I really like Dylan's lyrics but I have no idea what they mean.

[dawg]

The song today is, It's All Over Now, Baby Blue:

You must leave now, take what you need, you think will last.
But whatever you wish to keep, you better grab it fast.
Yonder stands your orphan with his gun,
Crying like a fire in the sun.
Look out the saints are comin' through
And it's all over now, Baby Blue.

The highway is for gamblers, better use your sense.
Take what you have gathered from coincidence.
The empty-handed painter from your streets
Is drawing crazy patterns on your sheets.
This sky, too, is folding under you
And it's all over now, Baby Blue.

All your seasick sailors, they are rowing home.
All your reindeer armies, are all going home.
The lover who just walked out your door
Has taken all his blankets from the floor.
The carpet, too, is moving under you
And it's all over now, Baby Blue.

Leave your stepping stones behind, something calls for you.
Forget the dead you've left, they will not follow you.
The vagabond who's rapping at your door
Is standing in the clothes that you once wore.
Strike another match, go start anew
And it's all over now, Baby Blue.

[jobycom]

1. Bob or Jakob?

So long ago, I don't remember when
That's when they say I lost my only friend
Well they said she died easy of a broken heart disease
As I listened through the cemetery trees

I seen the sun comin' up at the funeral at dawn
The long broken arm of human law
Now it always seemed such a waste
She always had a pretty face
So I wondered how she hung around this place

Chorus:
Hey, come on try a little
Nothing is forever
There's got to be something better than
In the middle
But me & Cinderella,
We put it all together
We can drive it home
With one headlight

She said it's cold
It feels like Independence Day
And I can't break away from this parade
But there's got to be an opening
Somewhere here in front of me
Through this maze of ugliness and greed
And I seen the sun up ahead
At the county line bridge
Sayin' all there's good and nothingness is dead
We'll run until she's out of breath
She ran until there's nothin' left
She hit the end-it's just her window ledge

(chorus)

Well this place is old
It feels just like a beat up truck
I turn the engine, but the engine doesn't turn
Well it smells of cheap wine & cigarettes
This place is always such a mess
Sometimes I think I'd like to watch it burn
I'm so alone, and I feel just like somebody else
Man, I ain't changed, but I know I ain't the same
But somewhere here in between the city walls of dyin' dreams
I think her death it must be killin' me

(chorus)

[dawg]

3. Him I understand.

Great song though. Sometimes I strum the basic chords to One Headlight on my guitar and sing along. I can make it sound half-decent. :)

[SteppingRazor]

2. The ongoing theory is that Bob wrote this about leaving the Greenwich Village folk scene...

and switching from acoustic, folk performances to electric.


Personally, I think that might be a case of audiences seeing what they want to in the lyrics. The more I've listened to Dylan -- and by that I mean, his writing and interviews, not necessarily his songs -- the more I'm convinced that he uses a lot of ambiguous symbology that could have multiple meanings, even for him.

[Fire Walk With Me]

4. An audio Rorschach test!

Means something to everyone.

[dawg]

5. Here's another.

I mostly listen to a cover version of this one by Steve Howe and Jon Anderson of Yes. (You don't have to tell me ...)


Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands

With your mercury mouth in the missionary times,
And your eyes like smoke and your prayers like rhymes,
And your silver cross, and your voice like chimes,
Oh, who among them do they think could bury you?
With your pockets well protected at last,
And your streetcar visions which you place on the grass,
And your flesh like silk, and your face like glass,
Who among them do they think could carry you?

Sad-eyed lady of the lowlands,
Where the sad-eyed prophet says that no man comes,
My warehouse eyes, my Arabian drums,
Should I leave them by your gate,
Or, sad-eyed lady, should I wait?

With your sheets like metal and your belt like lace,
And your deck of cards missing the jack and the ace,
And your basement clothes and your hollow face,
Who among them can think he could outguess you?
With your silhouette when the sunlight dims
Into your eyes where the moonlight swims,
And your match-book songs and your gypsy hymns,
Who among them would try to impress you?

Sad-eyed lady of the lowlands,
Where the sad-eyed prophet says that no man comes,
My warehouse eyes, my Arabian drums,
Should I leave them by your gate,
Or, sad-eyed lady, should I wait?

The kings of Tyrus with their convict list
Are waiting in line for their geranium kiss,
And you wouldn't know it would happen like this,
But who among them really wants just to kiss you?
With your childhood flames on your midnight rug,
And your Spanish manners and your mother's drugs,
And your cowboy mouth and your curfew plugs,
Who among them do you think could resist you?

Sad-eyed lady of the lowlands,
Where the sad-eyed prophet says that no man comes,
My warehouse eyes, my Arabian drums,
Should I leave them by your gate,
Or, sad-eyed lady, should I wait?

Oh, the farmers and the businessmen, they all did decide
To show you the dead angels that they used to hide.
But why did they pick you to sympathize with their side?
Oh, how could they ever mistake you?
They wished you'd accepted the blame for the farm,
But with the sea at your feet and the phony false alarm,
And with the child of a hoodlum wrapped up in your arms,
How could they ever, ever persuade you?

Sad-eyed lady of the lowlands,
Where the sad-eyed prophet says that no man comes,
My warehouse eyes, my Arabian drums,
Should I leave them by your gate,
Or, sad-eyed lady, should I wait?

With your sheet-metal memory of Cannery Row,
And your magazine-husband who one day just had to go,
And your gentleness now, which you just can't help but show,
Who among them do you think would employ you?
Now you stand with your thief, you're on his parole
With your holy medallion which your fingertips fold,
And your saintlike face and your ghostlike soul,
Oh, who among them do you think could destroy you?

Sad-eyed lady of the lowlands,
Where the sad-eyed prophet says that no man comes,
My warehouse eyes, my Arabian drums,
Should I leave them by your gate,
Or, sad-eyed lady, should I wait?

[CBGLuthier]

6. his lyrics mean he smoked a lot of pot and liked the feel of the words in his mouth.

[greendog]

7. "Baby Blue" is the Earth...

...and the song is about the absurdity of religious hatred and violence on a small planet in the nuclear age.

And specifically, it's about building the Christian Religion on a Jewish foundation and the subsequent rejection of the followers of the parent faith.

**This is my personal interpretation - it could be completely wrong**

***
You must leave now, take what you need, you think will last.
But whatever you wish to keep, you better grab it fast.
(we're throwing you out, we don't need you anymore)

Yonder stands your orphan with his gun,
(the child has killed the parent)

Crying like a fire in the sun.
(the Earth is the child of the Sun, both religions(parent and child) are supposed to be about the same thing - Love)

Look out the saints are comin' through
And it's all over now, Baby Blue.

***

The highway is for gamblers, better use your sense.
Take what you have gathered from coincidence.
(life (the highway) is a mystery so we make up stories to try to explain it)

The empty-handed painter from your streets
Is drawing crazy patterns on your sheets.
("empty-handed painter" = clergy/theologians. "Your sheets" = Jewish stories/scripture)

This sky, too, is folding under you
(Jews who don't convert won't get to heaven)

And it's all over now, Baby Blue.

***

All your seasick sailors, they are rowing home.
All your reindeer armies, are all going home.
(seasick sailors / reindeer armies = crusaders. "Home" = heaven)

The lover who just walked out your door
Has taken all his blankets from the floor.
(Lover = God. Blankets = love/favor)

The carpet, too, is moving under you
(you're not welcome in heaven and you're not welcome here either)

And it's all over now, Baby Blue.

***

Leave your stepping stones behind, something calls for you.
Forget the dead you've left, they will not follow you.
(stepping stones = parent faith. "something" calls...you think it's God but it isn't)

The vagabond who's rapping at your door
Is standing in the clothes that you once wore.
(vagabond = Christian evangelist)

Strike another match, go start anew
(Religious violence,this time with nukes)

And it's all over now, Baby Blue.