Highway 51
Bob Dylan Lyrics


Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴  Line by Line Meaning ↴

Highway 51 runs right by my baby's door
Highway 51 runs right by my baby's door
If I don't get the girl I'm loving
Won't go down to Highway 51 no more

Well, I know that highway like I know my hand
Yes, I know that highway like I know the back of my hand
Running from up Wisconsin way down to no-man's-land

Well, if I should die before my time should come
And if I should die before my time should come
Won't you bury my body out on Highway 51?

Highway 51 runs right by my baby's door
I said, Highway 51 runs right by my baby's door




If I don't get the girl I'm loving
Won't go down to Highway 51 no more

Overall Meaning

In Bob Dylan's song "Highway 51," the lyrics detail the importance of the highway in the singer's love life. Highway 51 runs right by his lover's door, and the singer claims to know the highway like he knows the back of his hand. He also states that he won't go down to Highway 51 anymore if he doesn't get the girl he's in love with. The singer reinforces the importance of the highway in his life by requesting to be buried on it if he dies.


The repetition of the line "Highway 51 runs right by my baby's door" emphasizes the presence of the highway in the singer's life. The line "If I don't get the girl I'm loving, won't go down to Highway 51 no more" reveals how the highway represents the singer's love and how they won't go down a road that has no meaning for them anymore. The lines "Well, I know that highway like I know my hand" and "Running from up Wisconsin way down to no-man's-land" show how the singer connects with the highway, as if it were a part of him.


The chorus provides the idea that the singer wants to be buried near the highway where his lover resides. The desire to be buried on the highway shows how important this highway is for the singer, who has incorporated it into his identity.


Line by Line Meaning

Highway 51 runs right by my baby's door
The highway is located near where my loved one lives and I often pass by it.


If I don't get the girl I'm loving
In the event that I am not successful in winning over the person I love...


Won't go down to Highway 51 no more
...I will no longer travel on the highway.


Well, I know that highway like I know my hand
I am extremely familiar with the route of the highway, much like how I know my own hand.


Running from up Wisconsin way down to no-man's-land
It stretches from the northern state of Wisconsin down to an uninhabited area.


And if I should die before my time should come
In the unfortunate situation that I pass away too soon...


Won't you bury my body out on Highway 51?
...I would like to be laid to rest somewhere along Highway 51.




Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: CURTIS JONES

Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
To comment on or correct specific content, highlight it

Genre not found
Artist not found
Album not found
Song not found
Most interesting comments from YouTube:

@juancamacho5746

Highway 51 runs right by my baby's door
Highway 51 runs right by my baby's door
But won't get the girl I'm loving
Won't go down Highway 51 no more

Well, I know that highway like I know my hand
Yes, I know that highway like I know the back of my hand
Running from up Wisconsin
Way down to no man's land

Well, if I should die 'fore my time should come
And if I should die 'fore my time should come
Won't you bury my body
Out on Highway 51?

Highway 51 runs right by my baby's door
I said, Highway 51 runs right by my baby's door
But won't get the girl I'm loving
Won't go down Highway 51 no more



@edwardlouisbernays2469

I Highway 51
The highway's northern terminus is between Hurley, Wisconsin, and Ironwood, Michigan, where it ends with a Trumpet interchange at US 2. Its southern terminus is in Laplace, Louisiana, ending at US 61. US 51 is routed through the states of Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, and Wisconsin.
Highway 51 was created during the 1926 Arkansas state highway numbering as a route between US 67 and Arkadelphia in Clark County.

Bridge that formerly carried Highway 51 over the Ouachita River

Near Berine, a former alignment now bears the Clark County Road 12 designation. Along the former alignment, the McNeely Creek Bridge is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. To the east of Arkadelphia, Highway 51 formerly crossed the Ouachita River on a historic truss bridge.The bridge was closed to vehicular traffic in 2018 upon the opening of a new bridge.

Arkansas 51, Old, Curtis to Gum Springs
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Old Arkansas 51, Curtis to Gum Springs.JPG
Historic section of Highway 51
Area 9.5 acres (3.8 ha)
Built 1931
Built by D.H. Dalton Co.
MPS Arkansas Highway History and Architecture MPS
NRHP reference No. 03001457[13]
Added to NRHP January 21, 2004

Between Curtis and Gum Springs, a four-mile-long (6.4 km) stretch of concrete pavement built in 1931 remains intact. Part of the original Highway 51 alignment between Little Rock with Texarkana, the pavement was used until the present section of US 67 was buildln 1965. The road section was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2004.



@carlosarturosousagarridole9361

WIKIPEDIA

"Highway 51 Blues" is a song composed by American blues pianist Curtis Jones, released on a 78 record on January 12, 1938. Bob Dylan's track "Highway 51", released as the closing track of his debut album Bob Dylan on March 19, 1962, incorporated the tune from Jones's version.


Curtis Jones version

"Highway 51 Blues" is a song composed by American blues pianist Curtis Jones (1906–1971), whose song "Lonesome Bedroom Blues", released in 1937, had been popular. On January 25, 1938, "Highway 51 Blues", from his fourth recording session, was released on a 78 record. From 1941 to 1953, he did not record any further songs, and after a further seven years, in 1960 he recorded the album Trouble Blues. This was followed by Lonesome Bedroom Blues in 1962, released by Delmark Records, containing a new version of "Highway 51 Blues".

Authors Philippe Margotin and Jean-Michel Guedson claimed that Highway 51, which extends from the suburbs of New Orleans, Louisiana, to Hurley, Wisconsin, "has a special place in the history of American Music" due to being the route used by many African-Americans moving to the north."

Bob Dylan version ("Highway 51")

Background and recording

American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan probably learned Jones's "Highway 51 Blues" after hearing it either on a 78 record or from a reel to reel tape recording. "Highway 51" was recorded by Dylan at the second session for his debut album Bob Dylan. He recorded the song on one take at Columbia Studio A, 799 Seventh Avenue, New York City, on November 22, 1961. Dylan sings, and plays guitar and harmonica on the song. The album was produced by John H. Hammond, and engineered by George Knuerr and Pete Dauria.

On the label of the long-playing record issued in 1962, the song is credited to "C. Jones" (Curtis Jones). Dylan used the tune from the 1938 recording by Jones. He used lyrics from a 1939 Tommy McClennan recording called "New Highway No.51" for the first and last of the four verses, and utilised a repeating guitar figure from "Wake Up Little Susie" by the Everly Brothers (1957). Dylan's official website has credited the song to "C. White". Dylan sings, and plays guitar and harmonica on the song. The album was produced by John H. Hammond, and engineered by George Knuerr and Pete Dauria. Bob Dylan was released by Columbia on November 20, 1961, with "Highway 51" as the closing track. According to music scholar Steven Rings, by including chord progressions not found in either the Jones or McClennan versions, Dylan created "an articulation between the pop and rockabilly world of the Everlys and the rural blues of the song’s textual sources", which continued into Dylan's "It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)".

The narrator of the song not to travel on Highway 51 as, he says, it "runs right by my baby's door". He also says that if he should die early, he wants to be buried on the highway.

Dylan biographer Robert Shelton suggested that, despite the lack of electric instruments, the song can be regarded as "the first folk-rock recording". Paul Williams felt that "Highway 51" was one of several songs on the album to "give hints of Dylan's rock and roll sensibilities". The album's liner notes by "Stacey Williams" (a pseudonym for Shelton), say: "A diesel-tempoed "Highway 51" is of a type sung by the Everly Brothers, partially rewritten by Dylan. His guitar is tuned to an open tuning and features a particularly compelling vamping figure.".

Dylan gave a performance at Eve and Mac Mackenzie's home in New York in December 1961. He has performed the song in public at concerts only twice: at Carnegie Hall on September 22, 1962, and at New York town Hall on September 12, 1963.

Reception

According to Michael Gray in The Bob Dylan Encyclopedia, Bob Dylan was an album "few people liked and that didn't sell", and led to Columbia seeking to drop Dylan. However, Gray gives a positive assessment, arguing that the "speed, energy and attack" of Dylan's vocal and instrumental performances "show how fresh and excellently 'unprofessional he was".

Neil Spencer gave the song a rating of 3/5 stars in an Uncut magazine Dylan supplement in 2015, writing that all the songs on Bob Dylan "were treated to a lot of yelping, stuttering harmonica and none too special guitar playing".[18] Author John Nogowski rated the song as "C+". Shelton wrote about the song in his biography, No Direction Home, The Life and Music of Bob Dylan:

The simple guitar work supplies the equivalent of a full rhythm section, with interweaving stresses that suggest jazz drumming. Dylan is foreshadowing some of the exciting guitar work of Richie Havens, who used the flat-picking brushstroke so inventively ... Against [his] chugging guitar, Dylan delivers a vocally strong blues-rockabilly song. The pulse, tempo, and motion build up into several strong climaxes within two minutes, forty-nine seconds. Death is in the lyrics, but over-abundant life is in the voice and guitar.



All comments from YouTube:

@juancamacho5746

Highway 51 runs right by my baby's door
Highway 51 runs right by my baby's door
But won't get the girl I'm loving
Won't go down Highway 51 no more

Well, I know that highway like I know my hand
Yes, I know that highway like I know the back of my hand
Running from up Wisconsin
Way down to no man's land

Well, if I should die 'fore my time should come
And if I should die 'fore my time should come
Won't you bury my body
Out on Highway 51?

Highway 51 runs right by my baby's door
I said, Highway 51 runs right by my baby's door
But won't get the girl I'm loving
Won't go down Highway 51 no more

@Philb666666

The reason escapes me - But Dylan's work takes me to another dimension - I like it there :)

@allankirkland8955

never heard guitar played like this ..bought dylans first album in 82 still never heard anything like it

@larryowens9508

The most gibson acoustic tone that ever j ed itself into existence.

@nicoteamalail6387

I ve been search this track for 15 years! Tank you.

@jacksongross6646

I’m sorry you had to search so long for so much greatness.

@robertmcglinchey3347

Fast Tempo - does its job to leave an image. Friend whom I jammed a lot of Dylan with in the mid 60s “reminded me” of this song. We all had zieder-zee hats like Dylan has on. My bucket list is drive Canada to NOLA on Highway 61 and return on 51. The highways are mentioned in his biography. I’ll bet I could get $500 for the hat on eBay

@johncbernaysjohnc.bernays1790

I still have one them zeder-zee hats and wearing it now, I am 74 No Hair guy, I wear that hat all the time, live in San Francisco, Coldest City : What East Coast state is parallel with San Francisco in latitude? Richmond, Virginia

@robertmcglinchey3347

@@johncbernaysjohnc.bernays1790 wow Richmond ha ha. My Zuider Zee still kind of fits even though I just have a moderate amount of hair. With more hair it was very tight.

@crystalfelch4628

I live not too far from Hwy 51 so love this tune

More Comments

More Versions