The ninth and penultimate track on Oh Mercy, a murky, slow-moving song of suspicion with drifting harmonica.
The words
A man keeps asking someone what they really want from him, never quite trusting the answer.
The whole song is a string of questions put to someone who has approached the singer, perhaps a lover, perhaps a fan or a hanger-on. He wonders what they came for, whether he has already given it and whether he heard them right. The repeated questioning turns wary and faintly mocking, with a sense that the relationship is a game neither side admits to. The sound is swampy and hazy, typical of the album's night-time atmosphere.
Lyrics on bobdylan.com ↗Listen and watch
The words
A man keeps asking someone what they really want from him, never quite trusting the answer.
The whole song is a string of questions put to someone who has approached the singer, perhaps a lover, perhaps a fan or a hanger-on. He wonders what they came for, whether he has already given it and whether he heard them right. The repeated questioning turns wary and faintly mocking, with a sense that the relationship is a game neither side admits to. The sound is swampy and hazy, typical of the album's night-time atmosphere.
Lyrics on bobdylan.com ↗The same year · 1989
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