# Bob Dylan and Homer



## BrahmsWasAGreatMelodist (Jan 13, 2019)

From Zimmerman's "Idiot Wind":



> "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 / Can't help it if I'm lucky"


Is this a reference to Homer's famous "Gray Men"?


----------



## NoCoPilot (Nov 9, 2020)

More likely the OTHER famous Homer.


----------



## Kreisler jr (Apr 21, 2021)

I suspect it's for an easy rhyme..
Who is the other famous Homer? Simpson?


----------



## BrahmsWasAGreatMelodist (Jan 13, 2019)

Kreisler jr said:


> I suspect it's for an easy rhyme..
> Who is the other famous Homer? Simpson?


Easy rhyme? Bob Dylan?
















NEVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(Also where is the rhyme with gray? Italay?)


----------



## Ludwig Schon (10 mo ago)

Tim Buckley & Homer on the Monkees…


----------



## Ludwig Schon (10 mo ago)

Btw, Robert Fagles’ recent translation of both the Iliad and the Odyessy is exceptional… Chapeau!


----------



## Kreisler jr (Apr 21, 2021)

with "say", it's an internal rhyme.
What kind of "inside" reference do you suggest? The only gray men I know are from "Momo" (the time thieves) 


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Momo_(novel)


Or am I just missing a joke?


----------



## Ludwig Schon (10 mo ago)

Perhaps, the “grey headed beadles“ in Blake’s “Holy Thursday”?

They were grey men too…

Btw, the only Zimmermann worthy of serious discussion is Bernd Alois…


----------



## BrahmsWasAGreatMelodist (Jan 13, 2019)

Kreisler jr said:


> with "say", it's an internal rhyme.
> What kind of "inside" reference do you suggest? The only gray men I know are from "Momo" (the time thieves)
> 
> 
> ...


I never even realized the rhyme with "Say"!

Ain't Bobby so cool.


----------



## SanAntone (May 10, 2020)

"Italy" rhymes with "came to me". The internal rhyme of "say" and "Gray" is minor and isn't repeated in any of the other verses, so I assume it was coincidental and not planned.

Interpretations have ranged from it being about the breakdown of his marriage to the Vietnam War. Dylan has said it was not about him or his life.

As always, this song has more than one level of meaning, but I see it as a put down song in general.


----------



## Red Terror (Dec 10, 2018)

Leave up to Brahms to complicate Dylan's high-school level lyrics. Great songwriter; inept lyricist.


----------

