I Shall Be Free

Commentary


I Shall be Free
 is based on Leadbelly’s We Shall Be Free.

The lyrics are Dylan’s own creation. The song contains one of the relatively rare examples of Dylan getting a bit risqué:

Well, my telephone rang it would not stop,
It’s President Kennedy callin’ me up.
He said, “My friend, Bob, what do we need to make the country grow?”
I said, “My friend, John, Brigitte Bardot,Anita Ekberg, Sophia Loren.”

I don’t think Dylan referring to the growth of the Gross National Product.

Babatunde Olatunji get a name-check. Olatunji was a fairly well-known and influential jazz musician in New York City in the sixties. He released Drums of Passion in 1959, a recording that introduced African drumming to many Americans for the first time. Born in 1927 in Nigeria, Olatunji influenced many musicians in both the jazz and rock fields, including John Coltrane and Carlos Santana.

The lyrics on the original recording are substantially different than the lyrics available on bobdylan.com. On the website, the politician is “eating bullshit” and his girlfriend wants him to grow a “cigar” on his face, among many other changes. This difference is something of a mystery since Dylan has never played the song live after a performance at Gerde’s Folk City in May 1962. That performance occurred before the song was recorded for the album.


Lyrics

Well, I took me a woman late last night,
I’s three-fourths drunk, she looked uptight.
She took off her wheel, took off her bell,
Took off her wig, said, “How do I smell?”
I hot-footed it . . . bare-naked . . .
Out the window!

Well, sometimes I might get drunk,
Walk like a duck and stomp like a skunk.
Don’t hurt me none, don’t hurt my pride
‘Cause I got my little lady right by my side.
(Right there
Proud as can be)

I’s out there paintin’ on the old woodshed
When a can a black paint it fell on my head.
I went down to scrub and rub
But I had to sit in back of the tub.
(Cost a quarter
And I had to get out quick . . .
Someone wanted to come in and take a sauna)

Well, my telephone rang it would not stop,
It’s President Kennedy callin’ me up.
He said, “My friend, Bob, what do we need to make the country grow?”
I said, “My friend, John, Brigitte Bardot,
Anita Ekberg,
Sophia Loren.”
(Put ’em all in the same room with Ernest Borgnine!)

Well, I got a woman sleeps on a cot,
She yells and hollers and squeals a lot.
Licks my face and tickles my ear,
Bends me over and buys me beer.
(She’s a honeymooner
A June crooner
A spoon feeder
And a natural leader)

Oh, there ain’t no use in me workin’ so heavy,
I got a woman who works on the levee.
Pumping that water up to her neck,
Every week she sends me a monthly check.
(She’s a humdinger
Folk singer
Dead ringer
For a thing-a-muh jigger)

Late one day in the middle of the week,
Eyes were closed I was half asleep.
I chased me a woman up the hill,
Right in the middle of an air raid drill.
It was Little Bo Peep!
(I jumped a fallout shelter
I jumped a bean stalk
I jumped a ferris wheel)

Now, the man on the stand he wants my vote,
He’s a-runnin’ for office on the ballot note.
He’s out there preachin’ in front of the steeple,
Tellin’ me he loves all kinds-a people.
(He’s eatin’ bagels
He’s eatin’ pizza
He’s eatin’ chitlins
He’s eatin’ bullshit!)

Oh, set me down on a television floor,
I’ll flip the channel to number four.
Out of the shower comes a grown-up man
With a bottle of hair oil in his hand.
(It’s that greasy kid stuff.
What I want to know, Mr. Football Man, is
What do you do about Willy Mays and Yul Brynner,
Charles de Gaulle
And Robert Louis Stevenson?)

Well, the funniest woman I ever seen
Was the great-granddaughter of Mr. Clean.
She takes about fifteen baths a day,
Wants me to grow a cigar on my face.
(She’s a little bit heavy!)

Well, ask me why I’m drunk alla time,
It levels my head and eases my mind.
I just walk along and stroll and sing,
I see better days and I do better things.
(I catch dinosaurs
I make love to Elizabeth Taylor . . .
Catch hell from Richard Burton!)

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