Once upon a time you dressed so fine
You threw the bums a dime in your prime, didn’t you?
People’d call, say, “Beware doll, you’re bound to fall”
You thought they were all kiddin’ you
You used to laugh about
Everybody that was hangin’ out
Now you don’t talk so loud
Now you don’t seem so proud
About having to be scrounging for your next meal
How does it feel
How does it feel
To be without a home
Like a complete unknown
Like a rolling stone?
Some facts:
Dylan has played “Like A Rolling Stone” 2011times live
The guilty undertaker sighs
The lonesome organ grinder cries
The silver saxophones say I should refuse you
The cracked bells and washed-out horns
Blow into my face with scorn
But it’s not that way
I wasn’t born to lose you
I want you, I want you
I want you so bad
Honey, I want you
Some facts:
Dylan has played “I Want You” 214 times live
First time was in San Antonio, TX – May 11, 1976
Last performance: Vancouver, BC – Jul 20, 2005
Peak year: 1978 with 56 renditions
Here are five great live versions:
Westfalenhalle 1 Dortmund, West Germany 15 September 1987
Bob Dylan (vocal, guitar & harmonica)
Tom Petty (guitar)
Mike Campbell (guitar)
Benmont Tench (keyboards)
Howie Epstein (bass)
Stan Lynch (drums)
On this Dortmund tape you can hear an intro to “I Want You” that gathers such momentum as piano is joined by bass and then drum and then harmonica, that its energy and personality become unstoppable and can be felt throughout the song, in the spirit of the vocal and the way singer and musicians work together.
~Paul Williams (Bob Dylan: Performance Artist 1986-1990 And Beyond (Mind Out Of Time)
Ring them bells, ye heathen
From the city that dreams
Ring them bells from the sanctuaries
’Cross the valleys and streams
For they’re deep and they’re wide
And the world’s on its side
And time is running backwards
And so is the bride
