The Scarlet Town Songfacts says: This tale of doom and destiny is set in "Scarlet Town," a type of place where according to Dylan you, "put your heart on a platter, and see who'll bite." Scarlet Town is also the setting for the traditional Folk song about doomed love, "Barbara Allen" that a young Dylan first performed in the coffee shops of Greenwich Village. Both songs feature the lines, "in Scarlet town where I was born" and "sweet William on his death bed lay."

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