2127 – Bob Dylan – Lenny Bruce (1981)

Escrita por Bob Dylan, foi gravada entre março e maio de 1981 e lançada no disco Shot of love, o vigésimo primeiro disco de Bob Dylan. Foi produzida por Chuck Plotkin e Bob Dylan. Fala sobre o comediante judeu Lenny Bruce, um comediante influente cuja linguagem provocativa o levou a um julgamento acusado de obscenidade. Ele morreu de uma overdose em 1966. A música tem uma cadencia de um piano gospel. Bob disse que não sabe porque escreveu essa música sobre ele tantos anos após sua morte, mas que a fez em cinco minutos. Talvez pra dizer aos comediantes da época quem era Lenny Bruce e o que ele fazia muitos anos antes era melhor do que o que eles faziam naquela época. Bob Dylan tocou guitarra, gaita, percussão, piano, teclado e cantou. Carolyn Dennis, Clydie King, Regina McCrory, Madelyn Quebec e Monalisa Young fizeram backing vocals. Steve Douglas tocou Sax. Tim Drummond tocou baixo. Jun Keltner tocou bateria. Carl Pickhardt tocou piano. William Smith tocou orgão Hammond. Benmont Tench tocou teclado. Danny Kortchmar, Steve Riplev e Fred Tackett tocaram guitarra.

A letra:

Lenny Bruce is dead, but his ghost lives on and on
Never did get any Golden Globe Award
Never made it to Synanon
He was an outlaw, that's for sure
More of an outlaw than you ever were
Lenny Bruce is gone, but his spirit's livin' on and on

Maybe he had some problems
Maybe some things that he couldn't work out
But he sure was funny, and he sure told the truth
And he knew what he was talkin' about

Never robbed any churches, nor cut off any babies' heads
He just took the folks in high places, and he shined a light in their face
He's on some other shore, he didn't wanna live anymore

Lenny Bruce is dead, but he didn't commit any crime
He just had the insight to rip off the lid before its time
I rode with him in a taxi once, only for a mile and a half
Seemed like it took a couple of months
Lenny Bruce moved on, and the ones that killed him, are gone

They said that he was sick, 'cause he didn't play by the rules
He just showed the wise men of his day to be nothing more than fools
They stamped him, and they labeled him like they do with pants and shirts
He fought a war on a battlefield where every victory hurts
Lenny Bruce was bad, he was the brother that you never had

A versão de Bob Dylan: