Lyrics for Gotta Serve Somebody as interpreted by twitty

Gotta Serve Somebody Lyrics
You may be an ambassador to England or France,
You may like to gamble, you might like to dance,
You may be the heavyweight champion of the world,
You may be a socialite with a long string of pearls

But you're gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You're gonna have to serve somebody,
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you're gonna have to serve somebody.

You might be a rock 'n' roll addict prancing on the stage,
You might have drugs at your command, women in a cage,
You may be a business man or some high degree thief,
They may call you Doctor or they may call you Chief

But you're gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You're gonna have to serve somebody,
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you're gonna have to serve somebody.

You may be a state trooper, you might be a young Turk,
You may be the head of some big TV network,
You may be rich or poor, you may be blind or lame,
You may be living in another country under another name

But you're gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You're gonna have to serve somebody,
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you're gonna have to serve somebody.

You may be a construction worker working on a home,
You may be living in a mansion or you might live in a dome,
You might own guns and you might even own tanks,
You might be somebody's landlord, you might even own banks

But you're gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You're gonna have to serve somebody,
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you're gonna have to serve somebody.

You may be a preacher with your spiritual pride,
You may be a city councilman taking bribes on the side,
You may be workin' in a barbershop, you may know how to cut hair,
You may be somebody's mistress, may be somebody's heir

But you're gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You're gonna have to serve somebody,
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you're gonna have to serve somebody.

Might like to wear cotton, might like to wear silk,
Might like to drink whiskey, might like to drink milk,
You might like to eat caviar, you might like to eat bread,
You may be sleeping on the floor, sleeping in a king-sized bed

But you're gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You're gonna have to serve somebody,
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you're gonna have to serve somebody.

You may call me Terry, you may call me Timmy,
You may call me Bobby, you may call me Zimmy,
You may call me R.J., you may call me Ray,
You may call me anything but no matter what you say

You're gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You're gonna have to serve somebody.
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you're gonna have to serve somebody.

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  • 17 Comments
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Hauge
10-19-2004

Rated -1 
TRUE!! You got to choose, either Heaven or Hell, Jesus or Satan!
I would choose Jesus Christ, no doubt!!!

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asutbone
01-03-2005

Rated 0 
Joshua 24:15 - "But if it doesn't please you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves today the one you will worship: the gods your fathers worshiped beyond the Euphrates River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living. As for me and my family, we will worship the Lord."

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cavern
02-03-2005

Rated 0 
Have you heard Lennon's parody of this song? Hillarious. "You gotta serve yourself, ain't nobody gonna do for you, well you believe in Jesus or you might believe in Buddha, but Christ! you're gonna have to serve yourself and that's all there is to it!"

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bugmenot
12-14-2005

Rated 0 
Obviously based on the bible verse from the Jewish bible. The bible has wisdom for even non-believers though. Are you going to be a force for good or evil?

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HibbingismyHolyLand
01-18-2006

Rated 0 
bugmenot... I'm not thinking so...
Dylan was Jewish...until this album.

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F33bs
08-26-2006

Rated 0 
Hauge, thats not necessarily true. Life is not black and white. If you are not worshipping Christ, that doesn't mean you are worshipping Satan. That doesn't make logical sense. I am a Christian, and that to me sounds retarded. Some people just don't have a relationship with God, doesn't mean their evil. I apologize to everyone for Hauges ignorance.

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brad_tingle
12-12-2006

Rated 0 
His real name was Bobby Zimmerman... so I am sure that some people called him Zimmy

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eros11
01-17-2007

Rated 0 
this is a great tune, quite a good observation on life aswell. everyone has to serve someone, whether it be their boss, their country or god.

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dbub
03-10-2007

Rated 0 
When Bob penned this he wasn't just blowing in the win (bad pun I know). Dylan was actually hitting on a biblical truth. Right now you are either serving your Heavenly Father or your daddy the devil. Ephesians 2:1-3, John 14:6, Romans 6-18. It stinks, believe me I know, but it is absolutely true. You can search the bible from cover to cover and you won't any example of 'spiritual neutrality.' Bob got it right, "well it may be the devil and it may be the Lord, but you're gonna have to serve somebody"

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cavern
03-13-2007

Rated 0 
It's a little extreme, but, when Dylan got into Christianity, he really sunk his teeth in it. A fanatic of the worst kind. Like it or not. He refusted to play the old songs on his shows and interrupted them with neverending preaching. I've read some messed-up speeches about how the end of the world was coming, with the Cold War (but we survived, didn't we?) and that KISS were devilworshipers.
I'm Catholic, but that kind of fanatism always embarrasses me

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Dickfornose
07-28-2007

Rated 0 
everyone's arguing about the bible/god reference, i don't know about that...ask Dylan! i think he's basically making the point that life is deterministic. not by any transcent creator or being. it just is, everything we do has a meaning and a purpose to it, manmade or not. its all about getting on

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stefe
01-26-2008

Rated 0 
It clearly has religious overtones by mention of the Lord and the devil however; I don't think Dylan has narrowed down the choices to either, or. I think it as much a comment about our society and it's demanded servitude. I myself would rather be 'serving the Lord' then some stupid boss man though that may not be a popular view in the anti-religious mood of the U.S. these days and this is coming from a democrat, mind you. As for the 'serving yourself' sounds good but do you have a job?

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RayMan
06-29-2008

Rated -1 
Dylan's mind is crystal clear genius, and when he chose to apply it to Christianity he truly wrote some amazing stuff. Cavern (above) mentioned John Lennon's parody "Serve Yourself!". As big a Beatle's fan as I am, even I have to say that's where Lennon loses me. Sure, I believe in the anti-war message, and the world's-too-small-for-hate message... but as a Christian I believe that ONLY THE BLOOD OF JESUS CHRIST can save us from ourselves! Lennon's atheism was (and is) a dead end road. Besides, the Bible teaches us that Satan represents the love of the SELF... so what Lennon really said was SERVE SATAN. I agree with Dylan here... it's either THE LORD or SATAN; there's NO middle road. We flip our allegiance back and forth from one thought to the next each and every day. It's an on-going battle! To master life is to slowly train one's mind to ALWAYS think thoughts that SERVE THE LORD... "Thy will be done..."

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ojsimpson
06-05-2009

Rated 0 
i think everyones alive for themselves. jesus didnt put me together like a toy, science did.

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ojsimpson
06-05-2009

Rated 0 
christians are insane

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jamieanne92
01-06-2010

Rated 0 
This is a great song, but I think the Nicole Nordeman cover is better. Sorry, I just don't really like Bob Dylan's voice, but he sure could write songs!

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Goodtimes13
01-09-2010

Rated 0 
"Christians are insane" ???

People who make broad statements about a gigantic group of individuals are ignorant.

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