This was Dylan's "fuck you" to the folk community. 4th Street was where all the folkies lived and hung out, and Dylan lived at one point. They'd turned on him since his musical evolution. Whether it's about someone specific, Ochs, as suggested below, or something more generalised. Dylan, I think, often used composites when writing songs, I'm particularly thinking of some of his 60s "love" songs, which seem to incorporate his many love interests of the time into the same songs. By the way, the version of Dylan kicking Ochs out of his limo I read had Dylan playing "Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window?" for Ochs, and being pissed with Ochs' lukewarm reactions-- which weakens your evidence somewhat.
What I love about this song is that it's one of Dylan's most explicitly "poppy" arrangements. And straight-forward, quite unlike Dylan lyrics. Which helped it become a Top 10 hit. I can only think it was designed as such to extra piss off the folkies! Rather brilliant.
This was Dylan's "fuck you" to the folk community. 4th Street was where all the folkies lived and hung out, and Dylan lived at one point. They'd turned on him since his musical evolution. Whether it's about someone specific, Ochs, as suggested below, or something more generalised. Dylan, I think, often used composites when writing songs, I'm particularly thinking of some of his 60s "love" songs, which seem to incorporate his many love interests of the time into the same songs. By the way, the version of Dylan kicking Ochs out of his limo I read had Dylan playing "Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window?" for Ochs, and being pissed with Ochs' lukewarm reactions-- which weakens your evidence somewhat.
What I love about this song is that it's one of Dylan's most explicitly "poppy" arrangements. And straight-forward, quite unlike Dylan lyrics. Which helped it become a Top 10 hit. I can only think it was designed as such to extra piss off the folkies! Rather brilliant.