Ain't no Doctor: Bob & the Medical Profession

Over the years, Bob Dylan has opined quite a bit concerning doctors.

Of course, we all know those moments in the waiting room can be a time of self reflection, people watching, and idle thoughts. Doctors tell us what’s wrong while occasionally tell us what is right. They offer hope and despair.  

Bob has also used the idea of a doctor as a representation of a figure of authority. Often, he finds his girlfriend's cheating with them. They won’t tell him why he’s sick. He doesn’t need to be one to notice details about a person’s character. If he goes to the doctor he might get “his head blown off”. Still, he always wished that he’d been one, apparently.


Also, there are a lot of peer-reviewed medical journal articles that quote Bob quite often (http://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/why-so-many-dylan-lyrics-medical-studies-answer-my-friend-n480466) so that's weird.


Below are all instances in which Bob has mentioned the word “doctor” in his songs. Most of them are pretty funny, actually:


Well, this Arabian DOCTOR came in, gave me a shot

But wouldn’t tell me what it was that I got
Way down in Mexico you went out to find a DOCTOR and you never came back

I would have gone on after you but I didn’t feel like letting my head get blown off
Then sends out for the DOCTOR who pulls down the shade

Says, “My advice is to not let the boys in”
And my best friend, my DOCTOR

Won’t even say what it is I’ve got
I wish I’d have been a DOCTOR

Maybe I’d have saved some life that had been lost
They may call you DOCTOR

They may call you Chief
Sick man lookin’ for the DOCTOR’S cure

Lookin’ at his hands for the lines that were
Well, I asked the DOCTOR if I could see you

It’s bad for your health, he said

Yes, I disobeyed his orders

I came to see you

But I found him there instead
Well, I don’t have to be no DOCTOR, babe

To see that you’re madly in love
DOCTOR, can you hear me? I need some Medicaid

I seen the kingdoms of the world and it’s makin’ me feel afraid

What I got ain’t painful, it’s just bound to kill me dead

Like the men that followed Jesus when they put a price upon His head
He cocked his rifle

And began to shout

“You’re that travelin’ salesman

That I have heard about?”

I said, “No! No! No!

I’m a DOCTOR and it’s true

I’m a clean-cut kid

And I been to college, too”
3/22/17 addition: DOCTOR, DOCTOR, tell me the time of day. 

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