Eruke

Bob Dylan's 115th Dream / Bringing It All Back Home / 



Well, I got back and took
The parkin' ticket off the mast
I was ripping it to shreds
When this coastguard boat went past
They asked me my name
And I said, "Captain Kidd"
They believed me but
They wanted to know
What exactly that I did
I said for the Pope of Eruke
I was employed
They let me go right away
They were very paranoid




Ed Ricardo, 2009: 
Eruke is a Yoruba word for a fly whisk made from a horse tail
emblematic of high status. So the reference may be to traditional
African religion among slaves and their descendants in America.
The traveller could be saying he was employed by the highest
status figure in Voodoo. Good strategy to secure your release.
Paranoid or not.

Of course Eruke was a place, a settlement in Nigeria in the 15th
century, but I do not see that that place is relevant to this
song.


Wikipedia: Eruke