Expecting Rain

JOLENE

Well, you're comin' down High Street, walking in the sun
You make a dead man rise and holler, "She's the one"
Jolene
Baby, I am the king and you're the queen

Well it’s a long old highway that don’t ever end
I got a Saturday night special, I’m back again
I’ll sleep by your door, lay my life on the line
You probably don’t know but I’m gonna make you mine
Jolene, Jolene
Baby, I am the King and you is the Queen

I keep my hands in my pocket, I’m movin’ along
People think they know, but they’re all wrong
You're something nice, I’m gonna grab my dice
I can’t say I ever paid the price
Jolene, Jolene
Baby, I am the King and you is the Queen

Well I found out the hard way, I’ve had my fill
Can't fight somebody with his back to a hill
Those big brown eyes, they set off a spark
If you hold me in your arms, things don’t look so dark
Jolene, Jolene
Baby, I am the King and you're the Queen

Is that a word? I'm hearing "I just came here to hear the drum and cymbal ring," which kinda makes sense given the context, but this is admittedly one of the few lines on the record that really is tough to decipher.

I agree with Dwolf's This Dream of You transcription, but I'm also fuzzy on the "chairless/cheerless" lyric. "Cheerless" seems to fit best, but Bobby could be referencing something well off the beaten path that most of us are too thick to twig on!

What about "out back near La Marque"? La Marque is near Houston, and for what it's worth, "The community was originally known as Highlands."

http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/LL/hel1.html

Nice work! Given the state of his voice on this record ("charmingly abysmal," as I told a friend the other day) it's definitely possible that he swallows the "-que" sound. I don't know Texas all that well, so "Lamar" is what I heard when the song came on and it's stuck with me across three or four listens. It's definitely one or t'other.

Thanks again for your help, I agree with almost everything, except I hear a 'b' in Jolene, not 'grab', so here it is again:
JOLENE

Well you're coming down High Street walking in the sun
You make a dead man rise and holler she's the one
Jolene, Jolene
Baby I am the king and you're the queen

Well it’s a long old highway that don’t ever end
I got a Saturday Night Special, I’m back again
I’ll sleep by your door, lay my life on the line
You probably don’t know but I’m gonna make you mine
Jolene, Jolene
Baby I am the king and you are the queen

I keep my hands in my pocket, I’m movin’ along
People think they know, but they’re all wrong
You're something nice, I’m gonna bet my dice
I can’t say I ever paid the price
Jolene, Jolene
Baby I am the king and you is the queen

Well I fought out the hard way, I’ve had my fill
You can't fight somebody with his back to a hill
Those big brown eyes, they set off a spark
If you hold me in your arms, things don’t look so dark
Jolene, Jolene
Baby I am the king and you're the queen

Perhaps this thread should be re-posted with the lastest versions of the lyrics so far. What dya think?

I think it is "I just came here to hear the drummer's cymbal ring"

Okay, I knew "Throw on the dust, pile on the dust" from "It's All Good" sounded like dull shit to the ear and just couldn't be correct. It isn't:

"Throw on the dirt, pile on the dust."

thats what i heard it as too although listening this morning it jumped out as "came here to hear a drop of simple rain"

had another listen and pretty certains its '....drummer's cymbal ring'.

"From a cheerless room
and a curtained gloom... "

This is an absolute Dylan classic, love it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lamar,_Texas

It's Lamar.

La Marque was Highlands until the 1890s, when then song's narrator would have already passed away (or been an old man, making hellos to luscious Mary Ann and her sisters useless if not impossible gestures), having fought in the Mexican War (1846 - 1848). All the other references are contemporaneous with the war (Houston, Austin, Fort Worth, San Antone).

'cymbaline' isn't a word, but Cymbeline was a mythical British king and a slightly bizarre late Shakespeare play about said king. Though I agree with the above poster - there's definitely a 'g' there so 'cymbal ring' seems the only feasible suggestion.

Re. This Dream of You, I thought the slightly Delphic second verse sounded faintly Biblical. It can be traced to the Pauline proclamation in Corinthians about being renewed 'in Christ':

This Dream of You

There's a moment when all old things become new again
But that moment might have come and gone
All I have and all I know is this dream of you which keeps me living on

cf. Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. (2 Corinthian 5:17 King James Version)

An interesting disavowal of the idea of Christian renewal - being renewed or 'born again' in Christ. Assuming it's an allusion rather than merely a borrowing (i.e. calling into play the prior text, rather than just stealing phrases from it, as has been predominantly the case on his last four studio albums), it puts paid to the preposterously selective readings of Dylan's recent love songs as coded songs addressed to Christ, along the lines of: if you replace the word 'baby' with 'Jesus,' then ta dah!, Make You Feel My Love' goes from risible schmaltz to profound theological meditation. Not that such flimsy readings stand up on their own in any case.

yeah, and its almost as though it should be "from a curtained room and a cheerless gloom" and he's switched it

Would be nice to have a pdf file with all lyrics.

A few more differences:

My Wife's Hometown:

"I still can remember the day we met";

Jolene:

"I can't say I haven't paid the price"; and

It's All Good:

"But there's nothing to worry about..."

Maybe he means the Mexican war of 1964-66?

And another:

"It's All Good":

"The widows cry, the orphans plea"

I'm pretty sure it's:

Well I didn’t come here, dear, with a doggone thing
I just came here to hear the drummer's cymbal ring


Rather than "didn't come here to deal".

I've compiled all the nice work on this thread and what I heard myself etc. and put it all in a Word- and a pdf file.

doc: http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?wzrjnjiilzo

pdf: http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?mzzjiwkuimt

Great work on the compilation.

I do have one more change of some significance to offer:

I believe the name of the third sister (praying the sinner's prayer) in "If You Ever Go to Houston" is Betsy, not Nancy.

That's really hard to tell. I never had second thoughts about Nancy, and after your suggestion it switches back and forth in my ear bwtween Betsy and Nancy.

I think it is Nancy. I do not hear any indication of the bilabial "B" sound that "Betsy" would require. Also the vowel sounds like the "ah" of Nancy and not the "eh" of Betsy.

Wow, what an absolutely fantastic post! I've often bristled at the suggestion that any number of Dylan's songs are veiled "paeans to the lord," so I just wanted you to know that I appreciate your incisive musings!

A further revision to the It's All Good line: it's actually "The widows cry / the orphans plead." I'll second the "throw on the dirt / Pile on the dust" interpretation, since I previously hadn't realized that people were somehow hearing "dust" twice (?!).

This thread, coupled with the preponderance off-the-mark transcriptions that have littered the web this month, really make me wonder about the state of some people's ears and minds. Holy smokes.

Oh, and it's very clearly "Betsy."