She was fifty-one years old and gave birth to ten children
And never sat once at the head of the table
And didn’t even talk to the people at the table
Who just cleaned up all the food from the table
What has always kicked my ass about this song is this next line, showing off as audacious a leap in meaning and lyric as I can recall ever seeing.
And emptied the ashtrays on a whole other level
The words themselves seem a little strange … but I don’t think anyone fails to get what they mean, what an artist of the young Dylan’s caliber made them mean.
William Zanzinger killed poor Hattie Carroll
With a cane that he twirled around his diamond ring finger
At a Baltimore hotel society gath’rin’.
And the cops were called in and his weapon took from him
As they rode him in custody down to the station
And booked William Zanzinger for first-degree murder.
But you who philosophize disgrace and criticize all fears,
Take the rag away from your face.
Now ain’t the time for your tears.
