Ain't Talkin' Lyrics
The wounded flowers were dangling from the vine
I was passing by yon cool crystal fountain
Someone hit me from behind
Through this weary world of woe
Heart burnin', still yearnin'
No one on earth would ever know
So pray for me mother
In the human heart an evil spirit can dwell
I am a-tryin' to love my neighbor and do good unto others
But oh, mother, things ain't going well
I'll burn that bridge before you can cross
Heart burnin', still yearnin'
There'll be no mercy for you once you've lost
My eyes are filled with tears, my lips are dry
If I catch my opponents ever sleeping
I'll just slaughter 'em where they lie
Through the world mysterious and vague
Heart burnin', still yearnin'
Walkin' through the cities of the plague.
The whole wide world which people say is round
They will tear your mind away from contemplation
They will jump on your misfortune when you're down
Eatin' hog eyed grease in a hog eyed town.
Heart burnin', still yearnin'
Some day you'll be glad to have me around.
Every waking moment you could crack
I'll make the most of one last extra hour
I'll revenge my father's death then I'll step back
Hand me down my walkin' cane.
Heart burnin', still yearnin'
Got to get you out of my miserable brain.
They approve of me and share my code
I practice a faith that's been long abandoned
Ain't no altars on this long and lonesome road
My mule is sick, my horse is blind.
Heart burnin', still yearnin'
Thinkin' 'bout that gal I left behind.
Fame and honor never seem to fade
The fire gone out but the light is never dyin'
Who says I can't get heavenly aid?
Carryin' a dead man's shield
Heart burnin', still yearnin'
Walkin' with a toothache in my heel
Every nook and cranny has its tears
I'm not playing, I'm not pretending
I'm not nursin' any superfluous fears
Walkin' ever since the other night.
Heart burnin', still yearnin'
Walkin' 'til I'm clean out of sight.
On a hot summer day, a hot summer lawn
Excuse me, ma'am, I beg your pardon
There's no one here, the gardener is gone
Up the road, around the bend.
Heart burnin', still yearnin'
In the last outback at the world's end.
I see it as a man who has lost his faith in a faithless world, he may even be a preacher, or a pilgrim Everywhere he looks, there is evil and ruthlessness, and all the while he even wants to give into the temptation of evil, he is fighting with himself, he wants to just find his enemies and "slaughter them where they lie." He wants to believe that prayer will heal him, and even though he loves his neighbor and tries to "do good unto others", "Things ain't going well..." But he can't give in, his own suffering is "unending", the fire that was once in his heart for his god is now gone, but the light of hope is still there. Through out the song, his heart is burnin' and yearnin' for something better, and until he finds it, even if he has to go to the "last outback at the world's end", he will never stop walkin' or looking for that fire, that unconditional love that he is losing every day. It's a haunting, beautiful, lonesome, heart wrentching, ballad of indescribable pain, anger, love, and faith Not only one of my favorites on the new album, but of all Dylan's songs
another thing that is interesting is the line "who says i cant get heavenly aid?" it is very similar to an Adolph Hitler quote "and who says im not under Gods specia protection?"
man, even dylan's apocalyptic songs have barrells of humour in them these days!!
whatever character is narrating this is one messed up, confused fella - torn between a life of sin and a life of purity - sounds like a soul singer to me!!!
fascinating, beautiful stuff
i used to listen to it as i wandered into the city, buildings weeping themselves into being all around me - the mystic garden, truly overgrown!!!
dylan knocks me all over the place with this one!! aint talkin'?? the guy can't STOP talking!! he's like Hamlet - endlessly procrastinating, his every word gives him away 'cos every second he's TALKING to us he isn't DOING!!!
he's one siiick puppy!! eight minutes in the company of a very talented chap...
hmmm... it sounds to me that the world is the mystic garden that doesn't have a gardener (obviously God)...
Definetly the best,most mysterious and sinister song on the modern times album. it will eventually find its way into his greatest hits collection someday.
it could be told from the eyes of the devil, or a fallen angel.
I first heard this song as I was taking a rode trip across the deep south. I bought the album before I left, and by the time I got to this song, I was crossing the Georgia/Florida border late at night, right after it had stopped raining. The smell of wet pavement, the tropical rural landscape, and the stillness of the night are the things that come to mind whenever I listen to this song.
You lucky bastard, that is perfect!
You lucky bastard, that is perfect!
18 stanzas of heart burnin' goodness. I listen to this song as a digression of the human heart. At first, the narrator is still trying to hold onto something good (although unsuccessfully):
"They say prayer has the power to heal So pray from the mother In the human heart an evil spirit can dwell I am a-tryin' to love my neighbor and do good unto others But oh, mother, things ain't going well"
But the struggle is too much, and the heart is quickly darkened, readily admitting that it will commit evil, if given the chance:
Now I'm all worn down by weeping My eyes are filled with tears, my lips are dry If I catch my opponents ever sleeping I'll just slaughter 'em where they lie
genius
to me this song is right up there as some of Bob's best work, another "masterpiece".....UnforGiven, i like what you had to say about this songs, makes good sense to me.
This song seems to allude to practice an old worn faith (long abandoned) with ocassional prayer (power to heal), on a road with no altars, in a mystic garden where the gardener seems to have disappeared, or is gone - whether for good, or temporarily, we don't know. Is the gardener possibly a reference to Christ (Book of John), who is the 'heavenly aid' even though he knows he's not practicing the faith (fire gone out but light is burnin), in his struggle he is trudging to the edge of his existence, very alone and conflicted, but with a dim...
This song seems to allude to practice an old worn faith (long abandoned) with ocassional prayer (power to heal), on a road with no altars, in a mystic garden where the gardener seems to have disappeared, or is gone - whether for good, or temporarily, we don't know. Is the gardener possibly a reference to Christ (Book of John), who is the 'heavenly aid' even though he knows he's not practicing the faith (fire gone out but light is burnin), in his struggle he is trudging to the edge of his existence, very alone and conflicted, but with a dim hope that there is still a purpose and a possible divine presence, in spite of the absence in the garden (light still burnin in the midst of his own burnin'). Life doesn't get easier as you get older, it's tougher, weirder, more discordant, and he he is not about to be giving answers to make sense of his fatigue. But the only beacons seem to be his enduracne to keep walkin in the midst of sorrow and pain, and the hope that the light won't dim out altogether, which is not a light his own making as I think he's resigned from that option (i.e. self genrated light) by the confessions he makes concerning neightbours and those who have hurt him.
"They will tear your mind away from contemplation" Sounds like the modern internet/FOX News/Paris Hilton world to me. Dylan wants to focus on what's important. "I'll make the most of one last extra hour" Do something meaningful
"All my loyal and my much-loved companions They approve of me and share my code I practice a faith that's been long abandoned Ain't no altars on this long and lonesome road " Reminds me of the film The Road, a post-apocalyptic film about maintaining dignity in anarchy. The world today is in moral, spiritual anarchy, nobody's sure if there is any truth with a capital T Those who live by a code of honor and justice and love become harder to come by
I get a sense of quiet desperation from this song "No one on earth would ever know" "Got to get you out of my miserable brain" Also a sense of self-pity that desperately wants to reveal itself "Some day you'll be glad to have me around." "Got to get you out of my miserable brain"
It sounds like Dylan misses someone a lot, he must have spent a lot of time with a girl and now it's all over and this source of love is suddenly gone. In its place is a vacant emptiness that depresses him He's sad, so all he can see of life is sadness: "The sufferin' is unending Every nook and cranny has its tears"
But he realizes, if suffering is eternal, then wouldn't good feelings be just as eternal? "Fame and honor never seem to fade" Good deeds, the source of honor and fame, cannot be erased A deed cannot be undone Dylan wants to find the source of this, and he's Christian, so Maybe he's referring to Jesus when he says: "The fire gone out but the light is never dyin' " Jesus (the fire) is dead, but the light (Jesus' spirit) lives on I think Dylan is running on the fumes of hope, trying to find this source Like UnForGiven says, He's willing to go to "the last outback at the world's end" to find it
Great poetic imagery in this song, too! What a perfect song!