4th Time Around
"4th Time Around" is a song by Bob Dylan off his 1966 album, Blonde on Blonde. The story is written in a confusing way, which was Dylan's style from 1964-66.
The song is suggesting that she is a prostitute demanding money, with such lines as: "...and then she said eveyone must give something back for something they get." This is also suggested by her putting on her clothes. Dylan then attempts to pay her with a stick of gum. She kicks him out, but he comes back because he had "forgotten his shirt." She goes to get it, and then they get in a fight, and she starts screaming. She chokes to death on his gum, then he robs her and takes her possessions back to his wife.
This song is based on a Beatles song written by Lennon for their 1965 album Rubber Soul. It was a very Dylan-esque song called Norwegian Wood. In Lennon's song the protaganist tries to have an affair with a woman he went home with. She rejects him because she has to get up early in the morning, so she makes him sleep in the bath. "And when I awoke, I was alone, this bird had flown. So, I lit a fire, isn't it good Norwegian Wood." So at the end of Lennon's song, he burns down the house and leaves. "4th Time Around" is Dylan's version of "Norwegian Wood". Dylan borrows the melody and the basic plot. The last line in the song is a direct message to Lennon about borrowing from his writing style, "I never took much, I never asked for your crutch, so don't ask for mine."
Covers
- Terry Melcher: Terry Melcher (1974)
- The Sports: The Sports Play Dylan & Donovan (1981)
- Pete Williams: The Times They Are A-Changin' (1992)
- Steve Gibbons: The Dylan Project (1998)
- Chris Whitley: Perfect Day (2000)
- Michael Moore: Jewels and Binoculars (2000)
- Michel Montecrossa: 4th Time Around (2001)
- Dylan Project: May Your Song Always Be Sung: The Songs of Bob Dylan, Volume 3 (2003)