The clip of Bob Dylan getting off his plane with a camera and taking photos of the paparazzi that are taking pictures of him always cracks me up

I've always seen the sword-swallower as Dylan himself. Kneeling down to the media at first so he could use their voice (or throat). He then took it and used it to speak and get his ideas out into the world. Then when he was all done with it, he asks them how it feels, making them think about something real. After that he dropped the media and went on to use his own throat; "here is your throat back, thanks for the loan."

Last time I was this early to a video, Dylan hadn't gone electric yet

Should have shown the clip when Dylan was asked if he thought of himself as a singer or a poet. Dylan’s response - “I consider myself more of a song and dance man”

Bob Dylan aside from being a songwriter and performer is such an interesting figure of the 20th Century, I love the Beatles but he is something totally different on his own, it’s really quite something. The way that he can paint a picture of a fictionalized version of himself in songs like this is so ahead of its time for me

The more dylan content you have the more respect you get👍👍👍

Lou reed also played with the press a lot. Some of his early interviews are epic.

I always feel like Polyphonic looks at my recently listened to and then makes a video. Ballad of a Thin Man has been on heavy rotation recently and I love this song. Good video as always

Love him. He's just genius.

Really love the aesthetic on this video dude

Polyphonic making a video about bob dylan? Liked already

" Mr Jones" is a generality. Dylan was always talking about society. Mr Jones is a common name, someone on one "side" of society...a square, not hip. Dylan was the New Voice. Not necessarily just a blanket "other side", but more as a reporter of the burgeoning Youth Movement. The press was naive at this time, old school. It could have been Mr. Smith. But phonetically, Jones just sounds better to use.

When I listened to this song the first time it hit me like a brick. Some of the greatest rock and roll writing out there

the eagle picks my eyes, worms they lick my bones feel so suicidal just like Dylans Mr. Jones

back when artists, musicians and actors did not tow the line of the media

I really like your channel. I can tell you are very passionate about music (as am I) and you do a great job of explaining music and its backstories. Keep up the good work!

Thank you for this. Ballad of a Thin Man is my all time favorite Dylan song

Wow, the look and style of your videos have really gotten sophisticated

Could you make a video about Rory Ghallagher? I think that’d be awesome!

Awesome! This song always felt, to me, like Dylan had just finished Naked Lunch and was using that “twisted-circus” setting to make the Mr. Jones character feel dizzy and lost. It feels so hot and hazy, I can smell the smoke in the room.

Wait how are you still on 500K subs only? You deserve more than a million. I love your content

You just keep getting better and better. Love your videos!

You're content is always top notch! Thanks dude.

Went to a concert in Kilkenny, Ireland, with Young and Dylan and he opened with this song. The ground shook and people roared it was incredible

The complete works of Bob Dylan is staggering. No one wrote songs as good or original as Dylan. He is in a category of his own no one else comes close not even Cohen or Mitchell.

The sword-swallower line is so clever. Mr Jones had loaned his throat (perhaps a metaphor for something else) without realising. The Sword-swallower, having slashing up the insides of it with swords, (again, metaphor) gives it back, and only then Mr Jones realises he's been out done by the younger, smarter, freaky generation of the 1960s. That's how I've always imagined it.

You've just got yourself a new subscriber, love your work!

One day someone will do a video on Polyphonic because these videos are great. I’m trying to learn about music and interesting stories and moments and you’ve summed them up cleanly and beautifully. Please. Don’t stop.

you are killing it upload after upload dude, well done

To this day, this remains one of your strongest pieces...I come back to it every so often and get more out of each time!! I think Dylan brings out the best in you; although I love all your Led Zeppelin pieces as well. Can sense your passion and you clearly have thought long and hard about it---keep up the good work!!(and Dylan content;)!!!

Really enjoy watching your videos man! Lots of insight. I know it might be an ambitious task but In My Time of Dying by Led is downright my favorite song by them & filled with imagery you could play with! Love it man, thanks!!

I've been waiting so long for this episode!!

I didn't know the history to this song, but it has long been my favorite songs of Dylan's. Thanks for shedding some light!!!

Damn, you're a great essayist. Another masterpiece. I would LOVE to see you do a video on Tom Waits or Ween.

I'm a simple woman. I saw Bob Dylan and I clicked

I love music. I'm 25 and every year of my life i have appreciated music more and more, and now i make my own music. Life without music isnt worth living in my opinion. Music has literally saved my life in more than one way. I see my friends and family talk about or listen to music in such an unaffected and stoic manner compared to me. It's like some people just don't hear good music the way others do. I think to some music is an addictive drug, whereas to some it's just catchy noises.

Being that Dylan is still living, I can't help but wonder what he thinks of your analysis...

your videos are freaking great!

Loved the video. Bob Dylan is a favorite of mine. Also a video request I have is on Kendrick's To Pimp A Butterfly album. Favorite rapper right now.

This my Favorite of his Works, It's Dark Vibe, & Rag Time/Blues Piano are what I strive for on the Keys..

"His movement" Dylan was insistant that he didn't belong to any movement.

These vids are beautifully mad dude! Keep it up

Amazing video. An absolute joy to watch

Another fantastic video. Thanks for your work!

Another great one, sir! Of course, he became prescient as well, when in the live version he changed the last line to make Mr. Jones at all times wear a telephone!

Hands down, best music video essays on the internet

Very informative and interesting, well done!

some of the best videos on the internet right now thanks for another great video

Was eagerly waiting for another Dylan video. Do make more

This was great! I was just thinking that you should put out another Dylan video 2 days ago and then "Oh hey look...!"

I feel like all you need in life is The Beatles, Bob Dylan, Sam Cooke, Neil Young ... and someone to listen to them with.

Incredible timing!

Amazing video !!!

Fantastic breakdown of this tune man

You should do a vid on Phil Ochs. Really interesting guy.

Always love your videos

Love the last Dylan video, loved this one as well!

One of my two favorite Dylan's songs, was also very much loved by Huey Newton and the Black Panthers' commanders who, allegedly, wrote their programme to its soundtrack.

Reminds me of sick-of-the-press NBA players

Mr Jones is an institution asking questions that lead nowhere while actively (if unconsciously) working to fetishize the freaks, and Mr Jones is a freak who refuses to face himself and come out of denial. I dig it, and this probably explains why I like the song so much more now than I used to.

I love your videos, but I also like to imagine that sometimes the artist actually didn't carefully craft their song to have a complicated poetical meaning and that they just thought it sounded good. I once went to a modern art museum and took a tour where the artist was present. after talking about one of his pieces and explaining all of the emotional baggage behind it, the tour guide asked the artist if he was correct. The artist answered with "No, it just looked good, so I kept it." I like to think that sometimes music is the same way, and artists just use peoples interpretations as a meaning so people stop asking about it. Led Zepplin's "Stairway to Heaven" for example, I always kind of thought that they might have put a message in that song, but it was mostly just a song that sounded good. That's why I always find it almost funny when I see people analyzing any form of art. That said, I really do love your videos, you clearly are well-read and know what you're talking about.

Great content, as always.

My TOP 5 Dylan Songs: 5. Jokerman 4. As i went out one morning 3. Changing of the guards 2. One more cup of coffee 1. Ballad of a thin man

Was literally just listening to Dylan! Love your videos

Very well put.

Could you maybe do a video on all the strange, cryptic, abstract, and surreal lyrics of a lot of punk, indie, and alternative bands and artists. It's a surprisingly common and prevalent aspect of that particular kind of music and I almost never seem to hear anyone discuss it.

The piano part from "I believe to my soul" by Ray Charles so that's where Dylan came up with the piano dirge part that he plays on "Ballard of a thin man" and I also love the analyg of the song I have highway 61 revisited on CD where that song is from.love the references and the phrasing of the lyrics.DYLAN IS THE MAN!!! Thanks for the info about the song.

This is probably my all time favorite Dylan song.. Thank you so much!!

Your Dylan videos are my favorite

Ballad of Hollis Brown or North Country Blues are definitely his darkest songs. This video was amazing. Thanks!! Keep em coming

Polyphonic so the nature force. I really appreciate your work man.

Great video once again, Polyphonic. Is there a possibility you could make a video decoding 21st Century Breakdown (by Green Day)’s story?

Been a Dylan fan for 25 years and know most of his songs by heart but the number of them where I'm sure what I know what he's talking about is probably in the single digits. It's stream of consciousness poetry that's beautiful and I don't try to dissect it. Some lines I hear for years and they just pass thru my brain w/o making contact and then something in my life will happen, a new experience and then the next time I hear that "nonsense lyric" I burst out laughing coz I finally have something to associate it with. I still don't think it means "I've understood what he was talking about" only that I finally related to something he said in a song.

Good lord dude you never fail to deliver great content

Almost forgot to say I appreciate your interpretations and thank you for posting 💟

Very interesting video, but could you do a video about Woody Guthrie?

Great work

Love the videos about Dylan, I’d love something about The Velvet Underground

If I'm understanding this correctly, these reporters were trying to understand Dylan almost as anthropologists, but were taking an ethnocentric approach (or etic vs emic approach if you know the vocabulary). Interesting application here; nice video.

You should make, a podcast Where you just upload the audio from your videos. Would love to listen to them while i work.

Then who is Mr. Jones in the Counting Crows song? Where Dylan is even mentioned in

Oh hell yeah! Love dylan content and definitely from your channel!

I heard this song as a child through my older brothers. Just watching "Peaky Blinders" tonight and they are using a really good rendition of this song in an episode. I forgot how damn old this song is!

Great graphics! Work perfectly.

Brilliant analysis

This is so amazing, can youvplease make a video on blind willie mc'tell?

I genuinely believe that this channel makes the best content on KZfaq. Not even joking

The one song he wrote later that came close to Ballad of a Thin Man was This Wheel's on Fire from The Basement Tapes. It has a similar feel and vibe.

Graphics winner n challenging Super summary 👌

Great video on probably my second favorite Dylan song.

I'd love to have a beer with the guy that narrates these videos

Hey man! Would love to buy merch because I dig your videos but how come the link doesn't work?

That’s a tack piano Dylan is playing. That’s a a standard piano with tacks applied to the hammers inside to create a more metallic sound that eliminates the sustain.

one of my favorite Dylan songs!

THIS WAS A GREAT VIDEO THANKS

the best on YT

That’s cool! Somehow, even from the very first listen, I had always had this vision of ‘the thin man’ as being a member of the press.

Honestly, i looked up some bob dylan backstory like 4 days ago and then today i find this drops like near the day i was looking into it.

Damn, that intro was smooth af