it's a real sweet one, isn't it? must have more bootlegs... must...

ballad of a thin man

 

 

because something is happening here

but you don't know what it is

do you, mister jones ?

 

 

 

 

 

desolation row

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Desolation Row

They’re selling postcards of the hanging

They’re painting the passports brown

The beauty parlor is filled with sailors

The circus is in town

Here comes the blind commissioner

They’ve got him in a trance

One hand is tied to the tight-rope walker

The other is in his pants

And the riot squad they’re restless

They need somewhere to go

As Lady and I look out tonight

From Desolation Row

 

Cinderella, she seems so easy

“It takes one to know one,” she smiles

And puts her hands in her back pockets

Bette Davis style

And in comes Romeo, he’s moaning

“You Belong to Me I Believe”

And someone says, “You’re in the wrong place my friend

You better leave”

And the only sound that’s left

After the ambulances go

Is Cinderella sweeping up

On Desolation Row

 

Now the moon is almost hidden

The stars are beginning to hide

The fortune-telling lady

Has even taken all her things inside

All except for Cain and Abel

And the hunchback of Notre Dame

Everybody is making love

Or else expecting rain

And the Good Samaritan, he’s dressing

He’s getting ready for the show

He’s going to the carnival tonight

On Desolation Row

 

Now Ophelia, she’s ’neath the window

For her I feel so afraid

On her twenty-second birthday

She already is an old maid

To her, death is quite romantic

She wears an iron vest

Her profession’s her religion

Her sin is her lifelessness

And though her eyes are fixed upon

Noah’s great rainbow

She spends her time peeking

Into Desolation Row

 

Einstein, disguised as Robin Hood

With his memories in a trunk

Passed this way an hour ago

With his friend, a jealous monk

He looked so immaculately frightful

As he bummed a cigarette

Then he went off sniffing drainpipes

And reciting the alphabet

Now you would not think to look at him

But he was famous long ago

For playing the electric violin

On Desolation Row

 

Dr. Filth, he keeps his world

Inside of a leather cup

But all his sexless patients

They’re trying to blow it up

Now his nurse, some local loser

She’s in charge of the cyanide hole

And she also keeps the cards that read

“Have Mercy on His Soul”

They all play on pennywhistles

You can hear them blow

If you lean your head out far enough

From Desolation Row

 

Across the street they’ve nailed the curtains

They’re getting ready for the feast

The Phantom of the Opera

A perfect image of a priest

They’re spoonfeeding Casanova

To get him to feel more assured

Then they’ll kill him with self-confidence

After poisoning him with words

And the Phantom’s shouting to skinny girls

“Get Outa Here If You Don’t Know

Casanova is just being punished for going

To Desolation Row”

 

Now at midnight all the agents

And the superhuman crew

Come out and round up everyone

That knows more than they do

Then they bring them to the factory

Where the heart-attack machine

Is strapped across their shoulders

And then the kerosene

Is brought down from the castles

By insurance men who go

Check to see that nobody is escaping

To Desolation Row

 

Praise be to Nero’s Neptune

The Titanic sails at dawn

And everybody’s shouting

“Which Side Are You On?”

And Ezra Pound and T. S. Eliot

Fighting in the captain’s tower

While calypso singers laugh at them

And fishermen hold flowers

Between the windows of the sea

Where lovely mermaids flow

And nobody has to think too much

About Desolation Row

 

Yes, I received your letter yesterday

(About the time the doorknob broke)

When you asked how I was doing

Was that some kind of joke?

All these people that you mention

Yes, I know them, they’re quite lame

I had to rearrange their faces

And give them all another name

Right now I can’t read too good

Don’t send me no more letters, no

Not unless you mail them

From Desolation Row

one too many mornings, from the rolling thunder tour.

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rz652bW-nLE

 

Down the street the dogs are barkin’

And the day is a-gettin’ dark

As the night comes in a-fallin’

The dogs’ll lose their bark

An’ the silent night will shatter

From the sounds inside my mind

For I’m one too many mornings

And a thousand miles behind

 

From the crossroads of my doorstep

My eyes they start to fade

As I turn my head back to the room

Where my love and I have laid

An’ I gaze back to the street

The sidewalk and the sign

And I’m one too many mornings

An’ a thousand miles behind

 

It’s a restless hungry feeling

That don’t mean no one no good

When ev’rything I’m a-sayin’

You can say it just as good.

You’re right from your side

I’m right from mine

We’re both just one too many mornings

An’ a thousand miles behind

everything is broken, from oh mercy, which should probably be called no mercy, because the whole album is really... without mercy. everything is surely broken.

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMWcgtB-Fkw

 

Broken lines, broken strings

Broken threads, broken springs

Broken idols, broken heads

People sleeping in broken beds

Ain’t no use jiving

Ain’t no use joking

Everything is broken

 

Broken bottles, broken plates

Broken switches, broken gates

Broken dishes, broken parts

Streets are filled with broken hearts

Broken words never meant to be spoken

Everything is broken

 

Seem like every time you stop and turn around

Something else just hit the ground

 

Broken cutters, broken saws

Broken buckles, broken laws

Broken bodies, broken bones

Broken voices on broken phones

Take a deep breath, feel like you’re chokin'

Everything is broken

 

Every time you leave and go off someplace

Things fall to pieces in my face

 

Broken hands on broken ploughs

Broken treaties, broken vows

Broken pipes, broken tools

People bending broken rules

Hound dog howling, bullfrog croaking

Everything is broken

people at my school - teachers, old enough to know better - destroyed all their dylan records when this came out. people were angrier about this record than they were when he went electric. and if you're too young to remember that... that's pretty crazy angry.

 

but no matter how you feel about the message, it's a great song.

 

and... it's just stupid to destroy music, art, literature, people... because you disagree with an idea. and that's something that should never be forgotten.

 

 

so try to enjoy this one without preconceptions, for what it is. you know, if anyone ever clicks on these besides me.

 

 

 

 

Saved

 

 

I was blinded by the devil

Born already ruined

Stone-cold dead

As I stepped out of the womb

By His grace I have been touched

By His word I have been healed

By His hand I’ve been delivered

By His spirit I’ve been sealed

 

I’ve been saved

By the blood of the lamb

Saved

By the blood of the lamb

Saved

Saved

And I’m so glad

Yes, I’m so glad

I’m so glad

So glad

I want to thank You, Lord

I just want to thank You, Lord

Thank You, Lord

 

By His truth I can be upright

By His strength I do endure

By His power I’ve been lifted

In His love I am secure

He bought me with a price

Freed me from the pit

Full of emptiness and wrath

And the fire that burns in it

 

I’ve been saved

By the blood of the lamb

Saved

By the blood of the lamb

Saved

Saved

And I’m so glad

Yes, I’m so glad

I’m so glad

So glad

I want to thank You, Lord

I just want to thank You, Lord

Thank You, Lord

 

Nobody to rescue me

Nobody would dare

I was going down for the last time

But by His mercy I’ve been spared

Not by works

But by faith in Him who called

For so long I’ve been hindered

For so long I’ve been stalled

 

I’ve been saved

By the blood of the lamb

Saved

By the blood of the lamb

Saved

Saved

And I’m so glad

Yes, I’m so glad

I’m so glad

So glad

I want to thank You, Lord

I just want to thank You, Lord

Thank You, Lord

Very true Cindy, I find the willful destruction of art to be completely obscene, in fact I have a rather personal story which involves something of that nature...

there are better versions of this one, but this is still sweet. and.... it's tonight, right now.

 

lay down your weary tune.

 

just... do it. you must, for a little while. i'll look after things while you rest.

 

 

shhhhhhhhh.... it's alright.

 

 

and when you lay down your weary tune, don't worry - i'll keep it with mine

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qe3YYCuEy2Y

the bob thought of the day

 

 

 

 

Things Have Changed

 

 

A worried man with a worried mind

No one in front of me and nothing behind

There’s a woman on my lap and she’s drinking champagne

Got white skin, got assassin’s eyes

I’m looking up into the sapphire-tinted skies

I’m well dressed, waiting on the last train

 

Standing on the gallows with my head in a noose

Any minute now I’m expecting all hell to break loose

 

People are crazy and times are strange

I’m locked in tight, I’m out of range

I used to care, but things have changed

 

This place ain’t doing me any good

I’m in the wrong town, I should be in Hollywood

Just for a second there I thought I saw something move

Gonna take dancing lessons, do the jitterbug rag

Ain’t no shortcuts, gonna dress in drag

Only a fool in here would think he’s got anything to prove

 

Lot of water under the bridge, lot of other stuff too

Don’t get up gentlemen, I’m only passing through

 

People are crazy and times are strange

I’m locked in tight, I’m out of range

I used to care, but things have changed

 

I’ve been walking forty miles of bad road

If the Bible is right, the world will explode

I’ve been trying to get as far away from myself as I can

Some things are too hot to touch

The human mind can only stand so much

You can’t win with a losing hand

 

Feel like falling in love with the first woman I meet

Putting her in a wheelbarrow and wheeling her down the street

 

People are crazy and times are strange

I’m locked in tight, I’m out of range

I used to care, but things have changed

 

I hurt easy, I just don’t show it

You can hurt someone and not even know it

The next sixty seconds could be like an eternity

Gonna get low down, gonna fly high

All the truth in the world adds up to one big lie

I’m in love with a woman who don’t even appeal to me

 

Mr. Jinx and Miss Lucy, they jumped in the lake

I’m not that eager to make a mistake

 

People are crazy and times are strange

I’m locked in tight, I’m out of range

I used to care, but things have changed

and by what must pass for popular bob demand here, in response to one mention, hurricane.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YngpWylqQ3A&feature=player_embedded

Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues, another highway 61 classic.

 

this one is so beautiful to read, even if you don't want to listen to it... the words are... well.

 

it's an odd you tube, someone just playing the vinyl.

 

but... my gravity's failed and negativity won;t pull me through, so this is the song of the evening.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylkOK7IDwNg

 

 

 

 

When you’re lost in the rain in Juarez

And it’s Eastertime too

And your gravity fails

And negativity don’t pull you through

Don’t put on any airs

When you’re down on Rue Morgue Avenue

They got some hungry women there

And they really make a mess outta you

 

Now if you see Saint Annie

Please tell her thanks a lot

I cannot move

My fingers are all in a knot

I don’t have the strength

To get up and take another shot

And my best friend, my doctor

Won’t even say what it is I’ve got

 

Sweet Melinda

The peasants call her the goddess of gloom

She speaks good English

And she invites you up into her room

And you’re so kind

And careful not to go to her too soon

And she takes your voice

And leaves you howling at the moon

 

Up on Housing Project Hill

It’s either fortune or fame

You must pick up one or the other

Though neither of them are to be what they claim

If you’re lookin’ to get silly

You better go back to from where you came

Because the cops don’t need you

And man they expect the same

 

Now all the authorities

They just stand around and boast

How they blackmailed the sergeant-at-arms

Into leaving his post

And picking up Angel who

Just arrived here from the coast

Who looked so fine at first

But left looking just like a ghost

 

I started out on burgundy

But soon hit the harder stuff

Everybody said they’d stand behind me

When the game got rough

But the joke was on me

There was nobody even there to call my bluff

I’m going back to New York City

I do believe I’ve had enough

what was it you wanted?

 

the most perfectly dismissive song ever written.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VHpqGknybk

 

 

 

What was it you wanted?

Tell me again so I’ll know

What’s happening in there

What’s going on in your show

What was it you wanted

Could you say it again?

I’ll be back in a minute

You can get it together by then

 

What was it you wanted

You can tell me, I’m back

We can start it all over

Get it back on the track

You got my attention

Go ahead, speak

What was it you wanted

When you were kissing my cheek?

 

Was there somebody looking

When you give me that kiss

Someone there in the shadows

Someone that I might have missed?

Is there something you needed

Something I don’t understand

What was it you wanted

Do I have it here in my hand?

 

Whatever you wanted

Slipped out of my mind

Would you remind me again

If you’d be so kind

Has the record been breaking

Did the needle just skip

Is there somebody waiting

Was there a slip of the lip?

 

What was it you wanted

I ain’t keeping score

Are you the same person

That was here before?

Is it something important?

Maybe not

What was it you wanted?

Tell me again I forgot

 

Whatever you wanted

What could it be

Did somebody tell you

That you could get it from me

Is it something that comes natural

Is it easy to say

Why do you want it

Who are you anyway?

 

Is the scenery changing

Am I getting it wrong

Is the whole thing going backwards

Are they playing our song?

Where were you when it started

Do you want it for free

What was it you wanted

Are you talking to me?

did i do this one before? cant remember. doing it now. it's a waist deep in the mist almost like i don't exist kind of night.

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QsKR82bimu8

 

Cold Irons Bound

I’m beginning to hear voices and there’s no one around

Well, I’m all used up and the fields have turned brown

I went to church on Sunday and she passed by

My love for her is taking such a long time to die

 

I’m waist deep, waist deep in the mist

It’s almost like, almost like I don’t exist

I’m twenty miles out of town in cold irons bound

 

The walls of pride are high and wide

Can’t see over to the other side

It’s such a sad thing to see beauty decay

It’s sadder still to feel your heart torn away

 

One look at you and I’m out of control

Like the universe has swallowed me whole

I’m twenty miles out of town in cold irons bound

 

There’s too many people, too many to recall

I thought some of ’m were friends of mine, I was wrong about ’m all

Well, the road is rocky and the hillside’s mud

Up over my head nothing but clouds of blood

 

I found my world, found my world in you

But your love just hasn’t proved true

I’m twenty miles out of town in cold irons bound

Twenty miles out of town in cold irons bound

 

Oh, the winds in Chicago have torn me to shreds

Reality has always had too many heads

Some things last longer than you think they will

There are some kind of things you can never kill

 

It’s you and you only I been thinking about

But you can’t see in and it’s hard lookin’ out

I’m twenty miles out of town in cold irons bound

 

Well the fat’s in the fire and the water’s in the tank

The whiskey’s in the jar and the money’s in the bank

I tried to love and protect you because I cared

I’m gonna remember forever the joy that we shared

 

Looking at you and I’m on my bended knee

You have no idea what you do to me

I’m twenty miles out of town in cold irons bound

Twenty miles out of town in cold irons bound

sweet, pretty, sad little song. simple. in some movie somewhere. forgot which.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vx8_Lxv0TnE

and here'sa real happy little number, from nashville skyline.

 

oh me, oh my, love that country pie.

 

 

most of the time

 

something is burning, baby, are you aware?

 

we better talk this over. one of my 3 favorite songs from street legal.

 

as usual, no video. bob's evil, greedy record company and his own laziness.

 

still, good song.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qQo2hksEF0

i think they spell it wii to avoid the evil record company bots.

 

but it's we.

another excellent cut from street legal... some of his worst rhymes ever, but... love them.

 

can't believe i haven't posted this before. i listen to it almost every day.

 

no time to think.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bv3Lq-FBu0k&feature=related

 

as usual, no video.

 

 

ah, the spelling thing. clever internet peoples.

 

i looked for this before, unsuccessfully, but never considered the spelling.

 

magnificent song. off time out of mind. 1997. no video, but don't need one with a song this beautiful. or with any song, come to think of it. but least of all with this one.

 

trying to get to heaven.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSnk3aL5l0s&feature=related

 

 

Tryin' To Get To Heaven

The air is getting hotter

There’s a rumbling in the skies

I’ve been wading through the high muddy water

With the heat rising in my eyes

Every day your memory grows dimmer

It doesn’t haunt me like it did before

I’ve been walking through the middle of nowhere

Trying to get to heaven before they close the door

 

When I was in Missouri

They would not let me be

I had to leave there in a hurry

I only saw what they let me see

You broke a heart that loved you

Now you can seal up the book and not write anymore

I’ve been walking that lonesome valley

Trying to get to heaven before they close the door

 

People on the platforms

Waiting for the trains

I can hear their hearts a-beatin’

Like pendulums swinging on chains

I tried to give you everything

That your heart was longing for

I’m just going down the road feeling bad

Trying to get to heaven before they close the door

 

I’m going down the river

Down to New Orleans

They tell me everything is gonna be all right

But I don’t know what “all right” even means

I was riding in a buggy with Miss Mary-Jane

Miss Mary-Jane got a house in Baltimore

I been all around the world, boys

Now I’m trying to get to heaven before they close the door

 

Gonna sleep down in the parlor

And relive my dreams

I’ll close my eyes and I wonder

If everything is as hollow as it seems

Some trains don't pull no gamblers

No midnight ramblers like they did before

I been to Sugar Town, I shook the sugar down

Now I’m trying to get to heaven before they close the door

 

 

 

 

and now, to be fair, one of his worst songs ever. i still love it, but it makes me cringe.

 

can you cook and sew, make flowers grow, do you understand my paiiiiiiiiinnnnnn.....?

 

yeah, real low point. i love it. you won't.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8X54ZJh3pQA&feature=related

as previously mentioned, and don't think i ever posted it - lovely poetry. he can when he will, but sometimes he won't. this time he did.

 

I & I, from infidels

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=of4Urehundg

don't think twice, it's alright

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtkVGClqrT4

 

It ain’t no use to sit and wonder why, babe

It don’t matter, anyhow

An’ it ain’t no use to sit and wonder why, babe

If you don’t know by now

When your rooster crows at the break of dawn

Look out your window and I’ll be gone

You’re the reason I’m trav’lin’ on

Don’t think twice, it’s all right

 

It ain’t no use in turnin’ on your light, babe

That light I never knowed

An’ it ain’t no use in turnin’ on your light, babe

I’m on the dark side of the road

Still I wish there was somethin’ you would do or say

To try and make me change my mind and stay

We never did too much talkin’ anyway

So don’t think twice, it’s all right

 

It ain’t no use in callin’ out my name, gal

Like you never did before

It ain’t no use in callin’ out my name, gal

I can’t hear you anymore

I’m a-thinkin’ and a-wond’rin’ all the way down the road

I once loved a woman, a child I’m told

I give her my heart but she wanted my soul

But don’t think twice, it’s all right

 

I’m walkin’ down that long, lonesome road, babe

Where I’m bound, I can’t tell

But goodbye’s too good a word, gal

So I’ll just say fare thee well

I ain’t sayin’ you treated me unkind

You could have done better but I don’t mind

You just kinda wasted my precious time

But don’t think twice, it’s all right