Bob Dylan's blues

The speaker presents himself as an ordinary person with troubles that heroic figures do not solve. The tone is playful and boastful, but there is also a sense of being overlooked: the Lone Ranger and Tonto help everyone except him. As the song continues, he rejects flashy pleasures and unwanted attention, then ends with an absurdly bold suggestion about robbing banks.

Several images give the song its comic, rough-edged voice. The heroes “fix everybody’s troubles” but not his, turning a familiar rescue story into a joke about personal misfortune. Having his hat in his hand and boots on his feet suggests a man walking around with little comfort or status, pushed along by the wind. The final “six-shooter” and bank robbery are exaggerated outlaw talk, not necessarily a serious plan; the speaker even tells the listener to blame him to a judge, extending the joke.

The song can be read as a comic performance of toughness: the speaker insists he does not need sports cars, romantic admirers, or heroic help, while making himself sound larger than life. His claims may be sincere in places, especially his devotion to his “real gal,” but the sudden criminal advice makes it hard to take every statement literally. The humor leaves open whether he is laughing at hardship, pretending not to care, or simply enjoying a rowdy persona.