TALKIN’ WORLD WAR III BLUES
“At a recording session on April 24, [1963,] produced by [Tom] Wilson, Dylan recorded five new compositions: ‘Girl from the North Country’, ‘Masters of War’, ‘Talkin’ World War III Blues’, ‘Bob Dylan’s Dream’, and ‘Walls of Red Wing’. ‘Walls of Red Wing’ was ultimately rejected, but the other four were included in a revised album sequence.”
(June 2013/2)
* * *
The best known of these talking blues songs can be found on The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan, “Talkin’ World War III Blues” (1963). The singer is telling his psychiatrist about the dreams he has been having about the aftermath of a nuclear war; Wikipedia quotes one of the verses: “Well, I rung the fallout shelter bell / And I leaned my head and I gave a yell / ‘Give me a string bean, I’m a hungry man!’ / A shotgun fired and away I ran / I don’t blame him too much, though . . . he didn’t know me”.
Toward the end of the song, the psychiatrist interrupts him to say: “Hey I’ve been havin’ the same old dreams / But mine was a little different you see / I dreamt that the only person left after the war was me / I didn’t see you around.” The song ends with: “I’ll let you be in my dreams if I can be in yours.”
(September 2016)
