When we meet again, introduced as friends/
Please don’t let on that you knew me when/
I was hungry, and it was your world.
Nobody does “chicks-suck songs” like Bob Dylan. And “Just Like A Woman” is his opus. He doesn’t seem to be very fond of the woman who he refers to as “Baby” (Somehow it comes off like a capital B), though he will sleep with her. That seems to be the whole problem, as he sums up above. He is hungry and women are what he desires. It is a pain to admit it. Of course, Dylan projects Baby’s qualities onto all women, but that is just how we tend to think. Inductive reasoning. Obviously, it is fallible logic, but it makes for a good song.
Some of the things he dislikes about the girl in “Just Like a Woman” is that she seems different in public than in private, she takes more than she gives, and she acts mature or young to suit her temporary aims. Mostly Dylan is disappointed that she is ‘just like all the rest’. Despite all the bitterness it is clear that Dylan is looking for something/someone and hoping to find her.
There has been discussion about whether this song is misogynist. It really isn’t. Dylan identifies the problem clearly…”I was hungry and it was your world.” His desire for the opposite sex produces a sort of “fog” that leaves him lonely and standing out in the rain. If you look closely, I think that desire and the disappointment with having discovered that his lover is just like all the rest and not his true love is what is really drawing his ire.
“Just Like a Woman” is Dylan’s signature song from what is considered Dylan’s best album- Blonde on Blonde. Notice the organ coupled with the piano. That is a staple sound of the album. We also have the harmonica solo in the beginning and end that sound great. There are several great live versions to check out. There have been several covers. Nina Simone’s is probably the best.
Just Like a Woman Lyrics
Nobody feels any pain
Tonight as I stand inside the rain
Ev’rybody knows
That Baby’s got new clothes
But lately I see her ribbons and her bows
Have fallen from her curls
She takes just like a woman, yes, she does
She makes love just like a woman, yes, she does
And she aches just like a woman
But she breaks just like a little girl
Queen Mary
She’s my friend
Yes, I believe I’ll go see her again
Nobody has to guess
That Baby can’t be blessed
Till she sees finally that she’s like all the rest
With her fog, her amphetamine and her pearls
She takes just like a woman, yes
She makes love just like a woman, yes, she does
And she aches just like a woman
But she breaks just like a little girl
It was raining from the first
And I was dying there of thirst
So I came in here
And your long-time curse hurts
But what’s worse
Is this pain in here
I can’t stay in here
Ain’t it clear that
I just can’t fit
Yes, I believe it’s time for us to quit
But when we meet again
Introduced as friends
Please don’t let on that you knew me when
I was hungry and it was your world
Ah, you fake just like a woman, yes, you do
You make love just like a woman, yes, you do
Then you ache just like a woman
But you break just like a little girl.