BOB DYLAN - Highway 61 Revisited | FIRST TIME REACTION 

Highway 61 is, of course, the main North /South route through the area of the Delta Blues in Southern Mississippi. It is also supposedly the site of Robert Johnson's "Crossroads" encounter with The Devil. A lot of activity on a short stretch of road. Mr. Dylan uses biblical references throughout his song catalog, and does so deliberately.

all along the watchtower has 100 different live version from Bob Dylan

Super song by bob

Now that you've heard the original, find one of Johnny Winter's versions and hang on. Johnny sounds like he's been down Hiway 61 and made it back.

“Positively Fourth Street”, “It’s All Over, Baby Blue”.

One of the great first lines of any song!

A song of gleeful chaos. Informed by absurdism, it has no deep meaning, just a metaphor for how crazy and unexpected life is.

The coolest song

Jimi and Dylan both ahead of the curve

Try "Bob Dylan's 115th Dream". It's a surreal trip with a humorous vibe.

Subterranean Homesick Blues!

The whole Highway 61 album is top shelf. Highly recommended!

Ive always thought this song was just him being an hilarious and brilliant wordsmith, with his trademark biblical and folk characters thrown in, as so many of his songs from this 65-66 surreal period did. Not everything has to have a deeper message, like Tambourine Man or Rolling Stone, sometimes Bob just likes to goof off.

I haven't been able to check in on you lately, but I am so glad you are a Dylan fan!

"Masters of War" you wont be disappointed.

If you are going to visit Bob and Jimi, may I suggest you visit Bob and Johnny Winter with this very song. The album is Second Winter... Memory Pain is another killer JW song off that album too

From the same album I think you will really enjoy "Ballad Of A Thin Man" and "Tombstone Blues".

For reference Hwy 61 runs from New Orleans North through Memphis. it’s sometimes referred to as the blues highway.

I reason somewhere , I hope I'm right, that Highway 61 led south out of Dylan's home town. It was his escape out of small town restriction, into the world and all it has to offer. With the hints at murder and general mayhem I wonder if that is a comment on the carnage that often occurs on trunk routes when they get busy. It's certainly a fun song though and very lively. I like it.

How about Stuck inside of Mobile with the Memphis blues again. There's plenty in there to get your teeth into and it's got a lovely melodic tune.

Sometimes a song is just a song

There's also a "Highway 51 Blues" - Edgar Winter does a good version of Hwy 61 too -- if you liked this you might check out "Tombstone Blues"

I think that "siren" sound may be a penny whistle. We all had them as kids growing up in the 50's. Dylan mentions them in "Desolation Row" though not necessarily favorably.

Here goes: No matter what the absurdity of life is, the answer is on Highway 61. In other words, it's as good an answer as anything. And let's laugh uproariously at life's absurdities, this song is a riot.

It is the apocalypse

Early NYC amphetamine Bob - some of his best stuff.

If you want to compare Dylan's live All Along the Watchtower with his original studio version, check out the one he did with The Band on his live album Before The Flood.

As many others have pointed out Highway 61 runs along the Mississippi River from Minnesota to Louisiana. The song is a metaphor for America. We are willing to sacrifice our young, deny help to those that need it, will consume just about anything, allow the breakdown of the family and we are war mongers. As true today as it was in 1965. Merica!

There is a great Johnny Winter version of this!

If you wanna listen to "all along the watch tower" (to compare versions). The live version that I'd suggest is from the "before the flood" live album

Second masters of war

Now you hear the great guitar player Michael Bloomfield who Dylan Described as the best guitar player he ever heard.

Highway 61 runs from the Canadian border to New Orleans. I think the song is just saying anything can happen on Highway 61.

"You can do what you want to Abe, but the next time you see me coming, you better run!" Not exactly the way it was told in the Bible.

I actually prefer one of the live versions from Johnny Winter. Because of the amazing guitar work.

You're not getting it because you are too young, you are not understanding the context within the times it was written and the overall intent of the album which it is on. Knowing those things, you have to step back and feel it. But that does not mean the song does not have an overall message and the verses do not have specific intent and the images do not link together thematically. I wrote the following in reply to someone who indicated he thought Dylan was "goofing off" and there is no deeper message here. This song has a completely deep message and it is companion to Tombstone Blues and basically the entire thrust of this album. Here Dylan reaches his peak in his savage assault on the depravity he considers American life in the mid 60's. He started out with protest songs of specific instances and the Civil Rights movement, got mystical in warning (Hard Rain), hurled invective (Masters of War) and ramped it up an octave with the blistering no holds barred "It's All Right Ma" "Disillusioned words like bullets bark As human gods aim for their mark Make everything from toy guns that spark To flesh-colored Christs that glow in the dark It’s easy to see without looking too far That not much is really sacred" On this album he takes it even further using surrealism to paint a landscape, a society that is beyond perverted, depraved. This was released from June -August 1965 and Johnson had begun escalating the war in February. Dylan, having come from the protest movement was very astute politically. "Tombstone Blues" (dead soldiers and other images) is probably the only song he wrote directly alluding to Vietnam. Here each verse in a wildly careening melody and band reflecting a society out of control (Dylan's use of Acme's siren whistle is genius) reflects a dark aspect of that depravity, A God of incredible cruelty and no remorse mirroring the depravity of the society's religion on Tombstone Blues "Well, John the Baptist after torturing a thief Looks up at his hero the Commander-in-Chief ( Jesus-Johnson) 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” This is soulless. This is a society where nothing depraved is off limits. Here incests thrives, the homeless are cast out and of course if a World War can make a profit, why not just "put some bleachers out in the sun?" Yes not every character in every verse has specific meaning although "40 red white and blue shoe strings" certainly reflects America and Louie the King probably refers to Louis XIV the Sun King of France who here is rather powerless. There are wild surrealistic images throughout. But, just like Tombstone Blues and the great Desolation Row there is plenty here to understand exactly what the artist is saying and what he means and he is quite clear in his own way about it. They form a collage, along with "Ballad of a Thin Man" and "Like a Rolling Stone" of Dylan's disgust and revlusion at what America has become. And he is REALLY TIRED of squares in interviews not getting it.