Redirecting to a newer version of this post….
In the time of my confession, in the hour of my deepest need
When the pool of tears beneath my feet flood every newborn seed
There’s a dyin’ voice within me reaching out somewhere
Toiling in the danger and in the morals of despair
Maple Leaf Gardens
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
29 October 1998
- Bob Dylan (vocal & guitar)
- Bucky Baxter (pedal steel guitar & electric slide guitar)
- Larry Campbell (guitar)
- Tony Garnier (bass)
- David Kemper (drums & percussion)
Don’t have the inclination to look back on any mistake
Like Cain, I now behold this chain of events that I must break
In the fury of the moment I can see the Master’s hand
In every leaf that trembles, in every grain of sand
Oh, the flowers of indulgence and the weeds of yesteryear
Like criminals, they have choked the breath of conscience and good cheer
The sun beat down upon the steps of time to light the way
To ease the pain of idleness and the memory of decay
I gaze into the doorway of temptation’s angry flame
And every time I pass that way I always hear my name
Then onward in my journey I come to understand
That every hair is numbered like every grain of sand
I have gone from rags to riches in the sorrow of the night
In the violence of a summer’s dream, in the chill of a wintry light
In the bitter dance of loneliness fading into space
In the broken mirror of innocence on each forgotten face
I hear the ancient footsteps like the motion of the sea
Sometimes I turn, there’s someone there, other times it’s only me
I am hanging in the balance of the reality of man
Like every sparrow falling, like every grain of sand
–
Thanks everybody, I want to introduce my band to you right now.
Of course-a … on the guitar tonight is Larry Campbell. David Kemper’s
on the drums. David Kemper’s been leading up with Angle Deacon [?]. Bunch of other people. Bucky Baxter’s on the steel guitar. Bucky will see you last. And Tony Garnier is on bass tonight.
-Egil
Thanks for posting that spiritual nourishment . Now I can start my day in a new light.
The band intros go like this:
“Thanks ev’rybody. I wannaduce my band here right now….wannaduce, uh… On the guitar tonight is Larry Campbell. David Kemper’s on the drums. David Kemper used to play with Englebert Humperdinck and…buncha other people. Bucky Baxter’s on the steel guitar. Bucky’s “free at last”. And Tony Garnier’s on the bass tonight…”
not maple leaf gardens, which was long closed by ’98… air canada center maybe?
I’m not so sure, it was sold in 1998, but I’m not sure of the exact month. The Toronto Maple Leafs played their last game in Maple Leaf Gardens February 13 1999 according to the books.
…but the books might be wrong, anyway it’s a fine performance.
🙂
This is one of Bob’s all-time best. I confess I was slow to come to that conclusion, even after Springsteen raved about it in interviews. The official bootleg version (with dog barking) finally won me over and it has not stopped climbing in my estimation since. Love this live version!
An excellent performance of a magnificent manifesto. If Bob had written just this one song, forget about all the other stuff, then he would have ensured his place in history, just like Pastor John Witherspoon said about Thomas Jefferson as he attempted to persuade the other delegates at the second Continental Congress in early July 1776 to pass the resolution for Independence:
“That noble instrument upon your table, which ensures immortality to its author, should be subscribed this very morning by every pen in this house.”
I discuss the lyric change in the first part of the last verse which I claim is “thunderous in significance” in the following post:
http://dougondylan.blogspot.com/2013/07/bob-dylan-is-in-balance-of-perfect.html