Mr. Tambourine Man: Behind the Meaning of a Dream:

Most people who don’t even know Bob Dylan will know at least one of his songs, mainly through the various amounts of covers they’ve released. Some people know Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door, others know All Along the Watchtower, some know Like a Rolling Stone. Some people, also, know this dream-like song, Mr. Tambourine Man.

It’s remembered for its beautiful lyricism that invokes surreal and magical imagery, and the enchanting effect it has. Whilst it was covered by The Byrds, who enhanced that dream-like feel, and whilst it is a very well known cover, and some people enjoy it, I personally think they misinterpreted the song; here’s why.

Hey! Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me
I’m not sleepy and there is no place I’m going to
Hey! Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me
In the jingle jangle morning I’ll come followin’ you

This is the opening to Mr. Tambourine Man. It’s probably one of the most recognisable openings I’ve ever heard. What I believe is important is the use of the word “morning” which inspires ideas of fresh starts, renewal and new starts. Being a “jingle jangle” morning would imply it’s a morning created by this Mr. Tambourine Man, as a tambourine makes a “jingle jangle” sound.

What’s important we notice, almost immediately, is the fact that a tambourine is a child’s instrument; it’s not an instrument you expect somebody who is an adult to play. This will be important for examing the rest of the song.

Of further important are the lines “I am not sleepy and there is no place I’m going to”, which imply the singer is stuck in their position or situation, despite the fact they want to move forward or out of the situation.

Due to all this evidence, I believe that Mr. Tambourine Man is an analogy for youthfulness or a general longing for the past, which I will try to further prove.

Though I know that evenin’s empire has returned into sand
Vanished from my hand
Left me blindly here to stand but still not sleeping
My weariness amazes me, I’m branded on my feet
I have no one to meet
And the ancient empty street’s too dead for dreaming

Despite how beautiful all of these lyrics sound, the message behind them only contains sorrow, longing and misery.

These first five lines, “though I know that evenin’s empire has returned into sand, vanished from my hand, left me blindly here to stand but still not sleeping”, convey the singer’s mourning over the loss of their childhood.

The evening symbolises the last moments of child-like youthfulness, which are so far distant that is has vanished from the singer ever being able to have that youthfulness again.

Sand holds connotations of time, being used in phrases like “sand of time” and also in hourglasses. It implies the youthfulness has been lost to time.

Finally, when the singer is left blinded but not sleeping, he is saying that he is lost in this post-youthfulness world which is why he is blind, as he cannot see which way he, or his life are going now. The fact he’s not sleeping implies that this is all definitely real, not just a dream, which could hint at the singer not being able to cope with this new reality, but it could also show his wakefulness and how he is still restless and wants to move on in life; he doesn’t want to be trapped in this lost and blinded feeling.

The next half of the quotation, “My weariness amazes me, I’m branded on my feet I have no one to meet And the ancient empty street’s too dead for dreaming” attempts to highlight the singer’s lost abilities and youthfulness.

When the singer notices how aged he is, how weary he is, he finds it hard to imagine, he’s amazed by it. It shows how out of touch he is with his youthfulness, he’s always tired. His reason for being tired could be anything. He could be old and near death, he could be weary mentally, from everything he’s had to endure. Regardless of how, or why, he’s weary, he is weary nonetheless and it shows.

The singer himself is a lonely person, somebody who has no friends, or even a boss or co-worker to meet. He has nobody. This could further imply he’s an old man, somebody who’s out lived all of their friends and has nobody to look after or help them. Alternatively, it could be a young man who’s just left his home, his school or college, and he’s noticing how alone he really is, as his friends of circumstance from school no longer want to be around him. Whichever way you paint it, having no friends is not a happy prospect.

Finally, the “empty streets too dead for dreaming”, are, I believe, an analogy for his mind, which is to say that he’s become so uninspired, so tired, that he has no dreams or aspirations anymore. He is too tired to dream, to look beyond to the future. Alternatively, it could also be taken literally and be about the singer’s neighbourhood which is poverty stricken and empty.

Take me on a trip upon your magic swirlin’ ship
My senses have been stripped, my hands can’t feel to grip
My toes too numb to step
Wait only for my boot heels to be wanderin’
I’m ready to go anywhere, I’m ready for to fade
Into my own parade, cast your dancing spell my way
I promise to go under it

This part of the song is where the singer begins to change as a person, though it starts out similarly to the beginning half of the song.

Those three lines “my senses have been stripped my hands can’t feel to grip my toes too numb to step” reiterate the singer’s lack of youthfulness in their life. He is confused and doesn’t know anything, hence his senses have been stripped. He can’t hold on to anything atour him, hence his hands can’t feel to grip. He can’t go anywhere, hence his toes are too numb to step.

However, the second half tells a different story, “Wait only for my boot heels to be wandering I’m ready to go anywhere, I’m ready for to fade Into my own parade Cast your dancing spell my way, I promise to go under it”. Despite the fact this sounds pretty and magical, a brighter turn in the story, it can, and I believe should, be read with a much darker context.

What we see, is the singer wants to fade into his “own parade”, which I understand as an analogy for his mind; he wants to lose himself in his memories, dissapear entirely from the world he is living in.

With this all in mine, understanding Mr. Tambourine Man as a metaphor for youthfulness makes all the more sense. When he casts the singer under a spell, it means the singer is being absorbed into their own imagination and memories of youthfulness.

Though you might hear laughin’, spinnin’, swingin’ madly across the sun
It’s not aimed at anyone, it’s just escapin’ on the run
And but for the sky there are no fences facin’
And if you hear vague traces of skippin’ reels of rhyme
To your tambourine in time, it’s just a ragged clown behind
I wouldn’t pay it any mind
It’s just a shadow you’re seein’ that he’s chasing

What this is, mostly, is the singer describing their dreams and thoughts of youthfulness. The laughin’, spinnin’, and swingin’ under the sun are dreams of summer days, where they’re playing out under the sun, maybe on a swing or on a roundabout/merry-go-round.

The “ragged clown behind” that’s chasing a shadow, I understand, as a metaphor for reality which is trying to catch up to the singer. The clown is chasing a shadow, which could be symbolic of the truth of the current world that the singer is hiding from, or the realities of the past that he is ignoring.

Then take me disappearin’ through the smoke rings of my mind
Down the foggy ruins of time, far past the frozen leaves
The haunted, frightened trees, out to the windy beach
Far from the twisted reach of crazy sorrow
Yes, to dance beneath the diamond sky with one hand waving free
Silhouetted by the sea, circled by the circus sands
With all memory and fate driven deep beneath the waves
Let me forget about today until tomorrow

This final part of the song is showing of the singer’s state of mind. It shows how he’s only dreaming. He has disappeared through the “smoke rings” of his mind.

When he gets taken through the “foggy ruins of time” he’s getting dragged through the unkown and obscures memories he has, memories that are decrepit and not been used in a long time.

For the singer, his reality is sung here, “Far past the frozen leaves The haunted frightened trees Out to the windy beach Far from the twisted reach of crazy sorrow” which shows an empty world that’s filled with fear and terror, reflecting his state of mind and that seems cold and unwelcoming. However, in his dreams, he sings “Yes, to dance beneath the diamond sky With one hand waving free Silhouetted by the sea Circled by the circus sands With all memory and fate Driven deep beneath the waves Let me forget about today until tomorrow” which shows his imagination, in all it’s beauty, that keeps him living day to day in a cruel and unforgiving world. However, I’d find it important to note he is “circled by circus sand” which could show how he can’t escape the truth, due to the link between a circus and a clown.

In conclusion, Mr. Tambourine Man follows the thoughts of a man who wants nothing more than to be lost inside his youth, which has escaped him and he can only enter through his imagination and memories; which he calls “Mr. Tambourine Man”.