Señor, Señor, can you tell me where we're heading,
Lincoln County Road or Armageddon?
1
Seem like I been down this way before,
Is there any truth in that, Señor?
Señor, Señor, do you know where she's hiding?
How long are we gonna be riding?
How long must I keep my eyes glued to the door?
Will there be any comfort there, Señor?
There's a wicked wind still blowing on that upper deck,
There's an Iron Cross
2 still hanging down from around her neck,
There's a marching band still playing in that vacant lot
Where she held me in her arms one time and said, "Forget me not."
Señor, Señor, I can see that painted wagon,
Smell the tail of the dragon,
Can't stand the suspense anymore––
Can you tell me who to contact here, Señor?
Well, the last thing I remember before I stripped and kneeled
Was that trainload of fools bogged down in a magnetic field,
A gypsy with a broken flag and a flashing ring,
She said, "Son, this ain't a dream no more, it's the real thing."
3
Señor, Señor, you know, their hearts're as hard as leather,
Well, give me a minute, let me get it together,
Just gotta pick myself up off the floor.
I'm ready when you are, Señor.
Señor, Señor, let's overturn these tables,
Disconnect these cables––
This place don't make sense to me no more!
Can you tell me what we're waiting for, Señor?
1
There has been some lively debate about what this line means and, more specifically, what "Lincoln County Road" refers to. I believe that the most reasonable explanation is that "Lincoln County Road" refers to the Lincoln County War, which was a small range war between two factions in America's western frontier that occurred in 1878 in Lincoln County, NM, in which 14 died and 2 were wounded and several notable personages took part, including Billy the Kid and Pat Garrett. The conflict arose when the local, established group's monopoly of the dry goods trade within the county was threatened by a new group and the conflict that ensued had a definite current of animosity on the part of the new group and the local population toward the established group and their monopoly on the trade, which might hint at an interpretation of the title of the song. As for the meaning of the line, I believe the narrator is basically asking God (in Spanish, "Señor" is sometimes used to address the Lord), "Are we heading toward Armageddon or just some brief small-scale engagement (i.e., like the Lincoln County War)?" As for why Dylan substitutes "Road" for "War", I believe that it reinforces the metaphor of a journey toward an eventual Apocalypse, which is established with the lyrics "can you tell me where we're heading?" and "I been down this way before", and that it emphasizes that it's not actually the historical battle that's supposed to be evoked, but rather the kind of conflict that that battle represents, that kind of "Road".
2
The Iron Cross was a German military decoration and, although I'm not sure how that relates to the song, there's not much else that "Iron Cross" could refer to (unless it just doesn't refer to anything in particular in the real world). The reference to the Iron Cross could, in turn, be a reference to the 1977 war film, Cross of Iron, a movie directed by Sam Peckinpah, whom Dylan collaborated with on his movie Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid.
3
This verse seems to me to make several references to the Holocaust. "Well, the last thing I remember before I stripped and kneeled" appears to be an account of being taken prisoner and it's from the narrator's perspective and "that trainload of fools" is the starkest allusion in the verse to the Holocaust. In the next line, a "gypsy" is described, which could be another allusion to the Holocaust since the gypsies were a group that the Nazis aimed to eliminate.