Bob Dylan - I Shall Be Free Copyright - 1963 Columbia Records "I Shall Be Free" is a rewrite of Leadbelly's "We Shall Be Free", which was performed by Leadbelly, Sonny Terry, Cisco Houston, and Woody Guthrie. According to musicologist Todd Harvey, Dylan's version draws its melody from the Guthrie recording but omits its signature chorus ("We'll soon be free/When the Lord will call us home"). Most of Dylan's version describes the singer's uneasy relationship with women, and also some striking references to contemporary culture: a phone call from JFK, a satire on TV advertising, and some prodigious drinking. Placed at the end of the Freewheelin' LP, the song provides some welcome levity. Lyrics: Well, I took me a woman late last night, I's three-fourths drunk, she looked uptight. She took off her wheel, took off her bell, Took off her wig, said, "How do I smell?" I hot-footed it . . . bare-naked . . . Out the window! Well, sometimes I might get drunk, Walk like a duck and stomp like a skunk. Don't hurt me none, don't hurt my pride 'Cause I got my little lady right by my side. (Right there Proud as can be) I's out there paintin' on the old woodshed When a can a black paint it fell on my head. I went down to scrub and rub But I had to sit in back of the tub. (Cost a quarter And I had to get out quick . . . Someone wanted to come in and take a sauna) Well, my telephone rang it would not stop, It's President Kennedy callin' me up. He said, "My friend, Bob, what do we need to make the country grow?" I said, "My friend, John, Brigitte Bardot, Anita Ekberg, Sophia Loren." (Put 'em all in the same room with Ernest Borgnine!) Well, I got a woman sleeps on a cot, She yells and hollers and squeals a lot. Licks my face and tickles my ear, Bends me over and buys me beer. (She's a honeymooner A June crooner A spoon feeder And a natural leader) Oh, there ain't no use in me workin' so heavy, I got a woman who works on the levee. Pumping that water up to her neck, Every week she sends
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