Señor is the 5th song to be presented here from my favourite Bob Dylan album Street-Legal. When I first heard this song many moons ago I wasn’t crazy about it and I could say the same with other songs from the record, but over the years and subsequent listens my musical appreciation has only amplified. He paints such vivid imagery with mythic language and the music acts like a wagon taking it’s load to an unspecified definition and the ‘Señor‘ might be the conductor or guard (or his conscience). Also the song juxtaposes the “Old West” and the Bible.
One could compare Señor to Dylan’s earlier south-of-the-border adventure songs Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues from 1965 and Romance in Durango from 1976. Also the atmosphere of the song is Spanish or Mexican, without lapsing into caricature.
Señor is the song from Street-Legal that Dylan has played the most in live performance (265 times in concert between 1978 and 2011), and the one that has been covered the most by other artists including Jerry Garcia and Willie Nelson.
According to the Wikipédia article below Dylan has told various contradictory stories of the origen of the song. One he told in a live performance in 1978 was how “he was on a train going from Mexico to San Diego and how a strange old man got on the train, and Dylan felt the urge to talk to him. Apparently, the story told in the concerts started off fairly simply and gradually expanded adding the notion that when Dylan finally did want to talk to the man, he had gone“. Rolling Stone quoted Dylan as describing the man on the train as “150 years old… Both his eyes were burning, and there was smoke coming out of his nostrils“.
There is another obscure account in the reference below inspired by actor Harry Dean Stanton with whom he had starred in Sam Peckinpah’s 1973 film Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid.
Señor, señor, can you tell me where we’re headin’
Lincoln County Road or Armageddon
Seems like I been down this way before
Is there any truth in that, señor
Señor, señor, do you know where she’s hidin’?
How long are we gonna be riding?
How long must I keep my eyes glued to the door?
Will there be any comfort there, señor?
There’s a wicked wind still blowing on that upper deck
And there’s an iron cross still hanging from around her neck
There’s a marching band still playing in that vacant lot
Where she held me in her arms one time and said
“Forget me not”
Señor, señor, I can see that painted wagon
Smell the tail of the dragon
I can’t stand the suspense here anymore
Can you tell me who to contact here, señor?
Well, the last thing I remember before I stripped and kneeled
Was that trainload of fools bogged down in a magnetic field
And a gypsy with a broken flag and flashing ring
Said “Son, this ain’t a dream no more, it’s the real thing”
[Verse 5]
Señor, señor, you know their hearts are hard as leather
Give me a minute, let me get it together
I just gotta pick myself up off the floor
I’m ready when you are, señor
[Verse 6]
Señor, señor, let’s overturn these tables
And disconnect these cables
This place don’t make sense to me no more
Can you tell me what we’re waiting for, señor
References:
1. Señor (Tales of Yankee Power) – Wikipedia
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