The title of the song tells you that this is a guy who is on his "4th time around," and the content of the song further describes a guy who does not take his relationships too seriously--he offers a "stick of gum" when this girl asks him to "give something back."
So the song is just describing an encounter he had with one girl (his 4th girlfriend) that taught him that the more you accept from your girl, the more she will expect from you. The guy doesn't like his girl to demand or expect too much from him, so he learns not to "ask for much."
The whole wheelchair/crutch thing is another metaphor layered on top of the same theme: don't let the girl become your crutch, and vice-versa.
He takes stuff out of the girl's "drawer" to give to his next girl. He has decided that the 1st girl is too needy/high-maintenance/serious, so he just takes one more thing from her and moves on to the next girl. He has learned his lesson on this 4th time around with a girl and won't let things get to this point with the next girl.
Amazing song both musically and lyrically, but I love how Dylan piles the different metaphors on you to create so much depth.
The title of the song tells you that this is a guy who is on his "4th time around," and the content of the song further describes a guy who does not take his relationships too seriously--he offers a "stick of gum" when this girl asks him to "give something back."
So the song is just describing an encounter he had with one girl (his 4th girlfriend) that taught him that the more you accept from your girl, the more she will expect from you. The guy doesn't like his girl to demand or expect too much from him, so he learns not to "ask for much."
The whole wheelchair/crutch thing is another metaphor layered on top of the same theme: don't let the girl become your crutch, and vice-versa.
He takes stuff out of the girl's "drawer" to give to his next girl. He has decided that the 1st girl is too needy/high-maintenance/serious, so he just takes one more thing from her and moves on to the next girl. He has learned his lesson on this 4th time around with a girl and won't let things get to this point with the next girl.
Amazing song both musically and lyrically, but I love how Dylan piles the different metaphors on you to create so much depth.