Lyrics to
Mr. Bojangles

This version of Mr. Bojangles was released by Bob Dylan in 1973.

Our Bob Dylan Songs profile has Mr. Bojangles lyrics from 1973 and most if not all of the lyrics by Bob Dylan that we have here at Decade Lyrics.

Here's more interesting things in songs and lyrics tied to Bob Dylan or about the 1970s in general.

I knew a man Bojangles and he’d dance for you in worn out shoes
Silver hair, ragged shirt and baggy pants, that old soft shoe
He’d jump so high, he’d jump so high, will he likely touch down ?
Mr. Bojangles, Mr. Bojangles, dance.

I met him in a cell in New Orleans, I was down and out
He looked to me to be the eye of age as he spoke right out
He talked of life, he talked of life, laughing slapped his leg stale
Mr. Bojangles, Mr. Bojangles, dance.

He said the name Bojangles and he danced a lick all across the cell
He grabbed his pants for a better stance, oh he jumped so high and he clicked
up his heels
He let go laugh, he let go laugh, shook back his clothes all around
Mr. Bojangles, Mr. Bojangles, dance, yeah, dance.

He danced for those at minstrel shows and county fairs throughtout the south
He spoke with tears of 15 years of how his dog and him but just travelled all about
Hid dog up and died, he up and died, and after 20 years he still grieves
Mr. Bojangles, Mr. Bojangles, dance.

He said I dance now at every chance at honky-tonks for drinks and tips
But most of the time I spend behind these county bars,Ocause I drink so bitO
He shook his head, yes he shook his head, I heard someone ask him, OpleaseO,
Mr. Bojangles, Mr. Bojangles, dance, dance, Mr Bojangles, dance.

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Want more lyrics and songs by Bob Dylan?

Bob Dylan has released many songs over the years besides Mr. Bojangles. Bob Dylan released songs from 1962 to 2006 spanning across albums like Bob Dylan, The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan, Another Side Of Bob Dylan, The Times They Are A-Changin', Highway 61 Revisited, Bringing All Back Home, Blonde On Blonde, John Wesley Harding, Nashville Skyline, Selfportrait, New Morning, Dylan, Planet Waves, The Basement Tapes, Blood On The Tracks, Desire, Street Legal, Slow Train Coming, Saved, Shot Of Love, Infidels, Empire Burlesque, Knocked Out Loaded, Down In The Groove, Oh Mercy, Under The Red Sky, Good As I Been To You, World Gone Wrong, Time Out Of Mind, Love And Theft, and Modern Times. Decade Lyrics has over lyrics & songs by Bob Dylan.

If you're a fan of the music of the 1970s looking for more songs from 1973 or the 1970s overall, you've come to the right place!

About Lyrics and Mr. Bojangles by Bob Dylan

The lyrics for Mr. Bojangles are made up of the words, verses and background chorus for the popular 1973 song by Bob Dylan. Like a lot of songs, the lyrics to Mr. Bojangles have both direct meanings and metaphorical context hidden within the song's words. All of the meanings are only truly known by the creators of the lyrics for Mr. Bojangles - Bob Dylan and any of the writers who worked with them on the song.

If you have an interest in the structure of words and phrases, you can dissect the lyrics to Mr. Bojangles by Bob Dylan in multiple ways. The word "lyric" itself derives from the Latin word lyricus, with the actual English word lyrics applied to the definition "words set to music" listed in Stainer and Barrett's 1876 Dictionary of Musical Terms. Continuing the chain, the Latin word lyricus derives from the Greek word λυρικός or lyrikós. This somewhat means "poetry accompanied by the lyre" or "words set to music." You can easily see that by looking at the background of the word lyric, that the "lyrics to Mr. Bojangles" means the words set to the music of Mr. Bojangles, or poetry accompanied by the lyre played by Bob Dylan. The singular form "lyric" is still used to mean the complete words to a song. However, the singular form lyric is also commonly used to refer to a specific line (or phrase) within a song's lyrics. Hence, by this analysis of word structure, you could say that the lyric to Mr. Bojangles and the lyrics to Mr. Bojangles are both one and the same thing. None of this talk about the word Lyrics is really relevant to fans of Bob Dylan who came here looking just for the lyrics to Mr. Bojangles, but we feel it is still fun to learn what's behind commonly used words and lyrics in songs.

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