The most famous version of this song is, of course, that by Jimi Hendrix.
I was long unaware that Dylan had written it. When I did hear the original, I preferred it. The spare production allows the lyrics to come through. The steady, relentless drum beat becomes the sound of galloping hooves.
The song is not just a protest song, of its time...., nor particularly rooted in folk song traditions. The influences are said to come from biblical scriptures.
[ Isaiah, Ch 21, verses 5–9 ]
"There must be some kind of way out of here,"
Said the joker to the thief
"There's too much confusion
I can't get no relief.
Businessmen, they drink my wine
Plowmen dig my earth
None of them along the line
Know what any of it is worth."
"No reason to get excited,"
The thief, he kindly spoke.
"There are many here among us
Who feel that life is but a joke.
But you and I, we've been through that
And this is not our fate
So let us not talk falsely now
The hour is getting late."
