Tangled Up In Blue (October 14, 2016)

On this third concert date following a two month break, Dylan switched up one particular line for the first time, making his character’s actions less a possible accident of emotion (“used a little too much (brute) force”) and more calculating (“Then he let the law take its course”).

Here is this line as sung on October 14, while the first outing has been verified to have been on the previous day in Las Vegas.

She was married when they first met
She was soon to be divorced
But he helped her out of a jam, I guess
Then he let the law take its course

She was married when we first met
Soon to be divorced
I helped her out of a jam, I guess
But I used a little too much force

Tab 1

Tab 2

Tab 3

Long And Wasted Years (2015)

Here was begin the Long and Varied Journey into Long And Wasted Years lyric variations: 2015 Mega Pack Bonus Edition.

First a brief note about what happened in the July 11, 2015 performance in San Sebastian, Spain, where for the first time Dylan is kind of lost for words… Enough that the entire verse that should have followed is played as an instrumental. According to Luisbp51, who attended the concert: “It looks like he missed the lyrics or something behind did upset him. He suddenly turned his back to the audience looking to Recile, and then again he turned to look back to the audience, in front of the mic, but about that time he had completely missed the point, no words coming to his mouth. So he went back to talk to Recile. Then he came back to the microphone and continued waiting for the words to come to his mind, but still nothing coming out. So he stood there waiting ’til the next verse was finally delivered.

Recordings we have not yet heard include:
April 10, 2015, Atlantic City, New Jersey
April 11, 2015, Baltimore, Maryland
April 12, 2015, Richmond, Virginia
April 14, 2015, Savannah, Georgia
April 15, 2015, Montgomery, Alabama
April 30, 2015, Memphis, Tennessee
May 2, 2015, Thackerville, Oklahoma

My enemy crashed into the dust
He lost his lust
A strong wind swept him up
No more should he drink from that golden cup

My enemy crashed into the dust
Stopped dead in his tracks and he lost his lust
Seems like just the other day
He sank to the ground in a painful way

My enemy crashed into the dust
Stopped dead in his tracks and he lost his lust
He was run down hard, he was pinned down
Stepped in again, and then stepped to the ground

My enemy crashed into the dust
He lost his lust
He went out hard with a moan
He sank to the ground with a choke and groan

While I think when my back was turned
The whole world behind me burned
It’s been a while since I’ve seen you come ridin’ down many-a-mile

My enemy crashed into the dust
Had his life torn away and he lost his lust
Crushed to the bone
He sank to the ground with a croaking moan

While I think when my back was turned
The whole world behind me burned
It’s been a while since I’ve seen you come ’round, maybe a while

My enemy crashed into the dust
His life ripped away, and he lost his lust
We were boys together way back when
We grew up next to each other, helped each other now and then

My enemy crashed into the dust
He was struck down in his path and he lost his lust
He was run down hard, hit clean in the side
No one can say with certainty where he died

My enemy crashed into the dust
He was run down hard and he lost his lust
He would be: “I’m off to the fair!”
He can die and be damned for all I care

My enemy crashed into the dust
He had his life torn away and he lost his lust
What you say about anyway, you weren’t there
You can die and be damned for all I care

My enemy crashed into the dust
He had his life torn away and he lost his lust
Now, look here now, you stand over there
You can die and be damned for all I care

My enemy crashed into the dust
He had his life torn away and he lost his lust
A dangerous player, he stepped out over every scalp
He had an iron heart but it didn’t help

I think while my back was turned
The whole world behind me burned
Maybe today; if not today, maybe tomorrow
Maybe there’ll be a limit to all of my sorrow

Are you gonna turn back, you were doomed from the start? I’ll cripple your legs, stick you straight in the heart I’ll leave you out there ’till the snow begins to thaw
Let the vultures eat your body raw

I think while my back was turned
The whole world behind me burned
Maybe today; if not today, maybe tomorrow
I’ll put a a limit on all my sorrow

Well, you’re a murderous fool, and you’ve been doomed from the start
I’ll cripple your legs and I’ll strike you square in the heart
Then I’ll tell your Ma and Pa
That the vultures ate your body raw

My enemy crashed into the dust
I had to turn my head away in disgust
Look at the gore, poor soul
The vultures ate his body raw

My enemy crashed into the dust
He had his life torn away and he lost his lust
He was brave, he was bold, he was fast on the run
Skilled in every treachery under the sun

My enemy slammed into the dust
Stopped dead in his tracks, and he lost his lust
He was brave, he was bold, fast on the run
Skilled in every treachery under the sun

My enemy crashed in the dust
He had his life torn away and he lost his lust
He was brave and I thought that the — fast on the run
Skilled in all treachery under the sun

My enemy crashed into the dust
He bled to death and he lost his lust
Lost all of his pride
But no one can say for certain where he died

Well, my enemy crashed into the dust
He slumped to the ground and he lost his lust
He crossed his arms, and his legs were bent
Down to the Garden of Death he rode

My enemy crashed into the dust
Bleeding to death and he lost his lust
As if I care, I couldn’t care less
He profited from the poor, walked around in a woman’s dress

Now my enemy crashed into the dust
He was crooked and corrupt and he lost his lust
A strange man, more or less
He prospered from the poor, walked- paraded around wearin’ a woman’s dress

Well, I met the fool with a ruthless force
I blew the bugle and I rode the horse
He was cold and calculated, being a trash
You don’t hear us? I’m sayin’ he was trash

I met the fool with a ruthless force
He lost his head and he broke his horse
And then the light broke through
I saw skeletons of the men I knew

I met my enemy with a ruthless force
He lost his lust and he lost his horse
The light broke through
I saw skeletons of men that I knew

I met my fool with a ruthless force
He lost his lust and he lost his horse
The sun came shinin’ through
I saw skeletons of men I knew

I met my fool with a ruthless force
He lost his lust and he lost his horse
Pretty strange but true
Then I saw skeletons of men that I knew

Well, I met my enemy with a ruthless force
He lost his lust and he lost his horse
And then his hand pulled true
I saw skeletons of men that I knew

I met my fool with a ruthless force
He lost his lust and he lost his horse
He rolled his hips
And the blood rolled down from his broken lips

I met my fool with a kind of d…
And the feeling was wrong and the time was saved
Big dreamer…

My enemy crashed into the dust
He bled to death and he lost his lust
It just had to be
I noticed lately that he wasn’t with me

My enemy crashed into the dust
Stopped dead in his tracks and he lost his lust
He was run down hard and he broke apart
He died in shame he had an iron heart
I think that when my back was turned
The whole world behind me burned
It’s been awhile since we walked down that long, long aisle

Tab 1

Love Sick (May 3, 2015)

Did I hear someone tell a lie?
Did I hear someone’s distant cry?
Well you thrilled me in the heart; then you ripped it all apart
You went through my pockets while I was sleepin’

Did I hear someone tell a lie?
Did I hear someone’s distant cry?
I spoke like a child; you destroyed me with a smile
While I was sleeping

Tab 1

Tab 2

Tab 3

Long And Wasted Years (November 26, 2014)

Here we take a brief stop in 2014, along the Long and Varied Journey into the lyric variations in this song. This particular verse saw changes beginning in 2013 and far beyond. Next year, 2015, is when it ramps up, big time!

My enemy crashed into the dust
Woah, he lost his lust
He stopped dead in his tracks and he got pinned down
Run down hard and he sank into the ground

My enemy crashed into the dust
Stopped dead in his tracks and he lost his lust
He was run down hard and he broke apart
He died in shame, he had an iron heart

Tab 1

If Not For You (November 17, 2014)

Here we present an entirely new verse to “If Not For You,” with nothing similar appearing in the original New Morning album version from 1970. If Not For You entered Dylan’s live repertoire many years later in 1992 and made an appearance every year afterwards through 2004.

We listened to the other five performances from 2004, where the song moved from early in the set all the way to the encores, and found the lyrics of the others kept close to the original. That is, except for in Asheville, NC on 9 April 2004, when he sang: “Ah, what would I, what would I do – I don’t know! – if not for you.”

At time of writing (January 2012), this 17 November 2004 performance remains the last public outing for the song. We will never know quite what prompted Dylan to create unique lyrics on this particular occasion but, as always, we are thankful he did.

In Dylan’s early to mid-career he sang stories about romanticized outlaws (Jesse James, Pretty Boy Floyd, Joey), about an innocent man in jail (Hurricane Carter), and about travesties of justice (Hattie Carroll). In recent years, however, the focus appears to have shifted to take on a more directly personal note. He sings from the perspective of a person who, in different circumstances, left to his own devices, if not for the help of others, would inevitably and deservedly end up in trouble with the law. We hear this in songs like Workingman’s Blues #2 in the words, “I got to be careful, I don’t want to be forced/ Into a life of continual crime.” We also hear it in live lyric variations like the above example, and in several others to be published here later.

If not for you, babe
I’d be even lost around the trail
Without for you, I’d be, I might be in jail

I just wouldn’t have a clue
Well, if not for you

If not for you
Winter would have no spring
Couldn’t hear the robin sing

I just wouldn’t have a clue
Anyway it wouldn’t ring true
If not for you

Tab 1

Tab 2

Tab 3

Love Sick (April 3, 2014)

Did I hear someone tell a lie?
Did I hear someone’s distant cry?
You were young and you were wild, you looked at me and smiled
I felt like my whole life I’ve been sleepin’

Did I hear someone tell a lie?
Did I hear someone’s distant cry?
I spoke like a child; you destroyed me with a smile
While I was sleeping

Tab 1

Tab 2

Tab 3

Make You Feel My Love (November 6, 2013)

When the rain is blowing in your face
And the whole world got you out of place
I could offer you a warm embrace
To make you feel my love

The storms are raging on the rollin’ sea
And on the highway of regret
Put your hand in mine and come with me
I’ll see that you’ll never get wet

When the rain is blowing in your face
And the whole world is on your case
I could offer you a warm embrace
To make you feel my love

The storms are raging on the rollin’ sea
And on the highway of regret
The winds of change are blowing wild and free
You ain’t seen nothing like me yet

Tab 1

Tab 2

Tab 3

Long And Wasted Years (October 10, 2013)

Here begins a Long and Varied Journey into the lyric variations in this song. This particular verse saw changes beginning in 2013 and far beyond. It all began right here, unless you can prove us wrong…..

My enemy ran – crashed into the dust
He lost his pain and he lost his lust
He was run down hard, he died in shame
My enemy, huh, had an iron heart

My enemy crashed into the dust
Stopped dead in his tracks and he lost his lust
He was run down hard and he broke apart
He died in shame, he had an iron heart

Tab 1

Tangled Up In Blue (2013)

Well, she lit a burner on the stove
And brushed away the dust
Well, she looked at me, and she said to me
“You look like somebody I can trust.”
Then she opened up a book of poems
And she said, “Just so you’ll know,
Memorize every one of these lines
And you can use ’em when you’re walkin’ to and fro
And every one of them words rang true
Glowed like burnin’ coal
And pourin’ off of every page
Like it was written in my soul from me to you
Tangled up in blue

Now I’m goin’ back again
I’ve got to get to them somehow
All the people that we used to know
They’re an illusion to me now
Well, some went up the mountain
And some of ’em went down to the ground
Some of their names are written in flames
And some of them they just left town
But me, I’m still on the road
And I’m tryin’ to stay out of the joint
We always did feel the same
We just saw it from a different point, point of view
Tangled up in blue

…Splittin’ up on a dark sad night
Somewhere in the wilderness
He turned around to look at her
As she was walkin’ away
Sayin’ over her shoulder
“We’re gonna meet again someday, truckin’ down the avenue”
Tangled up in blue

Well, she lit a burner on the stove
And then she swept away the dust
“I thought you looked like someone that I used to know
You look like someone that I can trust”
Then she opened up a book of poems
And then she said, “Just so you’ll know
Memorize these lines, and remember these rhymes
When you’re out there walkin’ to and fro”

And every one of them words rang true
Glowed like burnin’ coal
Pouring off of every page
Like it was written in my soul from me to you
Tangled up in blue

Now I’m goin’ back again
I’ve got to get to them somehow
Yesterday it is gone
And tomorrow might as well be now
Some went up on the mountain
And some of them they went down to the ground
Some of their names – written in flames
And some of them they just left town

Me, I’m still on the road
And I’m tryin’ to stay out of the joint
Well, we always felt the same
Depending on your point of view
Tangled up in blue

…Split up on a dark sad night
Both agreeing it was best
She turned around to look at me
As I was walkin’ away
I heard her say over my shoulder
“We’ll meet again someday on the avenue”
Tangled up in blue

She lit a burner on the stove
And offered me a pipe
“I thought you’d never say hello,” she said
“You look like the silent type”

Then she opened up a book of poems
And handed it to me
Written by an Italian poet
From the thirteenth century

And every one of them words rang true
And glowed like burnin’ coal
Pourin’ off of every page
Like it was written in my soul from me to you
Tangled up in blue

So now I’m goin’ back again
I got to get to her somehow
All the people we used to know
They’re an illusion to me now

Some are mathematicians
Some are carpenters’ wives
Don’t know how it all got started
I don’t know what they’re doin’ with their lives

But me, I’m still on the road
Headin’ for another joint
We always did feel the same
We just saw it from a different point of view
Tangled up in blue

Tab 1

Tab 2

Tab 3

Blind Willie McTell (July 23, 2013)

New lyrics for Blind Willie McTell are a rare thing, pretty much limited to the “I’ll tell you one thing” hook that was borrowed from the cover performed by The Band. That line is still used to this day but here’s a new one, in place of the “chain gang on the highway…” lines:

July 23, 2013

There’s a woman by the river
With some fine young handsome man
He’s dressed up like a squire
Bootlegged whiskey in his hand
Well, some of them were killed in battle
Well, some of them survived as well
I can tell you one thing, that nobody can sing the blues
Like Blind Willie McTell

The Bootleg Series

There’s a woman by the river
With some fine young handsome man
He’s dressed up like a squire
Bootlegged whiskey in his hand
There’s a chain gang on the highway
I can hear them rebels yell
And I know no one can sing the blues
Like Blind Willie McTell