Talk:Ballad of a Thin Man

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[edit] Ben Folds

I wonder if the Ben Folds song "Fred Jones, Part 2" is an allusion to the Dylan song? The Mr. Jones in here could be a reporter, Fred Jones is a retiring reporter who still doesn't have a feeling for the real world all around him, as in the lyrics:

fred gets his paints out and goes to the basement
projecting some slides onto a plain white canvas
and traces it
fills in the spaces
he turns off the slides
and it doesn't look right

[edit] Bard College Security Guard

More than half this article is a poorly written section on a Bard College security guard! Mr. Wood 12:50, 12 August 2006 (UTC)

After initially deleting most of the Bard College section, and adding [citation needed]s, I decided to delete all of it. I don't think an article about a song should contain unfounded speculation on who the song is based on. Mr. Wood 13:16, 12 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Counting Crows

I removed the suggestion that the Counting Crows's song "Mr. Jones" is related to the Dylan song. The author claimed this was an unconfirmed rumour, which I don't think has a place in a Wikipedia article. Mr. Wood 13:05, 12 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Mystery Song

I heard a song on the radio the other day, which wasn't a cover of BOATM, but featured a line about "checks to tax deductible charity organisations". Anyone know what this may be?

UPDATE: It's a Cold War Kids song.

[edit] Meaning?

The last few sentences in the Meaning section don't seem to make any sense. It talks about John Berryman but then goes on to TS Eliot and says that the "songs [sic] title is likely a play on the title of an Eliot poem, "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock."" it is not clear which song this refers to (Desolation Row or Ballad of a Thin Man) and I don't see how it's a play on either anyway. There are also no sources for this part of the article. This should be either deleted or cleaned up. Stanlavisbad (talk) 07:51, 4 January 2008 (UTC)

Agreed - the title speculation is unfounded and makes little sense. I've removed it. I've also removed a section that compares a line from Ballad of a Thin Man with a line from some poem. It constitutes original research - WP:NOR Mr. Wood (talk) 21:41, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

So is there space anywhere around here for a less rigid interpretation of psychedelic exploration. I will have to go look for the source to cite, but it has been suggested that Mr. Jones is the ego, and the whole situation is an illustration of the mind being split open and turned in on itself, "oh my god, am I here all alone!?" the harder he tries to understand, the further away from it he gets, escalating into a shouting match "you're a cow! bring me some milk or else go home!"

[edit] Procol Harum - A Cristmas Camel

Ballad of a thin man and A cristmas Camel both use the same melody, whats organ in BOATM is piano in the Procol Harum Song. The second parallel is Dylan talking about the guy as "he looked like a camel" ; The song title also carries "Camel" in it. There could be a connection between Dylan and Procol Harum. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 87.167.63.237 (talk) 15:29, 13 May 2008 (UTC)