The Philosophy of Modern Song: You don’t know me

Posted on December 10, 2025 by Tony Attwood

 

 

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By Tony Attwood

This is part of a series of articles (links to previous articles at the end) in which I take a look at the songs Bob selected for his post-doctorate volume “The Philosophy of Modern Song”.  I did start the series by trying to comment on Bob’s comments, but I found I couldn’t really add anything meaningful or useful, so I changed the series in one that offers a recording of each song, so if you wish to hear the song Bob was talkingabout, eventually they will all be available in one place – on this site listed in the final episode.  And because I can never resist it, I have added my own comments too.

If my counting is correct, this is number 35 in the series, or something like that.

In many ways, this song seems to symbolise Bob Dylan, as he has so often suggested that this title is exactly what his relationship with us, his fans and admirers, is all about.

The heart of the problem with this, of course, is the multiplicity of commentators who insist on seeing the lyrics within Dylan’s compositions as being representative of himself, his views, his thoughts, his political opinions, his love life, his… well anything you like.

Bob rejects this, as do most songwriters and lyricists.  But the view continues.   It doesn’t affect novelists because by and large they depict more complicated scenarios, although I have heard it suggested that the hero in a long-running series is really the author, but no, I don’t believe it.  Having had a few novels published myself, I can say that in my case the central characters are certainly not me.  A big part of the fun is in being a god and creating new people, not writing about oneself!

Of course, Dylan’s views are reflected to a degree in his songs: I certainly think his views of the world at the time of writing are reflected in “Masters of War” and “Times They Are a-Changin” but to generalise out from there to think that the majority of his songs reflect his views seems to be missing the point.   There are traditions in popular and folk music which Bob has to some degree kept to in his compositions,  but listen to the lyrics of most of his songs across time and you will find changing perspectives – in the end giving us a world-views that cannot be exactly analysed.

To see this point, and if you have a moment, come with me back to my all-time favourite Dylan song, “Tell Ol’ Bill” of which I have raved many times on this site.   This of course cannot be about him for the second line says, “I’ve hardly a penny to my name,” but in the argument that Bob is telling us his personal thoughts, such details are quickly passed by.

Now Bob has never sung this on stage, and so the line “And to myself alone I sing,” could be a reflection of reality, except that at the time of writing the line, Bob surely didn’t know if he was going to sing the song or not.

The fact is, in Tell Ol Bill we never know who the “you” is who is torturing him.   Is it one ex-lover, is it all his fans wanting to know what each song means, or is it those of us who spend time writing Untold Dylan?   Is Bob really “stranded in this nameless placeLying restless in a heavy bed”?  I am not sure that was ever the case.

But if you believe that, then you believe we (or some of us) commentators and writers, trampled on him as we passed, and maybe that can be explained by the meanings we read into his words…  And OK I am biased because I don’t want to believe that Bob meant “Anything is worth a try,” as a message to us all, because I very much do not believe that.   I do believe in right and wrong, in being kind to people, in putting my children and grandchildren first etc.  No for me, anything is very much NOT worth a try.

More to the point is the fact that Bob sings about misunderstandings and misrepresentations, and I suspect he feels that a lot of his work has been misrepresented, because a) people do insist that he is what he sings and b) they will insist on quoting extracts that fit their visions, rather than each work of art as a whole.  And, it often strikes me, that this is what “Tangled up in Blue” is about.   Tangled up in emotions – my emotions, your emotions, everyone else’s emotions….
Although we shouldn’t forget the “You don’t know me” album by the Band which really makes much the same point across something like 59 songs.

So, while not a signature song title, the phrase “You don’t know me” perfectly captures the complex, often contradictory relationship between the public and the Bob Dylan who at least in his songs, seems to be ever changing in his point of view.   Unlike Elvis for example, who never really seemed to have a point of view. 

“You Don’t Know Me,” the song Bob chose for inclusion in his “Philosophy” book was written by Eddy Arnold and Cindy Walker in 1955. It was first released the following year.   Everyone but everyone has had a go at the song.   Here is Bob…

You can find other versions by Elvis, Willie Nelson, and… well everyone.  It also turns up in lots and lots of movies.

The lyrics come from a man who has never known the art of making love, but he does secretly love a friend.   However, he’s afraid of her saying no to him, so he says nothing and she goes off with someone else.   So she, in turn, never knows what she has lost, or quite possibly what a narrow escape she just had.

Ray Charles had a hit with the song

We also took a look at the song in NET, 1998, part 2, Friends and other strangers, in case you want to go further…

Previously in this series

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