Never more true than today!

Bob Dylan’s 1965 Ballad of a Thin Man was seen as an anthem for the younger generation that was disgusted with the established status quo and a materialistic mainstream media blind to the needs and desires of the young.

Journalist Mike Marqusee (1953–2015) called it a scathing attack on a dumbed-down media, personified in the song by Mister Jones.

Dylan biographer Robert Shelton* (1926–1995) described Mr. Jones as “a Philistine, a person who does not see… superficially educated but not very smart about the things that count.”

Because something is happening here

And you don’t know what it is

Do you, Mister Jones?

Bob Dylan, Newcastle England, May 1966.

Wild lyrics of Ballad of a Thin Man. To write a song like this you pretty well have to be stoned, Dylan once told an interviewer.

You walk into the room

With your pencil in your hand

You see somebody naked and you

You say, “Who is that man?”

You try so hard, but you don’t understand

Just what you will say when you get home

Because something is happening here

But you don’t know what it is

Do you, Mister Jones?

You raise up your head

And you ask, “Is this where it is?”

And somebody points to you and says, “It’s his”

And you say, “What’s mine?”

And somebody else says, “Well, what is?”

And you say, “Oh, my God, am I here all alone?”

But something is happening

And ya don’t know what it is

Do you, Mister Jones?

You hand in your ticket

And you go watch the geek

Who immediately walks up to you

When he hears you speak

And says, “How does it feel to be such a freak?”

And you say, “Impossible,” as he hands you a bone

And something is happening here

But you don’t know what it is

Do you, Mister Jones?

You have many contacts among the lumberjacks

To get you facts when someone attacks your imagination

But nobody has any respect

Anyway, they already expect you

To all give a check to tax-deductible charity organizations

Ah, you’ve been with the professors

And they’ve all liked your looks

With great lawyers, you have discussed lepers and crooks

You’ve been through all of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s books

You’re very well read, it’s well known

But something is happening here

And ya don’t know what it is

Do you, Mister Jones?

Well, the sword swallower, he comes up to you

And then he kneels

He crosses himself and then he clicks his high heels

And without further notice, he asks you how it feels

And he says, “Here is your throat back, thanks for the loan”

And you know something is happening

But you don’t know what it is

Do you, Mister Jones?

Now, you see this one-eyed midget

Shouting the word “now”

And you say, “For what reason?”

And he says, “How?”

And you say, “What does this mean?”

And he screams back, “You’re a cow

Give me some milk or else go home”

And you know something’s happening

But you don’t know what it is

Do you, Mister Jones?

Well, you walk into the room

Like a camel and then you frown

You put your eyes in your pocket

And your nose on the ground

There oughta be a law against you comin’ around

You should be made to wear earphones

‘Cause something is happening

And ya don’t know what it is

Do you, Mister Jones?

Songwriter: Bob Dylan

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*Robert Shelton helped launch Bob Dylan’s career, then an unknown 20-year-old performing at a folk venue in New York City’s West Village. Shelton’s review in The New York Times led to a Columbia recording contract for the young singer.

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