"The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll" Quiz

Answer: Mary Hamilton

"Word is to the kitchen gone and word is to the hall
And word is up to Madam the Queen and that's the worst of all
That Mary Hamilton's born a babe
To the highest Stuart of all."

The song is also known as "The Fower Maries" ("The Four Marys"). It was a 16th century Scottish ballad and is included in the Child Ballads as number 173. Joan Baez recorded a version of the song.

Answer: A cane

"William Zanzinger killed poor Hattie Carroll,
With a cane that he twirled around his diamond ring finger."

Hattie Carroll, Dylan goes on to sing later in the song, "got killed by a blow, lay slain by a cane / That sailed through the air and came down through the room, / Doomed and determined to destroy all the gentle. / And she never done nothing to William Zanzinger."

The real-life incident occurred on February 8, 1963. Dylan read about the killing in the folk-music zine "Broadsie." The man's last name was actually Zantzinger (with a t), but Dylan uses the name Zanzinger throughout his lyrics. Hattie Carroll was an African-American hotel employee.

Answer: At a Baltimore hotel society gathering

"William Zanzinger killed poor Hattie Carroll,
...At a Baltimore hotel society gath'rin',
And the cops were called in and his weapon took from him
As they rode him in custody down to the station,
And booked William Zanzinger for first-degree murder."

The beating occurred at the Spinsters Ball at the Emerson Hotel in Baltimore. Billy Zantzinger, while drunk, stumbled about, hit his own wife, got in a fistfight with another guest, and generally abused the serving staff. When he demanded a drink from Hattie Carroll, who was then serving as bartender, she did not react quickly enough to his satisfaction, and he denigrated her with racial slurs and hit her with his cane. He was initially arrested for assault and disorderly conduct and, when Hattie Carroll later died, was charged with murder.

Answer: Tobacco farm owner

"William Zanzinger, who at twenty-four years,
Owns a tobacco farm of six hundred acres."

Zantzinger actually owned a 630-acre tobacco farm (but "thirty" doesn't fit the meter here). His family was prosperous and well connected, and his father had served in the Maryland state legislature. As Dylan describes it, he had "rich wealthy parents who provide and protect him, / And high office relations in the politics of Maryland." Dylan sings that Zanzinger "reacted to his deed with a shrug of his shoulders, / And swear words and sneering, and his tongue it was snarling."

Answer: overnight

Zantzinger was held a little longer than Dylan implies - overnight. He also didn't wear a diamond ring that night, but Dylan uses the detail to emphasize the man's wealth and power and indifference to those beneath him.

This song was recorded just a few months after the incident that inspired it, on October 23, 1963. It was released on January 13, 1964 on the album "The Times They Are a-Changin'," which was produced by Tom Wilson. The album peaked at number 20 on the U.S. Billboard 200.

Answer: 51

Dylan paints a vivid picture of the class division in Baltimore high society:
"Hattie Carroll was a maid of the kitchen.
She was fifty-one years old and gave birth to ten children
Who carried the dishes and took out the garbage,
And never sat once at the head of the table
And didn't even talk to the people at the table,
Who just cleaned up all the food from the table,
And emptied the ashtrays on a whole other level."

William Zanzinger was 24 years old at the time. Hattie Carroll was not actually a kitchen maid, but rather tended bar that night in her work for the hotel.

Answer: six months

This verse is dripping with sarcasm as it describes the judge pounding his gavel "to show that all's equal and that the courts are on the level / and that the strings in the books ain't pulled and persuaded, / And that even the nobles get properly handled."

It becomes increasingly clear that it's not really true, however, "that the ladder of law has no top and no bottom" as the judge goes on to stare "at the person who killed for no reason, / who just happened to be feelin' that way without warnin'" and then gives him a mere slap on the wrist in the form a six-month sentence.

In real-life, Zantzinger's charges were reduced to manslaughter and three counts of assault against the other guests at the party. He argued that he was too drunk to know what he was doing that night, and the defense pointed out that an autopsy revealed Carroll had suffered from high blood pressure and hardening of the arteries, which most likely contributed to her death.

Answer: tears

Throughout the song, Dylan periodically repeats these lines:

"But you who philosophize, disgrace, and criticize all fears,
Take the rag away from your face, now ain't the time for your tears."

However, when he finally gets to the slap-on-the-wrist six-month sentence William Zanzinger receives, Dylan shifts to:

"Oh, but you who philosophize, disgrace and criticize all fears,
Bury the rag deep in your face, for now's the time for your tears."

Answer: Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech

William Zantzinger's defense urged him to forgo a jury trial to avoid national publicity and was able to get the venue changed to Hagerstown, Maryland. The six-month sentence was handed down on August 28, 1963, ironically the very same day that civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his famous "I Have a Dream" speech not far from Hagerstown in Washington, D.C. With only a six month sentence, Zantzinger was permitted to stay at the local jail instead of having to go to state prison, and he was even released on bail to be able to tend to his tobacco crop before his sentence began.

Answer: false

Although Zantzinger insisted "the song was a lie" and threatened to sue Dylan, he never actually did sue the songwriter, and Dylan never changed the lyrics to the song. Dylan performed "The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll" live 296 times between 1963 and 2013, according to the official Bob Dylan website.