The song lyrics were written by the band Van Halen, as they were asked to write a song for the 1979 movie "Over the Edge" starring Matt Dillon. The movie (and the lyrics, although more obliquely) are about bored, rebellious youth with nothing better to do than get into trouble. If you see the movie, these lyrics will make more sense. It's a great movie if you grew up in the 70s/80s you'll definitely remember some of these characters from your own life. Fun fact, after writing the song, Van Halen decided not to let the movie use it.
Standing on the waters casting your bread
While the eyes of the idol with the iron head are glowing
Distant ships sailing into the mist,
You were born with a snake in both of your fists while a hurricane was blowing
Freedom just around the corner for you
But with the truth so far off, what good will it do?
Jokerman dance to the nightingale tune,
Bird fly high by the light of the moon,
Oh, oh, oh, Jokerman
So swiftly the sun sets in the sky,
You rise up and say goodbye to no one
Fools rush in where angels fear to tread,
Both of their futures, so full of dread, you don't show why
Shedding off one more layer of skin,
Keeping one step ahead of the persecutor within
Jokerman dance to the nightingale tune,
Bird fly high by the light of the moon,
Oh, oh, oh, Jokerman
You're a man of the mountains, you can walk on the clouds,
Manipulator of crowds, you're a dream twister
You're going to Sodom and Gomorrah
But what do you care? Ain't nobody there would want to marry your sister
Friend to the martyr, a friend to the woman of shame,
You look into the fiery furnace, see the rich man without any name
Jokerman dance to the nightingale tune,
Bird fly high by the light of the moon,
Oh, oh, oh, Jokerman
Well, the Book of Leviticus and Deuteronomy,
The law of the jungle and the sea are your only teachers
In the smoke of the twilight on a milk-white steed,
Michelangelo indeed could've carved out your features
Resting in the fields, far from the turbulent space,
Half asleep near the stars with a small dog licking your face
Jokerman dance to the nightingale tune,
Bird fly high by the light of the moon,
Oh, oh, oh, Jokerman
Well, the rifleman's stalking the sick and the lame,
Preacherman seeks the same, who'll get there first is uncertain
Nightsticks and water cannons, tear gas, padlocks,
Molotov cocktails and rocks behind every curtain,
False-hearted judges dying in the webs that they spin,
Only a matter of time 'til night comes steppin' in
Jokerman dance to the nightingale tune,
Bird fly high by the light of the moon,
Oh, oh, oh, Jokerman
It's a shadowy world, skies are slippery gray,
A woman just gave birth to a prince today and dressed him in scarlet
He'll put the priest in his pocket, put the blade to the heat,
Take the motherless children off the street
And place them at the feet of a harlot
Oh, Jokerman, you know what he wants,
Oh, Jokerman, you don't show any response
Jokerman dance to the nightingale tune,
Bird fly high by the light of the moon,
Oh, oh, oh, Jokerman
While the eyes of the idol with the iron head are glowing
Distant ships sailing into the mist,
You were born with a snake in both of your fists while a hurricane was blowing
Freedom just around the corner for you
But with the truth so far off, what good will it do?
Jokerman dance to the nightingale tune,
Bird fly high by the light of the moon,
Oh, oh, oh, Jokerman
So swiftly the sun sets in the sky,
You rise up and say goodbye to no one
Fools rush in where angels fear to tread,
Both of their futures, so full of dread, you don't show why
Shedding off one more layer of skin,
Keeping one step ahead of the persecutor within
Jokerman dance to the nightingale tune,
Bird fly high by the light of the moon,
Oh, oh, oh, Jokerman
You're a man of the mountains, you can walk on the clouds,
Manipulator of crowds, you're a dream twister
You're going to Sodom and Gomorrah
But what do you care? Ain't nobody there would want to marry your sister
Friend to the martyr, a friend to the woman of shame,
You look into the fiery furnace, see the rich man without any name
Jokerman dance to the nightingale tune,
Bird fly high by the light of the moon,
Oh, oh, oh, Jokerman
Well, the Book of Leviticus and Deuteronomy,
The law of the jungle and the sea are your only teachers
In the smoke of the twilight on a milk-white steed,
Michelangelo indeed could've carved out your features
Resting in the fields, far from the turbulent space,
Half asleep near the stars with a small dog licking your face
Jokerman dance to the nightingale tune,
Bird fly high by the light of the moon,
Oh, oh, oh, Jokerman
Well, the rifleman's stalking the sick and the lame,
Preacherman seeks the same, who'll get there first is uncertain
Nightsticks and water cannons, tear gas, padlocks,
Molotov cocktails and rocks behind every curtain,
False-hearted judges dying in the webs that they spin,
Only a matter of time 'til night comes steppin' in
Jokerman dance to the nightingale tune,
Bird fly high by the light of the moon,
Oh, oh, oh, Jokerman
It's a shadowy world, skies are slippery gray,
A woman just gave birth to a prince today and dressed him in scarlet
He'll put the priest in his pocket, put the blade to the heat,
Take the motherless children off the street
And place them at the feet of a harlot
Oh, Jokerman, you know what he wants,
Oh, Jokerman, you don't show any response
Jokerman dance to the nightingale tune,
Bird fly high by the light of the moon,
Oh, oh, oh, Jokerman
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"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
"I had all and then most of you"
Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart
"Some and now none of you"
Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship.
This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
Mountain Song
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Jane's Addiction vocalist Perry Farrell gives Adam Reader some heartfelt insight into Jane’s Addiction's hard rock manifesto "Mountain Song", which was the second single from their revolutionary album Nothing's Shocking. Mountain song was first recorded in 1986 and appeared on the soundtrack to the film Dudes starring Jon Cryer. The version on Nothing's Shocking was re-recorded in 1988.
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"There's a part - 'Cash in now honey, cash in Miss Smith.' Miss Smith is my Mother; our last name was Smith. Cashing in when she cashed in her life. So... she decided that, to her... at that time, she was desperate. Life wasn't worth it for her, that was her opinion. Some people think, never take your life, and some people find that their life isn't worth living. She was in love with my Dad, and my Dad was not faithful to her, and it broke her heart. She was very desperate and she did something that I know she regrets."
No Surprises
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Same ideas expressed in Fitter, Happier are expressed in this song. We're told to strive for some sort of ideal life, which includes getting a good job, being kind to everyone, finding a partner, getting married, having a couple kids, living in a quiet neighborhood in a nice big house, etc. But in Fitter, Happier the narrator(?) realizes that it's incredibly robotic to live this life. People are being used by those in power "like a pig in a cage on antibiotics"--being pacified with things like new phones and cool gadgets and houses while being sucked dry. On No Surprises, the narrator is realizing how this life is killing him slowly. In the video, his helmet is slowly filling up with water, drowning him. But he's so complacent with it. This is a good summary of the song. This boring, "perfect" life foisted upon us by some higher powers (not spiritual, but political, economic, etc. politicians and businessmen, perhaps) is not the way to live. But there is seemingly no way out but death. He'd rather die peacefully right now than live in this cage. While our lives are often shielded, we're in our own protective bubbles, or protective helmets like the one Thom wears, if we look a little harder we can see all the corruption, lies, manipulation, etc. that is going on in the world, often run by huge yet nearly invisible organizations, corporations, and 'leaders'. It's a very hopeless song because it reflects real life.
American Town
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Ed Sheeran shares a short story of reconnecting with an old flame on “American Town.” The track is about a holiday Ed Sheeran spends with his countrywoman who resides in America. The two are back together after a long period apart, and get around to enjoying a bunch of fun activities while rekindling the flames of their romance.
He is always singing about himself, that's the beauty of it. Even though he doesn't like to admit it.
This song is about Ronald Reagan.
That's an interesting theory, but I guarantee if you presented it to Dylan, he'd reply, "Why the hell would I ever write a song about Reagan, man?"<br /> <br /> No, no, no. There's a whole lot of other imagery in the video, including Batman's villain the Joker, the playing card, and - the most frequent image - younger Bob Dylan himself. Remember, there's little debate over who is "the jester" in Don McLean's song "American Pie," and "jester" is almost synonymous with "joker."<br /> <br /> The song isn't about Reagan or Jesus or even JFK (who is also in the video). It's about Dylan.<br /> <br /> What is the Joker? He's an "agent of chaos," as he says in "The Dark Knight." He's the wild card. He's the unexpected game changer. He is neither good nor evil, right nor wrong, heroic nor villainous. He is the Fool in "King Lear" and in the Tarot. He is the child who says the emperor has no clothes.<br /> <br /> You've done a good job of explaining the lyrics, "Jokerman, dance to the nightingale tune," and, "In the smoke of the twilight on a milk-white steed, Michelangelo indeed could've carved out your features," but there are other lyrics you're ignoring. How can you possibly say, "Friend to the martyr, a friend to the woman of shame," or, "A woman just gave birth to a prince today and dressed him in scarlet. Take the motherless children off the street and place them at the feet of a harlot. Oh, Jokerman, you know what he wants. Oh, Jokerman, you don't show any response," how do THEY relate to Reagan?<br /> <br /> You have to remember that "Jokerman" is a song on Dylan's album "Infidel." It's true, in '83, Reagan was president, but also in '83, Dylan was still an avowed Christian. And yet he released an album - just a few years before disavowing himself of Christianity - with the title "Infidel." And it included "Jokerman."<br /> <br /> El Alamein is a good catch, but a white horse means something else to a Christian, as Dylan was at this time. It means Revelation 6:2: "And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer." It's a reference to the Fourth Horseman of the Apocalypse - Death. The great equalizer. The one who shall one day visit us all. "And a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer."<br /> <br /> Death... conquers... ALL! And it is every bit as unpredictable, as random, as inevitable as the wild card in the deck. It is the Great Equalizer. It falls on just and unjust alike.<br /> <br /> The meaning of this song is that Dylan and his music are NOT about Reagan or Carter or Ford or Nixon or Johnson or Kennedy. They are the infinite agents of chaos. They are as they have always been and will always be. The nightingale isn't Iran. The nightingale is the one small bird of flight who is nocturnal (compared to the other, diurnal ones). Hence the "birds fly high by the light of the moon."<br /> <br /> Hence the avowed Christian who is an infidel.<br /> <br /> Hence the Jokerman.
@laboo Most of Bob Dylan's songs are about Ronald Reagan.
Talmudic Judaism, plain and simple.
not completely wrong, but not completely right<br /> youtube.com/watch
"He'll put the priest in his pocket, put the blade to the heat" is not talking about Jesus but the Antichrist. To have someone in your pocket is to be bribing them; the "blade to the heat" is to brand his followers with the mark of the beast (Rev 13:16-17) and he does it with the connivance of the religious authorities.
@GDC I thought that , the book of revelations, the false prophet on a white horse, takes orphans and gives them to the scarlet lady [greed sex and selfishness], Ragans capitalism was part of the irreligious Infidelic soulless greed
I've also heard that Dylan might have been singing about himself.
that is partly true<br /> youtube.com/watch
He is the Jokerman..
dylan's a genius!!
i'm not!!
could anyone please explain this song to me it's driving my crazy!! it's a lovely song but i so totally can not figure it out!!!
G'day. If you're still interested, see my comments on 12 Aug 2007 and today, 29 Mar 2010.
ok, so i understand very little of dylan's works, but think that many of them are about multiple things (except masters of war, which is well written but a very direct and simple protest song). Jokerman could be about anything from Jesus, the devil, or the civil rights movement and possibly the genocidal rage on the jews from WWII. Because of the line "nighsticks and watercannons teargas padlocks, molotav cocktails and rocks, behind every curtain", i am pointed toward WWII or Civil Rights. Yet "Resting in the fields, far from the turbulent space," may refer to Jesus. Enjoy these thoughts.
If you want to know the meaning of this song, click on this you tube link <br /> youtube.com/watch
Sorry I pasted the wrong link the first time<br /> youtube.com/watch
I love Dylan and this is one of my all-time favourite songs. Here's my take on it. The defining traits of the jokerman are that he is a night-dweller; he's a mocker; he's arrogant and narcissistic; he's an idolator and he will come to a bad end. All his mockery will cease when he at last has to face the consequences of his choices.
This was written when all Dylan's songs had astonishingly insightful Biblical connections. How are these for starters? Psalm 1:1 "How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked... nor sit in the seat of scoffers!" The jokerman is the wordly-wise scoffer, mocking everything that is holy. He thinks this will bring him freedom but doesn't see that freedom only comes from finding and walking in the truth (John 8:31-32).
The idol with the iron head and glowing eyes refers to the ancient Cannanite fertility rites where they sacrificed their own children (Ezekiel 20:31).
And Romans 13:12 - "The night is almost gone, and the day is near. Therefore let us lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light". The jokerman, however, loves the night, rushing in where even angels and fools won't go.
The only changes he thinks he needs are external but, like a snake, the shed skin only reveals the same snake and that will never satisfy his internal persecutor - his own conscience (Romans 2:14-15)
He can please all the crowds, taking every politically correct view, not worrying about society becoming like Sodom & Gomorrah (Luke 17:28-30) because "nobody there would want to marry your sister"!
"The fiery furnace and rich man without any name" comes from Luke 16:19-31), wrning the jokerman that all his fame and riches will mean nothing in the after-life.
The references to Leviticus, Deuteronomy, the law of the jungle and the sea as his "only teachers" reveal his ruthless, survival of the fittest, self-obsession so that he thinks he's truly heroic and worthy of adulation.
He doesn't see that the whole, vulnerable world that we are is actually being approached from only two angles - the sniper (Satan) and the preacher (anyone with the message of Jesus). In this vicious spiritual warfare, we will be caught in any falsehood that we tolerate.
The woman is Babylon the harlot (Revelation, chap 17-18), who gives birth to the final Antichrist - when the jokerman sees this final act, he'll see the outcome of his mockery and know he's lost his soul.
So who's the jokerman?
The defining traits of the jokerman are that he is a night-dweller; he's a mocker; he's arrogant and narcissistic; he's an idolator and he will come to a bad end. All his mockery will cease when he at last has to face the consequences of his choices. -Priceless
Everything else you said is mind blowing. Wish I could utilize what ever vocabulary I have to be able to speak so eloquently like you.
Its the Fool Tarot Card<br /> youtube.com/watch
There are definitely some spiritual themes here: "born with a snake in both of your fists" is a reference to Hercules, whom Hera tried to kill when he was an infant by putting snakes into his sleeping area. She was Jealous of Alcmene who bore Zeus the child. He strangles the snakes because he is so strong. But indirectly the reference could be to Jesus, because like Hercules he is the son of God (Zeus) and mortal woman (Mary/Alcmene). "Standing on the waters casting your bread" is a biblical reference: (Eccl 1-1 NIV) "Cast your bread upon the waters, for after many days you will find it again." The jist of this I take to mean as sort of "you reap what you so" karmic thing.
"You're a king among nations, you're a stranger at home" could also be a reference to Jesus being worshiped from afar by the three wise men who saw him as the king of kings, as opposed to the Jews who knew him as the son of Joseph of Nazareth.
"the Book of Leviticus and Deuteronomy" are the laws of the jews. He is establishing who Jesus (the jokerman) is.
@davepyne M maybe but Mithras was born with a snake in each hand
Here is the interpretation of Jokerman. It is what it is....
songmeanings.net/forum/viewtopic/63460/
I think it's about reverend Martin Luther King j.r. "Freedom just around the corner for you" represents Kings fight for freedom for blacks. "manipulator of crowds, you're a dream twister" might be about his famous i have a dream speech. "Friend of the martyr, a friend to the woman of shame" represents his relations to people fighting for freedom too. "Books of levictus and Deuteronomy" and "Hell put the priests in his pocket" might be talking about his role as a reverend. "Resting in the fields, far from turbulent space" might be talking about his five day March from Selma Alabama to Montgomery, where he slept in fields overnight. "Nightsticks and water cannons, tear gas, padlocks Molotov cocktails and rocks behind every curtain" is about the violent responses state troopers had in Selma to his protests and marches. "False-hearted judges dying in the webs that they spin" is about how juries dealing with blacks were all white. "Oh joker man, you know what he wants. Oh jokerman, you don't show any respons" is about how sometimes King couldn't do something people wanted him to do, or how they are mad he did something else.