I think this song is about a break up, finding new love and not repeating mistakes.
Initially, the narrator isn't interested in the giving and taking - only the girl is ("give something back for something they get"). She's doing all the talking about that, he's just humming and drumming (hum drum ho hum). He "forced [his] hands in [his] pockets" because he didn't want to be part of this love-as-a-balance-sheet, he found it ugly.
At the end of the song, however, he's taken what he's learnt from this first relationship and he's trying to make sure he doesn't get into the same space with the second relationship ("I never took much, I never asked for your crutch, so don't ask for mine").
One of the really interesting things about this song is that the words seem very literal, but the situation they described is abstract. For example, you might believe that "she" falls dead on the floor or that he's forgotten his shirt. If you want to be literal about it, I think she threw him out without giving him time to button up his fly, let alone grab his shirt. But what it really means is that when she threw him out, he feels naked ("forgotten my shirt") and feels out of place with no sense of belonging ("I stood in the dirt, where ev'ryone walked"). He goes back in to seek his shirt (or his dignity or sense of belonging) because these feelings are so uncomfortable for him.
If you take it literally, "her face got so red" with anger that "she fell on the floor" and died (of anger or a heart attack, whatever). I think that this is abstract and he's merely experiencing her as dead: he's over it, she's dead to him, he's pulled the cover over the whole ugly affair ("I covered her up..."). All the same, the callousness of "cover her up and then thought I'd go look through her drawer" is remarkable.
In the last verse, he takes stock ("look through her drawer") and asks himself what he's taken and learnt from this relationship. Turns out, all he's got out of it fits into a single, stinking shoe! Nevertheless, he takes his shoe-full and he brings it to his next relationship, where he finds himself again taking account of who gives what. He finds it equally distasteful in this second relationship, but he's doing the talking this time and he's not letting the relationship dwindle into demands ("don't ask for [my crutch]").
Others' interpretations of the title was really interesting! I'd always felt it was about the chords, which feature the 4th very heavily, leaving the song with a slightly spooky, empty feeling. Perhaps Dylan wrote the chords to reflect the title??
Except... I always thought "filled up my shoe, and brought it to you," was just a clever/abstract way of saying he put his feet into his shoes, and brought the contents, himself, to the next love.
Except... I always thought "filled up my shoe, and brought it to you," was just a clever/abstract way of saying he put his feet into his shoes, and brought the contents, himself, to the next love.
I think this song is about a break up, finding new love and not repeating mistakes.
Initially, the narrator isn't interested in the giving and taking - only the girl is ("give something back for something they get"). She's doing all the talking about that, he's just humming and drumming (hum drum ho hum). He "forced [his] hands in [his] pockets" because he didn't want to be part of this love-as-a-balance-sheet, he found it ugly.
At the end of the song, however, he's taken what he's learnt from this first relationship and he's trying to make sure he doesn't get into the same space with the second relationship ("I never took much, I never asked for your crutch, so don't ask for mine").
One of the really interesting things about this song is that the words seem very literal, but the situation they described is abstract. For example, you might believe that "she" falls dead on the floor or that he's forgotten his shirt. If you want to be literal about it, I think she threw him out without giving him time to button up his fly, let alone grab his shirt. But what it really means is that when she threw him out, he feels naked ("forgotten my shirt") and feels out of place with no sense of belonging ("I stood in the dirt, where ev'ryone walked"). He goes back in to seek his shirt (or his dignity or sense of belonging) because these feelings are so uncomfortable for him.
If you take it literally, "her face got so red" with anger that "she fell on the floor" and died (of anger or a heart attack, whatever). I think that this is abstract and he's merely experiencing her as dead: he's over it, she's dead to him, he's pulled the cover over the whole ugly affair ("I covered her up..."). All the same, the callousness of "cover her up and then thought I'd go look through her drawer" is remarkable.
In the last verse, he takes stock ("look through her drawer") and asks himself what he's taken and learnt from this relationship. Turns out, all he's got out of it fits into a single, stinking shoe! Nevertheless, he takes his shoe-full and he brings it to his next relationship, where he finds himself again taking account of who gives what. He finds it equally distasteful in this second relationship, but he's doing the talking this time and he's not letting the relationship dwindle into demands ("don't ask for [my crutch]").
Others' interpretations of the title was really interesting! I'd always felt it was about the chords, which feature the 4th very heavily, leaving the song with a slightly spooky, empty feeling. Perhaps Dylan wrote the chords to reflect the title??
@JessK
@JessK
@JessK
@JessK
Hey JessK, I can't believe you got no replies in nine years. I think you nailed it. Well done.
Hey JessK, I can't believe you got no replies in nine years. I think you nailed it. Well done.
@JessK
@JessK
Except... I always thought "filled up my shoe, and brought it to you," was just a clever/abstract way of saying he put his feet into his shoes, and brought the contents, himself, to the next love.
Except... I always thought "filled up my shoe, and brought it to you," was just a clever/abstract way of saying he put his feet into his shoes, and brought the contents, himself, to the next love.