3 Times Bob Dylan Cracked a Joke in His Lyrics

Bob Dylan isn’t an artist who leaned on humor often. Most of his songs are rife with sobering and consequential takes on society, politics, and religion. However, Dylan has cracked a joke a time or two in his lyrics. Find three of our favorite humorous Dylan lyrics, below.

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3 Times Bob Dylan Cracked a Joke in His Lyrics

1. I’m sittin’ on my watch, so I can be on time (“Bye and Bye”)

Dylan makes a familiar quip in “Bye and Bye”: I’m sittin’ on my watch, so I can be on time. This line is not so much a belly laugh as it is a knowing chuckle, but it’s a welcomed moment of humor in Dylan’s otherwise weighty catalog.

2. He said, ‘My friend, Bob, what do we need to make the country grow?’ I said, ‘My friend, John, Brigitte Bardot, Anita Ekberg, Sophia Loren’ (“I Shall Be Free”)

The entirety of “I Shall Be Free” is one joke after the next. Dylan aims to be lighthearted on this vignette of life in the ’60s. Despite referencing things like segregation, politics, and pandering to the masses, he comments on them via a comedic lens. It was no doubt a much-needed laugh in the face of hardship for listeners of the era.

The lines above are some of the best in “I Shall Be Free.” Dylan “gets a call” from President Kennedy, asking him how he thinks the country can “Grow.” Though Kennedy likely meant the economy, the folk singer lists some of the most beautiful women of the day: Brigitte Bardot, Anita Ekberg, Sophia Loren. It seems even the great Dylan isn’t shy of a crass joke every now and then.

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3. The man said, ‘Get out of here, I’ll tear you limb from limb’. I said, ‘You know, they refused Jesus, too’, he said, ‘You’re not him’ (“Bob Dylan’s 115th Dream”)

Like “I Shall Be Free,” Dylan uses comedy to speak on a typically heavy subject in “Bob Dylan’s 115th Dream.” He recounts his own version of America’s “discovery” by Christopher Columbus. Like the famed explorer, Dylan happens upon land that is already inhabited. He uses his knack for storytelling to make his version of this tale far less grave than the reality.

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