On the Road Again (Bob Dylan song)
| "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
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
- ISBN 978-0-88733-131-2.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-306-80782-4.
- ISBN 978-0-9723592-0-7.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-8126-9592-2.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-56025-185-9.
- ISBN 978-0-7432-2827-5.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-88995-227-0.
- ^ Memphis Jug Band
