Bob Dylan: Jokerman Meaning

Song Released: 1984

Jokerman Lyrics

Standing on the water, casting your bread
While the eyes of the idol with the iron head are glowing
Distant ships sailing into the mist
You were born with a snake in both of your fists while a hurricane was blowing
Freedom just around the...

1. m320753

   • 1
   • 2
   • 3
   • 4
   • 5

   click a star to vote

   Aug 3rd 2010 !⃝

   this is one of the best spiritual song i thimk he has ever written,since the 60s he had written many songs with the name of God and Jesus Christ.and how sad it was to see men in theiryouth buying crack on a corner he said a lot of po to the devil worshippers look and at once you find it a lot of things happen to pop into your head and you gey mellow. another song man of peace warns us about satan and his followers. plainly teaches us to take hee for you don't know when
2. bobdylan

   • 1
   • 2
   • 3
   • 4
   • 5

   click a star to vote

   Jul 28th 2010 !⃝

   In this song the narrator, Dylan, is speaking to the subject, and that's Dylan, too. Allusions to Biblical scripture abound because in this song he is examining his own conscience--a conscience which was cleansed and scoured clean by his Christian conversation about eight years before this song came out. Dylan is pretty hard on himself--e.g. "You're a man of the mountains, you can walk on the clouds, manipulator of crowds, you're a dream twister." He has no illusions, or delusions, about changing the world with a song.
   The best kind of poetry trails off into ambiguities. There are several here. "Well, the rifleman's stalking the sick and the lame, Preacherman seeks the same, who'll get there first is uncertain". Are both parties out to exploit and oppress? And, That last verse is welded together with open ended prophecies.
   "Take the motherless children off the street, and place them at the feet of a harlot"
   
   On another level, this song represents his coming to terms with applying his chosen religion to his complicated lifestyle. He comes to realize that you cannot live in a box and follow the letter of the law exactly and live in righteous absolutes; that the real world is way to uncertain for black and white Christianity.
   
   Jokerman is an inside joke between Dylan and himself. He sees himself as an anomaly, a lucky, or ill-fated trickster.

Latest Articles

• 
  A new era for Millennial favorite, Linkin Park
• 
  Anime to watch for the soundtracks… and other reasons you’re undateable
• 
  Dolly, we need you
• 
  The Stranger Things Effect: How new media is drawing Gen Z and Alpha's attention to aging media
• 
  The most underrated soundtrack of the early 2000s
• 
  Buy the Soundtrack, Skip the Movie: Brainscan (1994)