I think harperfan is absolutely right; the song is non-stop references to gay sex. I don't know why so few people seem to have gotten this over the years.
There's more than just what harper mentioned:
"and you say impossible, as he hands you a bone."
hands you a bone?
"you have many contacts/out there among the lumberjacks"
vague, but definitely sexual; lumberjacks 1. fell trees all day, 2. appear superficially straight but, like sailors, have a reputation for sodomy...I'd love to know exactly what Dylan had in mind with this one...
"you've been with the professors/and they've all liked your looks"
this one's pretty self-explanatory.
"you've been through all of F. Scott Fitzgerald's Books" - who was one of the greatest misogynists of the 20th Century...
and finally, the biggest one:
"you walk into a room/like a camel and then you frown/you put your eyes in your pocket/and your nose on the ground/there ought to be a law/against you coming around/you should be made to wear earphones ([alt.] telephones)"
Let's analyze this carefully. Picture Joe Camel; that long nose, the puffed-out cheeks; picture the outline of his face. It's a phallus. What's got its eyes in your pockets and its nose on the ground? Your penis. "There ought to be a law against you coming around" - hehehehe. this one makes me laugh. "You should me made to wear earphones." (Earphones are for PROTECTION. Just like you wear a condom to stop you from "coming around.")
Every line in song is just more incredibly childish and immature than the last -- it's like something 13 year old boys write in the backs of their Latin books. But the genius of it has stood the test of time -- most people who've heard it a thousand times still have no idea what it really means.
luckystrike- I think your theory makes a lot of sense . . . . But I think the last two lines mean something else. Assuming the song is about a gay guy, I think these two lines are sort of critisizing those who think being gay is wrong. Like, "There should be a law against you coming around": "coming around" is gay sex, and people think it should be illegal. And "You should be made to wear earphones" . . . just making fun of what Dylan sees as ridiculous or foolish laws, such as any prohibiting homosexuality. Just a...
luckystrike- I think your theory makes a lot of sense . . . . But I think the last two lines mean something else. Assuming the song is about a gay guy, I think these two lines are sort of critisizing those who think being gay is wrong. Like, "There should be a law against you coming around": "coming around" is gay sex, and people think it should be illegal. And "You should be made to wear earphones" . . . just making fun of what Dylan sees as ridiculous or foolish laws, such as any prohibiting homosexuality. Just a theory.
Interesting interpretation, luckystrike6...but I must bring up this one point...your reference to "Joe Camel". This song was written in the early to mid-sixties...if memory serves me correctly, Joe Camel wasn't created until the 80's as part of a Camel cigarette advertising campaign.
Interesting interpretation, luckystrike6...but I must bring up this one point...your reference to "Joe Camel". This song was written in the early to mid-sixties...if memory serves me correctly, Joe Camel wasn't created until the 80's as part of a Camel cigarette advertising campaign.
Just one of those things that makes you wanna say "Hmmmm..."
Just one of those things that makes you wanna say "Hmmmm..."
The imagination of folks can sure take off when they attempt to make meanings fit into their own box. Joe Camel as and advertising icon didn't come along til the late 80's. Highway 61 Revisited came out in 1965.
The imagination of folks can sure take off when they attempt to make meanings fit into their own box. Joe Camel as and advertising icon didn't come along til the late 80's. Highway 61 Revisited came out in 1965.
@luckystrike6 I do not think the camel is Joe Camel, but there is no date problem if it was.
@luckystrike6 I do not think the camel is Joe Camel, but there is no date problem if it was.
"Joe Camel was actually born in Europe. The caricatured camel was created in 1974 by a British artist, Nicholas Price, for a French advertising campaign that subsequently ran in other countries in the 1970s. Indeed, [advertising executive John E.] O'Toole recalled a visit to France many years ago during which he glimpsed Joe Camel wearing a Foreign Legion cap. The inspiration behind Mr. Price's cartoon was the camel, named Old Joe, that has appeared on all Camel packages since the brand's initial appearance in 1913."
I think harperfan is absolutely right; the song is non-stop references to gay sex. I don't know why so few people seem to have gotten this over the years. There's more than just what harper mentioned:
"and you say impossible, as he hands you a bone." hands you a bone?
"you have many contacts/out there among the lumberjacks" vague, but definitely sexual; lumberjacks 1. fell trees all day, 2. appear superficially straight but, like sailors, have a reputation for sodomy...I'd love to know exactly what Dylan had in mind with this one...
"you've been with the professors/and they've all liked your looks" this one's pretty self-explanatory.
"you've been through all of F. Scott Fitzgerald's Books" - who was one of the greatest misogynists of the 20th Century...
and finally, the biggest one:
"you walk into a room/like a camel and then you frown/you put your eyes in your pocket/and your nose on the ground/there ought to be a law/against you coming around/you should be made to wear earphones ([alt.] telephones)"
Let's analyze this carefully. Picture Joe Camel; that long nose, the puffed-out cheeks; picture the outline of his face. It's a phallus. What's got its eyes in your pockets and its nose on the ground? Your penis. "There ought to be a law against you coming around" - hehehehe. this one makes me laugh. "You should me made to wear earphones." (Earphones are for PROTECTION. Just like you wear a condom to stop you from "coming around.")
Every line in song is just more incredibly childish and immature than the last -- it's like something 13 year old boys write in the backs of their Latin books. But the genius of it has stood the test of time -- most people who've heard it a thousand times still have no idea what it really means.
luckystrike- I think your theory makes a lot of sense . . . . But I think the last two lines mean something else. Assuming the song is about a gay guy, I think these two lines are sort of critisizing those who think being gay is wrong. Like, "There should be a law against you coming around": "coming around" is gay sex, and people think it should be illegal. And "You should be made to wear earphones" . . . just making fun of what Dylan sees as ridiculous or foolish laws, such as any prohibiting homosexuality. Just a...
luckystrike- I think your theory makes a lot of sense . . . . But I think the last two lines mean something else. Assuming the song is about a gay guy, I think these two lines are sort of critisizing those who think being gay is wrong. Like, "There should be a law against you coming around": "coming around" is gay sex, and people think it should be illegal. And "You should be made to wear earphones" . . . just making fun of what Dylan sees as ridiculous or foolish laws, such as any prohibiting homosexuality. Just a theory.
Interesting interpretation, luckystrike6...but I must bring up this one point...your reference to "Joe Camel". This song was written in the early to mid-sixties...if memory serves me correctly, Joe Camel wasn't created until the 80's as part of a Camel cigarette advertising campaign.
Interesting interpretation, luckystrike6...but I must bring up this one point...your reference to "Joe Camel". This song was written in the early to mid-sixties...if memory serves me correctly, Joe Camel wasn't created until the 80's as part of a Camel cigarette advertising campaign.
Just one of those things that makes you wanna say "Hmmmm..."
Just one of those things that makes you wanna say "Hmmmm..."
The imagination of folks can sure take off when they attempt to make meanings fit into their own box. Joe Camel as and advertising icon didn't come along til the late 80's. Highway 61 Revisited came out in 1965.
The imagination of folks can sure take off when they attempt to make meanings fit into their own box. Joe Camel as and advertising icon didn't come along til the late 80's. Highway 61 Revisited came out in 1965.
Sorry Dahlhia--wasn't trying to copy you. Saw your post after it was too late. :)
Sorry Dahlhia--wasn't trying to copy you. Saw your post after it was too late. :)
@luckystrike6 I do not think the camel is Joe Camel, but there is no date problem if it was.
@luckystrike6 I do not think the camel is Joe Camel, but there is no date problem if it was.
"Joe Camel was actually born in Europe. The caricatured camel was created in 1974 by a British artist, Nicholas Price, for a French advertising campaign that subsequently ran in other countries in the 1970s. Indeed, [advertising executive John E.] O'Toole recalled a visit to France many years ago during which he glimpsed Joe Camel wearing a Foreign Legion cap. The inspiration behind Mr. Price's cartoon was the camel, named Old Joe, that has appeared on all Camel packages since the brand's initial appearance in 1913."
nytimes.com/1991/12/12/business/the-media-business-advertising-camel-s-success-and-controversy.html