I Was Young When I Left Home Lyrics
An' i been out a-ramblin' round
An' i never wrote a letter to my home
To my home, lord, to my home
An' i never wrote a letter to my home.
I was bringin' home my pay
When i met an' old friend i used to know
Said, "Your mother is dead an' gone
An' your sisters all gone wrong
An' your daddy needs you home right away.''
Not a penny on my name
But i can't go home this a-way
This a-way, lord, this a-way
An' i can't go home this a-way.
Count the days i'm gone
You will hear that whistle blow hundred miles
Hundred miles, honey baby, lord lord lord
An' you'll hear that whistle blow hundred miles.
On them trussels down by ol' Jim Mckay's
When i pay the debt i owe to the commissary store
I will pawn my watch an' chain an' go home
Go home, lord lord lord
I will pawn my watch an' chain an' go home.
When i see them ridin' blind
Gonna make me a home out in the wind
In the wind, lord in the wind
Make me a home out in the wind.
I go back home again
But i can't go home this a-way
This a-way, lord lord lord
An' i can't go home this a-way.
An' i been all a-ramblin' round
An' i never wrote a letter to my home
To my home, lord lord lord
An' i never wrote a letter to my home.
I don't think that Bob Dylan's lyrics are ever really meant to be symbolic, he's an amazing storyteller. This is telling a story about loneliness, regret.
this song telles exactly my story axcept my parents divorced since little child I was suffering then left home for 18 years to hear grieve-full news about how bad things went with my family ,,,willing but not able to go home with empty hands and pockets,,,,,sad song it makes me feel like I want to cry but I cant thanks to dylans sad voice
I can definitely relate. I love this song. It's a beautiful classic.
what a beautiful song. i think everyone can relate to the feeling of being out "in the wind" and just wanting to "go back home" but not knowing the way. that, i believe, is what life is all about. that is, finding the way home..whatever home is.
This song is simple genius. There should be millions comments on this song. This is the best autobiographical song of bob dylan. That feeling of uncertainty and attempting to prove yourself is embedded deep with in this song.
I agree with Plugsix, this is not a symbolic song, just the best song about regret and being homesick ever written. I was young when I left home myself and after that I really lost it. I would listen to this song when I'd been partying for weeks and I finally came down, hiding under the sheets, really fucking afraid of the world outside and more than anything - feeling bad for letting mum and dad down. This song is just...wow....over and over again.
This is very important early Dylan song because it gives us a big clue about how his songwriting art developed. He has taken a old song "500 miles" as a seed and from it crafted this heart-wrenching classic - pure genius.
I believe this song could also work being from the perspective of a ghost...thus meeting a friend "he used to know," being out in the wind, without a shirt on his back, only with debts he can never repay. And he only hears news of the dead.
As for how he died, well, he was hit by a train. Maybe it was an accident, or maybe a lonely, grief-stricken suicide; either way, without his mother to whoop him back.
Of course, as a ghost, he can never return home "this way"...
I don't think this is what Dylan had in mind, but given the ambiguous, dreamy, and adrift-in-time nature of the lyrics, I think, it could be a plausible interpretation.