HUNGRY LIKE A MAN

HUNGRY LIKE A
MAN IN DRAG
BOB DYLAN’S SEX LIFE
©11/15/2018
DYLAN ARCHIVES PRESS
318 THIRD AVENUE
SUITE 520
NEW YORK, NEW YORK 10010
ISBN: 9781731445162

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INTRODUCTION
Bob Dylan is HIV Positive and at one point in his life
had full blown AIDS. I first became aware of this after Dylan
contracted Histoplasmosis. An article appeared on a gay
website that stated this disease effected AIDS/HIV patients
with compromised immune systems. I then began to review
Dylan’s poetry retrospectively, with the premise that he had
AIDS. I had listened to songs like the Disease of Conceit many
times and thought Bob was talking about conceit. Then I
heard lines like “conceit is a disease the doctors can’t cure” in
a different light and then holy shit, I realized the poem was
about AIDS.
This book is going to be hated by Dylan fans and I am
going to be vilified: but screw them I realize by this time I will
never win a popularity contest with Bob Dylan. Dylan fans
don’t want to hear the truth. They said I was making up shit
when I said Bob was a dope fiend but then he admitted on
tape.
Bob was sexually active during a time when AIDS was
first emerging and contracted it from a woman, judging from
an allegory found in this autobiography, Chronicles, a
prostitute who had sex with bisexuals or intravenous drug
users. The AIDS virus has a dormant stage when there are no
symptoms yet it can be transmitted. So Bob Dylan may have
been a vector. Bob can never get rid of this virus but now he
has it under control Most Of The Time.
Bob described what is was like to be afflicted with this
then terminal disease in poetic terms and when I first realized
he had this disease I cried for him, however, Robert Allen

HUNGRY LIKE A MAN IN DRAG
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Zimmerman is one of the few people in the world that
deserves to have AIDS.
The perfidy doesn’t end here. After Bob’s became HIV
Positive and started to evidence symptoms he continued to
have heterosexual unprotected sex with his second and secret
wife, African-American Carol Dennis, who gave birth to his
daughter, Desiree. He engaged in other sexual relationships
and remarried after divorcing Dennis. He infected some of
these women with HIV and paid them huge settlements to
keep their traps shut. At least one other of his victims was
black which makes sense in terms of the racist subcontent
throughout Dylan’s poems. None of these women have come
forward although in Britta Shain’s book Seein’ The Real You
At Last she recalled that after she broke up with Bob she had
“cold after cold.” All this adds up to the Nobel Prize for
Literature was awarded to a truly evil person who deserved
every bit of suffering he experienced before AIDS became a
manageable disease. Bob was also the first HIV Positive
person to get a Nobel Prize.

CHAPTER ONE
THE AGE OF INNOCENCE
ROSANNE TENENBAUM
AND BOB ZIMMERMAN,
CAMP HERZL, AUGUST 1957.

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ROSANNE TENENBAUM
AND BOB ZIMMERMAN,
CAMP HERZL, AUGUST 1957.

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BONNE BEECHER
ALLEGEDLY THE GIRL FROM THE NORTH COUNTRY
BUT THERE MIGHT HAVE BEEN OTHER NORTH
COUNTRY GIRLS

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ECHO STAR HELSTROM

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NOT SURE IF THIS IS ZIMMERMAN

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Once there was Judy And she said Hi to me
When no one else Could take the Time...But she
broke me Up When she didn't Write back and I
died for a year - Seela And then there was Ione
Who wore a Ring on her Left hand...my mind
went Insane Every time I saw her - Seela Then
there was Carol Who had tits Like headlights On
a fire engine And a face like Helen ... she'd rape
my feelings ... Then there was Barbara Her
parents liked me And I liked them But I loved
Barbara more...Then came another Judy She had
a long Pony Tail And wanted Some day To be an
Actress ... Now there's Judy again And my Circe
starts Over ... I don't fit in anymore I'm Lost And
my trouble is I know it.

CHAPTER TWO
A DATE WITH THE FAIRY
QUEEN: $20
In 1960 Dylan wrote Talkin’ Folklore Center:
So I got on a subway and took a seat
Got out on 42nd Street.
I met this fellow named Delores there,
He started rubbin' his hands through my hair --
I figured somethin' was wrong,
So I ran through ten hot-dog stands, four movie houses,
And a couple a dancing studios to get back on the subway
train.
In 1962 in I Shall be Free Bob claimed he feared female
impersonators:

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Well, I took me a woman late last night
I's three-fourths drunk she looked all right
'Til she started peelin' off her onion gook
She took off her wig, said, "How do I look" ?
I's high flyin', bare naked ...Out the window.
So who would have thought Bob was bisexual? It was
like in prison: those who told everyone they hated snitches
and fags were probably snitches and fags. For his first 2
months in Manhattan Bob was male prostitute working rough
trade in Times Square and was almost murdered by one of his
Johns. This explains why Bob put a photo of Times Square on
the cover of his autobiography rather than the arch in
Washington Square Park or a picture of MacDougal Street.
Yes siree Bob, subhuman or otherwise, Greenwich
Village wasn’t the first place young Bobby Zimmerman
frequented when he first came to New York Town. He wrote
this in Talkin’ New York Bob Dylan 1961.
I swung onto my old guitar
Grabbed hold of a subway car
And after a rocking, reeling, rolling ride

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I landed up on the downtown side
Greenwich Village
In Chronicles Dylan said he was dropped off in the
Village by car not on the subway. Where was he prior to
writing that? Sellin’ his ass in sleazy bars around Forty-Deuce.
He admitted it to Robert Shelton, the NYT critic who
gave him his first big break and the same dude he confessed
to that he was a slimy junkie.
I shucked everybody when I came to New York.
I played cute. I did not go down to the Village
when I first got to New York. I have a friend….
he’s a junkie now. We came to New York
together. He wrote plays. We hung out of on 43rd
Street, hustled for two months and did
everything. I got the ride here in December 1960.
I came down to the Village in February. But I
was here in New York in December 1960.
Hustling with this cat. I was not scared of
people, you dig? You name it we did it.
Sometimes we would make one hundred a
night, really, from four in the afternoon until
three or four in the morning. We would make
one hundred and fifty or two hundred and fifty
a night between us and hang around in bars.
Cats would pick us up and chicks would pick us
up. And we would do anything you wanted, as
long as it paid. It was very cut-throat.

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You gotta shell out a lotta money just to hang
around, so we weren’t making anything. We
ended up in the village. And I had the guitar. I
didn’t have any place to stay but it was easy for
me. People took me in. That’s where I almost
got killed before I came down to the Village. I
didn’t plan to stay in New York. I left anyway in
the spring and didn’t plan to come back. I came
back because I really missed it. There was no
other place that I really could go. The first places
I played in were on 44th and 43rd Streets between
Broadway and Eighth Avenue in any of those
bars. I didn’t come down to the Village until two
months later. Nobody knew I had been hustling
uptown.
DYLAN HAS ACTORS REENACT HIS RIDE TO NYC WITH
CHARLIE ON THE COVER OF TOGETHER THROUGH LIFE

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You can say that Bob made this up as he did having
traveled with carnivals, ridden freights and generally Woody-
Guthried Jack Elliotited it up. This enhanced his career.
Making up a story that he was a sleazy bag Times Square
object of chicken hawks with cum dripping from his mouth
did not further his career, unless everyone had the mentality
of a pervert. Remember at the time the time the CPUSA was in
charge of the folk scene and the Reds considered
homosexuality a product of capitalist decadence. Leftists
comprised most of his fan base.
Victor Maymudes, one of Bob’s oldest friends in New
York City told Britta Lee Shain that Bob sold his body for $20
a pop when he first came to New York and she revealed it in
her book Seein’ The Real You At Last. This explains this excerpt
from the liner notes to Another Side of Bob Dylan 1964. Charlie’s
either Dylan or his redacted friend he was hookin’ with.

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michelangelo would've wept
if he saw but once where charlie slept
(whoa, charlie, i'm afraid you've stepped
beyond the borders of being kept)
what price what price what price disgrace
for sleepin' on a cherub's face?
Even "Michelangelo" who was rumored to be gay
"would've wept" felt sorry, remorse "if he saw but once where
charlie slept" if he saw where Charlie (Dylan and/or Dylan’s
buddy) had sexual relations "(whoa, charlie, i'm afraid you've
stepped beyond the borders of being kept)" you are not just
kept by one man or woman but are out there in Forty Deuce
hustling you ass "what price" the cost at which something is
obtained "what price" an amount of money for which a person
will forsake principles or obligations "what price" that which
must be given, done, or undergone in order to obtain a thing
“what price” $20 "disgrace" to be a male prostitute "for
sleepin'" “sleep with” to have sexual relations with "on a
cherub's" cherub: a person, especially a child, with an innocent
or chubby face "face?" mouth? Dylan was sucking cock.
This line from Tarantula might refer to that ultra-
degenerate episode in Bob Dylan’s so called life “we are all
alike & place scorpions neatly in our insides - we take pills
thru the ass we praise faggot missionaries & throw
homosexuals into phenomenon gutters.”
Bob confessed to having been a male prostitute
however Bob was down on gays and took a different position in
2001 in Soon After Midnight:
Charlotte's a harlot
Dresses in scarlet
Mary dresses in green

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It's soon after midnight
And I've got a date with the fairy queen
Charlotte's a harlot the Democrats, who held their 2012
convention in Charlotte, North Carolina, are political whores
who will go against conventional morality in order to get
votes Dresses in the Democrats have an outer covering or
appearance; guise: an ancient ritual in modern dress scarlet being
flagrantly immoral or unchaste: scarlet thoughts. Mary a male
homosexual who takes the passive, feminine role dresses in
green is easily duped or deceived; gullible It's soon after
midnight things are at their worst, their darkest And I've got a
date and there is a particular point or period of time at which
something is expected to happen as in set a date for a wedding
with the fairy queen that is a date for a same sex wedding
“Fairy” and “Queen” are two derogatory terms for
homosexuals. In Watch the River Flow Dylan wrote, “
Wish I was back in the city
Instead of this old bank of sand
With the sun beating down over the chimney tops
And the one I love so close at hand
If I had wings and I could fly
I know where I would go
But right now I’ll just sit here so contentedly
And watch the river flow
“Wish I was back in the city” sarcastic; wish I was back on
Times Sq. “Instead of this old bank of sand” sarcastic; instead
of being a neo-confederate “With the sun” with a person
whose actions strongly influence the course of events such as
the Forty Deuce John who “beating down over” who tried to
murder him during an encounter “the chimney

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tops” “Looked in my toilet bowl looked in the chimney hole
[for Reds] Chimney=anus“ And the one I love so close at
hand” sarcastic; during the encounter “If I had wings and I
could fly” if I was a fairy “I know where I would go” I would
go to hell for my immoral behavior “But right now I’ll just sit
here so contentedly” but right now I was wait here so satisfied
with things as they are “And watch the river flow.” And
watch the Mississippi flow
“Chimney” is associated with gays. Tarantula, “‘shouldn’t
done that’ said a very manly girl who came down the
chimney”…”a roaring free for all is witnessed later between as
follows: rabbit seller, who, because he lives in a room where
the rain continues to fall thru the chimney, always has a
chronic cough & is constantly in an al capone type mood - call
him White Man/ the ex faggot g.i., who now transports
dummies from macy's to yankee stadium & whose ears
always bleed in heavy weather.”
JAIL BAIT FOR CHICKEN HAWKS

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DIGNITY: THE CHICKEN HAWKS OF TIMES SQUARE
Dylan’s confession to Robert Shelton explains the line
in Dignity, “somebody got murdered on New Year’s Eve.”
Dylan was almost murdered and went to the police to help
him find the assailant. Dignity 1995 is a detailed description
of how Bob Dylan was almost murdered when he was jail bait
for chicken hawks.
Fat man lookin’ in a blade of steel
Thin man lookin’ at his last meal
Hollow man lookin’ in a cotton field
For dignity
Bob from a relatively wealthy family is staring into a
blade of steel a knife blade that is pointed at his guts and
might expose the contents of his stomach if cut open. Bob
hollowed out, carved up would be seeking bandages of cotton
and would be looking for dignity having been found under
those undignified to say the least, circumstances.
Wise man lookin’ in a blade of grass
Young man lookin’ in the shadows that pass
Poor man lookin’ through painted glass
For dignity
Note the use of blade once again. blade of grass first appeared
in If Dogs Run Free that concerned the freeing of slaves. It
means a more primitive being.

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If dogs run free, then what must be
Must be, and that is all
True love can make a blade of grass
Stand up straight and tall
In harmony with the cosmic sea
True love needs no company
It can cure the soul, it can make it whole
If dogs run free
TRUE LOVE CAN MAKE A BLADE OF GRASS STAND UP
STRAIGHT AND TALL
“If dogs run free, then what must be must be, and that
is all” If Blacks are allowed their freedom there will always be
crime and that is that. It is evolutionary. Sarcastic: “True love
can make a blade of grass Stand up straight and tall” loving
Blacks can make something very primitive evolve into a
human-being. Also sarcastic: loving Blacks will make them
evolve faster. “In harmony” in a relationship in which various
components exist together without destroying one another
such as Whites and Blacks “with the cosmic sea” were the
natural order of things rules Cosmic: So pervasive and all-
inclusive as to exist in or affect the whole world “true love”
loving the Blacks or N-word loving “needs no company”
sarcastic: does not need a subdivision of a military regiment
like the National Guard to keep them in line. Sarcastic: “It can

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cure the soul” it can correct a harmful situation that Blacks
have created Soul: of or relating to Black Americans and their
culture: soul brother; soul food. “It can make it whole” can
replace the part that is missing in Blacks, the gene “If dogs run
free.”
Wise man lookin’ in a blade of grass
Young man lookin’ in the shadows that pass
Bob who was wise to the Blacks was starring right in
the face of these people that pass for human beings: shadow:
The darkness or diminished light
Poor man lookin’ through painted glass
Bob down and out looking through the windows of cheap
Times Square Bars for gays
Somebody got murdered on New Year’s Eve
Somebody said dignity was the first to leave
I went into the city, went into the town
Went into the land of the midnight sun
Dylan almost got murdered by one of his tricks. “land of the
midnight sun” The City That Never Sleeps is a well-known
nickname for New York City, famously employed in the

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"Theme from New York, New York", covered by Frank
Sinatra. It may also refer to: The City That Never Sleeps (film), a
1924 drama. City That Never Sleeps, a 1953 film noir.
Searchin’ high, searchin’ low
Searchin’ everywhere I know
Askin’ the cops wherever I go
Have you seen dignity?
Search: Law The examination of a person or property,
as by a law enforcement officer, for the purpose of discovering
evidence of a crime. Bob went to the cops and took them back
to the bars that he hustled at to find the guy that almost killed
him.
Blind man breakin’ out of a trance
Puts both his hands in the pockets of chance
Hopin’ to find one circumstance
Of dignity
Some drunken John Dylan picked up in a greasy W 40’s
Times Square bar who just “broke out” of a prison, trance any
mental state in which a person is unaware or apparently
unaware of the environment, characterized by loss of
voluntary movement, tried to rob Bob hoping to find some big
money.
Soul of a nation is under the knife
Death is standing in the doorway of life
In the next room a man is fighting with his wife
Over dignity
The above verse was found in an outtake. Under the
knife: Fig. to submit to surgery; to have surgery done on
oneself. She goes under the knife tomorrow for her

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gallbladder. Only this is literal. Someone pulled a knife on
Bobby Zimmerman in a cheap Times Square hotel where in
the next room a man is fighting with his wife.
I went to the wedding of Mary Lou
She said, “I don’t want nobody see me talkin’ to you”
Said she could get killed if she told me what she knew
About dignity

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Bob went to see a woman who was unlikely to get
married, a prostitute, to find out who it was that tried to kill
him or robbed him?
I went down where the vultures feed
I would’ve gone deeper, but there wasn’t any need
Heard the tongues of angels and the tongues of men
Wasn’t any difference to me
I went down to the level a person or thing that preys
greedily and ruthlessly on others, like pimps, he could have
sunk lower, but he was part of that scene. Tongue: To touch or
lick with the tongue. Angel informal a person, esp a woman,
who is kind, pure, or beautiful and the tongues of men
sucking on my dick and I didn’t care as long as I made the
cake.
Heard the tongues of angels and the tongues of men.
Dylan saw the tongues of beautiful women and the tongues of
men who he let suck his dick. To touch or lick with the
tongue. b. To give (someone) a French-kiss. There wasn’t any
difference to me. Bob didn’t care who had sex with as long as
there was money in it.
Chilly wind sharp as a razor blade
House on fire, debts unpaid
Gonna stand at the window, gonna ask the maid
Have you seen dignity?
Again the use of blade. Still the hotel motif. Ask the
maid. Bob had to chill out after the knife incident and ran out
of money. Still living in a cheap Times Square Hotel.
Drinkin’ man listens to the voice he hears
In a crowded room full of covered-up mirrors

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Lookin’ into the lost forgotten years
For dignity
When he is drunk he imagines that it would be like if he was
killed in those circumstances and his family found out about
it. Jewish people cover up mirrors in their home after a
relative dies. They would look into his childhood to find out
what went wrong.
Met Prince Phillip at the home of the blues
Said he’d give me information if his name wasn’t used
He wanted money up front, said he was abused
By dignity
Met someone who knew who my assailant was in a
cheap bar and he said he would finger the dude as long as no
one found out he did it. But the wanted the money before he
would divulge the name said he was Abuse: Rough treatment
or use: an anus that has taken a lot of abuse. Also to force
sexual activity on; rape or molest.
Footprints runnin’ ’cross the silver sand
Steps goin’ down into tattoo land
I met the sons of darkness and the sons of light
In the border towns of despair
Traces of the assailant running across the unspoiled Times
Square area leading down to a tattoo parlor. I met Negros and
Whites in these sleazing whore filled places.
Got no place to fade, got no coat
I’m on the rollin’ river in a jerkin’ boat
Tryin’ to read a note somebody wrote
About dignity

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Fade: To lose strength or vitality; wane: youthful energy that
had faded over the years. Jerk off Vulgar Slang To masturbate.
Sick man lookin’ for the doctor’s cure
Lookin’ at his hands for the lines that were
And into every masterpiece of literature
For dignity
A Junkie is going through withdrawal symptoms
looking for a prescription from a doctor for dope. Trying to
gain inspiration for his writing, his hand from the lines in
classic literature?
Englishman stranded in the blackheart wind
Combin’ his hair back, his future looks thin
Bites the bullet and he looks within
For dignity
Whiteman surrounded by Blacks Blackheart: a disease of
plants in which internal plant tissues blacken, usu. as a result
of extremes in temperature. Trying to look tough his future
looks dim. Does what he has to do but looks within for
dignity.
Someone showed me a picture and I just laughed
Dignity never been photographed
I went into the red, went into the black
Into the valley of dry bone dreams
^Vulgar Slang The penis.
So many roads, so much at stake
So many dead ends, I’m at the edge of the lake
Sometimes I wonder what it’s gonna take
To find dignity

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A night street scene at 47th Street near Times Square, showing
night club and theater signs, New York City, New York, circa
1958.
Dylan commented on Dignity in Chronicles:
Some people seem to fade away but then when
they are truly gone, it's like they didn't fade
away at all. I started and completed the song
"Dignity" the same day I'd heard the sad news
about Pistol Pete. I started writing it in the early
afternoon, about the time the morning news
began to wear away and it took me the rest of
the day and into the night to finish it.

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It's like I saw the song up in front of me and
overtook it, like I saw all the characters in this
song and elected to cast my fortunes with them.
I have a problem sometimes remembering
someone's real name, so I give them another one,
something that more accurately describes them,
and I had a tendency to do that throughout this
song. There were more verses with other
individuals in different interplays. The Green
Beret, The Sorceress, Virgin Mary, The Wrong
Man, Big Ben, and The Cripple and The Honkey.
The list could be endless. All kinds of
identifiable characters that found their way into
the song but somehow didn't survive. I heard the
whole piece in my head rhythm, tempo, melody
line, the whole bit. I'd always be able to
remember this song. The wind could never blow
it out of my head. This song was a good thing to
have. On a song like this, there's no end to
things. You hold an electric torch up to
someone's face and see what's there. Yet to me,
it's amazingly simple, no complications,
everything pans out. As long as the things you
see don't go by in a blur of light and shade,
you're okay. Love, fear, hate, happiness all in
unmistakable terms, a thousand and one subtle
ramifications. This song is like that. One line
brings up another, like when your left foot steps
forward and your right drags up to it. If I'd have
written this ten years earlier, I'd have gone
immediately to the recording studio. But a lot
had changed and I had no anxiety about that
stuff anymore, didn't feel the urge and necessity
of it. I didn't feel like recording anyway. It was
tedious and I didn't like the current sounds-mine
or anybody else's. I didn't know why an old

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Alan Lomax field recording sounded better to
me, but it did. I didn't think I could make a good
record if I tried for a hundred years.

THE MANY LOVES OF BOBBY DYLAN
CHAPTER THREE
SUZE PINS HIM AS A JUNKIE
AND DUMPS HIM

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In Chronicles Dylan proclaimed his love for Suze Rotolo
but the truth is that Bob never loved anybody except himself
and heroin. He used Suze, who was a member of the Civil
Rights Movement, as his Leftist beard despite the fact Dylan
had become a racist under the tutelage of his benefactor
Raymond Gooch who he described as a “non-integrationist.”
Rotolo’s parents were Joachim Rotolo and Mary Pezzati
Rotolo, members of the American Communist Party. At about
the time she met Bob, Rotolo began working full time as a
political activist in the office of the Congress of Racial Equality
(CORE) and for the Communist front group SANE. In 2004,
she participated in a street-theater group called "Billionaires
for Bush" and attended demonstrations at the Republican
National Convention outside Madison Square Garden. If she
were alive today she would have occupied Wall Street. As
stated Suzie would prove to be invaluable to Bob in
fabricating his leftist bona fides – Bobby was so deep cover he
even had a Communist lover! Dylan revealed his “love” to the
world by putting her on the cover of The Freewheelin’ Bob
Dylan, (long after they broke up) and singing about her “I got
a woman five foot short, yells and hollers, screams and
snorts.” Wow, I thought, Dylan was a real human being. This
relationship added to his persona as a romantic Greenwich
Village character. He wrote of the demise of his relationship
with Suzie in Ballad In Plain D and he seemed as if he was
baring his soul to his fans. How could he write songs wherein
his true thoughts, as evidenced in his subcontent, were racist
and anti-Communist and make love to what he viewed as an
evil person at the same time? Bob Dylan had gotten so deeply
into his undercover role that he forgot which side he was on.
But ultimately he used Suzie in his climb to fame and of
course didn’t show up at her funeral. Suzie mother sensed
that Bob was a fast talking con man.

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Her mother Mary, though, who worked as a
translator for medical journals, wasn't having it.
Mary lived on the top floor of an apartment
building on Sheridan Square and treated me like
I had the clap. If she would have had her way,
the cops would have locked me up. Suze's mom
was a small feisty woman-volatile with black
eyes like twin coals that could burn a hole
through you, was very protective. Always make
you feel like you did something wrong. She
thought I had a nameless way of life and would
never be able to support anybody, but I think it
went much deeper than that. I think I just came
in at a bad time.
"How much did that guitar cost?" she asked me
once.
"Not much."
"I know, not much, but still something."
"Almost nothing," I said.
She glared at me, cigarette in her mouth. She
was always trying to goad me into some kind of
argument. My presence was so displeasing to
her, but it's not like I'd caused any trouble in her
life. It wasn't me who was responsible for the
loss of Suze's father or anything. Once I said to
her that I didn't think she was being fair. She
stared squarely into my eyes like she was staring
at some distant, visible object and said to me,
"Do me a favor, don't think when I'm around."
Suze would tell me later that she didn't mean it.
She did mean it, though. She did everything in
her power to keep us apart, but we went on
seeing each other anyway.

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How could he love this N-loving Red Diaper baby
when he expressed his racism in the subcontent of the 1962
poem that became the anthem of the Civil Rights Movement,
Blowin’ In The Wind?
How many roads must a man walk down
Before you call him a man?
Yes, 'n' how many seas must a white dove sail
Before she sleeps in the sand?
Yes, 'n' how many times must the cannon balls fly
Before they're forever banned?
The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind
The answer is blowin' in the wind.
“How many roads” (Rhodes) how many courses in life “must
a man” must a blackman “walk down” take such as rape,
murder, theft, the creation of dangerous public schools and
generations of single welfare mothers “Before you call him a
man?” before the Whites realize that he is a genetically
inferior being who can never amount to anything more than a
male servant, a subordinate, “man” as in ‘Man Friday’ which
is more like a “boy” (unless “man” had two meanings the first
two lines of Blowin’ In The Wind are redundant). “Yes, 'n' how
many seas

35
must a white dove sail” how long will it take before White
supremacist apartheid (who ever heard of a black dove?) that
brought racial peace and stability to South Africa, sails
effortlessly across the ocean to America “Before she sleeps in
the sand?” and becomes a part of America history? “Yes, 'n'
how many times must the cannonballs fly” how many times
must the Negros become suddenly enraged, commit gun
crimes ‘fly off the handle’ “Before they're forever banned?”
before they are treated in the same way as South Africa treats
its Negros? Under the former system of apartheid, “banned”
meant to deprive a person suspected of illegal activity of the
right of free movement and association with others “The
answer” the answer to the ‘Negro question’ in America “my
friend, is blowin'” is spreading “in the wind” in something
that destroys “wind” as in ‘The winds of war.’ On another
level the answer is to treat Negros as they did in the Old
South, the answer is in White vigilantism, lynch ‘em and let
‘em blow (cause to move by means of a current of air) in the
wind! Billie Holliday, Strange Fruit, “Southern trees bear a
strange fruit / Blood on the leaves and blood at the root /
Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze / Strange fruit
hanging from the poplar trees.”

36
In Ballad in Plain D 1964, he accused Suze of having sex
with African-Americans behind his back.
From silhouetted anger to manufactured peace
Answers of emptiness, voice vacancies
Till the tombstones of damage read me no questions but,
“Please
What’s wrong and what’s exactly the matter?”
“From silhouetted anger” from anger about the woman
Bob claimed he loved having sex with Black men “to
manufactured peace” to having to make up something
artificial and untrue, to going into denial about it “Answers of
emptiness” answers about why Suzie Rotolo cheated on me
had no substance “voice” and were just an agency of
expression of the racial equality movement “vacancies,
containing nothing “Till the tombstones of damage read me”
at this point the relationship was already over “no questions
but, ‘Please, What's wrong and what's exactly the matter?’”
how come you prefer these men to me sexually? Silhouette as
black:
With your silhouette when the sunlight dims
Into your eyes where the moonlight swims
And your match-book songs and your gypsy hymns
Who among them would try to impress you?
“With your silhouette when the sunlight dims” with
your darkies “Into your eyes” into your brain, your thoughts
“where the moonlight” where insanity “swims” makes your
head swim, confuses and overwhelms you “And your match-
book songs” and your literature wherein Blacks closely
resemble or harmonize with Whites “and your gypsy hymns”
and your New York State anti-slavery laws “Who among

37
them would try to impress you?” but who among the other
states of the union would compel New Yorkers to serve in a
military force? Not the Confederacy?
“Silhouettes” as colored people; Chronicles, “He was
noir all the way—dark sombrero, black britches, high boots,
slip-on gloves—all shadow and silhouette-dimmed out, a
black prince from the black hills.”
Dylan wrote about how he missed Suze when she ran
off with an ethnic Italian named Enzo after she suspected the
psycho was using junk on the side. He never told Suze Rotolo
about his dope habit: he was adept at keeping secrets - she
only found out his real name in late 1961 when, drunk one
night, his draft card fell out of his pocket.
i used t' hate enzo
i used t' hate him
so much that i could've killed him
he was rotten an' ruthless
an' after what he could get
i was sure of that
my beloved one met him
in a far - off land
an' she stayed longer there
because of him
i croaked with exhaustion
that he was actually makin' her happy
i never knew him
sometimes i would see him
on my ceilin'
i could've shot him

38
the rovin' phony
the romantic idiot
i know about guys for
i myself am a guy
poison swings its pendulums
with a seasick sensation
an' i used t' want t' trample on him
i used t' want t' massacre him
i used t' want t' murder him
i wanted t' be like him so much
that i ached
i used t' hate enzo
“Poison” as heroin. Tarantula, “NADAS is still right now the
poison nothing & maria, me & you, we make up three TE
QUIERO do not churchize my nakedness” I am without
concealment and disguise “i am naked for you maria” I am
vulnerable to you “she says i’m a foreigner. she picks me”
pierces and makes a hole with a sharp pointed instrument
“she pours salt” a colorless or white crystalline solid “on my
love ok. so i shoot dope once in a while. big deal. what’s it got
to do with you?”

CHAPTER FOUR
DYLAN ON JOAN BAEZ:
“MEXICAN HALF-BREED”
BAEZ WITH VIETNAM WAR RESISTER
DAVID HARRIS. IN CHRONICLES
BOB SAID HE SUPPORTED THE WAR
Joanie was lucky she didn’t marry this dirt bag. Bob’s
thoughts on Joan Baez can be found throughout his poetry.

40
OUTLAW BLUES
I got a woman in Jackson,
I ain't gonna say her name.
She's a brown-skin woman,
But I love her just the same.
“I got a woman in Jackson” I have a woman who
accompanied me to Jackson, Mississippi to sing at a voter
registration rally “I ain't gonna say her name” you would
recognize it if I did “She's a brown-skin woman” she’s a light
skinned beaner named Baez “but I / Love her just the same”
sarcastic, why even bring this up if the color of her skin was
not significant.
JOHN WESLEY HARDING 1967
’Twas down in Chaynee County
A time they talk about
With his lady by his side
He took a stand
And soon the situation there
Was all but straightened out
For he was always known
“It was down in Chaynee County” Chainy County,
land of slavery - Mississippi “A time they talk about” Dylan’s
performance of Only A Pawn In Their Game in Mississippi was
featured in the film Don’t Look Back “With his lady by his side”
with Joan Baez ostensibly on the same political side “He took
a stand” he ostensibly took a stand against racism “And soon
the situation there” and soon the predicaments, plights and
problems “was all but straightened out” was worse:
integration and Negro voter registration were wrong things to

41
impose on the Old South “He was always known to lend a
helping hand” he helped screw things up or sarcastic: he was
doing this for himself and not for the Blacks.
JOLENE 2009
Well you're comin' down High Street, walkin' in the sun
You make the dead man rise, and holler she's the one
Jolene, Jolene
Baby, I am the king and you're the queen
“Well you're comin' down High Street” you are at or
near the peak of your career Joanie, “you are walkin' in the
sun” you are living in the public eye ‘in the sun’ “You make
the dead man” you make someone not commercially
productive; idle “rise” become more popular, get an erection
“and holler she's the one” and sing with her and have sex with
her “Jolene, Jolene Baby, I am the king” I am the male
considered as the best or most important of its kind in the
field of folk “and you're the queen” and you are the queen,
you have female eminence and supremacy in the domain of
folk music.
Well it's a long old highway, don't ever end
I've got a Saturday night special, I'm back again
I'll sleep by your door, lay my life on the line
You probably don't know, but I'm gonna make you mine
Jolene, Jolene baby, I am the king and you're the queen
“Well it's a long old highway, don't ever end” it was
really rough when I first came to New York City and
associated myself with the Old Left; Standing On The Highway
1962 “Well, I'm standin' on the highway / One roads goin' to
the bright lights, / The others goin' down to my grave”

42
“I've got a Saturday night special, I'm back again” I had
a harmonica gig on Midnight Special thanks to Harry Belafonte,
I am a back-up musician again “I'll sleep by your door” I am
comfortable awaiting for the opportunity you will provide me
with “lay my life on the line” and travel to a voter registration
drive in Mississippi “You probably don't know, but I'm gonna
make you mine” you didn’t know it back then but your
association with me rather than vice versa will further your
future career.
I keep my hands in my pocket, I'm movin' along
People think they know, but they're all wrong
You're something nice, I'm gonna grab my dice
I can't say I haven't paid the price
Jolene, Jolene baby I am the king and you're the queen
“I keep my hands in my pocket” I keep my musical
compositions confined to a small, isolated group “I'm movin'
along” they dig my riff “People think they know, but they're
all wrong” people think they know what side my songs are on
politically but they are wrong, not Right “You're something
nice, I'm gonna grab” you're something nice, I'm gonna take
and grasp suddenly “my dice” my protest songs, Tarantula,
“malnutrition & thinking they're too smart & you with the
dice & forever uniform ... receiving some degree & while
giving it to your wall” “I can't say I haven't paid the price” I
had to further an ideology that is repugnant to me.
Well I found out the hard way, I've had my fill
You can't find somebody with his back to a hill
Those big brown eyes, they set off a spark
When you hold me in your arms things don't look so dark
Jolene, Jolene baby I am the king and you're the queen

43
“Well I found out the hard way” I found out from first-
hand experience “I've had my fill” I have plugged up your
vagina with my pecker “You can't find somebody with his
back to a hill” you will never find a lover in someone who has
turned his back on your brand of politics, “hill” as in Capitol
Hill “Those big brown eyes” those high falutin’ race mixin’
idealistic leftwing thoughts “they set off a spark” they were
responsible for murders such as that of Medgar Evers; Only A
Pawn In Their Game 1964, “A hand set the spark” “When you
hold me in your arms things don't look so dark” sarcastic:
when I am in your power I forget about the darkies and I
forget about your dark skin.
DESOLATION ROW 1965
Now Ophelia, she's 'neath the window
For her I feel so afraid
On her twenty-second birthday
She already is an old maid
To her, death is quite romantic
She wears an iron vest
Her profession's her religion
Her sin is her lifelessness
And though her eyes are fixed upon
Noah's great rainbow
She spends her time peeking
Into Desolation Row
“Now Ophelia” a Shakespearian character who suffers
from a broken heart, Joan Baez, who wanted to marry Bob
Dylan “she's 'neath the window” she is under the influence of
and has placed her faith in the Communist Party “For her I
feel so afraid” I have feelings of aversion for her “On her
twenty-second birthday” when Bob met her in 1962 she was

44
22 years old “She already is an old maid” she was already a
‘union maid’ as in the Communist folk song Union Maid “To
her, death is quite romantic” for her the death associated with
Communism is attractive “She wears an iron vest” she places
authority, property, or rights, in the ironclad control of a
person or group whose headquarters is in the Kremlin, behind
the Iron Curtain “Her profession” her folk singing career “is
her religion” is all about her leftist politics “Her sin” her error,
tragic flaw “is her lifelessness” is that she lacks vitality and
animation; she is dull and she is on the side of death “And
though her eyes” and although her thoughts “are fixed upon”
are falsely directed upon “Noah's great rainbow” the illusory
hope of Communism “She spends her time peeking” she
wastes her time being the best know female folk singer,
peaking, “Into Desolation Row” in the esoteric depressing
leftwing world of folk music where everyone preaches to the
choir.
Communism and leftist politics as a religion; Tarantula,
“Sick so Sick of these lovers in Biblical roles - so you're out to
save the world are you? you impostor - you freak! you're a
contradiction! you're afraid to admit you're a contradiction
you're misleading! you have big feet” your ambition is to
further Communism “& you will step on yourself. all the
people you mislead will pick you up! you have no answers!”
To his former leftwing folk fans; Tarantula, “watcha
doing? how's the new religion? feel any different? gave it up
myself.”
“Rainbow” as an illusory hope; Father of Night 1970, “Builder
of rainbows up in the sky” builder as in ‘builder of hopes’ that
soar to the highest level and degree in the heavens above; Sign
On The Window 1970, “Build me a cabin in Utah” sarcastic;
build up my hopes for a room aboard the ship of revolution
(Utah was the State where the radical Joe Hill was executed)

45
“Marry me a wife” get married to an ideology “catch a
rainbow trout” begin to understand something fishy like a
false hope. Tarantula, “somewhere over the rainbow” lyrics to
this song, “Someday day I’ll wish upon a star etc.”
ROLLING AND TUMBLING 2006
Well, I get up in the dawn and I go down and lay in the shade
I get up in the dawn and I go down and lay in the shade
I ain't nobody's house boy, I ain't nobody's well trained maid
“Well, I get up” I get an erection “in the dawn” when I
first begin to appear and develop; emerge “and I go down and
lay in” and I have sex with “the shade” translated into Dylan’s
bitter thoughts, a beaner, a Hispanic, a half-breed, “shade” the
degree to which a color is mixed with black; gradation of
darkness. Bob described Joan Baez in Tarantula, “on sweet
mermaid she sings of ideals, different formulas & wild
cookbooks / dark Scary…crippled mermaid singing & listen
that's her singing now & she meows too.” Rolling and Tumbling
continues, “I ain't nobody's house boy” I ain’t a native boy
who helped a soldier perform basic responsibilities; I am not
helping the Kremlin achieve its goals. Also I am not being
kept around to be used by Baez as a sexual object “I ain't
nobody's well trained maid” I am not a
card-carrying obedient Communist like Baez who was taught
to sing by a voice trainer and sung in a well-trained three
octave soprano voice. Note use of “maid” in all three poems.
So many people believed Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands was
written to Joan Baez that Bob had to insert a line in Sara 1975
that made it clear that Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands was
written to Sara Dylan.

46
MEMPHIS BLUES AGAIN
When Ruthie says come see her
In her honky-tonk lagoon
Where I can watch her waltz for free
'Neath her Panamanian moon.
An' I say, "Aw come on now
You must know about my debutante."
An' she says, "Your debutante just knows what you need
But I know what you want."
“When Ruthie” when Joan Baez who is half Mexican;
Tarantula, “now Ruthy she was different - she always wanted
to see a cock fight & went to Mexico City when she was 17”
“says come see her” invites me to one of her performances “In
her honky-tonk” sarcastic; in an establishment catering to the
working class “lagoon” that takes place in a protected area
like a concert hall “Where I can watch her waltz” where I can
watch her move briskly and purposefully; waltz through her
repertoire “for free” sarcastic, for freedom, for the price of
admission “'Neath her Panamanian” beneath her leftist
Central American “moon” unattainable goals “An' I say, ‘Aw
come on now, / You must know about my debutante’" tell the
truth for once, you must know that I aspire to become a
member of the upper economic class and that I don’t believe
any of this leftwing crap “An' she says, "Your debutante just
knows what you need” the upper economic class just knows
what you need to be happy, just some insignificant things like
a townhouse in Greenwich Village, a sports car, a Harley, an
ex-Playboy bunny wife “But I know what you want" but I
know better and it is not wealth but ideology that you are in
want of!
ALTERNATE TRANSLATION

47
When Ruthie (joanie) says come see her
In her honky-tonk lagoon
A honky-tonk (also called a honkatonk, honkey-tonk,
or tonk) is a type of bar that provides musical entertainment
(usually country music) to its patrons. Bars of this kind are
common in the Southern and Southwestern United States.
Lagoon some thing cut off.
Where I can watch her waltz for free
Informal Something that presents no difficulties and can be
accomplished with little effort.
’Neath her Panamanian moon
Central American – Joan Baez was half Mexican
An’ I say, “Aw come on now
You must know about my debutante”
You must know about my entrance into society as a heroin
addict
An’ she says, “Your debutante just knows what you need
Heroin
But I know what you want”
I know what you are lacking to cause you to use hard drugs.
REFERENCED IN DESOLATION ROW?

48
Praise be to Nero’s Neptune
The Titanic sails at dawn
And everybody’s shouting
“Which Side Are You On?”
And Ezra Pound and T. S. Eliot
Fighting in the captain’s tower
While calypso singers laugh at them
And fishermen hold flowers
Between the windows of the sea
Where lovely mermaids flow
And nobody has to think too much
About Desolation Row
Praise be
(Theology) the extolling of a deity or the rendering of homage
and gratitude to a deity
to Nero’s Neptune
Senator Joseph McCarthy
Emperor of Rome (54-68) whose early reign was
dominated by his mother, Agrippina the Younger. He had his
mother and wife murdered, and he was accused of setting the
Great Fire of Rome (64). He committed suicide after being
deposed by the Senate.
The Titanic
Something Of enormous scope, power, or influence:
sails
to make an attack (on) violently with words

49
at dawn
To begin to be perceived that Communists had infiltrated the
US Government with the intent to overthrow it or spy on it on
behalf of the Sovs.
And everybody’s shouting
“Which Side Are You On?”
Are you for America or are you for Russia?
And Ezra Pound and T. S. Eliot
And the Senate fascists and Jew haters
Fighting in the captain’s tower
A commissioned rank in the US Army, Air Force, or Marine
Corps that is above first lieutenant and below major. Tail-
gunner Joe.
While calypso singers laugh at them
Folk singers including Dylan A type of music that
originated in the West Indies, notably in Trinidad, and is
characterized by improvised lyrics on topical or broadly
humorous subjects.
And fishermen hold flowers
And Jews create examples of great art
Between the windows of the sea
For the perceptions of the masses

50
Where lovely mermaids flow
Where folksingers like Joan Baez operate
“Mermaid” as Joan Baez; Tarantula “on sweet mermaid
she sings of ideals, different formulas & wild cookbooks /
dark Scary crippled mermaid singing & listen that’s her
singing now & she meows too the weeper at the drop of
anybody’s hat but his, sentimental yes.”
And nobody has to think too much
About Desolation Row
And nobody has to think about the consequences of the
Communist dominated folk scene in the 1960’s.
Fisherman as Jew
skull caps climb by themselves out of manholes
Newsweek Magazine exposes me as a Jew.
an' shoeboxes ride the cracks of the sidewalk
And my career is dependent of these wisecracks.
fishermen - -
Zimmerman (Newsweek published his real name)
i've suddenly been turned into a fish (a jew)
but does anybody
wanna be a fisherman (Zimmerman)
any more 'n i
don't wanna be a fish (Jew)
BELLE ISLE 1970

51
One evening for pleasure I rambled to view
The fair fields all alone
Down by the banks of Loch Eiron
Where beauty and pleasure were known
“One evening” during a later concluding time period;
‘the evening of my career in rock and roll music’ Tell Old Bill
2009, “The evenin' sun is sinkin' low” “for pleasure” sarcastic;
to please myself, to satisfy my desires, to be self-indulgent “I
rambled” I changed my focus “to view” to conduct a
systematic survey; a view of American Folk Music “The fair
fields” leftwing, equitable area of specialization, the folk
music world “all alone” without a band backing me up
“Down by the banks” down by the record companies “of Loch
Eiron” located in some obscure place like folk music “Where
beauty” where something deserving of a high level of respect
gained by impressive development and achievement “and
pleasure” and the pleasure that it brings “were known” were
recognized and appreciated by the folk crowd.
“Fair” as equitable, in accordance with relative merit and
significance. Marx, “To each according to his needs” As I
Went Out One Morning 1968, “I spied the fairest damsel that
ever did walk in chains.”
I spied a fair maid at her labor
Which caused me to stay for a while
And I thought of a goddess to beauty
Blooming' bright star of Bright Isle.

52
“I spied” I spied, as if I was an undercover FBI Agent,
“a fair maid” a Communist woman, “maid” as in the
Communist song Union Maid and as in “old maid” as in
Desolation Row 1966, “at her labor” singing songs that favored
the working class “which caused me to stay for a while”
which caused me to pretend to join the Left for a short while
“And I thought of a goddess to beauty” I devised a plan to use
this woman with a beautiful voice in my rise to fame
“Bloomin’” Joan Baez who was growing and flourishing with
youth and vigor “bright star” who was the brightest star, the
most popular, yet not the brightest when it came to
intelligence “of Bright Isle” of the folk music world.
I humbled myself to her beauty
Fair maiden, where do you belong?
Are you from heaven descended
Abiding in Cupid's fair throne?
“I humbled myself” sarcastic; I formulated a low opinion of
myself compared “to her beauty” to her beautiful operatic
voice, her songs “Fair maiden where do you belong?” Joan
what century do you belong in? Your songs are certainly not
from this one “Are you from heaven descended” are you a
freakin’ reincarnation of some old English balladeer “Abiding
in Cupid’s fair throne” still singing morbid love songs like
Barbara Allen?
Young man, I will tell you a secret
It's true I'm a maid that is poor
And to part from my vows and my promise
Is more than my heart can endure.
“Young man” young Bob Dylan “I will tell you a secret” I will
tell you the secret formula of my success “It’s true I’m a maid
that is poor” it’s true that I am folksinger and a supporter of

53
the Left which is not the best thing to be in the world “But to
part from my vows and my promise” but to break my promise
I made to the Left to perform a specified act and behave in a
certain manner that “Is more than my heart can endure” is
more than my true, innermost feelings can tolerate.
Therefore I remain at my service
And go through all my hardship and toil
And wait for the lad that has left me
All alone on the banks of Belle Isle"
“Therefore I remain at my service” therefore I remain at the
disposal of the Left including the Communist Party and its
intelligence service “And go through all my hardship” and go
through something that causes suffering or privation “and
toil” and labor with difficulty “And wait for” and eagerly
anticipate the return of “the lad that has left me” the young
Bob Dylan, who was never a leftist or liberal and ain’t comin’
back because he wasn’t there to begin with “All alone”
indifferent to the approval of a wider audience “on the banks”
in the recording companies “of Belle Isle” of folk music.
Young maiden I wish not to banter
It's true I come here in disguise
I came here to fulfill our last promise
And hope to give you a surprise.
“Young maiden” Bob tells gullible Joanie “I wish not to
banter” I am not trying to trick you with my protest songs
“It’s true I come here in disguise” it is true that I hate folk
music, I hate the Left and I am here pretending to be one of
you because I harbor ulterior motives “I came here to fulfill
our last promise”

54
I came here to fulfill the promise of using folk music as a
backdoor to enter the real world of rock and roll “And hope to
give you a surprise” and I am going to surprise the bejesus out
of you someday when I leave this sick
world of commies and comsymps behind and start singing
rock and roll songs.

CHAPTER FIVE
SHIRLEY NOZNISKY
THE BEST THING THAT EVER HAPPENED TO
DYLAN AND HE BLEW IT
Sara Dylan born October 28, 1939 in Wilmington,
Delaware as Shirley Marlin Noznisky to Isaac and Bessie
Noznisky and later known as Sara Lowndes, after she married
Hans Lowndes, born January 1, 1911. Sara was married to Bob
Dylan from November 1965 until their divorce in June 1977.
Sara was a tough cookie. She was a former Playboy bunny, not
a debutante.

56
When I spoke with Bob he was always alluding to the
fact that “his wife might hit him” and I witnessed her attack
two reporters. When Sara came to her children’s private
school to regain their custody, she assaulted one of their
teachers.
Al Aronowitz reported that her father Isaac, a scrap
metal dealer and first generation Jewish immigrant, was killed
on November 20, 1956 in the course of a robbery. I know from
the research I did into the life of Jack Ruby that the mob
controlled the scrap metal business on the East Coast in the
1950’s and that many an incriminating vehicle was disposed
of by mob associates in this field, but I could not link Mr.
Noznisky with organized crime. Some reports have him shot
in the head by a drunk with a grudge but the cause of the
dispute remains unclear. Her mother would die five years
later leaving her to be raised by an aunt. Sara Dylan bore
Bob’s children during a period of relative normalcy in his life.
But in Malibu Dylan drifted back to his rakish ways and Sara
was not about to sit back while her husband cheated on her
with his Black back-up singers! Not to mention the fact that
this normal Jewish mother had a junkie poet who called
himself Hector Schmector (schmeck is Yiddish for heroin) for
a husband. So they got divorced. It was inevitable as Bob’s
loyalty was to the spirit that owned his soul, Satan, and not to
his family.
WE BETTER TALK THIS OVER 1978
I think we better talk this over
Maybe when we both get sober
You'll understand I'm only a man
Doing the best that I can.

57
“I think we better talk this over” I think we should
reconsider our decision to get a divorce “Maybe when we
both get sober” maybe after you stop drinking and I stop
using dope. “You'll understand I'm only a man / Doing the
best that I can” you will understand that I am subject to the
temptations of the flesh and I am doing the best I can to keep
my dick in my pants under unfortunate circumstances where
women throw themselves at me nightly.
This situation can only get rougher
Why should we needlessly suffer?
Let's call it a day go our own different way
Before we decay.
“This situation” this critical, problematic, and striking
set of circumstances “can only get rougher” can only get more
violent: it was alleged that Dylan hit Sara in the face after she
found him having breakfast with his children along with one
of his more intellectual groupies. Sara cited domestic violence
in her suit to dissolve the marriage. “Why should we
needlessly suffer?” why go through all of this “Let's call it a
day go our own different way” let’s get divorced and separate
“Before we decay” before we get too old to find new spouses.
You don't have to be afraid of looking into my face
We've done nothing to each other time will not erase.
Oh child, why you wanna hurt me?
I'm exiled you can't convert me
I'm lost in the haze of your delicate ways
With both eyes glazed.

58
“You don't have to be afraid of looking into my face”
you don’t have to fear that your violence has left me
permanently scared “We've done nothing to each other time
will not erase” the wounds from our violent encounters will
heal in time “Oh child, why you wanna hurt me?” oh Sara
why did you want to punch me in the face? “I'm exiled” I am
a person banished or living away from his home “you can't
convert me” you can’t get money from me “convert” to
exchange for something of equal value: convert assets into
cash “I'm lost in the haze” I took a beating, a hazing “of your
delicate ways” sarcastic: from your violent ways “With both
eyes glazed” with two black eyes.
I feel displaced, I got a low-down feeling
You been two-faced, you been double-dealing.
I took a chance, got caught in the trance
Of a downhill dance.
“I feel displaced” I had to move like a refugee and I
have been displaced as your husband “I got a low-down
feeling” and everyone knows it since it is all over the press
“low down” as in inside information given to a reporter “You
been two-faced” you have been deceitful “you been double-
dealing” you been cheating on me bitch “I took a chance” I
knew I took a chance marrying you “got caught in the trance /
Of a downhill dance” but I was caught in web of drug
addiction. In Mr. Tambourine Man 1964, in relation to Dylan’s
love for heroin he wrote, “Cast you dancin’ spell” or trance
“my way I promise to go under it” I will go under it as
someone goes under the narcotic effects of a drug.
But I don't think it's liable to happen
Like the sound of one hand clappin'.
The vows that we kept are now broken and swept
'Neath the bed where we slept.

59
“But I don't think it's liable to happen” it is unlikely
that we will reunite “Like the sound of one hand” like an old
hand at something “clappin'” getting the clap, “clap” a
common venereal disease aka gonorrhea. Tarantula has
numerous passages where Sigmund Freud, who linked
sexuality with almost everything, is linked to “Mr. Clap,”
“Freud paces back & forth - struggling with his boot & trying
to finish his Vermouth – ‘fraid you got the wrong idea Mr.
Clap.’” “The vows that we kept” the marriage vows we once
kept “are now broken and swept” are now broken and have
been swept under the rug, deliberately forgotten about
“'Neath the bed where we slept” because of both of our
cheating on one another.
Don't think of me and fantasize on what we never had
Be grateful for what we've shared together and be glad.
Why should we go on watching each other through a
telescope?
Eventually we'll hang ourselves on all this tangled rope.
“Don't think of me and fantasize on what we never
had” don’t carry all this bitterness and resentment around just
because I could not be loyal to you “Be grateful for what we've
shared together and be glad” be happy you got to spend some
time with someone of my caliber and be glad “Why should we
go on watching each other through a telescope?” why should
we hire private eyes to spy on one another? “Eventually we'll
hang ourselves on all this tangled rope” eventually we will
destroy one another in divorce court, “tangle” something
jumbled and confused; ‘a tangle of divorce law.’
Oh, babe, time for a new transition
I wish I was a magician.
I would wave a wand and tie back the bond
That we've both gone beyond.

60
“Oh, babe, time for a new transition” oh beautiful Sara
time for a change “I wish I was a magician” sarcastic: I wish I
was a creator of great beauty “I would wave a wand” perform
a miracle, whip out my dick “and tie back the bond” and
renew our marital ties, screw your brains out “That we've
both gone beyond” that we’ve both left irrevocably behind.
Bob never mentioned how he terrorized Sara in any of
these poems: “He began to act in a bizarre and frightening
manner, causing me to be terrified of him. He would come in
and out of the house at all hours, often bursting into my room,
where he would stand and gaze at me in silence and refuse to
leave… I was in such fear of him that I locked doors to protect
myself from his violent outburst and temper tantrums” (Santa
Monica Superior Court March 1, 1977)
She charged he belted her in the face and subjected her
to profanity and vulgarity “During the time he and I were
married, he expressed little or no interest in the children. He
refused to come near the hospital when all but the last of our
children were born. Once, because he wanted to finish a chess
game.”
This bullshit didn’t end there. The former male
prostitute invited his latest squeeze Malka Marom to stay for
breakfast after schupping her and he had the kids at breakfast
table too when Sara slithered down from the bedroom. The
next thing you know Bobby orders her to leave the house and
take the brats with her.
The Judge stuck it to Dylan: "respondent, Robert Dylan,
is hereby restrained and enjoined from harassing, annoying,
molesting, or in any way interfering with the peace and quiet
and personal privacy of the petitioner, Sara Dylan." The

61
petition went on to award "exclusive use and occupancy" of
the couple's Malibu house to Sara, along with temporary
custody of Maria, 15 (adopted); Jesse, 11; Anna, 9; Samuel, 8;
and Jakob, 6. Dylan was ordered by the petition "to vacate the
family premises immediately." After the settlement the kids
ran away and lived with their rock star father until Sara had
them removed from custody while they were attending
school. Their teacher objected to this so Sara smacked him.
Sara got popped.
Sara filed for divorce on March 1, 1977 after those
brutal scenes over the breakfast table, when Bob hit her. Dylan
appeared in court March 15th to begin proceedings
concerning the disposition of the community property, which
includes the "Malibu complex; other and diverse property
including residence, farmlands and acreage in New York City;
East Hampton, Woodstock and Greene County, New York;
Minnesota and New Mexico; and undetermined interests in
publishing companies, subsidiary and residual recording
rights, royalties and literary copyrights." A nasty battle over
the children’s custody followed (he eventually got to see them
each summer), before Sara was awarded $36 million – roughly
half of Dylan’s worth – when the divorce was finalized on
June 30, 1977.

62
Who was this Malka Marom anyway? She was the
child of Holocaust survivors, the same Holocaust Dylan
claimed was exaggerated and only hundreds of thousands of
Jews died, not millions. Of course there is no evidence he
believed this at this time and might still have been in his
proud Jew, pro-Israel bag. In Britta Shain’s book she makes
reference to people close to Dylan who were also the children
of Holocaust survivors.
Malka was an Israeli from North Tel Aviv where this
author lived for a year on Motzkin Street. “I was born in
Poland or Hungary, nobody really knows,” she says.
My mother gave me to her brother because they
didn’t have any children and because my
parents were immigrating to Israel to be
pioneers. At the last minute, they threw me into
the window and that is how I survived. That
was 1939. That is the story my parents tell. They
took the last train that Jews were able to take
and it took them to a port and they took a boat to
Israel. The next day or the next week, the Nazis
invaded and you couldn’t escape. My aunt went
and brought a lot of stuff with her, but her ship
sank. I believe that if it is beshert, if it is meant to
be, it can happen. So I am a window girl. I like to
open up new things.
The divorce was acrimonious but netted Sara $36 million
plus half of the song royalties written while they were married.
One condition was never to speak about her life with Bob. Like
all of his other relationships the one with Malka was short
lived. The only love affair that ever lasted was Dylan loves
Dylan.

63
WEBERMAN: The kid didn’t look scared really.
DYLAN: No, they weren’t man and I don’t want to say it my
wife will fucking hit me man and I don’t really want to get
into that.

CHAPTER SIX
THE ICEMAN COMETH
DYLAN PICKS UP A NAIL
One of the tell-tale signs of HIV is the HIV rash,
which also tends to appear within a few weeks
after the infection

65
“Sometimes I'd try some joke I thought was a
corker on Evelyn. She'd always make herself
laugh. But I could tell she thought it was dirty,
not funny. And Evelyn always knew about the
tarts I'd been with when I came home from a
trip. She'd kiss me and look in my eyes, and
she'd know. I'd see in her eyes how she was
trying not to know, and then telling herself even
if it was true, he couldn't help it, they tempt him,
and he's lonely, he hasn't got me, it's only his
body, anyway, he doesn't love them, I'm the
only one he loves. She was right, too. I never
loved anyone else. Couldn't if I wanted to. (He
pauses.) She forgave me even when it all had to
come out in the open. You know how it is when
you keep taking chances. You may be lucky for
a long time, but you get nicked in the end. I
picked up a nail from some tart in Altoona.”
That was Hickey in Eugene O’Neil’s the Iceman Cometh.
Somewhere along the line in his secret perverted Hitler
worshipping world Bobby “picked up a nail.” Only this was
NOT clap or syphilis – it was something new. Dylan would
not have been infected with the AIDS virus had he remained
with a good Jewish woman like Sara or continued being a
Christian cat. In Trouble In Mind 1979, written during his
Christian period, Dylan wrote,
Satan whispers to ya,
‘Well, I don't want to bore ya,
But when ya get tired of the Miss So-and-so
I got another woman for ya

66
By October 1983 the latest, judging from Man Of Peace
1983, Dylan was still in his anti-Christian phase and had
returned to what he described as his “rakish ways.”
Christianity had been a good moral influence on Bob but from
my hippy point of view there is nothing wrong with being
sexually active as long it is not with underage kids and is
consensual. A new factor, however, had entered the picture,
and the picture became a picture from life’s other side.
Unbeknownst to Bob Dylan the newly liberated gay
community caused a little known esoteric disease to go viral.
This affliction would find its way to IV drugs users and
heterosexuals.
In 1981 doctors had reported dozens urban gays with
severely compromised immune systems and rare diseases like
Kaposi's sarcoma, a skin cancer that normally afflicts elderly
men. Nobody could explain it until 1984 when the Human
Immunodeficiency Virus or HIV virus was discovered and
was determined to be the cause of this acquired immune
deficiency syndrome or AIDS that gave every opportunistic
infection a license to kill. Since HIV has a long period of
dormancy no one knew who was infected in 1983. This disease
was so spooky even the Devil feared it.
It was a confluence of events involving this STD that
proved to be Bob’s undoing. At this time in sexual history the
more different sex partners Dylan exchanged bodily fluids
with the greater the odds were he would be infected with the
newly emergent virus, especially if he rode bareback and was
into heterosexual anal sex. Infection occurred for every 3.1 acts
of heterosexual anal intercourse. There was a third factor that
played into this chain of events; despite the crypto-racist
content of his previous poetry Dylan had developed a taste for
African-American women. This can be looked at as part of his
fixation with race.

67
This group accounted for a disproportionate number of
female human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infections
transmitted by IV drug users.
I estimate that Dylan became infected with the HIV
virus in 1982 or early 1983. In the majority of the infected
population, HIV remains asymptomatic for several years
which means the only way you know you have it is if you get
tested for it. The virus remained dormant until 1984 when he
must have evidenced symptoms or was tested. The first poetic
reference to Dylan’s affliction appeared on Empire Burlesque
recorded between July 1984 and March 1985 released on June
8, 1985. It was in a poem entitled,

68
I AIN’T NEVER GONNA BE THE SAME AGAIN 1985
Now you're here beside me, baby
You're a living dream.
And every time you get this close
It makes me want to scream.
You touched me and you knew
That I was warm for you and then
I ain't never gonna be the same again.
“Now you're here beside me, baby” now the HIV virus is in
my bloodstream. Also beside me as beside myself: I am beside
myself with grief “You're a living dream” sarcastic; and it’s the
ideal disease to have, a living nightmare is more like it, it’s the
living end “And every time you get this close” and every time
you start to destroy my white blood cells so that I no longer
have an immune system “It makes me want to scream” I utter
a long loud piercing cry, as from pain and fear “You touched
me” you matched me in quality; equaled my natural defenses.
Also sarcastic; gave me a mild attack; ‘A touch of the flu’ “and
you knew that I was warm for you” and you knew that you
could raise my body temperature, you could live within me
“and then I ain't never gonna be the same again” and as a
result after having contracted HIV virus I ain’t never going to
be the same again.
Sorry if I hurt you, baby
Sorry if I did.
Sorry if I touched the place
Where your secrets are hid.
But you meant more than everything
And I could not pretend,
I ain't never gonna be the same again.

69
“Sorry if I hurt you, baby / Sorry if I did” sarcastic; sorry if I
had an adverse effect on you with medication “Sorry if I
touched” sorry if I laid hands on in violence, in order to
destroy “the place” a particular point “Where your secrets”
where your vital functions that are beyond ordinary
understanding “are hid” are unknown to medical science “But
you meant more than everything” but you became the most
important factor in my life “And I could not pretend” and I
could not kid myself into thinking HIV would disappear by
itself “I ain't never gonna be the same again.” I am never
going to be healthy again.
You give me something to think about, baby
Every time I see ya.
Don't worry, baby, I don't mind leaving
I'd just like it to be my idea.

70
“You give me something to think about, baby / Every time I
see ya” that’s for certain, this is understatement “Don't worry,
baby, I don't mind leaving” don’t worry baby I don’t mind
dying “I'd just like it to be my idea” but I want to do it on my
own terms rather than as a result of a viral infection that has
made me susceptible to other viral and bacterial infections.
You taught me how to love you, baby
You taught me, oh, so well.
Now, I can't go back to what was, baby
I can't unring the bell.
You took my reality
And cast it to the wind
And I ain't never gonna be the same again.
You got it baby.
“You taught me how to love you, baby” I learned the truth
about you baby “You taught me, oh, so well” you caused me
to learn by experience “Now, I can't go back to what was,
baby” now I can’t go back to being HIV Negative “I can't
unring the bell” the bell has tolled for me and it is final,
incurable, terminal “You took my reality” you took my entire
being “And cast it to the wind” and turned it into dust, shit,

71
destroyed it “And I ain't never gonna be the same again / You
got it baby!” What is this “you got it baby” mean? That
someone else has the disease? Additional lines:
Sorry if I hurt you, baby
Sorry if I did
Sorry if I touched the place
Where your secrets are hid
But your tongue was like a bayonet
And your heart was like the wind
And I ain’t never gonna be the same again
UNDER YOUR SPELL 1986
Something about you that I can't shake
Don't know how much of this I can take
Baby I'm under your spell

72
“Something about you that I can't shake” there is some unique
property about this virus that I cannot shake off, get rid of
“Don't know how much of this I can take” I don’t know if I
can stand up to the disease or will I succumb to suicide?
“Baby I'm under your spell” I am under your influence.
I was knocked out and loaded in the naked night.
When my last dream exploded, I noticed your light.
Baby, oh what a story I could tell.
KNOCKED OUT LOADED
Knocked out – down for the count Loaded with a high viral
load
“I was knocked out” I was down for the count as they say in
the sport of boxing, in Dylan’s case down for the white blood
cell count “and loaded” “load” something that is carried, as by
a person, as in a heavy viral load “in the naked night” when I
was extremely vulnerable to infection “When my last dream
exploded” when my last foolish hope of a cure was shown

73
to be false and unreliable “I noticed your light” “notice” I gave
you notice that your cure was bogus “notice’ as in advance
notification of intention to end an arrangement or
employment. “Baby, oh what a story I could tell” Baby I could
write an expose about your quack cure.
It’s been nice seeing you, you read me like a book
If you ever want to reach me, you know where to look
Baby, I’ll be at the same hotel
Sarcastic it’s been nice seeing you, you know me inside out.
Reach: Range or scope of influence or effect: the reach of the
transmitter. If you ever want to reach me, you know where to
look because you are a part of me and I’ll be in the same body.
I’d like to help you but I’m in a bit of a jam
I’ll call you tomorrow if there’s phones where I am
Baby, caught between heaven and hell
I would like to play music with you and jam but I am in the
midst of a real jam. I’ll call you if there is audio equipment in
the hospital, I am caught in purgatory.
But I will be back, I will survive
You’ll never get rid of me as long as you’re alive
Baby, can’t you tell
“But I will be back” I will return to a normal T-cell count “I
will survive” I will survive this disease “You'll never get rid of
me” just as I will never get rid of you, you will never get rid of
me and I will fight you “as long as you're alive” as long as you
are alive in my bloodstream “Baby, can't you tell” don’t you
get that idea already?

74
Well it’s four in the morning by the sound of the birds
I’m starin’ at your picture, I’m hearin’ your words
Baby, they ring in my head like a bell
Things are just beginning picture: A person, object, or scene
that typifies or embodies an emotion, state of mind, or mood:
Your face was the very picture of horror. I am hearing your
words that the bell is tolling for me.
Everywhere you go it’s enough to break hearts
Someone always gets hurt, a fire always starts
You were too hot to handle, you were breaking every vow
I trusted you baby, you can trust me now
“Everywhere you go it's enough to break hearts” everywhere
the virus goes it destroys human beings to the core “Someone
always gets hurt, a fire always starts” someone always comes
down with an opportunistic infection and a fever starts.
Turn back baby, wipe your eye
Don’t think I’m leaving here without a kiss goodbye
Baby, is there anything left to tell?
I’ll see you later when I’m not so out of my head
Maybe next time I’ll let the dead bury the dead
Baby, what more can I tell?
Retreat, wipe out those thoughts of me dying. I am not leaving
here without a fight. The next time I see you I will not be
drugged “out of my head” slang Very intoxicated from drugs
“Follow Me, and let the dead bury their own dead.” Jesus was
responding to a request from one of His followers who asked
to be excused from his responsibilities to “go and bury [his]
father”
Baby, what more can I tell?

75
Well the desert is hot, the mountain is cursed,
Pray that I don't die of thirst,
Baby, two feet from the well.
“Baby, what more can I tell?” what more is there to say? “Well
the desert is hot” in a currently barren area scientists are hot
on the trail of a cure for HIV “the mountain is cursed” the
problem is going to be solved “Pray that I don't die of thirst”
pray that I don’t die “Baby, two feet from the well” just before
a cure is discovered.
DEATH IS NOT THE END 1988
When you're sad and when you're lonely and you haven't got
a friend
Just remember that death is not the end
And all that you've held sacred, falls down and does not
mend

76
“When you're sad and when you're lonely and you haven't
got a friend /Just remember that death is not the end” when
you have been abandoned by society maintain your faith in
the Almighty and in an afterlife “And all that you've held
sacred” and when something that is not to be profaned and
violated; that should remain inviolable like your T-Cell count
“falls down” decreases “and does not mend” and does not heal
and recover “Just remember that death is not the end” just
maintain your faith in Ha’shem, God.
When you're standing at the crossroads that you cannot
comprehend
And all your dreams have vanished and you don't know
what's up the bend
“When you're standing at the crossroads” when you are
undergoing a trial or enduring an affliction “that you cannot
comprehend” that is incomprehensible to you “Just remember
that death is not the end” just maintain your belief in God
“And all your dreams have vanished” and when your wildest
hopes have been torn to shreds “and you don't know what's
up the bend” and you haven’t the slightest idea what direction
things are going to take in the future “Just remember that
death is not the end” just put your fate in the hands of God.
When the storm clouds gather ’round you
And heavy rains descend
And there’s no one there to comfort you
With a helpin’ hand to lend

77
In The Man in Me Dylan wrote this in relation to my having
exposed him as a heroin addict “Storm clouds are raging all
around my door / I think to myself I won’t take it anymore.”
Take shit from Weberman or take dope.
Oh, the tree of life is growing
Where the spirit never dies
And the bright light of salvation shines
In dark and empty skies
When the cities are on fire with the burning flesh of men
WHEN THE CITIES ARE ON FIRE
WITH THE BURNING FLESH OF MEN
“Oh, the tree of life is growing” oh the knowledge about how
immune system that provides protection against foreign
organisms can be rescued from the HIV virus is growing; the
tree of life had the ability to grant Adam and Eve immortality
“Where the spirit never dies” where the essential nature of
humanity is never extinguished “And the bright light of
salvation shines” and the hope of a cure becomes eminent “In

78
dark and empty skies” in a bleak and unpromising, purposeless
future “When the cities are on fire with the burning flesh of men”
when the major cities are being destroyed by a plague that is
consuming the bodies of men; Ain’t Talkin’ 2006, “Walking
through the cities of the plague” “Just remember that death is
not the end” just keep the faith baby, because that is all one
can do!
NINETY MILES AN HOUR (DOWN A DEAD END
STREET)
WRITTEN BY: H. BLAIR AND D. ROBERTSON
I took you home from a party and we kissed in fun
A few stolen kisses and no harm was done
Instead of stopping when we could we went right on
Till suddenly we found that the brakes were gone.
A “stolen kiss” can refer to any kiss you weren’t prepared for,
e.g. an unwanted kiss from an undesirable source Brake:
Something that slows or stops action. And believe me Dylan
was getting plenty of action.
You belong to someone else, and I do too
It's just crazy bein' here with you
As a bad motorcycle with the devil in the seat
Going ninety miles an hour down a dead end street
Ninety miles an hour down a dead end street.
You are part of a subgroup of HIV carriers and I am too, it was
insane having sex with you. Like a dangerous accident
(remember Bob’s motorcycle accident?) with the devil in
control going quickly and enthusiastically to my death.
I didn't want to want you, but now I have no choice
It's too late to listen to that warning voice

79
All I hear is thunder of two hearts beat
Ninety miles an hour down a dead end street.
I didn’t want to have sexual intercourse but now I have no
choice but to do so? It’s too late to listen to that inner voice
that warned me something was very fucked up. All I hear is
thunder, not the warning kind as in Hard Rain “I heard a
thunder that roared out a warning” but the passionate kind.
You're not free to belong to me
And you know I could never be your own
Your lips on mine are like a sweet, sweet wine
But we're heading for a wall of stone.
You’re married and I could never be monogamous. You are
intoxicating but we are headed for a virtual prison.
Warning signs are flashing ev'ry where, but we pay no heed
'Stead of slowing down the place, we keep a pickin' up speed
Disaster's getting closer ev'ry time we meet

80
THE DISEASE OF CONCEIT 1989
There's a whole lot of people suffering tonight
From the disease of conceit.
Whole lot of people struggling tonight
“There's a whole lot of people suffering tonight” there are
innumerable, countless people suffering from a symptom of
some disorder of epidemic proportions “From the disease of
conceit” from HIV/AIDS. Why “Conceit?” arrogance, Dylan
had an unduly high opinion of his own abilities when it came
to avoiding sexually transmitted diseases “Whole lot of people
struggling tonight” many people are strenuously engaged by
a problem caused by “the disease of conceit” by HIV/AIDS.

81
Comes right down the highway
Straight down the line
Rips into your senses
Through your body and your mind.
Nothing about it that's sweet
The disease of conceit.
“Comes right down the highway” comes right out of the
American public where it first reached epidemic proportions
“Straight down the line” from a series of persons who succeed
each other. Walkin Down the Line 1962 “I am walkin’ down the
line” I am following a succession of folk singers “Tell about
my troubled mind” who sing protest songs “Rips” tears, HIV
subjects you to a vehement attack entering “into your senses”
into your sight, hearing, touch, taste, and smell “Through
your body and your mind” and does not forget a goddamn
thing “Nothing about it that's sweet” nothing about it that is
pleasing, it is immoral “The disease of conceit” about
HIV/AIDS.
There's a whole lot of people dying tonight
From the disease of conceit,
Whole lot of people crying tonight
“There's a whole lot of people dying tonight” AIDS reached
epidemic proportions and was considered a fatal disease
when this poem was composed “From the disease of conceit”
from HIV/AIDS “Whole lot of people crying tonight” many
people are demanding an immediate remedy “From the
disease of conceit” for HIV/AIDS.

82
Comes right out of nowhere
And you're down for the count
From the outside world,
The pressure will mount,
Turn you into a piece of meat,
The disease of conceit.
“Comes right out of nowhere” suddenly it appears several
years after infection “And you're down for the count” as the
HIV disease progresses, the T-cell count goes down from a
normal count of 500-1500 cells in a cubic millimeter of blood (a
drop, more or less) down to as low as zero. When the T-cell
count goes below 200, there is an increased risk of
opportunistic infections, and when the T-cell count drops
below 50, the risk rises dramatically. Also “down for the
count” as a knockout in boxing. Also as in Knocked Out Loaded,
the title of a Bob Dylan CD – down for the count with a high
viral load “From the outside world” from opportunistic
infections “The pressure will mount” the state of urgently
demanding notice and attention will surface “Turn you into a
piece of meat” it will turn you into a corpse “The disease of
conceit.”
Conceit is a disease
That the doctors got no cure
They've done a lot of research on it
But what it is, they're still not sure

83
“Conceit is a disease” HIV/AIDS is a disease “That the
doctors got no cure” that is still incurable even now in 2017
when this book was written “They've done a lot of research on it”
there has been a lot of scientific study of the HIV/AIDS virus
“But what it is, they're still not sure” but it is still a mystery -
this poem appears to have been written in the early 1980’s
before the AIDS virus was even identified.
There's a whole lot of hearts breaking tonight
From the disease of conceit
Whole lot of hearts shaking tonight
“There's a whole lot of hearts” many people’s central and
innermost physical parts “breaking tonight” are being
weakened and destroyed in health; overwhelmed with
adversity “From the disease of conceit” from HIV/AIDS
“Whole lot of hearts shaking tonight” there are numerous
human beings trembling in fear, there are many people trying
to get rid of a disease “shake,” slang; to get rid of, ‘couldn't
shake this cold’ “From the disease of conceit” from HIV/AIDS

84
Steps into your room
Eats your soul
Over your senses
You have no control.
Ain't nothing too discreet
About of disease of conceit.
“Steps” enters abruptly and unwanted into a situation “into
your room” into your life “Eats” and causes persistent
annoyance and distress, eats away “your soul” your
innermost being “Over your senses” over that which you
perceive by a physical sensation such as your bowels “You
have no control” you have no authority over your body and
you become incontinent “Ain’t nothing too discreet” sarcastic;
there is nothing one would wish to hide like the fact it makes
you shit in your pants “About of disease of conceit” about
HIV/AIDS.
There's a whole lot of people in trouble tonight
Whole lot of people seeing double tonight
“There's a whole lot of people in trouble tonight” there are
numerous people experiencing a condition of pain, disease,
and malfunction “From the disease of conceit” from
HIV/AIDS “Whole lot of people seeing double tonight / From
the disease of conceit” about 75% of AIDS patients develop
eye problems of some sort. The retina is most commonly
affected. Tiny retinal hemorrhages and cotton-wool spots are
early signs of infection and are often detected during an eye
exam.

85
Give ya delusions of grandeur
And a evil eye
Give you idea that
You're too good to die,
Then they bury you from your head to your feet
“Give ya delusions of grandeur” AIDS HIV will cause you to
experience psychotic episodes “And a evil eye” that involve
paranoia; “Evil eye” a look or stare believed to cause injury
and misfortune to others “Give you the idea that / You're too
good to die” give you the delusion that you are not spoiled
and ruined and you will not succumb to the virus “Then they
bury you from your head to your feet” then they put you in
your grave “From the disease of conceit.”
Bob had this to say about this poem in Chronicles:
The song "Disease of Conceit" definitely has
gospel overtones. Again, events might trigger a
song -sometimes they might start the motor.
Recently, the popular Baptist preacher Jimmy
Swaggart had been defrocked by the Assembly
of God leadership for refusing to stop preaching.
Jimmy was Jerry Lee Lewis's first cousin and
was a big TV star, and the news came as a shock.
He'd been linked to a prostitute, caught on
camera leaving her motel room in sweatpants.
Swaggart was ordered to vacate the pulpit
temporarily. He wept in public and asked
forgiveness, but still was told to stop preaching
for a while. He couldn't help himself, though,
and quickly went back to preaching as if nothing
had happened and they defrocked him. The
story was strange. Swaggart clearly wasn't in

86
good shape, hadn't looked at the road. The story
didn't make any sense. The Bible is full of these
things. A lot of those old kings and leaders had
many wives and concubines and Hosea the
Prophet was even married to a prostitute, and it
didn't stop him from being a holy man. But these
were different times and for Swaggart, it was the
end of the line. Reality can be overwhelming. It
can also be a shadow, depending on how you
look at it. As for me, I wondered what this harlot
might have looked like that lured this famous
preacher into rolling in the muck. A damsel of
tempting statuesque beauty? Probably. It would
have to be. If you paid any amount of mind to all
this Mickey Mouse stuff, the way these hoity-
toity people's doors and windows aren't shut
tight, you might end up in a private lunatic
asylum. This incident might have had something
to do with inspiring the song, but then again, it's
hard to say. Conceit is not necessarily a disease.
It's more of a weakness. A conceited person
could be set up easily and brought down
accordingly. Let's face it, a conceited person has
a fake sense of self-worth, an inflated opinion of
himself. A person like this can be controlled and
manipulated completely if you know what
buttons to push. So in a sense, that's what the
lyrics are talking about. The song rose up until I
could read the look in its eyes. In the quiet of the
evening I didn't have to hunt far for it. As
always, there were a few verses left behind.
There's a whole lot of people dreaming tonight
about the disease of conceit,
Whole lot of people screaming tonight about the
disease of conceit.

87
I'll hump ya and I'll dump ya and I'll blow your
house down.
I'll slice into your cake before I leave town.
Pick a number-take a seat, with the disease of
conceit.
This chapter and verse from Chronicles answers several largely
unanswerable questions. How did Dylan “pick up a nail?”
Judging from this allegory, I would say just as Hickey picked
it up in The Iceman Cometh, from a prostitute. Swaggart has
nothing to do with this poem.
As for me, I wondered what this harlot might
have looked like that lured this famous preacher
into rolling in the muck. A damsel of tempting
statuesque beauty? Probably. It would have to
be.
Why would Bob frequent a hooker? Were his sexual desires so
bizarre and jaded that only a prostitute would cater to them?
Did he favor big black hookers?
A conceited person could be set up easily and
brought down accordingly. Let's face it; a
conceited person has a fake sense of self-worth,
an inflated opinion of himself. A person like this
can be controlled and manipulated completely if
you know what buttons to push.
Is Bob implying that a conceited complacent person like
himself could be “set up” given HIV intentionally?

88
MAN IN THE LONG BLACK COAT 1989
Crickets are chirpin', the water is high
There's a soft cotton dress on the line hangin' dry,
Window wide open, African trees
Bent over backwards from a hurricane breeze.
Not a word of goodbye, not even a note
She gone with the man
In the long black coat.
AIDS INFECTION RATE IN AFRICA
WINDOW WIDE OPEN, AFRICAN TREES
“Crickets” other rock poets “chirp” let loose, let out, utter, emit
- express audibly; utter sounds (not necessarily words) are
writing about Dylan in the lyrics. In You Gonna Make Me
Lonesome When You Go Dylan wrote this about our recorded
telephone conversation in which I point out that many rock
poets are referencing him in their lyrics, “Crickets talking back
and forth in rhyme” “the water is high” and this time he is in
some deep water that might prove fatal: Highwater; “Highwater

89
rising, six inches above my head / Coffin's dropping in the
street like balloons made out of lead.” “There's a soft” there is
an unprotected against or vulnerable to attack: a soft target
“cotton dress” bandage, medication “on the line” on the battle
area closest to the enemy HIV virus, also telephone line
“hanging” remaining unresolved or uncertain: His future hung
in the balance. Also “hang on” as remain on the telephone
“dry” and lacking involvement as in ‘the actor gave a dry
reading of his lines.” “Window wide open” a window of
opportunity was wide open “African trees” to a disease, a
punishment, whose family tree could be traced back to Africa
“Bent” Hell bent, determined “over backwards” to cause my
White Blood Cells to be in the reverse of the usual direction.
Also “you have to bend over backwards as in anal intercourse,
to get AIDS” “from a hurricane” from an epidemic: something
resembling a hurricane in force and speed “breeze” that
progressed swiftly and effortlessly though the population
“Not a word” sarcastic, not the text of a vocal composition;
lyrics “of goodbye not even a note” not even a poem that
would be my own epitaph not even one musical note “She’s
gone with the man in the long black coat” Dylan is on the way
to funeral parlor accompanied by the undertaker.
Preacher was a talkin' there's a sermon he gave
He said every man's conscience is vile and depraved,
You cannot depend on it to be your guide
When it's you who must keep it satisfied.
“Preacher” Al “was a talkin'” spreading rumors; gossip
“there's a sermon he gave” there’s a lengthy and tedious
speech of reproof and exhortation he gave “He said every
man's conscience” he said Bob Dylan’s sense of right versus
wrong conduct “is vile” is not only wrong but it is

90
HE SAID BOB DYLAN’S CONSCIENCE
IS VILE AND DEPRAVED
repugnant to the senses, and turns your stomach and makes
you want to destroy him “and depraved” because it is morally
corrupt; perverted, totally the opposite of what it should be.
Since Dylan’s conscience was no more than some pleasure
driven insatiable appetite for drugs and sex “You cannot
depend on it to be your guide” he could not depend on an
addiction for moral guidance “When it's you who must keep it
satisfied” since you will always rationalize your own
pathological behavior because of the power the drug has over
you!
It ain't easy to swallow, it sticks in the throat
She gave her heart to the man

91
“It ain't easy to swallow” it ain't easy believing it without
question, especially because of its source “it sticks in the
throat” it is hard to accept, it cuts my throat, it is fatal “She
gave her heart” he surrendered the vital center and source of
his sensibilities “to the man / In the long black coat” to an
apparition of death.
There are no mistakes in life some people say
It is true sometimes you can see it that way.
But people don't live or die, people just float.
She went with the man
“There are no mistakes in life” there are no unintentional
errors in life “some people say” those who believe in
Freudianism say “It is true sometimes you can see it that way”
this is true in certain cases but not in this one because who
would subconsciously make a mistake of this magnitude since
“But people” people with HIV “don't live or die people just
float” don’t live or die but are in a constant state of suspended
animation between life and death and float from one
condition to the next; Tryin’ To Get To Heaven Before They Close
the Door 1997 “I can hear their hearts a-beatin’ like pendulums
swingin’ on chains” “She went with the man / In the long
black coat.”
MOST OF THE TIME 1989
Most of the time
I'm clear focused all around,
Most of the time
I can keep both feet on the ground
I can follow the path, I can read the signs,
Stay right with it, when the road unwinds,
I can handle whatever I stumble upon,

HUNGRY LIKE A MAN

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