Bob Dylan's 'Mr. Tambourine Man'

          Dylan's 'Mr Tambourine Man' (also covered by The Byrds), written and performed in the 1960's, tells the story of a young man wandering lonely city streets on sleepless nights dodging in and out of insanity. The contrast between the main character's external circumstance to his internal indifference draws attention to a disconnect that exists between him and his environment, which in this case is society.
          If 'insanity' can be termed by repeating the same action and expecting a different outcome then it can be confirmed that the character in 'Mr Tambourine Man' is insane. Assuming that the tambourine man symbolizes entertainment of any form, drinking, 'partying', music and other art forms, the character then is really attempting to find fulfillment through similar outlets every time he says:

Hey ! Mr Tambourine Man, play a song for me
I'm not sleepy and there is no place I'm going to
Hey ! Mr Tambourine Man, play a song for me
In the jingle jangle morning I'll come followin' you.

The activities he partakes in however, only send him further and further away from contentment. As each stanza only serves to emphasize his isolation.

First Stanza:

My weariness amazes me, I'm branded on my feet
I have no one to meet

Second Stanza:

 I'm ready to go anywhere, I'm ready for to fade
Into my own parade, cast your dancing spell my way
I promise to go under it.

Third Stanza:

  Though you might hear laughin', spinnin' swingin' madly across the sun
It's not aimed at anyone, it's just escapin' on the run

           Though throughout the poem the character is supposedly walking around the city at night, in the final stanza he goes on to describe sights not usually seen on a midnight stroll. The speaker describes a diamond sky over top of a seaside circus, insinuating he desires to be some place else, if not physically then mentally. He reiterates this idea in his closing line. "With all memory and fate driven deep beneath the waves
Let me forget about today until tomorrow."