Bob Dylan: Senor Meaning
Senor Lyrics
Lincoln County Road or Armageddon ?
Seems like I been down this way before
Is there any truth in that, Señor?
Señor, Señor, do you know where she is hidin' ?
How long are we gonna be...
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1TOP RATED
#1 top rated interpretation:This is what I think about the song:
The track came out just before Dylan embraced Jesus as his saviour, and is actually an internal conversation, where Dylan contemplates about aspects of his life with God (senor is the lord in Spanish).
First verse:
"can you tell me where we heading? ... is there truth in any of that senor?"
Refers to the political scene, that's why he says "seems I've been down this way before" and "is there truth in any of that senor?"
Second verse:
"can you tell me where she's hiding ... comfort there"
Refers to finding true love, that's why he says "how long should I keep my eyes glued to the door (waiting for her)" and "will there be any comfort there senor".
Third verse:
In this verse Dylan rethinks about his life "smeled the tale of the dragon (drugs)" and asks for someone to help him get in touch with God ("Can you tell me who to contact here senor").
Fourth verse:
"before I stripped and kneeled" i.e. before accepting salvation
"trainload of fools bogged down in a magnetic field" refers to the people being elured by the system to lead their lives towards wrong directions
Fifth verse:
"you know their hearts .. i'm ready when you are" refers to how all people don't open their hearts
Sixth verse:
"disconnect these cables" "overturn these tables" and "this place don't make sense to me no more"
it is the moment of change, where Dylan starts his spiritual journey with God -
He's singing images from Sam Peckinpah's films (Pat Garret and Billy the Kid, The Wild Bunch, The Cross of Iron, etc.). He was in one of them.
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Could be about a number of things, which is what makes it so great. I played it yesterday and I was reminded of the train load of Jews who were sent out of Germany to be shot during WW2.Many were iron cross winners from the First World War. The train was delayed while the high command hesitated about killing them, by the time they decided to spare them they had already been shot.
I can hear so many references to what the inhabitants of that train must have been thinking, not knowing where they were heading, or what would be there fate after parting with loved ones.
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It’s most certainly about the feeling of Dylan’s inevitable parting from wife Sara. Song is written in part from her perspective ‘Señor’ (her asking God if her feelings of an impending break up are valid), and in part from a neutral (or possible Dylan’s) narrative ‘There’s still a wicked wind, a marching band.. (those are their love and memories). Song came out 1978, Dylan went on a big tour 1974 - she staying at home ‘how long just I keep my eyes glued to the door’ (for him to come home). ‘Forget me not’ probably something she said before he went on tour.
Tail of dragon, painted wagon (smelling that things are going sideways). Lincoln Country or Armageddon (another dust or the final battle).
Stripped and kneeled (begging that it’s just a dream, but it’s the real thing). Can’t stand the suspense.. she just needs to know. -
This song is a great example of why Dylan was given the Nobel prize in Literature. The blending of past,present and future events and concepts of historical and spiritual significance meshed with his own personal struggles and realities of his own past, present and future.
Senor starts out With Mr. Dylan asking God (Senor) where his life is leading- to a battle that continue or is it the final Spiritual battle to end all.
Mr Dylan recalls his past and asks God is this another road he has been down or is it beyond what he can conceive. Do you know where she is hiding? seems to be a reference to his ex wife Sarah and how long will the journey last until he finds the outcome of that reality and will he find comfort or will the pain of it continue. Will Sarah walk back thru his door or is their world over? is it the real end? personally and or the World as we know it.
The wicked wind in the upper deck seems to reference the evil that high society so often represents and Sarah is a part of that now but still is carrying the heavy weight (cross) of their relationship.
The reference to the marching band playing to an empty lot seems to be Mr. Dylan telling Sarah that the band still plays on regardless if it is heard or understood but he remembers Sarah saying to never forget her and the memory of their past love. The reference to the painted wagon seems to be a representation of both of them getting it back together and the tail of the dragon seems to reference that the drugs and that evil part is on the way out. Mr Dylan asks God who should he reach out to here on the Earth.
Dylan seems to bring the next verse into an apocalyptic future of humanity waiting for Judgement day. A vision of status and material stripped away from each individual to reveal themselves to be a mass of fools living (bogged down) in the technological age and unable to see or feel the reality of truth-(the Spiritual world) The gypsy seems to represent a wise figure who has no country or bounds on this Earth to remind him that this is now the reality (son this aint a dream no more).
Dylan Tells God that he knows God knows the masses have hardened their hearts (turned from God's love) and asks for a minute to recover from the reality of the situation to face his own judgement. (picks himself up off the floor( not unlike Abraham and Issac's reactions to encountering the Holy spirit each time (2x each) when they fainted at the sight and sound.
Dylan uses the the last verse to bring in the analogy of the Western expansion of to wrap up the past,present and future he has referenced....The Western expansion of technology and modernization (Tales of Yankee power) in their quest to expand their boundaries and bring that way of life and seems to reference some of the movies that were made-like the wild Bunch turning over the table at the end of the battle scene against the Mexican Army knowing that the end was near and the old as referencing Jesus turning over the tables of the money changers in the Temple....is this Lincoln road (another battle) or Armageddon....Was the Western expansion forced on the the less sophisticated technologically oriented nations and people's a good thing after all?
Dylan states we should disconnect the cables (the modern technology) that he states have turned this world into a place that he cannot understand (no connection to God). (makes no sense no more) and he asks God, why are you waiting? What are we waiting for? Dylan had just entered his Christian period and knows that Jesus is coming but seems to say that he can't believe God is still being patient and understands the prophecies of Revelation and the signs point to Armaggedon but he is not sure when- like any man in the flesh.
The lyrical intertwining of Dylans present marital pain with the stories of western expansion and results on mankind with the final judgement of God are better stated and represented in his lyrics than any breakdown of what this song represents in analysis is a real testament to the incredible talent Dylan has been given by God!
Thank You Mr. Dylan
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Listen again to the song from the perspective of a future VR user lost in virtual realities.
I'm ready when you are!
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Pretty sure its about The Lincoln County War which involved Billy the Kid
https://www.legendsofamerica.com/nm-lincolncountywar/ -
Zimmy’s interpretation of his own music is that what he throws out he wants you to make your own interpretation.
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The song is one of the Dylan songs like so many where one can interpret it in so many ways. In my case, I see it as a song about confronting your own death. I Hope when I die I tell them “let’s overturn these tables, disconnect these cables” and ask them “can you tell me what we’re waiting for, Senor. Señor as God. The song is about raging against the dying of the light. As written by Dylan Thomas, Bob Dylan’s name sake.The rest of that is just another one of his great poetic landscapes where he is looking for love and redemption. Bob refuses to explain his Song meanings, leaving them so beautifully open to interpretation.
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Senor has two voices. The first is verses 1,2,4,6,7, the second verses 3,5.
The first voice always begins "Senor", suggesting someone talking to a superior, and the verses are all reasonably comprehensible. Also, in verse 2 it asks after a woman ("do you know where she's hiding").
The second voice bears no relation to the first, either in metre or musical accompaniment. It is wild and rambling, referring to wicked winds, iron crosses, marching bands, magnetic fields, broken flags, flashing rings.
I believe these two voices are Sancho Panza and Don Quixote, and the woman is Dulcinea. -
It's about being in the throws of addiction.
Searching for the next fix.
The exhilaration of a score being the band playing, while the next day after one comes down it's a vacant lot.
The wind on the upperdeck having to do with the mental turmoil associated with the thought of realizing one is an addict.
The woman would be the drug, the ironcross the withdrawal.
The stripped and kneeling being those fighting to no longer be in the throws of addiction while their peers are stuck on the train (mainline).
Tossing the tables and cutting the cables finally being free of the collectors, or the dealers. -
((Well, the last thing I remember before they stripped and kneeled
Was a trainload of fools born down in a magnetic field
A gypsy with a broken flag and a flashing ring
He said, Son, this ain't no dream no more it's the real thing.))
"" before the prisoners strip and kneel, I saw the train full of the articles of war, it reminded me of a bunch of ancient idiots traveling through time(of the future).
and the shrewd man, he was sarcastic and vagabond as usual, his looks said that patriotism was nonsense but delusion was possible.
and he said: what you see is no more a fear no it already IS ""
((Senor, senor, you know their hearts is as hard as leather
Well, give me a minute, let me get it together
I just gotta pick myself up off the floor
I'm ready when you are, senor.))
"" senior!, as you know these lords have stone dead hearts, let me recall my info for a while!,
no use we all fall in these atrocious circumstances, let us run!""
((Senor, senor, let's overturn these tables
Disconnect these cables
This place don't make sense to me no more
Can you tell me what we're waiting for, senor ?))
"" senior!, no use!, we must destroy the place and its communicators, they are all corrupted, the world makes no sense any more, rotten and cruel, no true pleasure any more, I wonder how come we still persist on being""
too damn dark, is it?!
or isn't it?! -
Why do people always tend to privatize what is public or narrow what is meant to be general.
The whole song is a broad or general view over the status qua of human life, not stuck on a defined point in place-a country- or in time - a century- the whole tale is a group of wide range metaphors.
((senor, senor, can you tell me where we're headin ?
lincoln county road or armageddon ?))
""you respected man can you tell me are we just living our lives in peace walking down our ancestors' rural- peaceful naive and full of simple hopes- road or is it the road to a great big catastrophe of hatred, violence, counter violence, and tales of false supremacy that we are heading for? ""
((seems like I been down this way before
is there any truth in that, senor ?))
"" I remember I have received such a feeling before alarm, fear, hate, defense, a close big catastrophe of evil, it seems familiar some how. ""
((senor, senor, do you know where she is hidin' ?
how long are we gonna be riding ?
how long must I keep my eyes glued to the door ?
will there be any comfort there senor ?))
"" how long will I keep waiting for hope or freedom or maybe the woman of my life, in brief : my home; you know! there is no comfort at all in such waiting!""
(( there's a wicked wind still blowing on that upper deck ))
"" does that stinking smell of human small sick deeds still rising up high for the sky to see?"
((there's an iron cross still hanging down from around her neck))
""is the statue of human freedom still clanging its heavy burden(chain)?""
((there's a marcing band still playing in their vacant lot))
"" is this military music still playing in the empty fate or in the deserted wide empty land?/ is the marching band that I once saw or is sgt. P. Still howling their instruments in vain down their place?""
((where she held me in her arms one time and said, forget me not!))
"" that place where this woman/ this idea once asked me to never forget her.""
((senor, senor, I can see that painted wagon
smell the tail of the dragon
can't stand the suspense anymore
can you tell me who to contact here, senor ?))
"" senior, I already see the vehicles of destruction, smell the wickedness of war, a clowny but cruel and heavy war,
is it for real, this is suspense ( humphrey bogart is still cracking his voice), tell me if there's some one who has answers!""
to be continued. -
I would say it's a song of revenge. To get back to that girl that the men with leatherhearts took.. when stripped and kneeled. That's how I see it.
But offcourse you can see bigger pictures in the song too. -
In addition to the euthanasia story:
listen to Willie Nelson on 'I'm not there' -
What a load of bullshit.
Think when people reach his age and have looked back at all the nonsense that happened during their life they might think about this....
Euthanasia?
Being able to command to disconnect the cables?
Hope I'm able to....
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