[Vintage54]

     Here's a question, it may have been asked before, don't know. Is there a particular time of day, when you find inspiration easier to come by than at others? For me, to answer my own question, it always seems to be morning. For instance, i got up earlier than usual yesterday, and wrote a blues song in about two hours. Now thats fast for me. But it's not the first time some of my best ideas have come eary doors. Which is a bit of a nuisance really, cause i'm usually off to work. Many a time ive been scribbling like a maaniac on the bus to the sweatshop, before i forget the lines that come thick and fast. Why it should be early morning, i really don't know. Is it the mind refreshed and charged, after a good nights sleep? Be interested to know what time of day works best for you guys.

                             Vintage54

[Mark Ryan]

I always do my best work when I'm tired. I think it may be because the usual thoughts of your working day have all gone and you're working on an almost clear head so to speak.

[Sing4me88]

Can't say I've a particular time per se. Usually an impulse just hits me and things flow from there. Could be any time of day really but I loathe when its late at night as my mind takes over and I find it impossible to sleep until I've a solid chorus or verse! Luckily enough I've a fairly decent memory so the frantic scribbling isn't so much an issue though I must admit I have clambered from my bed on a few occasions at 3 or 4 to locate the nearest pen and paper!

[Vintage54]

      Sing,
        Know exactly what your saying man. Ive had killer lines come and go because i was too lazy or too comfortable to jump out of bed, particularly in winter. I always tell myself i'll remember come morning, but i never do. Mark, interesting man, complete opposite to myself. Not like dylan then? "I'm not sleepy, and there is no place i'm going to"
               
                                Vintage54

[tone]

For me it's any time except morning. I hate mornings. Everything is worse in the morning. The earlier in the morning, the more I hate it. Sometimes I wish I could be one of those people who spring out of bed at 6am with a head full of motivation and great ideas. But I'm not. I'm basically a troll who needs to be bribed with about 3 cups of tea and 2 slices of toast before I'm able to even scratch my @rse, let alone do anything useful.

Did I mention I hate mornings? :p

[Sing4me88]

Sometimes I wish I could be one of those people who spring out of bed at 6am with a head full of motivation and great ideas. But I'm not. I'm basically a troll who needs to be bribed with about 3 cups of tea and 2 slices of toast before I'm able to even scratch my @rse, let alone do anything useful.

This is easily the funniest thing I've read on this forum. If it  takes 3 cups of tea and two slices of toast to get you outta bed what is the going rate for getting you into it???

[tone]

This is easily the funniest thing I've read on this forum. If it  takes 3 cups of tea and two slices of toast to get you outta bed what is the going rate for getting you into it???

hahaha well wouldn't you like to know, you old dawg!

[Sing4me88]

Well I do have a troll fetish after all

[Neil C]

Tone, but who is doing all this bribery? And what about your dog, surely it must need its constitutional morning walk??
 
Neil

[Mark Ryan]

      Sing,
        Know exactly what your saying man. Ive had killer lines come and go because i was too lazy or too comfortable to jump out of bed, particularly in winter. I always tell myself i'll remember come morning, but i never do. Mark, interesting man, complete opposite to myself. Not like dylan then? "I'm not sleepy, and there is no place i'm going to"
               
                                Vintage54

Almost 30 years of working in this industry has given me a horrible case of insomnia unfortunately, so my sleep pattern is all over the place. Most nights it's well past 5 or 6 in the morning before my eyes begin to get heavy, so the fact I write more at night is probably due to the relative silence as well, apart from the occasional car passing by.

PS - Dylan's line above was referring to his own insomnia as far as I'm aware. And Mr Tambourine Man was his drug dealer apparently

[Vintage54]

         Mark,
           I read tambourine man different, no disrespect. Certainly, drugs play a part in the song. But i see dylan, in the early hours, looking for inspiration. Asking the tambourine man, his muse, to play a song for me. Dylan will follow, wherever he leads, and when he finds it, the inspiration, and the song is writ. He dances neath the diamond sky with one hand waving free. The joy of creation, ive felt that man, i know the steps, you know em too. Thats my interpretation, for what its worth. But thats why this song is so great, its open to many.

                             Respect
                               Vintage54

[Mark Ryan]

         Mark,
           I read tambourine man different, no disrespect. Certainly, drugs play a part in the song. But i see dylan, in the early hours, looking for inspiration. Asking the tambourine man, his muse, to play a song for me. Dylan will follow, wherever he leads, and when he finds it, the inspiration, and the song is writ. He dances neath the diamond sky with one hand waving free. The joy of creation, ive felt that man, i know the steps, you know em too. Thats my interpretation, for what its worth. But thats why this song is so great, its open to many.

                             Respect
                               Vintage54

The "problem" with Most of Dylan's work is that the guy is just too god damn mysterious and never explains them :/ so we have to either go on our own interpretations of his songs, or what his closest friends etc tell us they were about.
Like you, when I first analysed this song I came to the exact same conclusions, that he was searching for inspiration. However, His Bobness was asked about this during an interview and denied it point blank saying he was never short of inspiration, but still refusing to enlighten us with any kind of clear insight into the lyrics. Alan Price (Ex Animals) claims Dylan told him it was written as he was waiting on his dealer turning up and was feeling all fidgety and restless, and if you go through the lyrics it's easy to attribute them to this explanation also. However, I could almost guarantee if you asked Dylan about this theory he would deny this one too.
I suppose the beauty of it, and songs like it such as Subterranean Homesick Blues, Bob Dylan's 115th Dream etc, is that you can interpret them a hundred different ways. Holding Zimmy in the esteem I do, I like to think he's never struggled for inspiration like he claims, and therefore prefer to go with the fact he was just rattling and needed something to bring him down so he could 'lay down his weary tune'
I don't suppose we'll ever find out the true meaning but I bet it's a stonker I think there's more chance of the US Govt giving guided tours of Area 51 than Dylan giving away his innermost secrets

[Mark Ryan]

Actually I remember once in an interview he claimed it was inspired by (Not about) a guy who played a massive tambourine called Bruce Langhorn or something. I think Langhorn may have been the inspiration behind the main lyric but if you look at these lyrics Bob is clearly either baked out of his nut, or he's coming down from a heavy LSD trip and needs something to calm his nerves. He talks about his insomnia a couple of times in this song which can be clearly identified. I've highlighted the parts I'm talking about. And the jingle jangle morning I think was describing how his body felt when he was coming down from his trip.

"Mr. Tambourine Man"

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

[benjo]

 that's an amazing lyric

 but I don't think BOB could explain it,  that's why he doesn't
 there's a lot of rhyme for rhyme sake,
 I think the melody pushes this one to it's top quality too
 like mentioned he was prob high as a kite so can't remember
 maybe the genius is in the madness,  but brilliant stuff

 I hate it just as you are going to sleep and a line pops into your head
 then another then a chorus,
 but your arm is firmly tucked under your wife's neck and she's almost asleep
 

    great topic

[tone]

Well I do have a troll fetish after all

Impeccable taste!

Tone, but who is doing all this bribery? And what about your dog, surely it must need its constitutional morning walk??
 
Neil

No morning walks here Neil :p I have a garden, and the dog gets a nice long walk in the late afternoon. There's no negotiating this routine.