Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues

Album: Highway 61 Revisited (1965)
Play Video
  • When you're lost in the rain
    In Juarez and it's Easter time, too
    And your gravity's down
    And negativity don't get you through
    Just don't put on any airs
    When you're down on Rue Morgue Avenue
    They got some hungry women there
    And they really make a mess out of you

    If you see Saint Annie
    Please tell her thanks a lot
    I cannot move, my fingers
    They are all even in a knot
    I don't have the strength
    To get up and take another shot
    And my best friend, my doctor
    Won't even say what it is I've got

    Sweet Melinda, the peasants call her
    The goddess of gloom
    She speaks good English
    And she invites you up into her room
    And you're so kind and careful
    Not to go to her too soon
    And she steals your voice
    And leaves you screaming at the moon

    Up on Housing Project Hill
    It's either fortune or fame
    You must pick one or the other
    Neither of them are to be what they claim
    If you're lookin' to get silly
    You better go back to from where you came
    Because the cops don't need you
    And man, they expect the same

    Now, all the authorities
    They just stand around and boast
    How they blackmailed the sergeant-at-arms
    Into getting up and leaving his post
    And picking up Angel
    Who just arrived from the coast
    Who looked so fine at first
    But left looking just like a ghost

    I started out on burgundy
    But soon hit the harder stuff
    Everybody said they'd stand behind me
    When the game got rough
    Yes, but the joke was on me
    There was nobody even there to call my bluff
    I'm going back to New York City
    I do believe I've had enough Writer/s: Bob Dylan
    Publisher: Universal Music Publishing Group
    Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Comments: 1

  • Armin from Dallas/fort WorthThis is just another reason why Highway 61 is Dylan's greatest album. Sorry, but Blonde on Blonde doesn't even get close. The Poe reference by Dylan is awesome; my two favorite authors tied together. Word is that Rue Morgue is a fictitious locale chosen by Poe for the very Parisian sound of the name.
see more comments

Editor's Picks

Donnie Iris (Ah! Leah!, The Rapper)

Donnie Iris (Ah! Leah!, The Rapper)Songwriter Interviews

Before "Rap" was a form of music, it was something guys did to pick up girls in nightclubs. Donnie talks about "The Rapper" and reveals the identity of Leah.

Leslie West of Mountain

Leslie West of MountainSongwriter Interviews

From the cowbell on "Mississippi Queen" to recording with The Who when they got the wrong Felix, stories from one of rock's master craftsmen.

Ed Roland of Collective Soul

Ed Roland of Collective SoulSongwriter Interviews

The stories behind "Shine," "December," "The World I Know" and other Collective Soul hits.

Richie Wise (Kiss producer, Dust)

Richie Wise (Kiss producer, Dust)Songwriter Interviews

Richie talks about producing the first two Kiss albums, recording "Brother Louie," and the newfound appreciation of his rock band, Dust.

Carol Kaye

Carol KayeSongwriter Interviews

A top session musician, Carol played on hundreds of hits by The Beach Boys, The Monkees, Frank Sinatra and many others.

John Lee Hooker

John Lee HookerSongwriter Interviews

Into the vaults for Bruce Pollock's 1984 conversation with the esteemed bluesman. Hooker talks about transforming a Tony Bennett classic and why you don't have to be sad and lonely to write the blues.