This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
Man thinks 'cause he rules the earth he can do with it as he please
And if things don't change soon, he will
Oh, man has invented his doom
First step was touching the moon
Now, there's a woman on my block
She just sit there as the night grows still
She say who gonna take away his license to kill?
Now, they take him and they teach him and they groom him for life
And they set him on a path where he's bound to get ill
Then they bury him with stars
Sell his body like they do used cars
Now, there's a woman on my block
She just sit there facin' the hill
She say who gonna take away his license to kill?
Now, he's hell-bent for destruction, he's afraid and confused
And his brain has been mismanaged with great skill
All he believes are his eyes
And his eyes, they just tell him lies
But there's a woman on my block
Sitting there in a cold chill
She say who gonna take away his license to kill?
Every noisemaker, spirit maker
Heartbreaker, backbreaker
Leave no stone unturned
May be an actor in a plot
That might be all that you got
'Til your error you clearly learn
Now he worships at an altar of a stagnant pool
And when he sees his reflection, he's fulfilled
Oh, man is opposed to fair play
He wants it all and he wants it his way
Now, there's a woman on my block
She just sit there as the night grows still
She say who gonna take away his license to kill?
And if things don't change soon, he will
Oh, man has invented his doom
First step was touching the moon
Now, there's a woman on my block
She just sit there as the night grows still
She say who gonna take away his license to kill?
Now, they take him and they teach him and they groom him for life
And they set him on a path where he's bound to get ill
Then they bury him with stars
Sell his body like they do used cars
Now, there's a woman on my block
She just sit there facin' the hill
She say who gonna take away his license to kill?
Now, he's hell-bent for destruction, he's afraid and confused
And his brain has been mismanaged with great skill
All he believes are his eyes
And his eyes, they just tell him lies
But there's a woman on my block
Sitting there in a cold chill
She say who gonna take away his license to kill?
Every noisemaker, spirit maker
Heartbreaker, backbreaker
Leave no stone unturned
May be an actor in a plot
That might be all that you got
'Til your error you clearly learn
Now he worships at an altar of a stagnant pool
And when he sees his reflection, he's fulfilled
Oh, man is opposed to fair play
He wants it all and he wants it his way
Now, there's a woman on my block
She just sit there as the night grows still
She say who gonna take away his license to kill?
Lyrics submitted by retsyn, edited by Mellow_Harsher
License to Kill Lyrics as written by Bob Dylan
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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basically a song about the shit state of the world and mankind
Dylan used to include this song in concert whenever a space craft was in orbit. I think he was going through a luddite anti-technology phase. I don't know if he has commented on space travel in recent years. Tom Petty's version at the 30th Anniversity Concert is quite good.
This song is about how man can bring himself to destruction. The technology in reaching the moon is facilitating the process. It also says that even if you have a little part to play, you still are a part of the destruction process because it's in the nature of man.
However it's unclear what the woman represents.
I don't know that Dylan would have had this viewpoint, but to me, the woman is the sane one, the one left behind or victimized by this masculine rush to power, technological and military. She's the classic woman of modern liberal thought: she represents the earth, non-complicit in the destruction but awaiting salvation-- the waiter and watcher and wonderer.
@dylanrocks I think it means that woman as the nurturer, the mother of life is watching from a distance knowing the inevitable and unable to affect or change the outcome. Hence the question "who is going to take his license to kill"
Tom Petty does a good version of this on Dylans 30th Anniversary Concert. If man can settle on the moon he can forget about the mess he leaves on Earth. Re:Ben Elton's "Stark".
Intresting lyrics here "His brain has been mismanaged with great skill, now all he belives are his eyes, and his eyes ther just telling lies" Id interpret that to mean, Induced phycological torment resulting in a delusional state of mind.
First step was touching the moon = really just a reference to the space race. Placing a satellite in orbit means you can put a nuke anywhere on the planet.
Man hates other man and has wars against each other. (Buries him with stars ie military honors)
Sell his body like used cars (Lenin's tomb)
power
The last verse is pretty sgnificant, it is a reference to Narcississ of legend. Coincidentally (or probably not) Narcississ' love was named Echo, also the name of the love of Dylan's youth.
for me this is one of the clearest songs that Dylan has written that conveys a message.
The song has a similar slant on Pink Floyds "welcome to the machine" How we are programmed to comply with society and not question. We are fed garbage and crave garbage!
One of his best ever and very underrated.
I've been obsessed with this song for the past two days after watching his performance on Letterman in 1984 on youtube. I believe it's about the state of man in a Godless world -- the fallout for having killed God. Without God, "who gonna take away his license to kill?" We're left unchecked, worshipping at an altar of our own reflection, believing only what we see with our eyes.
Narcissus wasted away slowly dying of unrequited love due to his vanity. No one was as attractive as his reflection in the pool and therefore no one was worthy. Dylan makes the weakness of man\'s vanity explicit by referring to his worshipping at the altar of a stagnant pool and when he sees his reflection he\'s fulfilled.Its either deeply pessimistic or realistic depending on one\'s ideology. Or perhaps a warning ?