If You Gotta Go, Go Now Lyrics
There's something you must see
I want to be with you, gal
if you want to be with me
It's all right
But if you got to go, go now
Or else you gotta stay all night
To take part in any quiz
It's just that I ain't got no watch
An' you keep askin' me what time it is
It's all right
But if you got to go, go now
Or else you gotta stay all night
Lookin' to connect
But I certainly don't want you thinkin'
That I ain't got any respect
It's all right
but if you got to go, go now
Or else you gotta stay all night
And a guilty conscience, too
If I kept you from anything
That you really wanted to do
It's all right
But if you got to go, go now
Or else you gotta stay all night
Anything you never gave before
It's just that I'll be sleepin' soon
It'll be too dark for you to find the door
It's all right
But if you got to go, go now
Or else you gotta stay all night

This song makes me so happy! I love Dylan, would love to know what stemmed this. The live version is hilarious... especially the commentary at the end between him and fans.

Dylan's a genius! Hilarious song.

it is a riot. . . .

"It's just that I ain't got no watch An' you keep askin' me what time it is"
i love it! so hilarious :D
my version is missing the nightmare verse. i think it's live but it's different from the one MDMA wrote about

I heard from a Bard College alumnus who attended the college in the 60's that Bob Dylan wrote it when he was hanging out on campus. Just as the lyric "the pump don't work 'cause the vandals stole the handle" (from Subterranean Homesick Blues) was inspired by Bard, this song was inspired by the curfew rules in place there at the time. Tewksbury, a dorm built in 1958, was a women's only dorm, and if the women did not manage to get in by midnight, the doors would be locked (for security reasons I presume) and the women would have to find somewhere else to spend the night.
... and there you have it! :)

I heard J.Tillman's version of singing it, he sticks to the original lyricism, and I thought this song was a lot deeper than that. I thought it was about struggling with wanting a girl but wanting her to decide for herself. I didn't realize it was comical at all.. can someone point out the comedy.

I always assumed this song was written to be sung at the live performances when he first went electric.\n\nSome people would listen to the first (acoustic) half, then leave for the second (electric) half, in protest.\n\n\'If you gotta go, go now, or else you got stay all night\'\n\nJust always assumed this, could be wrong...