BOB DYLAN BLUES
words and music by Syd Barrett
from the "Best of" album
transcribed by James
"Bob Dylan Blues" is one of Syd's earliest songs, supposedly written in 1963
after seeing Dylan. The chorus sounds a bit like "Hard Rain's Gonna Fall."
It has what is probably the most traditional structure of any Syd song;
it follows a verse/verse/chorus progression with a intro/outro that changes keys.
Somehow, the recording is off by a quarter-step. To play along with the disc,
you have to tune your guitar up a quarter-step. (Remember, not a full half-step,
a quarter-step!!)
I might have misheard a lyric or two; specifically, the line in the forth verse
about his wallet and something else are fat. I think he says cat!?
Are the lyrics about Dylan making money a response to some folk cry of sellout?
Lastly, Syd fumbles up the chords in the first chorus. Instead of writing out
what is obviously a mistake, I have instead written how the chords are played in the
remaining two choruses.
Intro: G D GE---3--------------2-------------3--------------2-------------|B---0--------------3-------------0--------------3-------------|G---0--------------2------0h2p0--0--------------2------0h2p0--|D---0-------0------0--0h2--------0-------0------0--0h2--------|A---2---0h2---2--0---------------2---0h2---2--0---------------|E---3----------------------------3----------------------------|
C G A D GE---0-------------3---0----2---3------|B---1-------------0---2----3---0------|G---0------0------0---2----2---0------|D---2--0h2---2--0-0---2----0---0------|A---3-------------2---0--------2------|E-----------------3------------3------|
C
Got the Bob Dylan blues
F
And the Bob Dylan shoes
C G
And my clothes and my hair's in a mess
G C
But you know I just couldn't care less
Gonna write me a song
'Bout what's right and what's wrong
About God and my girl an' all that
Quiet while I make like a cat
Chorus:
C G
'Cause I'm a poet, don't you know it
C F
And the wind, you can blow it
F G
'Cause I'm Mr. Dylan, the king
G C
And I'm free as a bird on the wing
Roam from town to town
Guess, I get people down
But I don't care too much about that
'Cause my cat and my wallet are fat
Make a whole lotta dough
But I deserve it though
I got soul and good heart of gold
So I'll sing bout war and the cold
Chorus & repeat intro
Well, I sings bout dreams
and I rhymes it with seams
and it seams that my dream always means
but I can prophesy all kinds of things
Well, the guy that digs me
Should try hard to see
That he buys all my discs in a hat
And when I'm in town go see that
Chorus & repeat intro