I suppose he gained a reputation for turning out songs with meaning, like the protest anthems, but when he had had enough of that and tried other styles, people continued to look for special meanings when there weren’t always any. Those of us steeped in folksong probably expect all songs to tell a story or to have some particular message, but surely popular song is often only about expressing a simple emotion, and sometimes not even that.

As for nonsense words to simply carry a tune, like ‘da do ron ron’, we have plenty similar in folksong, like ‘hey, nonny, nonny’ and ‘Derry, Derry, down’, and few of us want to devote time and energy into analysing what such words actually mean. I think I prefer actual words, even if they do introduce some confusion, eg ‘Say hello to Vivian, say hello to Valerie, give her all my salary, on the waters of oblivion’ (also on the Basement Tapes) which is surely just a bit of nonsense and playful rhyming??