Whistle Stop and Little Hawk: don't get me wrong, I admire the song and the writer tremendously: I was trying to point out analytically why the song is so effective and vicious. One of its virtues is that it encapsulates one of Dylan's very powerful poetic techniques: what one could call tight vagueness. He uses very casual, what one thinks of as slovenly, throwaway lines, that keep making you wonder if he is paying attention, and you sort of let the lines skate past, and only at the end do you realize that he has foxed you. Or coyoted you. Same with this song.

Obviously the singer is criticizing the other person ("that light I never knowed"), but it is done in such a way that it is not the overt criticism that does them in -- it is the subtle placement -- "You're the reason I'm travelling on, but don't think twice, it's all right". Can there be a more maddening line -- what could be more important than being the reason for someone's travelling on "the dark side of the road", and yet they are to dismiss it from their minds as of no importance. Which means that if the other person accepts this suggestion, then the whole relationship was of no importance. It is part of the poisoned hook.

I don't think the autobiography matters one way or the other, though I wouldn't reject it. Similarly, I don't think critically it is obvious that the singer is only having a conversation with himself (this is known in the trade as reception critique) -- there is a presumptive audience, as there is in any creation, and this one is pretty strongly addressed -- "iffen you don't know by now"). It is almost like a taped letter left on the bed. But it does add to the ambiguity.

The best line in the song for me is "Still I wish there was something you could do or say, to make me change my mind and stay," since of course he is now gone. Although one could argue that he is still just about to leave and is imagining himself on the road thinking back ("It ain't no use in turning on your light babe) to where he is now, writing the farewell note. Or for a moment regretting what can't happen in the scenario he has created. It is that flash of ambiguity that I admire most in Dylan -- just when he is being a complete creep....I assume that is why Joan Baez' Diamonds and Rust is so messed up. He could reall mess up a woman.

Totally maddening, very simple song.

Idiot Wind is not in the same league -- though I admire it too.

yours, Peter T.