I listen to a lot of Dylan these days … has he ever sworn on any song?
Bob and swearing
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Musings on the byways of popular culture
Musings on the byways of popular culture
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I listen to a lot of Dylan these days … has he ever sworn on any song?
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Yep – the first that jumps to mind is The Hurricane. “Had no idea what kinda shit was about to go down”. Also features an N bomb for good measure.
I’m sure there are others, not least “play fuckin loud”.
Hurricane was released as a single & was played quite a bit on Capital Radio. The offending “Shit” was beeped out, so whenever I hear it now, I want to add that “beep”
It’s alright I’m only bleeding
Blind Willie McTell
Girl From The North C..
Country doesn’t count.
But anyhow … loads then (if you count shit) … no f bombs?
If Not, Fuck You
Very droll.
Bleeding. A great cockernee swear. Always expertly delivered by Wilfred Brambell as Harold Steptoe Snr.
At the time of the release of Rough and Rowdy some friends and I were debating this.
Black Rider contains the word “cock” which we thought may be the first use of swearing. Cock is a swear word isn’t it?
https://www.google.com/search?q=black+rider+dylan+lyrics&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-gb&client=safari#ebo=3
Unless it’s a reference to the rooster in Don’t Think Twice.
This is one of those where context matters, like when the Pistols were charged with obscenity for using Bollocks (spoiler alert: not guilty).
Similarly:
“Prick my boil” sound medical advice.
“Boil my prick” not so much.
I am very dim – I didn’t realise until watching that Pistols biopic thingy the real meaning/pronounciation of Pretty Vacant.
Surely Cock is not a swear word?
We live in a very protected bubble these days.
Well, apropos the thread question, it’s the closest you’ll get in Dylan lyrics.
To paraphrase Dorothy Parker, it’s hard to tell – particularly with his later work. All those slurred mumblings could contain a host of obscenities and cuss words.
“Later work” presumably excludes the last ten years or so. His diction has been exemplary in his twilight.