I Shall Be Free
Words and music by Bob Dylan
 
Transcription by Kelvin Sherlock
 
Intro: G D        G C/G G C/G G
 
       D
Well I took me a woman late last night, 
                                        G      C/G  G  C/G  G
I's three fourths drunk, she looked all right
         D
'til she started peeling off her onion gook,
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Took off her wig, said, "How do I look?"
G                C/G
I's high flyin
bare naked
out the window
 
Well, sometimes, I might get drunk
Walk like a duck and smell like a skunk
Don't hurt me none, it don't hurt my pride
Cause I got my little lady right by my side
She's a tryin' to hide
Pretendin' she don't know me
 
I's out there paintin' on the old wood shed
When a can of black paint, it fell on my head
I went down to scrub and rub
But I had to sit in back of the tub
Cost a quarter
Half price
 
Well, my telephone rang, it would not stop
It's President Kennedy callin' me up
He said, "My friend Bob, what do we need to make the country grow?"
I said, "My friend John, Bridgette Bardot"
Anita Ickberg
Sophia Loren
County'll grow
 
Well I got a woman five feet short
She yells and hollars and screams and snorts
She tickles my nose, pats me on the head
Rolls me over and kicks me out of bed
She's a man-eater
Meat grinder
Bad loser
 
Oh there ain't no use in me workin' all the time
I got a woman who works herself blind
Works up to her britches, up to her neck
Writes me letters and sends me checks
She's a humdinger
Folksinger
 
Late one day, in the middle of the week
My eyes were closed, I was half asleep
I chased me a woman up the hill
Right in the middle of an air raid drill
I jumped a fallout shelter
I jumped a string bean
I jumped a tv dinner
I jumped a shotgun
 
Well the man on the stand, he wants my vote
He's runnin' for office on a ballot note
He's out there preachin' in front of the steeple
Tellin' me he loves all kinds of people
He's eatin' bagels
He's eatin' pizza
He's eatin' chitlins
 
Oh I sat me down on the television floor
I flipped the channel to number four
Out of the shower comes a football man
With a bottle of oil in his hand
Greasy kid's stuff
What I want to know mister football man is
What do you know about Willie Mays
Martin Luther King
Olitunji
 
Well the funniest woman I ever seen
Was the great granddaughter of Mister Clean
She takes about fifteen baths a day
Wants me to grow a moustache on my face
She's insane
 
Well, ask me why I'm drunk all the time
Levels my head and eases my mind
I just walk along and stroll and sing
I see better days and do better things
I catch dinosaurs
Make love to Elizabeth Taylor
Catch hell from Richard Burton