Bob

[Parody_Freak27]

Very true. I've been thinking about listening to some Bob dylan music since I bought poodle hat.

And bob is a video, What else could it be?

[iancook]

Of course it's a video, it's definitely not a toaster.

I downloaded the original Dylan video that the "Bob" video was parodying quite some time ago, I think it's a video too.

[thepowerofpolka]

When I first heard this song, I thought "Well, it's an OK song, but I don't really see the point of it" until I figured out that each line was the same, backwards and forwards. Then I relized what it was all about and how long it must have taken Al to come up with it all. Then again...he's Al!

[Orthography Enthusiast]

In honor of the fact that Bob Dylan's excellent new album Modern Times has debuted at #1 -- exactly 30 years after his last #1 album, which is the longest interval for any recording artist, and which makes Dylan the oldest living musician to ever hit #1 on Billboard's charts, I decided to repost Weird Al's "Bob" lyrics, alternating with real lines from Modern Times. Enjoy!

I, man, am regal - a German am I
Some sweet day I'll stand beside my king

Never odd or even
It's either one or the other or neither of the two

If I had a hi-fi
Gonna sleep over there, that's where the music coming from

Madam, I'm Adam
Excuse me, ma'am, I beg your pardon

Too hot to hoot
Well, there's hot stuff here and it's everywhere I go

No lemons, no melon
I can live on rice and beans

Too bad I hid a boot
Bring me my boots and shoes

Lisa Bonet ate no basil
I was thinkin' 'bout Alicia Keys, couldn't keep from crying

Warsaw was raw
All the ladies in Washington scrambling to get out of town

Was it a car or a cat I saw?
Put on your cat clothes, mama, put on your evening dress

Rise to vote, sir
Get away from all these demagogues

Do geese see God?
Well, the whole world is filled with speculation

"Do nine men interpret" "Nine men," I nod
The judge's coming in, everybody rise

Rats live on no evil star
Thunder on the mountain, and there's fires on the moon

Won't lovers revolt now?
This woman so crazy, I swear I ain't gonna touch another one for years

Race fast, safe car
When I was young, driving was my cravin'

Pa's a sap
She says, "Look out, daddy, don't want you to tear your pants

Ma is as selfless as I am
So pray for me mother

May a moody baby doom a yam?
The years are filled with early doom

Ah, Satan sees Natasha
When she was born in Hell's Kitchen, I was living down the line

No devil lived on
They say whisky'll kill you, but I don't think it will

Lonely Tylenol
You got the key to my brain

Not a banana baton
Hand me down my walkin' cane.

No "x" in "Nixon"
'Fore you call me any dirty names, you better think twice

O, stone, be not so
I say it so it must be so

O Geronimo, no minor ego
Gonna forget about myself for a while

"Naomi," I moan
Oh, I miss you, Nettie Moore

"A Toyota's a Toyota"
My mule is sick, my horse is blind.

A dog, a panic in a pagoda
I'm not nursin' any superfluous fears

Oh, no! Don Ho!
The theme of a melody from many moons ago

Nurse, I spy gypsies - run!
Gonna travel the world is what I'm gonna do

Senile felines
You think I'm over the hill

Now I see bees I won
The warm weather's comin', the buds are on the vine

UFO tofu
You ever seen a ghost? No

We panic in a pew
Ain't no altars on this long and lonesome road

Oozy rat in a sanitary zoo
Well, the world of research has gone berserk

God! A red nugget! A fat egg under a dog!
I woke up this morning, butter and eggs in my bed

Go hang a salami, I'm a lasagna hog
Eatin' hog eyed grease in a hog eyed town.

So, do you think Al was reading Bob's mind?

[Insert Coin(s) to Continue]

Holy crap. Are those lines in order? If so, best post ever.

[Orthography Enthusiast]

No, the Dylan lines are not in order. They're taken from different songs on the album; I was trying to find thematic matches with Al's palindrome lines.

[Kevbo1987]

Some of those lines are funnier than Al's.

[Orthography Enthusiast]

There actually are a lot of (intentionally) funny moments on Modern Times, although some of the lines I've posted here, in context, are quite serious.

I'm okay with you seeing some of Dylan's lines as funnier because, after all, the lyrics to "Bob" were found by Al, not exactly written by Al.

[jerAL]

Great post, OE! The thing I always found funniest about "Bob" is that it makes almost as much sense as some of Dylan's songs.

[Orthography Enthusiast]

Thanks, JerAl! "Bob" does sound amazingly like some of Dylan's early amphetamine-driven metaphor-salad lyrics. I mashed up the lyrics to the Modern Times lyrics pretty badly; in context they hang together much better.