I think a lot of Dylan's songs written around this period are simply songs about the people he was involved with and the changes in relationships that happened as he went from a nobody to a major star. The bells of the crown is the inheritance of folk music he received as a young man and the bandits are the exploiters of the music industry. As an aside, having watched people grow from talented young performers into polished music industry professionals, it's pretty easy to discern a lot of the intelligent cynicism behind a lot of his lyrics from this period.
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