve just been made”
Then sends out for the doctor who pulls down the shade
And says, “My advice is to not let the boys in”
Now the medicine man comes and he shuffles inside
He walks with a swagger and he says to the bride
“Stop all this weeping, swallow your pride
You will not die, it’s not poison”
[Chorus]
Mama’s in the factory
She ain't got no shoes
Daddy’s in the alley
He’s lookin' for food
I’m in the kitchen
With the tombstone blues
[Verse 3]
Well, John the Baptist, after torturing a thief
Looks up at his hero, the commander-in-chief
Saying, “Tell me, great hero, but please make it brief
Is there a hole for me to get sick in?”
The commander-in-chief answers him while chasing a fly
Saying, "Death to all those who would whimper and cry"
And dropping a barbell, he points to the sky
Saying, "The sun’s not yellow, it’s chicken"
[Chorus]
Mama’s in the factory
She ain't got no shoes
Daddy’s in the alley
He’s lookin' for food
I am in the kitchen
With the tombstone blues
[Verse 4]
The king of the Philistines his soldiers to save
Puts jawbones on their tombstones and flatters their graves
Puts the pied pipers in prison and fattens the slaves
Then sends them out to the jungle
Gypsy Davey with a blowtorch he burns out their camps
With his faithful slave Pedro behind him he tramps
With a fantastic collection of stamps
To win friends and influence his uncle
[Chorus]
Mama’s in the factory
She ain't got no shoes
Daddy’s in the alley
He’s lookin' for food
I’m in trouble
With the tombstone blues
[Verse 5]
The geometry of innocence, flesh on the bone
Causes Galileo’s math book to get thrown
At Delilah who's sitting worthlessly alone
But the tears on her cheeks are from laughter
Now I wish I could give Brother Bill his great thrill
I would set him in chains at the top of the hill
Then send out for some pillars and Cecil B. DeMille
He could die happily ever after
[Chorus]
Mama’s in the factory
She ain't got no shoes
Daddy’s in the alley
He’s lookin' for food
I am in the kitchen
With the tombstone blues
[Verse 6]
Where Ma Rainey and Beethoven once unwrapped their bedroll
Tuba players now rehearse around the flagpole
And the National Bank at a profit sells road maps for the soul
To the old folks home and the college
Now I wish I could write you a melody so plain
That could hold you dear lady from going insane
That could ease you and cool you and cease the pain
Of your useless and pointless knowledge
[Chorus]
Mama’s in the factory
She ain't got no shoes
Daddy’s in the alley
He’s lookin' for food
I am in the kitchen
With the tombstone blues
The sweet pretty things are in bed now of course
The city fathers they’re trying to endorse
The reincarnation of Paul Revere’s horse
But the town has no need to be nervous
The ghost of Belle Starr she hands down her wits
To Jezebel the nun she violently knits
A bald wig for Jack the Ripper who sits
At the head of the chamber of commerce
[Chorus]
Mama’s in the factory
She ain't got no shoes
Daddy’s in the alley
He’s lookin' for food
I am in the kitchen
With the tombstone blues
[Verse 2]
The hysterical bride in the penny arcade
Screaming she moans, “I’ve just been made”
Then sends out for the doctor who pulls down the shade
And says, “My advice is to not let the boys in”
Now the medicine man comes and he shuffles inside
He walks with a swagger and he says to the bride
“Stop all this weeping, swallow your pride
You will not die, it’s not poison”
[Chorus]
Mama’s in the factory
She ain't got no shoes
Daddy’s in the alley
He’s lookin' for food
I’m in the kitchen
With the tombstone blues
[Verse 3]
Well, John the Baptist, after torturing a thief
Looks up at his hero, the commander-in-chief
Saying, “Tell me, great hero, but please make it brief
Is there a hole for me to get sick in?”
The commander-in-chief answers him while chasing a fly
Saying, "Death to all those who would whimper and cry"
And dropping a barbell, he points to the sky
Saying, "The sun’s not yellow, it’s chicken"
[Chorus]
Mama’s in the factory
She ain't got no shoes
Daddy’s in the alley
He’s lookin' for food
I am in the kitchen
With the tombstone blues
[Verse 4]
The king of the Philistines his soldiers to save
Puts jawbones on their tombstones and flatters their graves
Puts the pied pipers in prison and fattens the slaves
Then sends them out to the jungle
Gypsy Davey with a blowtorch he burns out their camps
With his faithful slave Pedro behind him he tramps
With a fantastic collection of stamps
To win friends and influence his uncle
[Chorus]
Mama’s in the factory
She ain't got no shoes
Daddy’s in the alley
He’s lookin' for food
I’m in trouble
With the tombstone blues
[Verse 5]
The geometry of innocence, flesh on the bone
Causes Galileo’s math book to get thrown
At Delilah who's sitting worthlessly alone
But the tears on her cheeks are from laughter
Now I wish I could give Brother Bill his great thrill
I would set him in chains at the top of the hill
Then send out for some pillars and Cecil B. DeMille
He could die happily ever after
[Chorus]
Mama’s in the factory
She ain't got no shoes
Daddy’s in the alley
He’s lookin' for food
I am in the kitchen
With the tombstone blues
[Verse 6]
Where Ma Rainey and Beethoven once unwrapped their bedroll
Tuba players now rehearse around the flagpole
And the National Bank at a profit sells road maps for the soul
To the old folks home and the college
Now I wish I could write you a melody so plain
That could hold you dear lady from going insane
That could ease you and cool you and cease the pain
Of your useless and pointless knowledge
[Chorus]
Mama’s in the factory
She ain't got no shoes
Daddy’s in the alley
He’s lookin' for food
I am in the kitchen
With the tombstone blues
more tracks from the album
The Bootleg Series Vol. 12: The Cutting Edge 1965–1966
- Subterranean Homesick Blues
- I Want You
- Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again
- Leopard-Skin Pill Box Hat
- Just Like a Woman
- Absolutely Sweet Marie
- Farewell, Angelina
- Positively 4th Street
- I’ll Keep It with Mine
- If You Gotta Go, Go Now
- Sitting on a Barbed Wire Fence
- She’s Your Lover Now
- California
- You Don’t Have to Do That
- Medicine Sunday
- One of Us Must Know (Sooner or Later)
- Pledging My Time
- Highway 61 Revisited
- Like a Rolling Stone
- Tombstone Blues
- She Belongs to Me
- Love Minus Zero/No Limit
- Outlaw Blues
- On the Road Again
- Bob Dylan’s 115th Dream
- Mr. Tambourine Man
- Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues
- Desolation Row
- Queen Jane Approximately
- Visions of Johanna
- Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window?
- It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry
- Lunatic Princess
From the albums
Bob Dylan popular songs
- Murder Most Foul
- Blowin’ in the Wind
- The Times They Are A-Changin’
- All Along the Watchtower
- Like a Rolling Stone
- Make You Feel My Love
- Hurricane
- Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right
- Mr. Tambourine Man
- A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall
- Subterranean Homesick Blues
- Desolation Row
- Tangled Up in Blue
- Masters of War
- Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door
- It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)
- Girl from the North Country
- Tempest
- It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue
- Ballad of a Thin Man
- Visions of Johanna
- I Contain Multitudes
- To Fall in Love with You
- Shelter from the Storm