BOB DYLAN - MOZAMBIQUE

MOZAMBIQUE

BOB DYLAN

SONGWRITERS: BOB DYLAN & JACQUES LEVY

COUNTRY: U. S. A.

ALBUM: DESIRE

LABEL: COLUMBIA RECORDS

GENRE: FOLK ROCK

YEAR: 1976

 

     Desire is the seventeenth studio album by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released on January 5, 1976 by Columbia Records.

          It is one of Dylan's most collaborative efforts, featuring the same caravan of musicians as the acclaimed Rolling Thunder Revue tours the previous year (later documented on The Bootleg Series Vol. 5). Many of the songs also featured backing vocals by Emmylou Harris and Ronee Blakley. Most of the album was co-written by Jacques Levy, and is composed of lengthy story-songs, two of which quickly generated controversy: the 11-minute-long "Joey", which is seen as glorifying the violent gangster "Crazy Joey" Gallo, and "Hurricane", the opening track that tells a passionate account of the murder case against boxer Rubin Carter, whom the song asserts was framed. Carter was released in 1985, after a judge overturned his conviction on appeal.

        A well-received follow-up to Blood on the Tracks, Desire reached Nº. 1 on the Billboard Pop Albums chart for five weeks, becoming one of Dylan's bestselling studio albums, and was certified double Platinum; the album reached Nº. 3 in the UK. It claimed the Nº. 1 slot on NME Album of the Year. Rolling Stone named Desire Nº. 174 on its list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. It was voted number 761 in the third edition of Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums (2000).

This song began as a game between Dylan and Desire co-writer Jacques Levy to find as many rhymes for Mozambique as possible: cheek to cheek; stop and speak; a final peek AND Rhymes not used: antique; technique; Byzantine Greek; take a leak; calendar week; hide and go seek &japanese leek 

[Verse 1]

I like to spend some time in Mozambique

The sunny sky is aqua blue

And all the couples dancing cheek to cheek

It’s very nice to stay a week or two

And maybe fall in love, just me and you

 

[Instrument Break]

 

[Verse 2]

There’s lot of pretty girls in Mozambique

And plenty time for good romance

And everybody likes to stop and speak

To give the special one you seek a chance

Or maybe say hello with just a glance

 

[Instrument Break]

 

[Verse 3]

Lying next to her by the ocean

Reaching out and touching her hand

Whispering your secret emotion

Magic in a magical land

 

[Verse 4]

And when it’s time for leaving Mozambique

To say goodbye to sand and sea

You turn around to take a final peek

And you see why it’s so unique to be

Among the lovely people living free

Upon the beach of sunny Mozambique

 

[Instrumental Break]