Expecting Rain

"What's good is bad
What's bad is good
You'll find out when you reach the top
You're on the bottom."

"When you know as well as me ..You'd rather see me paralyzed"

From Chronicles:

"I was gonna talk out of both sides of my mouth and what you heard depended on which side you were standing. If I ever did stumble onto any truth, I was gonna sit on it and keep it down."

My signature

In honor of Bloodhound: Upon the beach where hound dogs bay at ships with tattooed sails...

Well, I knew when I first laid eyes on her
I could never be free
One look at her and I knew right away
She should always be with me

- Red River Shore

Hello friends, I'd like to introduce my band right now........

As great as you are man, you'll never be greater than yourself

you can always come back, but you can't come back all the way

i think abraham lincoln said that

61st! You may not remember me but I remember you. Welcome back!

..those merry little elves can go hang themselves...

I'm breathing hard, standing at the gate
But I don't know how much longer I can wait

Came on while I was running today and I was breathing hard. It struck me as very sexy. No Bobby at my gate when I got home though

Oh, I know where I can find you,
In somebody's room.
It's a price I have to pay
You're a big girl all the way.

"The midnight rain follows the train"

You left out the best part, the next line:

"We all wear the same thorny crown"

That is the real kicker and a truly great line. Not just the words but also the way he sings it. The first line is practically meaningless and serves only to set up the second line.

Walking through the leaves falling from the trees
Feeling like a stranger no-o-o-body sees

I like "we all wear the same thorny crown" line but now I love the other one.
I don't think it's practically meaningless; to me it is very profound and suggestive

Hmmm ... maybe you're right.
I never paid it much attention.

The midnight train line might be the single best distillation of the goal of Dylan's later work, which is to plug into mythic language. 'Midnight rain' is immediately evocative (old torch ballads, black and white movies, loneliness and heartbreak) and the immediate reference to 'the train' (with all that it evokes - riding the rails, moving on, transience, loneliness) is like a collision of two complementary mythic motifs. One little line summons so much by its associations.

I like that better than 'thorny crown,' which is more cerebral. I think Dylan would say that the first line is true; the second could be a lie, you know what I mean?

We loved with all the love that life can give

I also love these lines from "When the deal goes down".
I think they're somehow "connected" to the midnight rain one, they cause the same feeling on me.

"Well, the moon gives light and it shines by night
When I scarcely feel the glow"

"I picked up a rose and it poked through my clothes
I followed the winding stream"

Great lines, indeed the whole song is great... and the whole album!