Upon randomly putting on Biograph Disc 3 this morning, I put this song on repeat a few times.....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXbls8ad0KgEverything went from bad to worse, money never changed a thing,
Death kept followin', trackin' us down, at least I heard your bluebird sing.
Now somebody's got to show their hand, time is an enemy,
I know you're long gone,
I guess it must be up to me.
If I'd thought about it I never would've done it, I guess I would've let it slide,
If I'd paid attention to what others were thinkin', the heart inside me would've died.
I was just too stubborn to ever be governed by enforced insanity,
Someone had to reach for the risin' star,
I guess it was up to me.
Oh, the Union Central is pullin' out, the orchids are in bloom,
I've only got me one good shirt left and it smells of stale perfume.
In fourteen months I've only smiled once and I didn't do it consciously,
Somebody's got to find your trail,
I guess it's gonna be up to me.
It was like a revelation when you betrayed me with your touch,
I'd just about convinced myself nothin' had changed that much.
The old Rounder in the iron mask, he slipped me the master key,
Somebody had to unlock your heart,
He said it was up to me.
Well, I watched you slowly disappear down into the officers' club,
I would've followed you in the door but I didn't have a ticket stub.
So I waited all night 'til the break of day, hopin' one of us could get free,
When the dawn came over the river bridge,
I knew it was up to me.
Oh, the only decent thing I did when I worked as a postal clerk
Was to haul your picture down off the wall near the cage where I used to work.
Was I a fool or not to protect your real identity?
You looked a little burned out, my friend,
I thought it might be up to me.
I met somebody face to face, I had to remove my hat.
She's everything I need and love but I can't be swayed by that.
It frightens me, the awful truth, of how sweet life can be.
But she ain't gonna make a move,
I guess it must be up to me.
Now we heard the Sermon on the Mount and I knew it was too complex,
It didn't amount to anything more than what the broken glass reflects.
When you bite off more than you can chew you gotta pay the penalty,
Somebody's got to tell the tale,
I guess it must be up to me.
Dupree came in pimpin' tonight to the Thunderbird Cafe,
Crystal wanted to talk to him, I had to look the other way.
Now I just can't rest without your love, I need your company.
You ain't gonna cross the line,
I guess it must be up to me.
There's a note left in the bottle, you can give it to Estelle,
She's the one you been wond'rin' about, but there's really nothin' much to tell.
We both heard voices for a while, now the rest is history,
Somebody's got to cry some tears,
I guess it must be up to me.
So go on, boys, play your hands, life is a pantomime,
The ringleaders from the county seat say you don't have all that much time.
And the girl with me behind the shades, she ain't my property,
One of us has got to hit the road,
I guess it must be up to me.
If we never meet again, baby, remember me,
How my lone guitar played sweet for you that old-time melody.
And the harmonica around my neck, I blew it for you, free,
No one else could play that tune,
You know it was up to me.
Strangely, when I pulled up the front page of ER, this was one of the featured articles and it said perfectly what I had been thinking all morning at work...
'Ah yes, acoustic guitar and bass, the arrangement so nice, Dylan used it twice. During the making of Blood On The Tracks, this song lost out to the similar “Shelter From The Storm” when Bob chose the pecking order. The album turned out OK, I guess: It’s generally regarded as one of Dylan’s finest which, by definition, puts it among the finest albums in rock-era music history.
But I’ll play the contrarian and say that I prefer “Up To Me.” It digs just a little deeper, comes across with a few more memorable lines. It seems to be about the responsibility that both parties must take on to sustain a relationship, and the fallout when those responsibilities are abandoned. Dylan’s narrator is defending himself, the battles he fought, the lines he crossed, in an ultimately futile effort to keep things alive.
This guy owns up to the fact that his own notion of how life must be lived probably presented some problems, but that was the only way he knew.
“If I’d lived my life by what others were thinkin’, the heart inside me would’ve died/I was just too stubborn to ever be governed by enforced insanity,” he sings, lines likely to ring true with iconoclasts everywhere.
From there, he reflects upon the various incarnations these two souls have taken, rearranging their faces and giving them other names, so to speak, all as a way of recounting the little injuries and perceived slights that have taken the toll on their love. Later on, the narrator admits to seeking out new companions as a way of dealing with the pain of her absence, but it’s all in vain.
The final verse is one of the finest closing scenes Dylan has ever given us, as the narrator, hopeless now of her returning, asks if she will at least yield him some nostalgia.
He begins, “And if we never meet again, baby, remember me/How my lone guitar played sweet for you that old-time melody.” You can imagine the tears welling up in both their eyes as he continues, “And the harmonica around my neck, I blew it for you, free/No one else could play that tune, you know it was up to me.”
Of course, the temptation is to immediately to read autobiography into these final lines, and Dylan certainly had to have been aware of this. But the guitar and harmonica could really be equivalent to any gesture made by someone in the thrall of a passionate relationship, before its purity is stained by pettiness and frailty. “Up To Me” is masterful at capturing both the wonder of love and the anguish of its unraveling.'
Really just a quiet masterpiece left off of Blood On The Tracks and pushed the sentiments of the songs into the others on the album. But all in all, this song just bites hard. It's a song of desperate courage sung with utmost sincerity by a guy in his musical prime and in personal hell at the same time.
What do you al think of this one????
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