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Once upon a time you dressed so fine
You threw the bums a dime in your prime, didn't you?
People'd call, say, "Beware doll, you're bound to fall"
You thought they were all kidding you
You used to laugh about
Everybody that was hanging out
Now you don't talk so loud
Now you don't seem so proud
About having to be scrounging for your next meal
How does it feel
How does it feel
To be without a home
Like a complete unknown
Like a rolling stone?
You've gone to the finest school all right, Miss Lonely
But you know you only used to get juiced in it
And nobody has ever taught you how to live on the street
And now you find out you're going to have to get used to it
You said you'd never compromise
With the mystery tramp, but now you realize
He's not selling any alibis
As you stare into the vacuum of his eyes
And ask him, "Do you want to make a deal?"
How does it feel
How does it feel
To be on your own
With no direction home
Like a complete unknown
Like a rolling stone?
You never turned around to see the frowns on the jugglers and the clowns
When they all come down and did tricks for you
You never understood that it ain't no good
You shouldn't let other people get your kicks for you
You used to ride on the chrome horse with your diplomat
Who carried on his shoulder a Siamese cat
Ain't it hard when you discover that
He really wasn't where it's at
After he took from you everything he could steal
How does it feel
How does it feel
To be on your own
With no direction home
Like a complete unknown
Like a rolling stone?
Princess on the steeple and all the pretty people
They're drinking, thinking that they got it made
Exchanging all kinds of precious gifts and things
But you'd better lift your diamond ring, you'd better pawn it, babe
You used to be so amused
At Napoleon in rags and the language that he used
Go to him now, he calls you, you can't refuse
When you got nothing, you got nothing to lose
You're invisible now, you got no secrets to conceal
How does it feel
How does it feel
To be on your own
With no direction home
Like a complete unknown
Like a rolling stone?
You threw the bums a dime in your prime, didn't you?
People'd call, say, "Beware doll, you're bound to fall"
You thought they were all kidding you
You used to laugh about
Everybody that was hanging out
Now you don't talk so loud
Now you don't seem so proud
About having to be scrounging for your next meal
How does it feel
How does it feel
To be without a home
Like a complete unknown
Like a rolling stone?
You've gone to the finest school all right, Miss Lonely
But you know you only used to get juiced in it
And nobody has ever taught you how to live on the street
And now you find out you're going to have to get used to it
You said you'd never compromise
With the mystery tramp, but now you realize
He's not selling any alibis
As you stare into the vacuum of his eyes
And ask him, "Do you want to make a deal?"
How does it feel
How does it feel
To be on your own
With no direction home
Like a complete unknown
Like a rolling stone?
You never turned around to see the frowns on the jugglers and the clowns
When they all come down and did tricks for you
You never understood that it ain't no good
You shouldn't let other people get your kicks for you
You used to ride on the chrome horse with your diplomat
Who carried on his shoulder a Siamese cat
Ain't it hard when you discover that
He really wasn't where it's at
After he took from you everything he could steal
How does it feel
How does it feel
To be on your own
With no direction home
Like a complete unknown
Like a rolling stone?
Princess on the steeple and all the pretty people
They're drinking, thinking that they got it made
Exchanging all kinds of precious gifts and things
But you'd better lift your diamond ring, you'd better pawn it, babe
You used to be so amused
At Napoleon in rags and the language that he used
Go to him now, he calls you, you can't refuse
When you got nothing, you got nothing to lose
You're invisible now, you got no secrets to conceal
How does it feel
How does it feel
To be on your own
With no direction home
Like a complete unknown
Like a rolling stone?
Lyrics submitted by oofus
Track duration: 06:10
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"When you got nothing, you got nothing to lose. You're invisible now, you got no secrets to conceal".
Outstanding.
"When you got nothing, you got nothing to lose
You're invisible now, you got no secrets to conceal"
As with any Dylan song, he dresses it up quite obliquely and is addressing things on multiple levels here, but the heroin references are everywhere ...
Now, getting 'juiced' just refers to getting drunk, but that was back in school ... so that's how the addiction cycle started. Then it graduated to opiates, which people told her to 'beware' of or she'd be sucked in, but she didn't believe them.
The terms 'kicks' and 'hanging out' are both junkie terms for dope withdrawals. The general term 'kicking drugs' is derived from the phenomenon of 'the kicks', which are uncontrollable leg spasms that occur in opiate withdrawals. Early-on, she apparently thought addiction couldn't happen to her ... to the point where she laughed at people who were dope-sick (i.e. 'hanging out').
At the beginning of the song, the 'living on the streets' refers to how you have to go to bad neighborhoods chasing down the dope man ... and as an addict, you have to 'get used to it'. By the end of the song, she probably literally was living on the streets.
The 'mystery tramp' is the drug dealer(s), pure and simple. And I've got my suspicions that Napoleon is the drug habit itself ... it starts out 'amusing', but then eventually it becomes an addiction ... which in turn just calls you, and indeed, you can't refuse.
Due to her addiction, she ends up in life of misery and despair, pawning her possessions for drug money, and basically 'invisible' to the world, possibly homeless ... if not literally, then figuratively at least ... as addicts tend to drive everyone away from themselves.
"You threw the bums a dime in your prime, didn't you?"...a dime referring to a small amount of drugs for personal use. Many rich people (or any person for that matter) new to the drug scene are asked by people who have been in the scene for a while to "hook them up"...this being a reference to her, the rich girl, "hooking them up with a dime bag".
"You never turned around to see the frowns on the jugglers and the clowns
When they all come down and did tricks for you". Now, later in the song, she is more popular in these areas, and this is an allusion to the people, when they see her, running to her trying to be the dealer to score the sale.
"You never understood that it ain't no good
You shouldn't let other people get your kicks for you". Kicks being used in a different way here, I believe, than the OP intended, referring to the drug itself, as one can never trust another person to score the drugs they are seeking out. You never know what else is added or how much is skimmed.
Just my 2 cent addition to the original posters ideas , which I also feel, hit this song right on the head.
Fantastic song...