Investigating "Ballad of a Thin Man" - Bob Dylan is Strange
A sort of a dark song from Dylan’s discography
So, who is Mr. Jones?
according to an interview from 1965, Dylan states:
“He’s a pinboy. He also wears suspenders. He’s a real person. You know him, but not by that name… I saw him come into the room one night and he looked like a camel. He proceeded to put his eyes in his pocket. I asked this guy who he was and he said, “That’s Mr. Jones.” Then I asked this cat, “Doesn’t he do anything but put his eyes in his pocket?” And he told me, “He puts his nose on the ground.” It’s all there, it’s a true story.”[2]
It has also been speculated that the song is about Brian Jones, founder and guitarist of The Rolling Stones. Dylan was a friend of Brian Jones and watched Brian’s lengthy downfall.
Another possible source for the song’s lyrics are the Dream Songs, a series of poems written mainly in the 1950’s by John Berryman. In the poems the speaker frequently addresses a Mr. Bones, and in the fourth poem of the series this is the penultimate line:
“There ought to be a law against Henry./ Mr. Bones: There is.”
This line obviously bears a striking resemblance to this line in “Ballad of a Thin Man:”
“There ought to be a law against you comin’ around/ you should be made to wear earphones.”
As Dylan refers to T.S. Eliot in his song “Desolation Row,” it is safe to assume he is familiar with his poems. In this case, the songs title is likely a play on the title of an Eliot poem, “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.”
as always, thank you wikipedia.
If anyone wants this song, email me and I can provide you a link for a listen. thanks
