Love Minus Zero/No Limit Lyrics
My love she speaks like silence
Without ideals or violence
She doesn't have to say she's faithful
Yet she's true, like ice, like fire
[Verse 2]
People carry roses
And make promises by the hours
My love she laughs like the flowers
Valentines can't buy her
[Verse 3]
In the dime stores and bus stations
People talk of situations
Read books, repeat quotations
Draw conclusions on the wall
[Verse 4]
Some speak of the future
My love she speaks softly
She knows there's no success like failure
And that failure's no success at all
[Verse 5]
The cloak and dagger dangles
Madams light the candles
In ceremonies of the horsemen
Even a pawn must hold a grudge
Statues made of match sticks
Crumble into one another
My love winks, she does not bother
She knows too much to argue or to judge
[Verse 7]
The bridge at midnight trembles
The country doctor rambles
Bankers' nieces seek perfection
Expecting all the gifts that wise men bring
[Verse 8]
The wind howls like a hammer
The night blows rainy
My love she's like some raven
At my window with a broken wing
About
The song is a love song about what the singer thinks is his perfect woman, someone who is true, loyal, without violence, doesn’t need to have valentines bought for her, is too wise to argue or judge etc. and other people waste time in dime stores bickering about art and literature, but not her. The rest of the song then deals with the expected tokens that lovers must comply with and the ceremonial/forced conventions of love, which in fact are like statues made of matchsticks (i.e. prone to being weak).
The end of the song has a real kick, though, because although the singer (a man) thinks he wants the perfect woman who does not fall for cheap tokens and who is a free spirit, in fact, he realizes he doesn’t want that all, and could’t cope with such a free spirit – the last lines bring in imagery of “hammer” and “broken wing” – has he smashed her independence in a desire to control? Compare the ending with the start.
Effectively this is a poem in the form of a song, and one of Dylan’s best of the period.
The title is intended to be read as a fraction – love minus zero over no limit.
Q&A
Find answers to frequently asked questions about the song and explore its deeper meaning
- 4.Love Minus Zero/No Limit
- 5.Outlaw Blues