Positively 4th Street

Positively 4th Street is a song written and performed by Bob Dylan. It was first recorded in New York City on July 29, 1965. It was released in 1965 as a single and reached #7 on the U.S. charts.

4th Street is at the heart of the Manhattan residential district Greenwich Village, where Dylan once lived (the building, at 161 West 4th Street, now houses an erotic goods shop). This area was the influential in the burgeoning folk music scene of the early 1960s that Dylan and other influential singer-songwriters brought about.

This song also concerns Dylan's stay at the University of Minnesota where 4th Street is fraternity row. A place Dylan considered filled with naysayers, deception, and plastic peoople.

The song is bitter and derisive in its lyrics. Many music scholars believe that it was aimed at those Greenwich village denizens who detracted Dylan for his departure from the simple folk styles, and into electric guitar and rock and roll music. These Greenwich Village inhabitants, many of which were good friends of Dylan, were personally offended, and assumed that the song was a personal reference to someone in the scene, or at least a general revenge upon his old colleagues. One of those detractors, Village critic Israel Young, had this to say of the accusation:

"At least five hundred came into my place [the Folklore Center]... and asked if it was about me. I don't know if it was, but it was unfair. I'm in the Village twenty-five years now. I was one of the representatives of the Village, there is such a thing as the Village. Dave Van Ronk was still in the Village. Dylan comes in and takes from us, uses my resources, then he leaves and he gets bitter. He writes a bitter song. He was the one who left."

The song, like most of Dylan's, is composed of a simple chordal and melodic structure; the verse has a I-ii-IV progression followed by a I-V-IV-ii-V. While the lyrics are distinctly negative, the backing music is major and almost care-free. This contrast lends more to the ridicule and mocking in the lyrics.

Also like most Dylan songs, while assuming a second-person voice, it speaks to a larger audience, having broader meanings to different people. Many have interpreted the song to be a general disparagement to the oppurtunistic and disingenuous people of the world. However, like many Dylan songs, it is probable that he was directing it at one or more specific individuals, as well.

The song has appeared in Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits, Biograph, and The Essential Bob Dylan.