Short version
The lyric is not "Fifty-sixth and Wabasha", it is actually "Fifty-six and Wabasha", referring to the intersection of old Minnesota Highway 56 and Wabasha Street in Saint Paul, Minnesota. If you listen, you can hear Dylan sing "fifty-six", rather than "fifty-sixth", particularly on the take that was released as the B-side to "Duquesne Whistle". Minnesota Highway 56 no longer intersects Wabasha Street, but from 1963 to 1974 it did intersect Wabasha Street, at what is now (in Feb. 2021) the intersection of George Street and Cesar Chavez Street in St. Paul.
Long Version
"Meet Me in the Morning" is the first song on side 2 of Bob Dylan's celebrated 1975 album Blood on the Tracks. In the opening lines of the song, according to the lyrics on Bob Dylan's official site (https://www.bobdylan.com/songs/meet-me-morning/), the narrator invites the listener to a rendezvous at a specific intersection:
Meet me in the morning, 56th and WabashaMeet me in the morning, 56th and Wabasha
Numerous Dylan fans have naturally wondered where 56th and Wabasha is, or if it even exists. If you do a Google Maps search for "56th and Wabasha", nothing comes up: you get sent to the town of Wabasha, Minnesota, which does not have a 56th Street.
There is a Wabasha Street in St. Paul, Minnesota:
Are you sure it’s “56th” and not “56”? From 1963 to 1974 Minnesota State Highway 56 would have intersected with Wabasha St at what’s now the intersection of George St and Cesar Chavez St in Saint Paul.
[Minnesota 56] Constitutional Route between I-90 and U.S. 52, rest authorized 1933. Formerly extended far north of its current terminus at U.S. 52. It followed U.S. 52 to Concord Avenue (now Dakota CSAH 56 and MN-156), then followed Concord Avenue into St. Paul to Wabasha.
So clearly, around the time of the recording of Blood on the Tracks (late 1974) there was an intersection of Minnesota Highway 56 and Wabasha. Could Dylan have been referring to this St. Paul intersection in the opening lines of "Meet Me in the Morning"? I argue that the answer is yes, and that the standard interpretation of the lyric is wrong: it should be "fifty-six and Wabasha", not "fifty-sixth and Wabasha", as most sources (including Dylan's official site, (https://www.bobdylan.com/songs/meet-me-morning/) have it.
The most striking piece of evidence in support of this is the sung lyric from the recordings themselves. If you listen to what Dylan is actually singing, you can hear he's singing "fifty-six", not "fifty-sixth". While this is somewhat hard to discern in the version on Blood on the Tracks (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VE6-uc1zr3s), it is clearer in the alternate take that first appeared as the b-side of "Duquesne Whistle" and later appeared on the 6-disc The Bootleg Series, Vol 14: More Blood, More Tracks compilation: https://vimeo.com/180303449#t=54s.
From my colleague Kevin Feely:
I’ve listened to all of the takes of the song on More Blood, More tracks and . . . I can’t hear a “th” sound for the life of me. To me it sounds very clearly like he is saying “56” especially on takes 2 and 3. I always assumed before he was saying “56th.” Amazing how Dylan can continue to surprise and delight us all of these years later.
In addition, we know that Dylan is willing to sing about highways and refer to them by number: the song and album Highway 61 Revisited attest to that.
Now what about all the "official" sources that have the lyrics listed as "56th and Wabasha"? I contend that they are in error, and that the usual convention of listing street intersections in this way has just caused people to assume that the "th" couldn't be heard.
As to the implications this has for interpretations of the song, that will be addressed in a subsequent post.
