Springsteen received his Doctorate in Dylanology even before I did, and I invented the motherfucking word! Springsteen referred to Bobby Dylan as “Bobby.” For example in Glory Days he wrote, "There's a girl that lives up the block ("block" as "head," from the idiom "knock your block off" - translation: Dylan is smarter than Springsteen and operates on a higher level) / In school (as he established his own school of poetry) / she could turn all the boys heads (and she could change and upgrade the way in which other rock poets composed poetry in their heads, their minds. Note the use of "block" and "head" in close proximity) / Sometimes on Friday (on a day where people often go out to view entertainment) / I would stop by (mimic Zimmerman's music - stop: to adjust the vibrating length of a guitar string by pressing down with a finger) / and have a few drinks (drink - drink something in - to listen to it, learn it eagerly, while I sang it and played it. Absorbed it…) / after she put her kids (her creations) / to bed (to put a newspaper to bed - to finish a work, apropos since Zimmerman based many of his topical poems on newspaper articles) / Her husband (husband - to manage resources wisely, as the early Dylan did) / Bobby / they split up (Zimmerman changed, left the topical song world)...."
DEVILS AND DUST
“I got my finger (to accuse, point the finger at someone, also finger - in music. To indicate on a part or composition the choice and configuration of fingers to be used for a piece of music) / on the trigger (something that starts off a chain of events as Dylan has done in the pop music world) / But I don't know who to trust (trust - have belief or confidence in, or reliance on, the truth, goodness, character, power, ability, etc of someone - Springsteen has lost his faith in Zimmerman) / When I look into your eyes (when I examine your thoughts, look into your mind - eyes as “in the mind’s eye” or “more than meets the eye”) / There's just devils (evil, and someone who excels at something as in "Zimmerman is a devil of a poet") / and dust (British - garbage as in trash - in Restless Farewell Zimmerman wrote, "The dust of rumor covers me")…
“You’re a long, long way from home Bob (you have strayed a long way from roots on the Left) / Home’s a long long way from us (and I no longer share your goals, home as “home run”) / Hear a dirty wind a blowin (I hear you disseminating lies, excrement, trash in your poetry - wind a blowin’ as in Blowin In The Wind ) / devils and dust…
“I got God on my side (of course With God On My Side is a Zimmerman song poem - Dylan feels justified in his beliefs) / And I'm just trying to survive (and he is trying to stay alive despite being HIV positive) / What if what you do to survive (but what if having to take numerous combinations of anti-viral drugs) / Kills the things you love (kills not only the virii but the spirit of humanity that dwells within you) / Fear's (of death) / a powerful thing, baby / It can turn your heart black you can trust (it can make your innermost feelings, heart of hearts, black, pessimistic, cynical, evil, and you better believe it) / It'll take your God filled soul (it will take your once political essence) / And fill it with devils and dust (in another verse Springsteen sings the word “song” rather than “soul” and “god-fearin’” rather than “God-filled” in a similar reference to Dylan early works)
“Well I dreamed of you last night (I wrote a poem about you recently, "dream" as in Dear Landlord where Dylan wrote, "my dreams are beyond control") / In a field (a region of space in which one object exerts force on another) / of blood (a blood disease) / and stone (that is written in stone, immutable, incurable) / The blood (the disease) / began to dry (cause Dylan to lack warmth of character) / The smell (to be aware of something by intuition; to recognize signs or traces of: Example: I smell a self-hating Jew) / began to rise (originate, increase).”
“Well I dreamed of you last night, Bobbie / In a field of mud (disgraced out of favor, Zimmerman's name is mud with those on the Left who are in the know. Also a battlefield as in Dylan’s Long Ago Far Away, “The war guns they went off wild / The whole world bled its blood / Men's bodies floated on the edge / Of oceans made of mud”) and bone (disagreement - Springsteen has a bone to pick with Dylan, also blood is produced in the bone marrow) / Your blood began to dry (no longer produce T-cells) / The smell to rise (and the virus began to catch up with you)…
“Now every woman and every man (all of your fans) / They wanna take a righteous stand (justifiable morally correct political position) / Find the love that God wills (find the political and social truth that is their destiny to progress to) / And the faith (loyalty to a promise) / that He commands (that they deserve or are entitled to. Also Zimmerman’s knowledge of and ability to use language - his command of the English language) / I've got my finger on the trigger (Springsteen did a song about, Amador Diallo, a guy the NYPD killed with numerous shots) / And tonight (presently) / faith just ain't enough (his old belief in Zimmerman will no longer suffice) / When I look inside my heart (when Springsteen looks into his heart of hearts, his true beliefs) / There's just devils and dust (all he sees is the evil and sick trash that Zimmerman is generating).”