Lyrics to Bob Dylan's I Want You

Before I heard this song, I liked Bob Dylan. After hearing this song, I was a life-long fan. The protest songs, and the early Woody-derived tunes, were good, but in this song he took the poetry of popular music to the next level. I don't really think anyone has come close since.

I have purchased Modern Times, his highly acclaimed new album. Who would have thought that at 65 years of age, he would put out a disk that is Right Up There with his best work?

In a recent Rolling Stone interview, Dylan said "This is the best band I've ever been in, I've ever had, man for man." This is a stunning statement from a guy who was backed by Mike Bloomfield and the best session players of the sixties, not to mention the The Grateful Dead, The Heartbreakers, and The Band.


I Want You

The guilty undertaker sighs,
The lonesome organ grinder cries,
The silver saxophones say I should refuse you.
The cracked bells and washed-out horns
Blow into my face with scorn,
But it's not that way,
I wasn't born to lose you.
I want you, I want you,
I want you so bad,
Honey, I want you.

The drunken politician leaps
Upon the street where mothers weep
And the saviors who are fast asleep,
They wait for you.
And I wait for them to interrupt
Me drinkin' from my broken cup
And ask me to
Open up the gate for you.
I want you, I want you,
I want you so bad,
Honey, I want you.

Now all my fathers, they've gone down
True love they've been without it.
But all their daughters put me down
'Cause I don't think about it.

Well, I return to the Queen of Spades
And talk with my chambermaid.
She knows that I'm not afraid
To look at her.
She is good to me
And there's nothing she doesn't see.
She knows where I'd like to be
But it doesn't matter.
I want you, I want you,
I want you so bad,
Honey, I want you.

Now your dancing child with his Chinese suit,
He spoke to me, I took his flute.
No, I wasn't very cute to him,
Was I?
But I did it, though, because he lied
Because he took you for a ride
And because time was on his side
And because I . . .
I want you, I want you,
I want you so bad,
Honey, I want you.
---o0o---