"I'm a poet, and I know it.

Hope I don't blow it."

-- Bob Dylan, 1964

It's pretty safe to say that Bob Dylan hasn't blown it in the 44 years since he penned those words.

He is still regarded by many as popular music's greatest living poet, although Leonard Cohen fans might argue.

Dylan is definitely the best one whose typewriter lacked a letter g, judging by all the singin', tryin', thinkin', dyin', changin', blowin' and freewheelin' he has given us.

On the plus side, he deserves a pat on the back for rhyming outrageous and contagious.

Words have always been Dylan's bread and butter and his fans can bandy about his lyrics ad infinitum. (Some journalists have been known to work them into stories and headlines.)

Even the Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court has quoted Dylan.

In a decision on a dispute between phone services, the New York Times reported recently that John Roberts Jr. wrote: "'When you got nothing, you got nothing to lose.' Bob Dylan, Like A Rolling Stone, on Highway 61 Revisited (Columbia Records 1965)."

It was the first use of a rock lyric in a Supreme Court decision but the Times reported that in lower courts, Dylan has been quoted in 26 opinions, followed by Paul Simon with eight (12 if you count those attributed to Simon & Garfunkel) and Bruce Springsteen with five.

As Hamilton gets ready to welcome Dylan to Copps Coliseum Aug. 20, we thought we would get a head start with a musical quiz on this most impressive of modern wordsmiths.

All you have to do is match the following lyrics to their songs.

1. There's beauty in the silver, singin' river,

There's beauty in the sunrise in the sky,

But none of these and nothing else can touch the beauty

That I remember in my true love's eyes.

2. Well, I set my monkey on the log

And ordered him to do the Dog

He wagged his tail and shook his head

And he went and did the Cat instead

He's a weird monkey, very funky.

3. His eyes were two slits that would make a snake proud

With a face that any painter would paint as he walked through the crowd

Worshipping a god with the body of a woman well endowed

And the head of a hyena

4. He looks so truthful, is this how he feels

Trying to peel the moon and expose it

With his businesslike anger and his bloodhounds that kneel

If he needs a third eye he just grows it

5. She opened up a book of poems and handed it to me

Written by an Italian poet from the 13th century.

And every one of them words rang true and glowed like burnin' coal

Pourin' off of every page like it was written in my soul from me to you.

6. You might be a rock 'n' roll addict prancing on the stage,

You might have drugs at your command, women in a cage,

You may be a business man or some high degree thief,

They may call you Doctor or they may call you Chief

7. 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, Brigitte Bardot, Anita Ekberg, Sophia Loren.

Country'll grow."

8. We had a falling-out, like lovers often will

And to think of how she left that night, it still brings me a chill

And though our separation, it pierced me to the heart

She still lives inside of me, we've never been apart.

9. "Take care of all your memories," said Mick.

"For you cannot relive them

And remember when you're out there tryin' to heal the sick

That you must always first forgive them."

10. I have gone from rags to riches in the sorrow of the night

In the violence of a summer's dream, in the chill of a wintry light,

In the bitter dance of loneliness fading into space,

In the broken mirror of innocence on each forgotten face.

11. Sailin' 'round the world in a dirty gondola.

Oh, to be back in the land of Coca-Cola!

12. They say that nighttime is the right time to be with the one you love

Too many thoughts get in the way in the day but you're always what I'm thinkin' of

I wish the night were here bringin' me all of your charms

When only you are near to hold me in your arms.

13. Well, she don't make me nervous, she don't talk too much

She walks like Bo Diddley and she don't need no crutch.

14. I'll look for you in old Honolulu,

San Francisco, Ashtabula,

Yer gonna have to leave me now, I know.

But I'll see you in the sky above,

In the tall grass, in the ones I love,

15. All right, I'll take a chance, I will fall in love with you

If I'm a fool you can have the night, you can have the morning too.

Can you cook and sew, make flowers grow,

Do you understand my pain?

16. Well, I spied a girl and before she could leave, I said

"Let's go and play Adam and Eve."

I took her by the hand and my heart it was thumpin'

When she said, "Hey man, you crazy or sumpin',

You see what happened last time they started."

17. The wind it was howlin' and the snow was outrageous.

We chopped through the night and we chopped through the dawn.

When he died I was hopin' that it wasn't contagious,

But I made up my mind that I had to go on.

18. Rosemary started drinkin' hard and seein' her reflection in the knife,

She was tired of the attention, tired of playin' the role of Big Jim's wife.

She had done a lot of bad things, even once tried suicide,

Was lookin' to do just one good deed before she died.

19 You've murdered your vanity, buried your sanity

For pleasure you must now resist.

Lovers obey you but they cannot sway you

They're not even sure you exist.

20. Suddenly I found you and the spirit in me sings

Don't have to look no further, you're the soul of many things.

I could say that I'd be faithful, I could say it in one sweet, easy breath

But to you that would be cruelty and to me it surely would be death.

21. There's a wicked wind still blowin' on that upper deck,

There's an iron cross still hanging down from around her neck.

There's a marchin' band still playin' in that vacant lot

Where she held me in her arms one time and said, "Forget me not."

22. You'll never know the hurt I suffered nor the pain I rise above,

And I'll never know the same about you, your holiness or your kind of love,

And it makes me feel so sorry.

23. Everything passes,

Everything changes,

Just do what you think you should do.

And someday maybe,

Who knows, baby,

I'll come and be cryin' to you.

24. Then they'll raise their hands,

Sayin' we'll meet all your demands,

But we'll shout from the bow your days are numbered.

And like Pharaoh's tribe,

They'll be drownded in the tide,

And like Goliath, they'll be conquered.

25. They say the darkest hour is right before the dawn

But you wouldn't know it by me,

Every day's been darkness since you been gone.

26. Can't you see that you were born to stand by my side

And I was born to be with you, you were born to be my bride,

You're the other half of what I am, you're the missing piece

And I love you more than ever with that love that doesn't cease.

27. A change in the weather is known to be extreme

But what's the sense of changing horses in midstream?

I'm going out of my mind,

With a pain that stops and starts

Like a corkscrew to my heart

Ever since we've been apart.

28. It's like my whole life never happened,

When I see you, it's as if I never had a thought.

I know this dream, it might be crazy,

But it's the only one I've got.

29. I wish, I wish, I wish in vain,

That we could sit simply in that room again.

Ten thousand dollars at the drop of a hat,

I'd give it all gladly if our lives could be like that.

30. He woke up, the room was bare

But he could feel her everywhere.

He told himself it wasn't fair, pushed the window open wide,

Felt an emptiness inside from which he could not escape.

Source: www.bobdylan.com

dfoley@thespec.com

905-526-3264

Answers to Our Dylan Quiz (On Go 3)

1. Tomorrow is A Long Time, 1971, Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits

2. I Shall Be Free No. 10, 1964, Another Side of Bob Dylan

3. Angelina, 1981, Bootleg Series 1-3

4. Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window, 1965, Biograph

5. Tangled Up in Blue, 1975, Blood on The Tracks

6. Gotta Serve Somebody, 1979, Slow Train Coming

7. I Shall Be Free, 1963, The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan

8. If You See Her, Say Hello, 1975, Blood On The Tracks

9. Open The Door Homer, 1968, The Basement Tapes

10. Every Grain of Sand, 1981, Shot of Love

11. When I Paint My Masterpiece, 1971, Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits

12. To Be Alone With You, 1969, Nashville Skyline

13. From a Buick 6, 1966, Highway 61 Revisited

14. You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go, 1975, Blood On The Tracks

15. Is Your Love in Vain?, 1978, Street Legal

16. Talking World War III Blues, 1963, The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan

17. Isis, 1976, Desire

18. Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts, 1975, Blood on the Tracks

19. No Time to Think, 1978, Street Legal

20. Something There Is About You, 1974, Planet Waves

21. Senor, 1976, Desire

22. Idiot Wind, 1975, Blood On The Tracks

23. To Ramona, 1964, Another Side of Bob Dylan

24. When The Ship Comes In, 1964, The Times They Are A- Changin'

25. Meet Me in the Morning, 1975, Blood On The Tracks

26. Wedding Song, 1974, Planet Waves

27. You're A Big Girl Now, 1975, Blood On The Tracks

28. Emotionally Yours, 1985, Empire Burlesque

29. Bob Dylan's Dream, 1963, The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan

30. Simple Twist of Fate (variation of), 1975, Blood On The Tracks