As in: Media

So I've been listening to Dylan quite a bit in the past two years (as opposed to before that, when I only had his acoustic greatest hits). As I cycle through the five albums I have, "Motorpsycho Nightmare" consistently pops up as a favorite. Here are some lyrics:

There stood Rita
Lookin' just like Tony Perkins.
She said, "Would you like to take a shower?
I'll show you up to the door."
I said, "Oh, no! no!
I've been through this before."
I knew I had to split
But I didn't know how,
When she said,
"Would you like to take that shower, now?"

Well, I couldn't leave
Unless the old man chased me out,
'Cause I'd already promised
That I'd milk his cows.
I had to say something
To strike him very weird,
So I yelled out,
"I like Fidel Castro and his beard."
Rita looked offended
But she got out of the way,
As he came charging down the stairs
Sayin', "What's that I heard you say?"

I said, "I like Fidel Castro,
I think you heard me right,"
And ducked as he swung
At me with all his might.
Rita mumbled something
'Bout her mother on the hill,
As his fist hit the icebox,
He said he's going to kill me
If I don't get out the door
In two seconds flat,
"You unpatriotic,
Rotten doctor Commie rat."

Well, he threw a Reader's Digest
At my head and I did run,

It's the mix of Americana that I like in this song. Evoking Psycho, the classic "farmer's daughter and the traveling salesman" jokes, the fact that the farmer would be rabidly anti-communist, and that he throws a Reader's Digest. He also says things like "ten thousand miles today I drove."

Posted by briley at March 2, 2005 5:15 AM