I Am a Lonesome Hobo

About I Am a Lonesome Hobo

"I Am A Lonesome Hobo" is a song written and recorded by Bob Dylan, released in 1967 on his eighth studio album, John Wesley Harding. The lyrics to "I Am A Lonesome Hobo" tells of the typical riches to rags tradition, where a man openly admits to being a hobo having "tried my hand at bribery, Blackmail and deceit", yet has "served time for ev'rything 'cept beggin' on the street". Dylan's style of writing often leans towards writing ballads that present his listeners with a chance to get inside the minds of social outcasts, a perspective that everyday people may overlook or misunderstand. This "hobo" has seen it all, once being an affluent yet selfish man unable to trust anybody, including his own brother. The hobo's isolation began not with his loss of wealth but with the effect that wealth had upon him in the first place. As the song reaches its final verse, the hobo offers advice to the common people as he plans to continue his misinterpreted wandering, asking them to, "stay free from petty jealousies, live by no man's code, and hold your judgment for yourself lest you wind up on this road". Within his solitariness, the hobo has found a certain philosophical stability, leaving him standing in the garb of a prophet rather than a beggar. This hobo's warning before his departure holds true to the writing style Dylan approaches with the ending of many of his songs, offering a lyrically and vocally driven picture of a life that is not typically lived or even considered. more »

Year:

2010

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I am a lonesome hobo
Without family or friends
Where another man's life might begin
That's exactly where mine ends
I have tried my hand at bribery
Blackmail and deceit
And I've served time for everything
'Cept beggin' on the street

Well, once I was rather prosperous
There was nothing I did lack
I had fourteen-karat gold in my mouth
And silk upon my back
But I did not trust my brother
I carried him to blame
Which led me to my fatal doom
To wander off in shame

Kind ladies and kind gentlemen
Soon I will be gone
But let me just warn you all
Before I do pass on
Stay free from petty jealousies
Live by no man's code
And hold your judgment for yourself
Lest you wind up on this road

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Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan ( /ˈdɪlən/; born Robert Allen Zimmerman; May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter, musician, author, poet and artist. He has been an influential figure in popular music and culture for more than five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly reluctant figurehead of social unrest. A number of Dylan's early songs, such as "Blowin' in the Wind" and "The Times They Are a-Changin'", became anthems for the US civil rights and anti-war movements. Leaving his initial base in the culture of folk music behind, Dylan's six-minute single "Like a Rolling Stone" has been described as radically altering the parameters of popular music in … more »

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