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Bob Dylan — It Takes a Lot to Laugh...
Album: Highway 61 Revisited
Avg rating:
7

Your rating:
Total ratings: 1580









Released: 1965
Length: 4:00
Plays (last 30 days): 1
Well, I ride on a mailtrain, baby
Can't buy a thrill
Well, I've been up all night, baby
Leanin' on the windowsill
Well, if I die
On top of the hill
And if I don't make it
You know my baby will

Don't the moon look good, mama
Shinin' through the trees?
Don't the brakeman look good, mama
Flagging down the "Double E?"
Don't the sun look good
Goin' down over the sea?
Don't my gal look fine
When she's comin' after me?

Now the wintertime is coming
The windows are filled with frost
I went to tell everybody
But I could not get across
Well, I wanna be your lover, baby
I don't wanna be your boss
Don't say I never warned you
When your train gets lost
Comments (201)add comment
Brilliant. 
Radio Bob, all the hits from 1965, all the time 😂
There's a great version of this he did on the Concert for Bangladesh
 semaca wrote:







... literature prizes they do not deserve ... Worth noting that Dylan
didn't return the calls from the Nobel committee because he thought
someone was taking the piss. He didn't think he should be getting it
either. But there you go.
Dylan could write some lyrics back in the day. Hwy 61 was/is his best and shook popular culture.  The only reason this particular song is not a "10" is the need to save some room for some of the other cuts on the album.
 amb599 wrote:

This song is pure torture to listen to.   There is something horribly wrong with this mans voice, and somehow he makes his vocal vomit bleed through into a harmonica.  Surely they play this in gitmo.



Repent fool.  Pray for forgiveness.
Well worth a 12.  
This whole album is great.
The Master speaks.
Everyone Chill....It's Bob....The voice & vibe MAN!
Uh oh. I'm shocked. Some people don't like Dylan's vocals or harp playing. 

Better let Bob know. I'm sure he'll change his style.  
Prefer the Super Session version
 amb599 wrote:
This song is pure torture to listen to.   There is something horribly wrong with this mans voice, and somehow he makes his vocal vomit bleed through into a harmonica.  Surely they play this in gitmo.
 
Wow, "vomiting into the haromonica".
I guess that might be funny if you were 9 years old and not very bright, but probably not even then.
This song is pure torture to listen to.   There is something horribly wrong with this mans voice, and somehow he makes his vocal vomit bleed through into a harmonica.  Surely they play this in gitmo.
 semaca wrote:
As man he did nothing for his country when he had the chance, his music is boring, at most, bla bla bla. Noble Prize in Literature, om(f)G.
 I prefer AC/DC or Metallica or else, anytime. At least those guys are true, living their lifes for music with no literature "prizes" they do not deserve. It would be like if you are a painter you can accept a title for sculpture. U.S. lost a war with an "artist" like this. Sorry if i'm not too eclectic. That would be my mistake.


In the year 3000, no one will remember from Nixon, De Gaule, Merkel, Obama and wars that they led nor why they led those. But when someone will speak about Dylan, he will say, "You know that great american singer and poet!"l

Please, speak only about music , let the world outside and don't spoil my breakfeast!
Like a boss! My idol since the 60's and this is the reason why~
 semaca wrote:
As man he did nothing for his country when he had the chance, his music is boring, at most, bla bla bla. Noble Prize in Literature, om(f)G.
 I prefer AC/DC or Metallica or else, anytime. At least those guys are true, living their lifes for music with no literature "prizes" they do not deserve. It would be like if you are a painter you can accept a title for sculpture. U.S. lost a war with an "artist" like this. Sorry if i'm not too eclectic. That would be my mistake.
 
"Bla bla bla" (sic) is right.
Now run along and listen to your AC/DC; much better suited to your tastes.
 semaca wrote:
As man he did nothing for his country when he had the chance, his music is boring, at most, bla bla bla. Noble Prize in Literature, om(f)G.
 I prefer AC/DC or Metallica or else, anytime. At least those guys are true, living their lifes for music with no literature "prizes" they do not deserve. It would be like if you are a painter you can accept a title for sculpture. That's OK. No, that's not OK. U.S. lost a war with an "artist" like this. Sorry if i'm not too eclectic. That would be my mistake.

 


As man he did nothing for his country when he had the chance, his music is boring, at most, bla bla bla. Noble Prize in Literature, om(f)G.
 I prefer AC/DC or Metallica or else, anytime. At least those guys are true, living their lifes for music with no literature "prizes" they do not deserve. It would be like if you are a painter you can accept a title for sculpture. U.S. lost a war with an "artist" like this. Sorry if i'm not too eclectic. That would be my mistake.
When you get it, you get it, then the rest of the Universe sort of falls into place...or not...either way, IMMORTAL STUFF, Bob!  Thanks!
 coloradojohn wrote:
Love it! When I was in Engineering School, and I saw how all the upperclassmen unconditionally revered Bob Dylan, it was kinda like the way that I felt about the Religion that had been rather forced upon me. I wanted to rebel, to oppose it, blindly, just on principle! I'd sit there and put up with it, getting stoned with the rest of them, but cringing on the inside. I confess, I couldn't be bothered to listen to the words. I'd heard a lot of it as a kid; figured I knew the whole set of angles on it... But as I got out into the world, on my own, and saw the way things were — not much at all like the Fairy Tales they tell you as a kid — as with Religion, I gained a new understanding of it, born of a transcendence gained by experience rather than judgment. It's the kind of thing that you find when it finds you, rather than the other way around. The need for it opens up, due to whatever unfolds before you; a chasm or crisis, heartbreak or rapture, and it has the power to save you. Once you go through that and embrace it, you can't honestly go back to being ignorant or bigoted...

 
{#Clap} From my mind through your keyboard....I think I've said this VERY thing to folks that ask me "why do you like that Dylan guy?" 
 TerryS wrote:
Back in the day when Bob didn't feel he had to hang back a note and a half and maximise his schnozz- sinus effect.
Like'n this, even if it does have pre-curser echoes of Quinn the Eskimo.

PS: Not so great harmonica playing RomeoT, don't mind it though.

TOP-10 ALL-TIME:
Little Walter (Jacobs)
Big Walter (Horton)
James Cotton
John Lee "Sonny Boy" Williamson (aka, Sonny Boy I)
Rice Miller (aka Sonny Boy Williamson, Sonny Boy II)
Sonny Terry
Junior Wells
Howlin' Wolf
Paul Butterfield
George "Harmonica" Smith
SECOND-10 ALL-TIME:
Sugar Blue
Kim Wilson
Jimmy Reed
Carey Bell
Magic Dick
Paul deLay
DeFord Bailey
Charlie Musselwhite
Rev. Dan Smith
Billy Branch
Not my list, cribbed.

 
Toots Thielemans was the best (melodic) harmonica player by far.  You forgot Stevie Wonder and Jerry Murad too.  Of course, they all played chromatic harmonicas, not the diatonic varieties very often.
The first part of the first verse he was almost singing like a person that can sing.  It gave me hope.  I thought finally I could sit through a Dylan song and not wretch.  Maybe I'll finally feel what everyone else talks about.  And then he hit the brown note that way that only bob dylan can do.  Now I'm sitting here in the coffee shop with my bowels released all over myself.  Thanks Dylan.  America has had a long list of horrors released upon the world, I'm not sure where Dylan fits on that list, but it's definitely towards the top.

Clearly the music and lyrics are an important part of american culture, but my god, that voice could kill a dead man twice again and make it hurt twice as bad.  He should never have been allowed near a recording device.
The winner of the Noble Prize in literature 2016! {#Notworthy}
Painful to listen to
Sounds like Bob was little drunk/other when he recorded this.

May have been because of the guy behind him... 
 Lazarus wrote: 
Elevator? . . . What happened to your Presidential campaign?
I'm sure you would have done a better job than Trump the Chump.
 Skydog wrote:

yep, 51 yrs is about right, 

 
I'm with ya...
 Dog_Ear wrote:
Have loved this tune for about . . . 51yrs

 
yep, 51 yrs is about right, 
Have loved this tune for about . . . 51yrs
ei de robert zimmermann halt .
 maxjboxer wrote:
Abe said where you want this killin done? God said out on highway 61.

Maybe my favorite lyric of any song written

 
But you don't need a weather man  know which way the wind blows. 
Abe said where you want this killin done? God said out on highway 61.

Maybe my favorite lyric of any song written
But is the beauty parlor full of sailors...or is the circus in town?

This is truly a question for the ages!!! Or at least on this album!  
 coloradojohn wrote:
Love it! When I was in Engineering School, and I saw how all the upperclassmen unconditionally revered Bob Dylan, it was kinda like the way that I felt about the Religion that had been rather forced upon me. I wanted to rebel, to oppose it, blindly, just on principle! I'd sit there and put up with it, getting stoned with the rest of them, but cringing on the inside. I confess, I couldn't be bothered to listen to the words. I'd heard a lot of it as a kid; figured I knew the whole set of angles on it... But as I got out into the world, on my own, and saw the way things were — not much at all like the Fairy Tales they tell you as a kid — as with Religion, I gained a new understanding of it, born of a transcendence gained by experience rather than judgment. It's the kind of thing that you find when it finds you, rather than the other way around. The need for it opens up, due to whatever unfolds before you; a chasm or crisis, heartbreak or rapture, and it has the power to save you. Once you go through that and embrace it, you can't honestly go back to being ignorant or bigoted...

 
great confession! love it!
Love it! When I was in Engineering School, and I saw how all the upperclassmen unconditionally revered Bob Dylan, it was kinda like the way that I felt about the Religion that had been rather forced upon me. I wanted to rebel, to oppose it, blindly, just on principle! I'd sit there and put up with it, getting stoned with the rest of them, but cringing on the inside. I confess, I couldn't be bothered to listen to the words. I'd heard a lot of it as a kid; figured I knew the whole set of angles on it... But as I got out into the world, on my own, and saw the way things were — not much at all like the Fairy Tales they tell you as a kid — as with Religion, I gained a new understanding of it, born of a transcendence gained by experience rather than judgment. It's the kind of thing that you find when it finds you, rather than the other way around. The need for it opens up, due to whatever unfolds before you; a chasm or crisis, heartbreak or rapture, and it has the power to save you. Once you go through that and embrace it, you can't honestly go back to being ignorant or bigoted...
"Who doesn't love some Bob?" - Anonymous
Great song, lousy singing. Love it.
1965

What more can be said?  
 twangoosen wrote:
11.5

 
{#Yes}
11.5
 TerryS wrote:
Back in the day when Bob didn't feel he had to hang back a note and a half and maximise his schnozz- sinus effect.
Like'n this, even if it does have pre-curser echoes of Quinn the Eskimo.

PS: Not so great harmonica playing RomeoT, don't mind it though.

TOP-10 ALL-TIME:
Little Walter (Jacobs)
Big Walter (Horton)
James Cotton
John Lee "Sonny Boy" Williamson (aka, Sonny Boy I)
Rice Miller (aka Sonny Boy Williamson, Sonny Boy II)
Sonny Terry
Junior Wells
Howlin' Wolf
Paul Butterfield
George "Harmonica" Smith
SECOND-10 ALL-TIME:
Sugar Blue
Kim Wilson
Jimmy Reed
Carey Bell
Magic Dick
Paul deLay
DeFord Bailey
Charlie Musselwhite
Rev. Dan Smith
Billy Branch
Not my list, cribbed.

 
That's some tough crowd if Musselwhite can't crack the top ten. I'd add Norton Buffalo, John Mayall, and John Popper.
He needs a harmonica-ectomy since it got lodged in his throat. Make it stop! Make it stop! ARRRRRGH!
I'll like this Dylan song, but just this one. Stop trying to make me like the others.
He needs a harmonica-ectomy. Make it stop! Make it stop! ARRRRRRGH!
{#Flamed}....... "all Godlike". One of the finest albums ever laid down
Chillin' like a Dylan tonight...love this guy...and Tom Petty too I guess.
This could be the Soundtrack the Background Tuneage to Anything & has been, over the years, & By God, don't this song still sound good
yes, yes, yes.......{#Jump}
{#No} (Even my M&M doesn't like BD!)
 Lazarus wrote:   

rdo wrote:


Top one most idiotic posts ever in the history of the Internet, and maybe even since human beings began writing. {#Arrowu} {#Arrowd}

 
If you boys don't stop your squabbling, I'm pulling the car over and taking off my belt.   {#Naughty}
 
big stud Romeo Tuma wrote:

Love this classic song...

Bob Dylan has a brand new album out called Tempest that is absolutely fantastic...  for information about his new album, look here...
 
 

I be the holy ghost of big stud Romeo Tuma...  the information is still available...

still love this classic song...
 
 Lazarus wrote: 

Top one most idiotic posts ever in the history of the Internet, and maybe even since human beings began writing. {#Arrowu} {#Arrowd}
Nice!!

Everybody in my church loves this song...
 
Yup — if there be such a thing as poetry sung as breath intended, this is it...and sounds amazing musically, too. MASTERPIECE!
————— 

kcar wrote:

Bears repeating. 

I know a lot of you hate this song—and there are parts where many dogs will howl along in unison—but for me this is one of Bob's goddamned best. So if you hate this song, just move along and find another tune. 
 


 scmerriam wrote:
Well, I ride on a mailtrain, baby
Can't buy a thrill
Well, I've been up all night, baby
Leanin' on the windowsill
Well, if I die
On top of the hill
And if I don't make it
You know my baby will

Don't the moon look good, mama
Shinin' through the trees?
Don't the brakeman look good, mama
Flagging down the "Double E?"
Don't the sun look good
Goin' down over the sea?
Don't my gal look fine
When she's comin' after me?

Now the wintertime is coming
The windows are filled with frost
I went to tell everybody
But I could not get across
Well, I wanna be your lover, baby
I don't wanna be your boss
Don't say I never warned you
When your train gets lost

 
Bears repeating. 

I know a lot of you hate this song—and there are parts where many dogs will howl along in unison—but for me this is one of Bob's goddamned best. So if you hate this song, just move along and find another tune. 
 mbolch30307 wrote:
Oh dear God, NOOOOOOOOO!
 
f*ck you, sonny.
Oh dear God, NOOOOOOOOO!
A solid "2" to a respectable "3"...because I put the earbuds in at about 20 seconds til the end of the tune! ...guess I'm in a good mood. Way to work your way up Mr. Dylan.
 That_SOB wrote:

tkosh wrote :   "Some Dylan covers are nice, some even great (Watchtower) // "

  While I agree with any and all accolades given the Great Mr. Bob (Zimmerman)  Dylan, "
"Watchtower" was not a cover. "All Along the Watchtower" is a song written and recorded by the
exceptionally talented singer-songwriter Bob Dylan. Dylan covered few songs, as he wrote over 500+.
(However, Dylan did cover two songs by the Mississippi Sheiks ) 

 
I assume tkosh was referring to the Hendrix cover of Watchtower(?).

tkosh wrote :   "Some Dylan covers are nice, some even great (Watchtower) // "

  While I agree with any and all accolades given the Great Mr. Bob (Zimmerman)  Dylan, "
"Watchtower" was not a cover. "All Along the Watchtower" is a song written and recorded by the
exceptionally talented singer-songwriter Bob Dylan. Dylan covered few songs, as he wrote over 500+.
(However, Dylan did cover two songs by the Mississippi Sheiks ) 

 

 


aaaaaaaaand Mute!


 sirdroseph wrote:
Masterpiece song off of a masterpiece album!{#Notworthy}
 
Twice in an hour in massive agreement with sirdroseph.  This is actually quite a good thing.

I'll make a Pearl Jam fan out of him yet. {#Cool}

 tkosh wrote:


Wow...sorry, but just couldn't disagree more (except for the last comment).  The thing about Dylan is that he's the package.  It's all of it.  He sings very little that he hasn't lived through-and-through——whether he wrote it or not (of course he wrote most).  Some Dylan covers are nice, some even great (Watchtower), but for the most part only Dylan can do Dylan with what he brings.  And so many have also lived much of it through-and-through, and that's a connection.  Finger on the pulse—whatever you want to call it...at least that's why Dylan gripped me for so many years.
 Amen brother (or sister)

There is a really nice cover of this on the Super Sessions album but it got insta-sorried when I uploaded it to the LRC...Love this original version though...
 Gerbear wrote:
He may be an icon but I never did like him. This just hurts my ears.
 

Someday you will grow up.
He may be an icon but I never did like him. This just hurts my ears.
Trying to use terms such as 'poetry' etc. simply doesn't mask the fact that his singing is garbage.
 Randomax wrote:
for the millionth time....it's the POETRY...........not the voice, not the harmonica, nothin' but what is said.....the voice, etc. makes you listen.........that's my 2 cents!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  This song wouldn't be the same without the horrible harmonica!!!!!
 

Wow...sorry, but just couldn't disagree more (except for the last comment).  The thing about Dylan is that he's the package.  It's all of it.  He sings very little that he hasn't lived through-and-through——whether he wrote it or not (of course he wrote most).  Some Dylan covers are nice, some even great (Watchtower), but for the most part only Dylan can do Dylan with what he brings.  And so many have also lived much of it through-and-through, and that's a connection.  Finger on the pulse—whatever you want to call it...at least that's why Dylan gripped me for so many years.
On the bright side, this song 
does make time go by
 S L O W L Y . . .


Love
Back in the day when Bob didn't feel he had to hang back a note and a half and maximise his schnozz- sinus effect.
Like'n this, even if it does have pre-curser echoes of Quinn the Eskimo.

PS: Not so great harmonica playing RomeoT, don't mind it though.

TOP-10 ALL-TIME:
Little Walter (Jacobs)
Big Walter (Horton)
James Cotton
John Lee "Sonny Boy" Williamson (aka, Sonny Boy I)
Rice Miller (aka Sonny Boy Williamson, Sonny Boy II)
Sonny Terry
Junior Wells
Howlin' Wolf
Paul Butterfield
George "Harmonica" Smith
SECOND-10 ALL-TIME:
Sugar Blue
Kim Wilson
Jimmy Reed
Carey Bell
Magic Dick
Paul deLay
DeFord Bailey
Charlie Musselwhite
Rev. Dan Smith
Billy Branch
Not my list, cribbed.
Well, I ride on a mailtrain, baby
Can't buy a thrill
Well, I've been up all night, baby
Leanin' on the windowsill
Well, if I die
On top of the hill
And if I don't make it
You know my baby will

Don't the moon look good, mama
Shinin' through the trees?
Don't the brakeman look good, mama
Flagging down the "Double E?"
Don't the sun look good
Goin' down over the sea?
Don't my gal look fine
When she's comin' after me?

Now the wintertime is coming
The windows are filled with frost
I went to tell everybody
But I could not get across
Well, I wanna be your lover, baby
I don't wanna be your boss
Don't say I never warned you
When your train gets lost


Masterpiece song off of a masterpiece album!{#Notworthy}
 xkolibuul wrote:
You clearly have no idea what constitutes good singing.  Dylan is a highly unconventional singer, but a damn good one. 
I have no patience for such patently shallow and simplistic, dare I say vapid, adherence to convention. 
 
Yes!
 sirdroseph wrote:

Anything to extract Darth Vedder!{#Lol}

 
On that, good Sir, we agree.

 Akaiila wrote:

Too right it wouldn't be the same - it would be infinitely better. Then, if you added someone who could actually sing...

I just don't understand the logic above - "I can do one thing really well, therefore you should ignore everything I do really badly". This is the same sort of thinking that makes vapid actors thought gurus.

Wish my job (world) worked like that... for me, that is.
 
You clearly have no idea what constitutes good singing.  Dylan is a highly unconventional singer, but a damn good one. 

I have no patience for such patently shallow and simplistic, dare I say vapid, adherence to convention. 
 Randomax wrote:
for the millionth time....it's the POETRY...........not the voice, not the harmonica, nothin' but what is said.....the voice, etc. makes you listen.........that's my 2 cents!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  This song wouldn't be the same without the horrible harmonica!!!!!
 
Too right it wouldn't be the same - it would be infinitely better. Then, if you added someone who could actually sing...

I just don't understand the logic above - "I can do one thing really well, therefore you should ignore everything I do really badly". This is the same sort of thinking that makes vapid actors thought gurus.

Wish my job (world) worked like that... for me, that is.
 a_genuine_find wrote:


This is your station, any more Dylan would make it All Dylan All the time
 
Anything to extract Darth Vedder!{#Lol}

 DaveInVA wrote:
Although I like this original version of this song the Stills Super Session version is so much better..
 
Perhaps that's a measure of Dylan's impact, indeed his genius. I love the Kooper/Stills version on Super Session. I also prefer The Byrds' version of "Mr. Tambourine Man" and Jimi's of "All Along the Watchtower," both classics by any definition.

 sirdroseph wrote:
Boooobbbbbiiiiiiieeeeee!!!!! More Booooooobbbbbiiiiiiieeeeeeee!!!!!{#Notworthy}
 

This is your station, any more Dylan would make it All Dylan All the time
Boooobbbbbiiiiiiieeeeee!!!!! More Booooooobbbbbiiiiiiieeeeeeee!!!!!{#Notworthy}
" I wanna be your lover, Baby, I dont wanna be your boss.."
Wicked good!{#Dance}

It takes even more to listen.... I guess all good things (playlist) must come to an end sometime.
 jersey_birdman wrote:
more dylan is better.  bumper stickers should be issued.{#Clap}
 
{#Iamwithstupid}

more dylan is better.  bumper stickers should be issued.{#Clap}
If I wasn't Bob Dylan, I'd probably think that Bob Dylan has a lot of answers myself. - Bob Dylan

Leon Russell did a great cover of this song.
 
More Dylan   {#Clap}
One of the greatest rock albums ever.  Always liked the odd title/lyrics in this one.  Whimsical.
don't say I never warned you when your train gets lost lol

7.5?? Oh yeah babe, one of THE BEST SONGS EVER written or done by Dylan. Dead does it right too tho. Give me an 11+. All on it's own. Turning it up now.
 spumoni wrote:
Kick-ass harmonica!
 

Indeed.
Otherworldly, and thus defining the whole album.
One of my favorite Dylan tunes.  Keep em coming.  Garcia used to do the best cover of this tune!

Enough already - the last three times I've turned on RP it's been to get blasted by his Bobness and the bloody harmonica. I really don't care about the 'poetry' - when I listen to music it's for the...oh yeah... music. If I want poetry I'll read a book.


Hell I even like his music. No one mentions that in addition to the amazing lyrics, hes produced a multitude of wonderful melodic little ditties!{#Yes}
 h9xh9xh9x wrote:
 gak. too bad about the church of Bob. what's lower than sucko barfo?

 
What is?   how's about h9xh9xh9x??

for the millionth time....it's the POETRY...........not the voice, not the harmonica, nothin' but what is said.....the voice, etc. makes you listen.........that's my 2 cents!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  This song wouldn't be the same without the horrible harmonica!!!!!
Kick-ass harmonica!
Although I like this original version of this song the Stills Super Session version is so much better..
I realize that Bob's voice is an acquired taste. To doubt his songwriting ability is just pig ignorant. That is all.  LOL   {#Roflol}
 kjf06 wrote:
Too bad about that last 10 seconds of harmonica...
 

Yeah, I have a hard time dealing with that harmonica too.

Just a perfect album. So timeless.
 holborne wrote:


Uh, how old are you?
 

66
Too bad about that last 10 seconds of harmonica...
 HarrO wrote:

Now here's a guy (woman? sorry, don't know) that knows Dylan.

 
I'm a guy.

Dosen't get better than this!{#Bananajam}

Simply awful


 CamLwalk wrote:
I wanna be your lover AND your boss!
  {#Roflol}
 BKardon wrote:

Maybe focus in on the lyrics, ignoring the vocals (for now).  "Tangled Up In Blue" is a good one to dig in to.  "Senor" is an enigmatic favorite of mine.  Or "License To Kill".  Really, there are just too many to mention.  Eventually you will realize the genius that lies within. 

 
Now here's a guy (woman? sorry, don't know) that knows Dylan.

When people say dylan can't sing, I show them this tune.
So nice!
*10* (of course)
 Montyontherun wrote:
Is this the family set? Still don't 'get' Dylan. Perhaps I'm not listening... I just can't get past the voice. Any advice? Cotton wool? Alcohol? something harder?
 
Maybe focus in on the lyrics, ignoring the vocals (for now).  "Tangled Up In Blue" is a good one to dig in to.  "Senor" is an enigmatic favorite of mine.  Or "License To Kill".  Really, there are just too many to mention.  Eventually you will realize the genius that lies within. 

 sharkey wrote:

Justkeep listening. It will grow on you.

BD is the best & only poet in my lifetime.

 

Uh, how old are you?

Wow.  Long time, no hear.  {#Roflol}


I wanna be your lover AND your boss!