You will start out standing/
Proud to steal her anything she sees/
But you’ll wind up peeking through her keyhole.

Some have claimed “She Belongs To Me” is a love song. It is not. Dylan didn’t really write many love songs. However, he is writing a song about a woman that he is currently dating (or the narrator is dating). The narrator probably tells himself “she is mine”, or “she belongs to me”, but does she? Here is a once proud man, who is now stealing for her just to get a glimpse of her naked through her bedroom keyhole. It sounds like she has him wrapped around her finger. It sounds like he is a belonging to her.

As always with Dylan, the lyrics are exquisite, but the melody is good too and the simple arrangement works. His harmonica solo is solid, as is his guitar work, and his voice is as good here as it is in any of his recordings. If you want to hear the best recording of this listen to Dylan at Royal Albert Hall in 66. He was magnificent that night, and a lot of the versions from this list will pull from that concert.

Lyrics She Belongs To Me

She’s got everything she needs, she’s an artist
She don’t look back.
She’s got everything she needs, she’s an artist
She don’t look back.
She can take the dark out of the nighttime,
And paint the daytime black.

You will start out standing
Proud to steal her anything she sees.
You will start out standing
Proud to steal her anything she sees.
But you’ll wind up peeking through her keyhole
Down upon your knees.

She never stumbles, she’s got no place to fall.
She never stumbles, she’s got no place to fall.
She’s nobody’s child, the Law can’t touch her at all.

She wears an Egyptian ring that sparkles before she speaks.
She wears an Egyptian ring that sparkles before she speaks.
She’s a hypnotist collector, you are a walking antique.

Bow down to her on Sunday,
Salute her when her birthday comes.
Bow down to her on Sunday,
Salute her when her birthday comes.
For Halloween give her a trumpet
And for Christmas, buy her a drum.

Songwriters: Bob Dylan

The way she shows me I’m hers and she is mine/
Open hand or closed fist would be fine.

Hozier’s “Cherry Wine” is about an intimate topic that doesn’t get discussed often–a woman physically abusing her male partner.  The thoughts and lessons are universal enough to just say that the song is about physical abuse. The stripped down mood is appropriate and we feel almost uncomfortable with the vulnerable and intimate story.

HozierTheir relationship is sometimes like a normal one, and that makes him look forward to those times even more. However, the rest of the time he walks on eggshells because he is afraid he will catch her eye when she is in a bad mood. This will often lead to him receiving a beating that leads to blood being spilled. It hurts but he wants it.

He (and she) justify this because she does it because she loves him. So, he “wants” more beatings because he wants more of her love. If that weren’t enough, the girlfriend is also cheating on him and is very suspicious of his actions…which leads to more beatings.

“Cherry Wine” does not wrap up tidily; he is still justifying her beatings because her love is divine and that is how she shows it. Her love is like cherry wine- both good and bad for him. But mostly bad. And of course,  Cherry Wine is the color of the blood that spills during their arguments.

Cherry Wine Lyrics

Her eyes and words are so icy
Oh but she burns
Like rum on the fire
Hot and fast and angry as she can be
I walk my days on a wire.

It looks ugly, but it’s clean,
Oh momma, don’t fuss over me.

The way she tells me I’m hers and she is mine
Open hand or closed fist would be fine
The blood is rare and sweet as cherry wine.

Calls of guilty thrown at me
All while she stains
The sheets of some other
Thrown at me so powerfully
Just like she throws with the arm of her brother.

But I want it
It’s a crime
That she’s not around most of the time.

The way she shows me I’m hers and she is mine
Open hand or closed fist would be fine
Blood is rare and sweet as cherry wine.

Her fight and fury is fiery
Oh but she loves
Like sleep to the freezing
Sweet and right and merciful
I’m all but washed
In the tide of her breathing.

And it’s worth it, it’s divine
I have this some of the time.

The way she shows me I’m hers and she is mine
Open hand or closed fist would be fine
The blood is rare and sweet as cherry wine.

Songwriters: Andrew Hozier Byrne

You don’t have to say you love me just be close at hand/
You don’t have to stay forever I will understand.

When I first listened to the lyrics of “You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me”, I thought this had to have been written by a man. Interestingly, the lyrics were written by women. The lyric is interesting. The woman is so lonely that she would do anything to have her man back.

She won’t ask anything of him: she doesn’t need him to say “I love you” or be in a committed relationship as long as he is ‘close at hand’. I suppose that is a good way to describe the loneliness and desperation one might feel after a breakup. I have had friends do and say similar things in an attempt to not be alone.

The music sounds very haunting, especially the introduction. The verses of the song sound really sad (musically). The chorus sound like Springfield is delivering a loving declaration. But the words are desperate. It is kind of paradoxical and creates a weird effect.

The orchestration and production are really good: especially some of the choices in the introduction. Of course, like all of Dusty Springfield’s songs, her great voice and subtle vocal decisions she makes truly make the song great. This is about as emotional as Dusty’s voice gets. She is a great contrast to the pop divas of the past 20 years.

You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me Lyrics

When I said I needed you
You said you would always stay
It wasn’t me who changed but you and now you’ve gone away
Don’t you see that now you’ve gone
And I’m left here on my own
That I have to follow you and beg you to come home

You don’t have to say you love me just be close at hand
You don’t have to stay forever I will understand
Believe me, believe me I can’t help but love you
But believe me I’ll never tie you down
Left alone with just a memory
Life seems dead and quite unreal
All that’s left is loneliness there’s nothing left to feel

You don’t have to say you love me just be close at hand
You don’t have to stay forever
I will understand believe me, believe me
You don’t have to say you love me just be close at hand
You don’t have to stay forever
I will understand, believe me, believe me

Songwriters: Giuseppe Donaggio / Simon Napier-Bell / Vito Pallavicini / Vicki Heather Wickham