@Abou Antoun
Pour aller au fond des choses.
Pour avoir valeur de citation (à condition effectivement de citer) il eut fallu écrire l’expression avec un trait d’union. Telle quelle l’expression n’a strictement aucun sens. même pas capable de recopier !
explication :
« A- » before a verb was a prefix quite common in 16th C. English. It
is still, today, quite common in Appalachian English, in the US, which
is where Dylan no doubt took his influence.
It can mean « engaged in », as in « He’s a-runnin ! And fast ! », or « She’s a-birth, and there’s no point in hoping she’ll not. »
It can also mean « motion to, into », as in « I’m going a-long », « I’m going a-bout », « I’m going a-round », « I’m going a-breast ».
It is not today used in formal English, but it is an archaic usage
from the 16th C. English (as one sees in the words « around », « about »,
and « abreast »), so it is not an « Americanism ». It is an archaic form of
English that survives in America (and with consideration for the
powerful influence this prefix worked over our prepositions, I’d suppose
it survives in parts of Britain, as well — Scotland, perhaps ?).
Being a colloquialism, its usage is largely regional, and so hasn’t
gotten enough attention to register on my personal « research radar » —
I, having lived in/come from Appalachia, find it rather intuitive. But
my linguistic skills aren’t sharp enough to describe precisely how the
usage might work, unfortunately.
This is the sort of thing that, if you want to know how it’s used,
you’ve got to move to the place where it’s spoken and hear it in speech
for yourself.