Consider this the third post in the “Ruth Trilogy.”

Part One: Shuggy Ray Smith – “Ruth from Duluth”
Part Two: Ruth Hart: “Baby Ruth from Duluth”

Did Ruth Hart ever really live in Duluth? Did Bob Dylan meet her when he was maybe five or six, and then go on to recall her in the only song in which he actually sings the word “Duluth”?

No, probably not. But curious minds have to ask.

Something There is About You

Something there is about you that strikes a match in me
Is it the way your body moves or is it the way your hair blows free?
Or is it because you remind me of something that used to be
Somethin’ that crossed over from another century?

Thought I’d shaken the wonder and the phantoms of my youth
Rainy days on the Great Lakes, walkin’ the hills of old Duluth
There was me and Danny Lopez, cold eyes, black night and then there was Ruth
Something there is about you that brings back a long-forgotten truth

Suddenly I found you and the spirit in me sings
Don’t have to look no further, you’re the soul of many things
I could say that I’d be faithful, I could say it in one sweet, easy breath
But to you that would be cruelty and to me it surely would be death

Something there is about you that moves with style and grace
I was in a whirlwind, now I’m in some better place
My hand’s on the sabre and you’ve picked up the baton
Somethin’ there is about you that I can’t quite put my finger on