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Bob Dylan: 5 Great live versions of Trying To Get To Heaven

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bob dylan 2001

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

A very strong song from the brilliant album “Time Out Of Mind” (1997).

Tryin’ To Get To Heaven has been performed 156 times live, top years were 2010 & 2011 with 19 performances each.

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Guildhall
Portsmouth, England
25 September 2000

  • Bob Dylan (vocal & guitar)
  • Charlie Sexton (guitar)
  • Larry Campbell (guitar, mandolin, pedal steel guitar & electric slide guitar)
  • Tony Garnier (bass)
  • David Kemper (drums & percussion)

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

The Palladium
Worcester, Massachusetts
16 May 2008

  • Bob Dylan (vocal & keyboard)
  • Stu Kimball (guitar)
  • Denny Freeman (guitar)
  • Donnie Herron (violin, mandolin, steel guitar)
  • Tony Garnier (bass)
  • George Recile (drums & percussion).

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

Wang Theatre
Boston, Massachusetts
15 November 2009

  • Bob Dylan (vocal & keyboard)
  • Stu Kimball (guitar)
  • Charlie Sexton (guitar)
  • Donnie Herron (violin, mandolin, steel guitar)
  • Tony Garnier (bass)
  • George Receli (drums & percussion)

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

Le Zénith
Lille, France
16 October 2011

  • Bob Dylan (vocal & keyboard)
  • Stu Kimball (guitar)
  • Charlie Sexton (guitar)
  • Donnie Herron (violin, mandolin, steel guitar)
  • Tony Garnier (bass)
  • George Receli (drums & percussion)

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

The Tivoli
Fortitude Valley
Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
27 August 2014

  • Bob Dylan (vocal, guitar, grand piano & keyboard)
  • Stu Kimball (guitar)
  • Charlie Sexton (guitar)
  • Donnie Herron (violin, mandolin, steel guitar)
  • Tony Garnier (bass)
  • George Receli (drums & percussion)

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Check out:

-Egil

3 thoughts on “Bob Dylan: 5 Great live versions of Trying To Get To Heaven”

  1. These are extraordinary. Each from a diffent angle . Still puzzled by the sinatra thing .Pete thanks for delicate decisions

  2. I saw the Portsmouth concert- this version is for me the most delicate of the 5 on offer? So weird that Sony put out tracks from this concert as part of the 39 Years Live CD pack. Weird, but nice. You don’t get playlists like that anymore more’s the pity.

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