When the Night Comes Falling from the Sky Lyrics
Smoke is in your eye, you draw a smile.
From the fireplace where my letters to you are burning,
You've had time to think about it for a while.
It's the end of the chase and the moon is high.
It won't matter who loves who,
You'll love me or I'll love you
When the night comes falling from the sky.
Sorrow covers you up like a cape.
Only yesterday I know that you've been flirting
With disaster that you managed to escape.
Who are you that I should have to lie?
You'll know all about it, love,
It'll fit you like a glove
When the night comes falling from the sky.
You must have been protecting someone last time I called.
I've never asked you for nothing you couldn't deliver,
I've never asked you to set yourself up for a fall.
For the love of a lousy buck, I've watched them die.
Stick around, baby, we're not through,
Don't look for me, I'll see you
When the night comes falling from the sky.
It was on the northern border of Texas where I crossed the line.
I don't want to be a fool starving for affection,
I don't want to drown in someone else's wine.
That icy wind that's howling in your eye.
You will seek me and you'll find me In the wasteland of your mind
When the night comes falling from the sky.
But you were gambling for support.
This time tomorrow I'll know you better
When my memory is not so short.
Freedom from a world which you deny.
And you'll give it to me now,
I'll take it anyhow
When the night comes falling from the sky.
I can't believe there are no comments for this FABULOUS song... only Jeff is better at this HAHAHA Love it
Well, there are comments to this fabulous song. You can find them under the following link: http://www.keesdegraaf.com/index.php/183/bob-dylans-when-the-night-comes-falling-from-the-sky-an-analysis-part-1 Also under: http://www.keesdegraaf.com/index.php/184/bob-dylans-when-the-night-comes-falling-from-the-sky-an-analysis-part-2
Well, there are comments to this fabulous song. You can find them under the following link: http://www.keesdegraaf.com/index.php/183/bob-dylans-when-the-night-comes-falling-from-the-sky-an-analysis-part-1 Also under: http://www.keesdegraaf.com/index.php/184/bob-dylans-when-the-night-comes-falling-from-the-sky-an-analysis-part-2
There are lyric comments to this song which you can find under: http://www.keesdegraaf.com/index.php/183/bob-dylans-when-the-night-comes-falling-from-the-sky-an-analysis-part-1 Or under: http://www.keesdegraaf.com/index.php/184/bob-dylans-when-the-night-comes-falling-from-the-sky-an-analysis-part-2
This song sketches the situation of Jesus returning to an unprepared church, his bride. She is in embarrassment because her neglect of her groom is obvious: After some time for thinking about their relationship she is just burning his letters.
I think that “It won't matter who loves who, / You'll love me or I'll love you” means that discussions on each other’s love will make no sense in this situation because the deficiencies in love are obvious. The time of living separately has not been easy for her, and she has been looking for comfort at wrong addresses (“flirting with disaster”; “protecting someone last time I called”).
“Stick around, baby, we're not through” gives her another chance (which is in conflict with some relevant predictions in the New Testament). She will have to seek him “and you'll find me in the wasteland of your mind”. Though the consequences of her failure have been serious: “I saw thousands who could have overcome the darkness, / For the love of a lousy buck, I've watched them die.”
If you're looking for the lyrics of the original recording found on The Bootleg Volume 1-3, I transcribed and posted them here: http://songmeanings.com/songs/view/3530822107858989228/
The line: "I saw thousands who could have overcome the darkness For the love of a lousy buck, I've watched them die..." is about the Jim and Tammy Baker fiasco of the '70's and '80's. There is no doubt about this. The remainder of song appears to go on to see how THIS, along with other atrocities seem to explain how Dylan himself may have decided to not be a part of a mainline church-related organization. That is the reason he wrote this song.
@Louis126 Thanks for the feedback on my interpretation. The title of ‘The groom’s still waiting at the altar’ clearly points to a careless bride but most of the lyrics appears too unspecific to me for drawing reliable conclusions. ‘Sweetheart like you’ (about temptation) and especially ‘Sugar baby’ are about the ‘bride’ as well and have more coherent messages.
@Louis126 Thanks for the feedback on my interpretation. The title of ‘The groom’s still waiting at the altar’ clearly points to a careless bride but most of the lyrics appears too unspecific to me for drawing reliable conclusions. ‘Sweetheart like you’ (about temptation) and especially ‘Sugar baby’ are about the ‘bride’ as well and have more coherent messages.
Living in Germany, I have never heard about the Jim and Tammy Baker fiasco. The song ‘When the night comes falling from the sky’ certainly has a wider, more global scope. Dylan’s criticism on traditional churches aims at their refusal of...
Living in Germany, I have never heard about the Jim and Tammy Baker fiasco. The song ‘When the night comes falling from the sky’ certainly has a wider, more global scope. Dylan’s criticism on traditional churches aims at their refusal of using their senses and brain when reading the bible. See ‘cobwebs in your mind, dust upon your eyes’ in ‘Dead man, dead man’, a song already included in the album ‘Shot of love’. See also ‘you ain’t got no brain’ and ‘you ain’t got no sense’ in ‘Sugar baby’. This religious style is a state of walking in darkness and – even worse – spreading darkness. Therefore, ‘there are thousands who could have overcome the darkness’.