| "On the Road Again" | |
|---|---|
| Song by Bob Dylan | |
| from the album Bringing It All Back Home | |
| Released | March 22, 1965 |
| Recorded | January 15, 1965 |
| Studio | Columbia Recording, New York City |
| Genre | |
| Length | 2:35 |
| Label | Columbia |
| Songwriter(s) | Bob Dylan |
"On the Road Again" is a song written and recorded by Bob Dylan for his album Bringing It All Back Home. The song appears on the album's electric A-side, between " Outlaw Blues" and " Bob Dylan's 115th Dream". Like the rest of Bringing It All Back Home, "On the Road Again" was recorded in January, 1965 and produced by Tom Wilson. [1]
Musically, "On the Road Again" is a simple rhythm & blues rock number with a twelve-bar structure. The music is untidy, with a thrusting beat, harmonica breaks, and an opposing riff. [2]
Meaning
The song's lyrics continue to address the myth of sensitive artist versus venal society that informs several other songs from A-side of the album, such as " Maggie's Farm", "Outlaw Blues", and "Bob Dylan's 115th Dream". [3] The song also reflects other songs on the album, such as "Maggie's Farm" in that resistance to society is enacted through self-exile, removal and denial. [4] This is particularly reflected in the lyrics: [4]
You ask why I don't live here
Honey, how come you don't move?
The song also previews the comic grotesques that will become more prominent on songs in later albums. [5] [2] The song reflects a paranoid version of dread of dealing with in-laws. [5] The narrator wakes up in the morning and has to face a surreal world where his mother-in-law hides in the refrigerator, his father-in-law wears a mask of Napoleon and the grandfather-in-law's cane turns into a sword, the grandmother-in-law prays to pictures and an uncle-in-law steals from the narrator's pockets, in lyrics such as: [5]
Your mama, she's a-hidin'
Inside the icebox
Your daddy walks in wearin' Napoleon Bonaparte mask [6]
Frogs live in the narrator's socks, his food is covered in dirt, and deliverymen and servants have a sinister presence. [5] [2]
Title inspiration
The song's title echoes the title of Jack Kerouac's novel On the Road, which was a defining work of the Beat Generation. [7] Dylan has acknowledged being influenced by Kerouac. [7] However, it seems more likely that the title, and the song in itself, is a response to the song "On the Road", a traditional blues performed by the Memphis Jug Band with more serious lyrical content concerning an unfaithful woman. [8]
References
- ^ Williams, P. (May 1991). Bob Dylan Performing Artist. Underwood Books. p. 122. ISBN 978-0-88733-131-2.
- ^ a b c Shelton, R. (1986). No Direction Home. p. 273. ISBN 978-0-306-80782-4.
- ^ Hinchey, J. (2002). Like a Complete Unknown: The Poetry of Bob Dylan's Songs 1961–1969. pp. 78–80. ISBN 978-0-9723592-0-7.
- ^ a b Brake, E.; Carl J. Porter (2006-01-09). "'To Live Outside the Law You Must Be Honest': Freedom in Dylan's Lyrics". In Vernezze, P.; Porter, C. (eds.). Bob Dylan and Philosophy (Popular Culture and Philosophy). Open Court. p. 79. ISBN 978-0-8126-9592-2.
- ^ a b c d Gill, A. (1998). Don't Think Twice It's All Right. Da Capo Press. p. 73. ISBN 978-1-56025-185-9.
- ^ Dylan, B. (2004). Bob Dylan Lyrics 1962–2001. p. 147. ISBN 978-0-7432-2827-5.
- ^ a b Cobie, S. (2003). Alias Bob Dylan Revisited. Red Deer Press. p. 32. ISBN 978-0-88995-227-0.
- ^ Memphis Jug Band
