bootleg series, the volume 1-3

someone‘s got a hold of my heart
(Bob Dylan)

They say "Drink and be merry,
Take the bull by the horns."
I keep seeing visions of you, a lily among thorns
Everything looks a little far away to me

Gettin' harder and harder to recognize the trap
Too much information about nothin'
Too much educated rap
It's just like you told me, just like you said it would be

The moon rising like wildfire
I feel the breath of a storm
Something I got to do tonight
You go inside and stay warm

Someone's got a hold of my heart
Someone's got a hold of my heart
Someone's got a hold of my heart
You-
Yeah, you got a hold of my heart

Just got back from a city of powder blue skies
Everybody thinks with their stomach
There's plenty of spies
Every street is crooked, they just wind around till they disappear

Madame Butterfly, she lulls me to sleep
Like an ancient river
So wide and deep
She said, "Be easy, baby, ain't nothin' worth stealin' here"

You're the one I've been waitin' for
You're the one I desire
But you must first realize
I'm not another man for hire

Someone's got a hold of my heart
Someone's got a hold of my heart
Someone's got a hold of my heart
You, you, you, you
Yeah, you got a hold of my heart

I hear the hot-blooded singer
On the bandstand croon
September Song, Memphis in June
While they're beating the devil out of a guy who's wearing a flaming red wig

I been to Babylon
I gotta confess
I can still hear that voice crying in the wilderness
What looks large from a distance, close up is never that big
Never could learn to drink that blood and call it wine
Never could learn to look at your face and call it mine.

Someone's got a hold of my heart
Someone's got a hold of my heart
Someone's got a hold of my heart
You-
Yeah, you got a hold of my heart

©1983 Special Rider Music

tell me
(Bob Dylan)

Tell me, I've got to know.
Tell me, tell me before I go.
Does that flame still burn? Does that fire still glow?
Or has it died out and melted like the snow.
Tell me.
Tell me.

Tell me, what are you focused upon?
Tell me what I'll know better when you're gone.
Tell me quick with a glance on the side.
Shall I hold you close?
Or Shall I let you go by?
Tell me.
Tell me.

Are you looking at me and thinking of somebody else?
Can you feel the heat and the beat of my pulse?
Do you have any secrets that will come out in time?
Do you lie in bed and stare at the stars?
Is your main friend an acquaintance of ours?
Tell me.
Tell me.

Tell me, do those neon lights blind your eyes?
Tell me, behind what door your treasure lies.
Ever gone broke in a big way?
Ever gone the opposite of what the experts say?
Tell me.
Tell me.

Is it some kind of game that you're playin' with me.
Am I imagining something that never can be?
Do you have any morals?
Do you have any point of view?
Do you long to ride on that old ship of Zion?
What means more to you, a lap dog or a dead lion?
Tell me.
Tell me.

Tell me, is my name in your book?
Tell me, should I come back and take another look?
Tell me the truth, tell me no lies.
Are you someone, anyone?
Tell me.
Tell me.

©1983 Special Rider Music

foot of pride
(Bob Dylan)

Like the lion tears the flesh off of a man
So can a woman who passes herself off as a male
They sang "Danny Boy" at his funeral and the Lord's Prayer
Preacher talking 'bout Christ betrayed
It's like the earth just opened and swallowed him up
He reached too high, was thrown back to the ground
You know what they say about bein' nice to the right people on the way up
Sooner or later you gonna meet them comin' down

Well, there ain't no goin' back when your foot of pride come down
Ain't no goin' back

Hear ya got a brother named James, don't forget faces or names
Sunken cheeks and his blood is mixed
He looked straight into the sun and said revenge is mine
But he drinks, and drinks can be fixed
Sing me one more song, about ya love me to the moon and the stranger
And your fall by the sword love affair with Erroll Flynn
in these times of compassion when conformity's in fashion
Say one more stupid thing to me before the final nail is driven in.

Well, there ain't no goin' back when your foot of pride come down
Ain't no goin' back

There's a retired businessman named Red, cast down from heaven and he's out of his head
He feeds off of everyone that he can touch
He said he only deals in cash or sells tickets to a plane crash
He's not somebody that you play around with much
Miss Delilah is his, a Philistine is what she is
She'll do wondrous works with your fate
Feed you coconut bread, spice buns in your bed
If you don't mind sleepin' with your head face down in a grave.

Well, there ain't no goin' back when your foot of pride come down
Ain't no goin' back

Well they'll choose a man for you to meet tonight
You'll play the fool and learn how to walk through doors
How to enter into the gates of paradise
No, how to carry a burden too heavy to be yours
Yeah, from the stage they'll be tryin' to get water outta rocks
A whore will pass the hat, collect a hundred grand and say thanks
They like to take all this money from sin, build big universities to study in
Sing "Amazing Grace" all the way to the Swiss banks

Well, there ain't no goin' back when your foot of pride come down
Ain't no goin' back

They got some beautiful people out there, man
They can be a terror to your mind and show you how to hold your tongue
They got mystery written all over their forehead
They kill babies in the crib and say only the good die young
They don't believe in mercy
Judgment on them is something that you'll never see
They can exalt you up or bring you down main route
Turn you into anything that they want you to be

Well, there ain't no goin' back when your foot of pride come down
Ain't no goin' back

Yes, I guess I loved him too
I can still see him in my mind climbin' that hill
Did he make it to the top, well he probably did and dropped
Struck down by the strength of the will
Ain't nothin' left here partner, just the dust of a plague that has left this whole town afraid
From now on, this'll be where you're from
Let the dead bury the dead. Your time will come
Let hot iron blow as he raised the shade

Well, there ain't no goin' back when your foot of pride come down
Ain't no goin' back

©1983 Special Rider Music

blind Willie McTell
(Bob Dylan)

Seen the arrow on the doorpost
Saying, "This land is condemned
All the way from New Orleans
To Jerusalem."
I traveled through East Texas
Where many martyrs fell
And I know no one can sing the blues
Like Blind Willie McTell

Well, I heard the hoot owl singing
As they were taking down the tents
The stars above the barren trees
Were his only audience
Them charcoal gypsy maidens
Can strut their feathers well
But nobody can sing the blues
Like Blind Willie McTell

See them big plantations burning
Hear the cracking of the whips
Smell that sweet magnolia blooming
(And) see the ghosts of slavery ships
I can hear them tribes a-moaning
(I can) hear the undertaker's bell
(Yeah), nobody can sing the blues
Like Blind Willie McTell

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

Well, God is in heaven
And we all want what's his
But power and greed and corruptible seed
Seem to be all that there is
I'm gazing out the window
Of the St. James Hotel
And I know no one can sing the blues
Like Blind Willie McTell

©1983 Special Rider Music