The opening track, it was also released as a single with a music video.
The words
A shape-shifting figure drifts through a landscape of biblical and political images, admired and doubted at once.
The singer addresses a mysterious, ever-changing figure who moves freely through a crowded dreamscape of biblical scenes, false prophets and looming tyrants. Each verse piles up vivid images, and the chorus calls out to the Jokerman directly, half in admiration and half in frustration that he does nothing to stop what is coming. Whether he is a savior, a trickster or the singer himself is left open. The opening track rides a light, reggae-inflected groove.
Lyrics on bobdylan.com ↗Listen and watch
The words
A shape-shifting figure drifts through a landscape of biblical and political images, admired and doubted at once.
The singer addresses a mysterious, ever-changing figure who moves freely through a crowded dreamscape of biblical scenes, false prophets and looming tyrants. Each verse piles up vivid images, and the chorus calls out to the Jokerman directly, half in admiration and half in frustration that he does nothing to stop what is coming. Whether he is a savior, a trickster or the singer himself is left open. The opening track rides a light, reggae-inflected groove.
Lyrics on bobdylan.com ↗Connections
On the map
In threads
The same year · 1983
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