Jesterphonics

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[jesterphonics-blog]

9/1/11 substrate / "Lay, Lady, Lay"

substrate [SUHB-streyt], noun: Something that is spread or laid under something else.

See: "Lay, Lady, Lay" by Bob Dylan from the 1969 album Nashville Skyline.

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8/21/11: odoriferous / "I Shall Be Free"

odoriferous [oh-duh-RIF-er-uhs], adjective: Yielding or diffusing an odor.

"Well, I took me a woman late last night / I's three-fourths drunk, she looked alright / She took off her wheel, took off her bell / Took off her wig, said, "How do I smell?" / I hot footed it... barenaked... / Out the window!"

-Bob Dylan, "I Shall Be Free" printed lyrics from The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan. [The sung lyrics are different, but see the next section about the skunk as well.]

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8/20/11: conglobate / "Arthur McBride"

conglobate [KON-gloh-beyt], verb: to form into a globe or ball.

"And the little wee drummer, we flattened his bow, / And we made a football of his rowdy-dow-dow, / Threw it in the tide for to rock and to roll, / and bade it a tedious returning"

-trad. arr. Bob Dylan from the album Good As I Been To You.

  This was a tough one. This being an Irish traditional and all, the "football" mentioned likely refers either to the spherical ball used in Gaelic Football (though this song's first appearance in 1840 is a good 50 years before Gaelic Football existed) or a rugby ball, most likely. Either way, I'm gonna take it.

Here's a pretty jaw dropping rendition by Paul Brady from 1977 -

[jesterphonics-blog]

8/19/11: runic / "Ballad Of A Thin Man"

runic [ROO-nik], adjective: Having some secret or mysterious meaning.

"And something is happening here, but you don't know what it is, do you, Mr. Jones?"

-Bob Dylan, from "Ballad Of A Thin Man" from the album Highway 61, Revisited.

[jesterphonics-blog]

8/18/11: purloin / "Diamond Joe"

purloin [per-LOIN], verb: To take dishonestly; steal.

See: "Diamond Joe," trad. arr. Bob Dylan from the album Good As I Been To You.

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8/17/11: jointure / "Idiot Wind"

jointure [JOIN-cher], noun: property given to a woman upon marriage, to be owned by her after her husband's death.

"They say I shot a man named Gray and took his wife to Italy. / She inherited a million bucks, and when she died it came to me. / I can’t help it if I’m lucky."

-Bob Dylan, "Idiot Wind" from the album Blood On The Tracks.

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8/16/11: polysemous / "Bob Dylan's 115th Dream"

polysemous: [pol-ee-SEE-muhs], adjective: having a diversity of meanings.

See "Bob Dylan's 115th Dream" by Bob Dylan from Bringing It All Back Home.

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8/15/11: polemic / "Talkin' John Birch Paranoid Blues"

polemic [puh-lem ik, poh-], noun: a controversial argument, as one against some opinion, doctrine, etc.

See "Talkin' John Birch Paranoid Blues" by Bob Dylan from The Bootleg Series, Vol 1-3.

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8/14/11: burke / "Only A Pawn In Their Game"

burke [burk], verb: 1. To suppress or get rid of by some indirect maneuver.

2. To murder, as if by suffocation, so as to leave no or few marks of violence.

See: "Only A Pawn In Their Game" by Bob Dylan from The Times They Are A-Changin'.

OK, so maybe there's some pretty violent, messy murder in this one. But there's also a lot of indirect (and direct!) suppression, too.

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8/13/11: holus bolus / "Let's Stick Together"

holus-bolus [HOH-luhs-BOH-luhs], adverb: all at once; altogether.

See: "Let's Stick Together" by Bob Dylan from Down In The Groove.

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8/12/11: mundify / "When He Returns"

mundify [MUHN-duh-fahy], verb :To purge or purify.

For like a thief in the night, He’ll replace wrong with right When He returns.

- Bob Dylan, "When He Returns" from the album Slow Train Coming.

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8/11/11: billet - "Shelter From The Storm"

billet [BIL-it], verb: To provide or obtain lodging.

See "Shelter From The Storm" by Bob Dylan from Blood On The Tracks.