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Highway 51 runs right by my baby's door
Highway 51 runs right by my baby's door
If I don't get the girl I'm loving
Won't go down to Highway 51 no more
Well, I know that highway like I know my hand
Yes, I know that highway like I know the back of my hand
Running from up Wisconsin way down to no-man's-land
Well, if I should die before my time should come
And if I should die before my time should come
Won't you bury my body out on Highway 51?
Highway 51 runs right by my baby's door
I said, Highway 51 runs right by my baby's door
If I don't get the girl I'm loving
Won't go down to Highway 51 no more
Highway 51 runs right by my baby's door
If I don't get the girl I'm loving
Won't go down to Highway 51 no more
Well, I know that highway like I know my hand
Yes, I know that highway like I know the back of my hand
Running from up Wisconsin way down to no-man's-land
Well, if I should die before my time should come
And if I should die before my time should come
Won't you bury my body out on Highway 51?
Highway 51 runs right by my baby's door
I said, Highway 51 runs right by my baby's door
If I don't get the girl I'm loving
Won't go down to Highway 51 no more
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Dylan appears to have based his version of the song on Tommy McClennan's New Highway No. 51 which was recorded in 1940., which in turn was probably based on Curtis Jones's Highway 51 Blues recorded in 1938. There are are also other songs about this highway, such as John Lee Hooker's Going Down Highway 51 recorded in 1948 or 1949. This Highway is a major N-that runs from Louisiana to Wisconsin, and skirts the eastern side of the Mississippi delta region. It appears that Dylan's Highway 61 Revisited as an allusion to this delta blues homage- as 61 is the other N-S artery running along the western side of the delta region.