The Ballad of Frankie Lee and Judas Priest

"The Ballad of Frankie Lee and Judas Priest"
Song by Bob Dylan
from the album John Wesley Harding
Released December 27, 1967
Recorded October 17, 1967
Genre Folk rock
Length 5:35
Label Columbia
Songwriter(s) Bob Dylan
Producer(s) Bob Johnston
John Wesley Harding track listing
12 tracks
Side one
  1. "John Wesley Harding"
  2. "As I Went Out One Morning"
  3. "I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine"
  4. "All Along the Watchtower"
  5. "The Ballad of Frankie Lee and Judas Priest"
  6. "Drifter's Escape"
Side two
  1. "Dear Landlord"
  2. "I Am a Lonesome Hobo"
  3. "I Pity the Poor Immigrant"
  4. "The Wicked Messenger"
  5. "Down Along the Cove"
  6. "I'll Be Your Baby Tonight"

"The Ballad of Frankie Lee and Judas Priest" is a song on Bob Dylan's 1967 album John Wesley Harding. The plainly spoken ballad is the longest song on John Wesley Harding, without chorus, bridge, or a refrain to vary its structure. Like the rest of the album, the instrumentation is very sparse. The story has Frankie Lee responding to suggestions and temptations of his friend Judas Priest, which leave him to die "of thirst" after 16 nights and days in a home with 24 women.

Unusually for a Dylan song, the song ends with a moral, telling the listener:
"The moral of this song
 Is simply that one should never be
 Where one does not belong.
 So when you see your neighbor carryin’ somethin’
 Help him with his load
 And don’t go mistaking Paradise
 For that home across the road"[1]

Heavy metal band Judas Priest derived their name from this song.[2]

References

  1. ↑ Official Bob Dylan lyrics
  2. ↑ Al Atkin's recounting of the founding of Judas Priest Archived 2011-09-03 at the Wayback Machine.
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