I always saw "The sun's not yellow, it's chicken." as megalomania. The commander-in-chief has become so powerful that he thinks the sun is actually frightened of him. Of course, there is no single meaning to the line.

You should definitely hear the song “Bob Dylan’s 115th Dream”

Sometimes I think Dylan's not necessarily trying to tell a story. Sometimes he's just playing with words.

"Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues" is a great one as well. Worth your time.

Belle Starr was a notorious outlaw who ran with Jesse and Frank James and their gang. She became famous after her death, about which there is some controversy. Boot Hill was a common name for the cemeteries in the Wild West days. Maybe that's the 'hill' Dylan is referring to? The chorus is what hits me hard. Mama cooking without shoes, Papa in the alley looking for food. These were desperate people, with little hope.

Mike Bloomfield is the lead guitarist on this. Outside of working with Dylan, he was best known for working with the Paul Butterfield Blues Band.

Cecil B. DeMille was a director of movies with physically large scenes. He directed "The Ten Commandments" in which there are pillars and hills and deaths.

The whole album is magical, culminating in the epic "Desolation Row". It draws in historical and fictional characters, juxtaposing them in crazy but thought provoking ways. Intriguing interpretation of a very cryptic track... I've always thought the "city fathers... Paul Revere's horse" was a reference to the insane Caesar Caligula, who made his horse a Roman senator. As for the rap, Dylan was probably the "first white rapper" with his song "Subterranean Homesick Blues".

The statement about wondering if Dylan is a journalist- is fantastic observation. I've never seen him that way before, but it rings true.

Being yellow and being chicken are both slag terms for being cowardly, it's a play on words.

I remember the moment, maybe twelve years old, catching "...but the town has no need to be nervous," and realizing its statement about the politicians not getting anything done. I made eye contact with my dad, a giant Dylan fan, and cracked up laughing.

"the sun is not yellow, it´s chicken" - Lyndon B Johnson quote

You need to do the whole album, Syed. This is Dylan at his supreme best. Musically, lyrically, absolutely astonishing! If you never hear another Dylan track, "Highway 61 Revisited" is absolutely essential. Difficult to fully appreciate this today because so much of the innovation has passed on to subsequent rock music. But I still recall hearing the album for the first time and was completely blown away - December 28th 1965. The date is burnt into my memory. Absolutely stunned by what I was listening to despite already being a dedicated Dylan fan. "Bringing It All Back Home" had some very interesting, transitional tracks in it but "Highway" was a New World of music. It's very difficult to understand much of the lyrics' references because Dylan was involved with the mid-60s counter-culture around Ginsberg and Warhol etc and I suspect many of the "characters" refer to actual people in that culture and Dylan identifies them by attaching them to well known historical or fictional personalities and stories. I suspect only a knowledge of that culture would explain. But the chorus, however, isn't difficult to understand - it keeps dragging you back to this - no matter what your concerns and interests it's still poverty that should be your primary concern.

The verse about Delilah and the tears on her cheek from laughter, and sending out for some pillars and Cecil B. DeMille, is a reference to Cecil B. DeMille's 1949 film Samson and Delilah, a biblical epic which involves love seduction, and being betrayed to the Philistines. Whoever the "Brother Bill" is he's referring to in the verse seems to want to have some biblical experience. Which could mean just about anything where Dylan is concerned.

O K I waited and you are totally making it worth the wait.

Blind Willie McTell!

Lyrics in the abstract are meant for the abstract and unconscious or superconcious of the person/soul. Our minds not only see things in the concrete but we also see through that abstract mind

To me, the drums always sound like they’re slightly too fast, slightly ahead of the rest, which makes the whole thing feel like it’s veering towards the edge of a cliff. It’s one of my favourites on what is my favourite album. It seems incredible that the drummer - Bobby Gregg - was able to maintain this insane beat for 6 minutes. I think he deserves an award, or an olympic medal or something. I play drums a bit myself and I still can’t work out if it’s an illusion that they’re slightly out or not.

The way you dive into Dylan’s lyrics is just fantastic.

I've listened to this song probably a thousand times. I've sort of absorbed it but have never tried to figure it out. The imagery is enough for me.

Paul Revere is known for his famous line in 1775, "The British are coming." This line was not heard again until the British Invasion of the 1960s. Although this time I think they were welcomed.😉

Love it been listening to this track for forty lus years the suns not yellow its chicken is my favorite line

Cecil B. Mille was a Hollywood director, known for making epics such as _The 10 Commandments_ (1956). Brother Bill is not as obvious, but likely preacher Billy Graham.

Dylan, in the early and mid 60s, was influence by Beat poets. One of his close friends was Alan Ginsberg, a Beat poet.

One of the hardest Dylan songs to analyse, and you did a fantastic job. It'd take me many listens to reach that level of understanding.

He doesn't care that you understand it! He's looking at the"Italian Poets from the 14th century" Evocative.He wants to evoke Practicality. He roots for the underdog whether he notices or not. He'd just call them songs. .... WOW

Mike Bloomfield, the guitarist, was one of the best. Born in Chicago, he played at the blues clubs, and with Paul Butterfield. Elvin Bishop also played in that classic blues band. Check them out from Monterey Pop 1965. This is one my favorite Dylan jams, and Bloomfield puts the jam in it.✌️❤️🎶

Dylan is hilarious. I love his historical references and name-dropping. This is one of my favorites on my all-time favorite album. You have to do Desolation Row.

U finally hit this bad boy ....so few reactors do this masterpiece & it bums me out.

All of the above. So many songs to suggest. I’ll suggest…”Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands”. “Percy’s Song”, “New Pony”, “Call Letter Blues”, “Gotta Serve Somebody”.

If there's a Dylan album to do a full reaction to, Highway 61 is a great place to start. It's great all around. You've already heard Like A Rolling Stone, Ballad of a Thin Man ( I think?) and now Tombstone Blues, but the rest of the album is great. Don't miss out on it, brother.

The guitarist is Mike Bloomfield. Bloomfield was also the guitarist on Dylan's first electric performance of, Like a Rolling Stone.

Chicago blues guitarist Mike Bloomfield featured prominently on this album

The reason Dylan's songs felt so compelling in this era was not only the surreal images he lays out, but the musicians he uses to create the backdrop. Again, the gorgeous blues, rock backdrop he fashions for the listener is represented by Michael Bloomfield, the hottest blues guitarist of his time. He was on fire when these studio tracks were made and Dylan was aware he had this special artist to give his stories a one of a kind backdrop. Bloomfield died young of heroine overdose but he loved being part of Dylan's creations in those years. Sometimes I listen to you try to find too much meaning in these early masterpieces. But, I enjoy listening to you explore this old material as I don't think much can measure up to these early period treasures. Not all his songs are meant to have literal meanings. This is one of our great artist's first attempts at stretching what is possible in new American pop music. I would love for Dylan to sit down with you and have a conversation about these time, but at 82, or however old he is now it is pretty unlikely. I am 75 and have enjoyed the adventure and ride of listening to Dylan since the very beginning. I am glad you are enjoying this body of work.

Mike Bloomfield was on lead guitar. He also played with Dylan when he first went electric at the Newport folk fest in 1965.

Cecil B DeMille was was an American film director, producer and actor. Between 1914 and 1958, he made 70 features, both silent and sound films. Very clever lyrics from Bob as usual. Please do some Leonard Cohen, you will be blown away with his work. The guitar on Highway 61 and Blonde On Blonde is Michael Bloomfield.

This was an absolute blast. Thanks.

Or masters of war

Cecil B De Mille was an early film director in Hollywood, specialising in "swords and sandals", i.e Ten Commandments/Romans etc, with massive sets and thousands of extras.

I didn't expect to be able to live in a world where ODB and Bob Dylan would be compared in the same sentence. For that you have my eternal gratitude. You rock bro.

Love your reactions, my friend!

The Commander-in-Chief 1965, when the song was recorded, was LBJ, President Lyndon Baines Johnson. He was a Texan, and was a macho-type. Dylan is playing on that.

Are you stretching to try to find meaning and narrative? Yes, for sure. Does that make you part of a very cool club? Absolutely. It's art: any interpretation is valid, and what you find says more about you than the art itself. Brilliant reaction.

That thin, wild, mercury sound! Your channel is a joy.

Note that the last line in one stanza always rhymes with the last line in the following stanza - boys in & poison - sick in & chicken. Brilliant writing. And this is a great jam as well.

Love your reactions to Dylan.

ODB! Totally. I’ve never thought of that connection. Spot on.

It takes quite a mind to jump into Bob Dylan's head. Like it!👍💙

You're instant analysis is impressive, interesting and valuable food for thought. I don't think anyone else is doing it, or maybe can't do it. Are you right? I don't know but it's not important that I do. Thanks a lot.

Yay thank you for covering!! I agree with some of the others: it would be really cool for you to do an analysis video on the entire album Highway 61 Revisited.

Mike Bloomfield is the guitarist. He plays on almost all the tracks on this album. I believe you have a video about Dylan going 'lectric at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival. Bloomfield is the lead guitarist there. Dylan is playing rythmn guitar.

Great song

"It's chicken"...can mean "scared"...being yellow can also mean "scared". The sun's color is yellow but it isn't yellow...it's scared. Remember, he could be rhyming lines because it sounds cool, much like John Lennon sometimes did.

This is a Dylan song that doesn't come to my mind a lot when thinking about great Dylan songs. It's in my top thirty Dylan playlist though. I currently have 63 songs on this playlist. When I finally shorten the list, this will still be on it.

"Positively 4th Street", "Masters Of War", "Just Like A Women", "I Want You", "Neighborhood Bully", "Man In The Long Black Coat".. I could keep typing.

"chicken" = "coward". "The sun is not yellow (as in cowardice), it's chicken (cowardly)."

Love this song. One of the mighty on that album.

In my humble opinion one of if the best choures ever written

Cecil B. DeMille was a famous film director in early Hollywood. Big sweeping films like The Ten Commandments and - ahem - Samson and Delilah

He seems to be trying to get a hold of life in his own particularly crazy way. I mean tombstone blues hit's me as some death-related idea, but a tombstone is, in a certain way, also a mention of life, and existence, and especially of history, because of the characters and images he conjures relating to his present. So Tombstone blues is, to me, like the materialization of his very original, poetically abstract, and arbitrary way of thinking about life through its blood history and present, both always merged and intertwined

Dylan is about pictures in your mind and what results. Every line stands alone, but he weaves them into the next image, in such a way that makes you reimagine the first picture. Early Dylan was such a trip into your imagination. I'm 50 years on from first listening and still go down new Highways when I listen to him. A minstrel of the human condition is my best summation of Bobby.

You'll wear yourself out trying to imagine what storylines Dylan is trying to string together. The real star of this song is the music, cadence and energy that pulls you through this whirlwind peek inside Dylan's ability to bounce abstract images off the gorgeous music his band is creating. Again, Michael Bloomfield the most talented blues guitar on the planet is the star of this "thought dream". Dylan says at this time, there is just nobody that could play like he could. Bob harnessed him for a brief period, loved the finish products he came away with, pulled listeners into the sound and loved the finished product. Bloomfield was always one that people sought to harness but sadly he burned out quickly trying to understand his gifts. He died quite young in Marin county North of San Francisco but was loved dearly by Dylan. Incredible talent can be a burden. Hardly anyone has ever rode that gift of talent and imagination as well as Bob, and he is still in the saddle giving everything he has.

Heh, I'm leaving comments beneath your dylan reactions, I love the love you show for the right kind of stuff. Here's the thing with this one - this is, and it might not register to you because of how pioneering Highway 61 Revisited was - this track is Hard Rock. The drum, the noise, his "death metal vocals" (*)... this is basically a Motorhead track. Except the guy who wrote the lyrics is a poet (specificaly hugely influenced by Beat poets and the whole "coded novel" "novel with a key" thing) and, well, a guy who kinda mapped out quite some Hip Hop tropes. And this album, probably truly, no mistake, the most influential "alternative rock" album ever made, was in large part a huge f** o** to people who were telling him that "you can't do dumb loud rock music with intricate, Beat-style social comentary at the same time". Or, in more contemporary terms "Rap-rock can't exist, can't work, and even if you tried you'd get Limp Bizkit, noone can do Rage Against the Machine". So he went and basically whiped up... well, Punk. Loud, abrasive, obnoxious rock, hell, more abrasive with that drum than most early Punk, when it happened, actually was, with all the social commentary and then some. He also made the social commentary more bitter, more grim, more unnerving. The statement was: "Dudes, the way I see things, the only way to really convey just how f***d s***t is is to make the music bite as hard as the lyrics." So, basically, this thing is Rage Against the Machine. In 1965, without all the things that this influenced, that influenced all the other stuff, that ultimately influenced Rage Against the Machine to base it on. And a lot of it is about Vietnam. A bit of de-coding, not terribly hard if you know all his stuff by heart and know the Beatnik style he was heavily influenced by: "The sweet pretty things are in bed now, of course" = "Here's one for the dead of night / here's a really dark one / hide your kids" "The city fathers are trying to endorse the reincarnation of Paul Revere's horse" = "They're drumming up this war as if it's the new American Revolution" "But the town has no need to be nervous" = "But yeah, no, nothing's gonna come off that" And you got a lot of contrasting hipocrisy in various fields of life, likely references to people / events we don't remember anymore. For all we know he might've just been shifting channels on late-night programming and spitting bile at what he was being bombarded with. V likely exactly how the lyrics got to be. "...fattens the slaves, then he sends them out to the jungle" - p obvious Vietnam reference, continued further into "Gypsy Davey with a blowtorch he burns out their camps" "with his faithful slave Pedro behind him he tramps" - likely just an impression of a clip of US soldiers using flamthrowers to burn Vietnamese villages "with a fantastic collection of stamps" - military medals "to win friends and influence his uncle" - that being Uncle Sam, the US Military And the refrain is, well, "meanwhile in actual America" basically. His lyrics of this period tend to work like that. And this song in particular is... A less focused, bit more Beatnik-style Rage against the Machine sort of deal.

Great reaction as always. Strongly suggest Desolation Row from the same album

Cecille B Demille was a big well-known film director back in the day, who tended to make biblical and mythological epics.

The lead guitarist is Michael Bloomfield, of "Paul Butterfield Blues Band".

So much good Dylan content.....Masters of War is a must........Gates of Eden......I could keep on keepin on, but you dont need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows.....

He sings it "tombstone Blue " and he added an "awh yeah "after during live performances

Kid you had to be there to understand.---It is fun watching you try . You're a long ways from home.

Always in this era of Bob's Journey there is Mike Bloomfield blasting away and framing each stanza with his red hot electric blues Stratocaster..

Great album. Highly original. Love 'Queen Jane Aproximately' (or similar). Unique Dylan riffs.

Lil Wayne actually covers Dylan's "It Ain't Me Babe".

Yellow is often used in westerns (and perhaps in reality) as a synonym for chicken. Each terms can me used to indicate cowardice.

"Desolation Row" is an epic tune off this album, I used to be able to sing along with Bob, every lyric embedded in my memory.

"Set him in chains at the top of the hill, then send out for some pillars and Cecil B. DeMille".... Cecil B. DeMille was a movie director-producer famous for his epic films of biblical content . Here we have Samson in chains, with chains wrapped around the pillars of the temple, pulling them down and destroying the temple ... (a much younger me watched that film on TV)

dylan's always got bangers in the last verse of every song

Bob's imagery gets really wild on songs like this and It's Alright Ma. The guy's mind was just on fire.

The second verse describes a woman about to lose her virginity on her wedding night. The doctor tells her to be abstinence but the "medicine man" encourages her not not be afraid of semen

Ceclle B Demille was The Producer of film extravaganzas in the early days of cinema.

This album, along with Bringing It All Back Home, blew many a mind in the mid sixties.

I'm late to the party but I am a massive Dylan fan. This is my favorite album - ever. Bob's a weird genius. Sometimes I think he will never leave this earth until has found every single clever rhyme in the world.

Paul Revere was apprehended by the British on his way to "warn" that "The British are Coming!" There were actually more than 30 riders out that night -- it was a intertown warning system established during the 1600s. The difference is that Paul Revere was politically connected, so we know his name. Other did more but are less known -- John Adams as example.

Bob Dylan's 115th dream is a must .

Love listening to your comments. Gutsy, trying to interpret in "real time". I just let the images pop into my brain as he sings. Almost always different images each time.

Highway 61 is a concept album based around road trips (literally, metaphorically and abstractly), heavily influenced by Jack Kerouac's 'On the Road'. With this in mind, then, Tombstone is somewhere along the highway, not unlike Desolation Row, with its verses filled with characters and 'moments' and interplays with allegory. I don't think Dylan himself understands half of the stuff he wrote back then.

Cecil B. DeMille was a big time Hollywood director who made a lot of the Biblical epics of the 40s and 50s like Samson and Delilah, The Ten Commandments, etc.

You need to listen to his first backing band, The Band. The Band ft. The Staples performing 'The Weight' is a great place to start.

Glad to see younger folks (well, younger than me anyway, I’m currently 61) listening to this , getting the rap connection, and taking a stab at reflecting on its meanings...everyone who’s heard this over the years goes through it! One thing that may have been mentioned in earlier comments-the woman who’s ‘just been made’ may be a prostitute, but she’s a bride -to her profession, to God perhaps, or to a promised bridegroom. I always thought of it as a bride who was raped by someone, groom or bride’s friend, before the wedding , but no matter how it was intended it’s interesting how many takes we can all get on Dylan’s lyrics...

Dylan swings wide and wild on this album, many consider it his best of this era. For me Dylan reaches his early peak with "John Wesley Harding" a couple of years later - a stunningly mature work. Please check out "I Dreamed I Saw St Augstine" for Dylan at his finest.

I am a long time bob dylan fan ... love your reaction videos man ... by the way the lead guitar on highway 65 rev is played by the great blues player Michael Bloomfield, check it out !!!!!

When you gonna do some Byrds dude? You're missing out. They covered 4 Dylan tunes on their debut album at the same time Dylan went electric. Try Byrds songs "All I Really Wanna Do" (Dylan) and "I Feel A Whole Lot Better" (Gene Clark). You'll know exactly where Tom Petty got his sound and style, from The Byrds. Roger Mc Guinn changed the way the 12 string Rickenbacker guitar was played. The Beatles were influenced by the Byrds as well as to many other bands to mention.

One of my top 5 Dylan songs. Surreal, sarcastic, angry, hilarious.

Dylan was influenced by Allen Ginsberg to string together striking images. The images were more important than consistency, coherence, or meaning.

Just a quick note about "the sun"s not yellow, it's chicken"...I think he's referring to the slang word for coward, which in 1960's America was also referred to as "yellow"...just a light play on words I believe

Cecil B Demille was a famous director of epic movies

He’s lookin’ for the fuse not "food" is what Dylan sings...

Love the Way Dylan records an album It's grungy dark dirty It's like he's recording a live album, he always picks the right musicians for his album's I mean al cooper was a guitarist who jumped on the organ because he thought he wasn't good enough a guitarist on like a rolling Stone Dylan's producer told them he wasn't an organ player and Dylan said I don't care turn the organ up and Cooper smashed it. Bringing it all back home album The sound for me is amazing It's like they're all just jamming in the garage.

This is true Blues rock\garage rock

The singer/songwriter Momus, a brilliant lyricist, did a great homage to this period of Dylan on his album 'Akkordion', called 'Dylanology'. Very witty.

Try and listen to outtakes of this song. Dylan let's Bloomfield have his head to a wild extent. And the lyrics of the chorus are changed to bomb making amongst other things.