Dylan Song by Song: "Brownsville Girl" Quiz

Answer: false

"Brownsville Girl" is one of Bob Dylan's longer songs. Its ran over eleven minutes on the original album. In a Playboy interview, when asked what his songs were about, Bob Dylan gave a tongue-in-cheek answer: "Oh, some are about four minutes; some are about five, and some, believe it or not, are about eleven." Other songs of Bob Dylan's that exceed ten minutes on the record version include "Joey" and "Desolation Row."

Answer: Sam Shepard

Shepard is the author of several plays, including "Buried Child" and "True West." He played the pilot Chuck Yeager in the 1983 movie "The Right Stuff" and was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award for his role. In reference to Bob Dylan's song "Sara," Sam Shepherd once said, "When a man can rhyme 'kelp' with 'help' and cause your heart to lurch - that's poetry."

Answer: Knocked Out Loaded

"Brownsville Girl" appeared on "Knocked Out Loaded," Dylan's 24th studio album, which was released in 1986. While the album as a whole was not generally well received by critics, this particular song was regarded as a stand-out by many critics. Robert Christgau called it "one of the greatest" of Bob Dylan's "ridiculous epics." Critics at "Rolling Stone" magazine called it "the only song worth listening to" on the album, "a bizarre masterpiece that almost redeems the whole album."

Answer: New Danville Girl

"Empire Burlesque" was released in 1985 and featured the songs "Tight Connection to My Heart," "Seeing the Real You At Last," and "Trust Yourself," among others. "New Danville Girl" was recorded in December of 1984 for "Empire Burlesque," but it never made the cut. An overdubbed version, which changed "Danville Girl" to "Brownsville Girl," was released on the 1986 album "Knocked Out Loaded."

"New Danville Girl" may have been faintly inspired by Woody Guthrie's song "Danville Girl." Woody had been an idol of Bob Dylan. His song "Danville Girl" contained these lines:

"I rode her down to Danville town, got stuck on a Danville girl,
Bet your life she was a pearl, she wore that Danville curl."

This is reminiscent of "Brownsville girl with your Brownsville curls."

As of 2019, the "New Danville Girl" cut from "Empire Burlesque" had never been officially released, though bootleg versions can be found.

Answer: Gregory Peck

Here "neck" rhymes with "Peck." The narrator of the song continues:

"Well, the marshal, now he beat that kid to a bloody pulp
As the dying gunfighter lay in the sun and gasped for his last breath
'Turn him loose, let him go, let him say he outdrew me fair and square
I want him to feel what it's like to every moment face his death.'"

These verses may mix up more than one American western film starring Gregory Peck, but they certainly make at least some allusion to the 1950 film "The Gunfighter." Other lyrics in the song also reference the actor:

"Well, I'm standin' in line in the rain to see a movie starring Gregory Peck
Yeah, but you know it's not the one that I had in mind
He's got a new one out now, I don't even know what it's about
But I'll see him in anything so I'll stand in line."

Answer: Ford

The song continues:

"I could never figure out why you chose that particular place to meet
Ah, but you were right. It was perfect as I got in behind the wheel."

The Brownsville girl and the narrator of this song meet up in Arizona, in the painted dessert (a national park), and drive on together from there.

The album on which "Brownsville Girl" appeared, "Knocked Out Loaded," peaked at number 53 on the U.S. Billboard album chart.

Answer: Texas

Brownsville is located in south Texas, on the border with Mexico. The couple meets up in Arizona and then drives through the Brownsville girl's home state of Texas:

"Well, we crossed the panhandle and then we headed towards Amarillo."

And:

"Well, we drove that car all night into San Anton'
And we slept near the Alamo, your skin was so tender and soft."

The singer also says the Brownsville girl saw his picture in "The Corpus Christi Tribune." Corpus Christi is a Texas beach city situated on the Gulf of Mexico.

Answer: pearls

There's also a faint hint of Woody Guthrie's "Danville Girl" in this reference to pearls ("Bet your life she was a pearl, she wore that Danville curl.")

The chorus of Bob Dylan's song continues:

"Brownsville girl, show me all around the world
Brownsville girl, you're my honey love."

"Brownsville Girl" is included on two Bob Dylan compilation albums, "Greatest Hits Volume 3" (1994) and "Dylan" (2007).

Answer: that his name wasn't Henry Porter

Henry Porter appears to be a fictional character created for the purposes of this song and is not likely a reference to any real-life figure. These lines insert a sense of intrigue into the song:

"We pulled up where Henry Porter used to live. He owned a wreckin' lot
outside of town about a mile [ . . . ]
The only thing we knew for sure about Henry Porter
is that his name wasn't Henry Porter."

According to the Bob Dylan website, Dylan had, of 2019, only ever played this song live one time, at a concert on August 6, 1986.

Answer: repent

"Strange how people who suffer together have stronger connections
than people who are most content.
I don't have any regrets, they can talk about me plenty when I'm gone.
You always said people don't do what they believe in,
they just do what's most convenient, then they repent.
And I always said, 'Hang on to me, baby, and let's hope that the roof stays on.'"

The American singer, songwriter, and actor William Oldham covered "Brownsville Girl" on November 11, 2012 at a benefit concert held at the Actors Theatre in Louisville, Kentucky. A loose version of the song was also covered by Reggie Watts on "Bob Dylan in the 80s," which was released in 2014.