Bob Dylan : Knocked Out Loaded

Folk Rock / USA
(1986 - Columbia Records / Sony Music)
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Lyrics


1. YOU WANNA RAMBLE

Well I told my baby
I said "Baby, I know where you been
Well, I know who you are
And what league you played in"
You wanna ramble
To the break of dawn
You wanna ramble
To the break of dawn
You wanna ramble
To the break of dawn.

Well, the night is so empty
So quit and still
For only fifteen hundred dollars
You can have anybody killed
You wanna ramble
To the break of dawn
You wanna ramble
To the break of dawn
You wanna ramble
To the break of dawn.

Well, I told my baby
Further down the line
I said, "What happens tomorrow
Is on your head, not mine"
You wanna ramble
To the break of dawn
You wanna ramble
To the break of dawn
You wanna ramble
To the break of dawn.


2. THEY KILLED HIM

There was a man named Hatma Gandi
He would not bow down he would not fight
He knew the deal was down and dirty
And nothing wrong could make it right away
But he knew his duty and the prize he had to pay
Just another holy man who tried to be a friend
My God, they killed him.

Another man from Atlanta, Georgia
By name of Martin Luther King
He shook the land like the rolling thunder
And made the bells of freedom ring today
With a dream of beauty that they could not burn away
Just another holy man who dared to make a stand
My God, they killed him.

The only Son of God Almighty
The holy one called Jesus Christ
He healed the lame and fed the hungry
And for his love they took his life away
On the road to glory where the story never ends
Just the holy Son of Man we'll never understand
My God, they killed him.

There was a man named Mahatma Gandi
A man named Martin Luther King
The only Son of God Almighty
The only one called Jesus Christ
On the road to glory where the story never ends
Just the holy Son of Man we'll never understand
My God, they killed him.

There was a man named Mahatma Gandi
A man named Martin Luther King
The only Son of God Almighty
The only one called Jesus Christ
On the road to glory where the story never ends
Just the holy Son of Man we'll never understand
My God, they killed him.


3. DRIFTIN' TOO FAR FROM SHORE

I didn't know that you'd be leaving
Or who you thought you were talking to
I figure maybe we're even
Or maybe I'm one up on you
I send you all my money
Just like I did before
I tried to reach you honey
But you're driftin' too far from shore
Driftin' too far from shore
Driftin' too far from shore.

I ain't gotta get lost in this current
I don't like playing cat and mouse
No gentleman likes making love to a servant
Especially when he's in his fathers house
I never could guess your weight baby
Never needed to call you my whore
I always thought you were straight baby
But you're driftin' too far from shore
Driftin' too far from shore
Driftin' too far from shore.

Well, these times and these tunnels are haunted
The bottom of the barrel is too
I waited years sometimes for what I wanted
Everybody can't be as lucky as you
Never no more do I wonder
Why you don't never play with me any more
At any moment you could go under
Cause you're driftin' too far from shore
Driftin' too far from shore
Driftin' too far from shore.

You and me we had completeness
I give you all of what I could provide
We weren't on the wrong side sweetness
We were the wrong side
I've already ripped out the phones honey
You can't walk the streets in a war
I can't finish this alone honey
You're driftin' too far from shore
You're driftin' too far from shore.


4. PRECIOUS MEMORIES

As I travel down life's pathway,
Know not what the years may hold.
As I ponder, hopes grow fonder,
Precious memories flood my soul

Precious father, loving mother,
Glide across the lonely years.
And old homes scenes of my childhood
In fond memory appears.

Precious memories, how they linger
How they ever flood my soul.
In the stillness of the midnight,
Precious sacred scenes unfold.


5. MAYBE SOMEDAY

Maybe someday you'll be satisfied
When you've lost everything you'll have nothing left to hide.
When you're through running over things like you're walking 'cross the tracks,
Maybe you'll beg me to take you back.
Maybe someday you'll find out everybody's somebody's fool,
Maybe then you'll realize what it would have taken to keep me cool.
Maybe someday when you're by yourself alone
You'll know the love that I had for you was never my own.

Maybe someday you'll have nowhere to turn,
You'll look back and wonder 'bout the bridges you have burned.
You'll look back sometime when the lights grow dim
And you'll see you look much better with me than you do with him.
Through hostile cities and unfriendly towns,
Thirty pieces of silver, no money down.
Maybe someday, you will understand
That something for nothing is everybody's plan.

Maybe someday you'll remember what you felt
When there was blood on the moon in the cotton belt.
When both of us, baby, were going though some sort of a test
Neither one of us could do what we do best.
I should have known better, baby, I should have called your bluff.
I guess I was too off the handle, not sentimental enough.
Maybe someday, you'll believe me when I say
That I wanted you, baby, in every kind of way.

Maybe someday you'll hear a voice from on high
Sayin' "For whose sake did you live, for whose sake did you die?"
Forgive me, baby, for what I didn't do
For not breakin' down no bedroom door to get at you.
Always was a sucker for the right cross.
Never wanted to go home 'til the last cent was lost.
Maybe someday you will look back and see
That I made it so easy for you to follow me.

Maybe someday there'll be nothing to tell.
I'm just as happy as you, baby, I just can't say it so well.
Never slumbered or slept or waited for lightning to strike.
There's no excuse for you to say that we don't think alike.
You said you were going' to Frisco, stay a couple of months.
I always liked San Francisco, I was there for a party once.
Maybe someday you'll see that it's true
There was no greater love than what I had for you.


6. BROWNSVILLE GIRL

Well, there was this movie I seen one time,
About a man riding 'cross the desert and it starred Gregory Peck.
He was shot down by a hungry kid trying to make a name for himself.
The townspeople wanted to crush that kid down and string him up by the neck.

Well, the marshal, now he beat that kid to a bloody pulp
as the dying gunfighter lay in the sun and gasped for his last breath.
Turn him loose, let him go, let him say he outdrew me fair and square,
I want him to feel what it's like to every moment face his death.

Well, I keep seeing this stuff and it just comes a-rolling in
And you know it blows right through me like a ball and chain.
You know I can't believe we've lived so long and are still so far apart.
The memory of you keeps callin' after me like a rollin' train.

I can still see the day that you came to me on the painted desert
In your busted down Ford and your platform heels
I could never figure out why you chose that particular place to meet
Ah, but you were right. It was perfect as I got in behind the wheel.

Well, we drove that car all nigh into San Anton'
And we slept near the Alamo, your skin was so tender and soft.
Way down in Mexico you went out to find a doctor and you never came back.
I would have gone on after you but I didn't feel like letting my head get blown off.

Well, we're drivin' this car and the sun is comin' up over the Rockies,
Now I know she ain't you but she's here and she's got that dark rhythm in her soul.
But I'm too over the edge and I ain't in the mood anymore to remember the times when I was your only man
And she don't want to remind me. She knows this car would go out of control.

Brownsville girl with your Brownsville curls, teeth like pearls shining like the moon above
Brownsville girl, show me all around the world, Brownsville girl, you're my honey love.

Well, we crossed the panhandle and then we headed towards Amarillo
We pulled up where Henry Porter used to live. He owned a wreckin' lot outside of town about a mile.
Ruby was in the backyard hanging clothes, she had her red hair tied back. She saw us come rolling up in a trail of dust.
She said, "Henry ain't here but you can come on in, he'll be back in a little while."

Then she told us how times were tough and about how she was thinkin' of bummin' a ride back to where she started.
But ya know, she changed the subject every time money came up.
She said, "Welcome to the land of the living dead." You could tell she was so broken-hearted.
She said, "Even the swap meets around here are getting pretty corrupt."

"How far are y'all going?" Ruby asked us with a sigh.
"We're going all the way 'til the wheels fall off and burn,
'Til the sun peels the paint and the seat covers fade and the water moccasin dies."
Ruby just smiled and said, "Ah, you know some babies never learn."

Something about that movie though, well I just can't get it out of my head
But I can't remember why I was in it or what part I was supposed to play.
All I remember about it was Gregory Peck and the way people moved
And a lot of them seemed to be lookin' my way.

Brownsville girl with your Brownsville curls, teeth like pearls shining like the moon above
Brownsville girl, show me all around the world, Brownsville girl, you're my honey love.

Well, they were looking for somebody with a pompadour.
I was crossin' the street when shots rang out.
I didn't know whether to duck or to run, so I ran.
"We got him cornered in the churchyard," I heard somebody shout.

Well, you saw my picture in the Corpus Christi Tribune. Underneath it, it said, "A man with no alibi."
You went out on a limb to testify for me, you said I was with you.
Then when I saw you break down in front of the judge and cry real tears,
It was the best acting I saw anybody do.

Now I've always been the kind of person that doesn't like to trespass but sometimes you just find yourself over the line.
Oh if there's an original thought out there, I could use it right now.
You know, I feel pretty good, but that ain't sayin' much. I could feel a whole lot better,
If you were just here by my side to show me how.

Well, I'm standin' in line in the rain to see a movie starring Gregory Peck,
Yeah, but you know it's not the one that I had in mind.
He's got a new one out now, I don't even know what it's about
But I'll see him in anything so I'll stand in line.

Brownsville girl with your Brownsville curls, teeth like pearls shining like the moon above
Brownsville girl, show me all around the world, Brownsville girl, you're my honey love.

You know, it's funny how things never turn out the way you had 'em planned.
The only thing we knew for sure about Henry Porter is that his name wasn't Henry Porter.
And you know there was somethin' about you baby that I liked that was always too good for this world
Just like you always said there was something about me you liked that I left behind in the French Quarter.

Strange how people who suffer together have stronger connections than people who are most content.
I don't have any regrets, they can talk about me plenty when I'm gone.
You always said people don't do what they believe in, they just do what's most convenient, then they repent.
And I always said, "Hang on to me, baby, and let's hope that the roof stays on."

There was a movie I seen one time, I think I sat through it twice.
I don't remember who I was or where I was bound.
All I remember about it was it starred Gregory Peck, he wore a gun and he was shot in the back.
Seems like a long time ago, long before the stars were torn down.

Brownsville girl with your Brownsville curls, teeth like pearls shining like the moon above
Brownsville girl, show me all around the world, Brownsville girl, you're my honey love.


7. GOT MY MIND MADE UP

Don't ever try to change me,
I been in this thing too long.
There's nothin' you can say or do
To make me think I'm wrong.

Well, I'm goin' off to Libya,
There's a guy I gotta see.
He's been living there three years now,
In an oil refinery.
I've got my mind made up.
Oh, I Ôve got my mind made up.

Call your Ma in Tallahassee
Tell her her baby's on the line.
Tell her not to worry
Everything is gonna be fine.

Well, I gave you all my money
All my connections, too.
There ain't nothin' in this world, girl
You can say I didn't give to you.
I've got my mind made up.
I've got my mind made up.

You will be alright, girl,
Someone's watchin' over you.
He won't do nothin' to you
Baby that I wouldn't do.

Well, if you don't want to see me,
Look the other way.
You don't have to feed me,
I ain't your dog that's gone astray.
I got my mind made up
I got my mind made up
I got my mind made up
I got my mind made up
I got my mind made up


8. UNDER YOUR SPELL

Something about you that I can't shake,
Don't know how much of this I can take,
Baby I'm under your spell.

I was knocked out and loaded in the naked night.
When my last dream exploded, I noticed your light.
Baby, oh what a story I could tell.

It's been nice seeing you, you read me like a book
If you ever want to reach me, you know where to look.
Baby, I'll be at the same hotel.

I'd like to help you but I'm in a bit of a jam,
I'll call you tomorrow if there's phones where I am.
Baby, caught between heaven and hell.

But I will be back, I will survive,
You'll never get rid of me as long as you're alive.
Baby, can't you tell.

Well it's four in the morning by the sound of the birds,
I'm starin' at your picture, I'm hearin' your words.
Baby, they ring in my head like a bell.

Everywhere you go it's enough to break hearts
Someone always gets hurt, a fire always starts.
You were too hot to handle, you were breaking every vow.
I trusted you, baby, you can trust me now.

Turn back, baby, wipe your eye,
Don't think I 'm leaving you here without a kiss goodbye.
Baby, is there anything left to tell?

I'll see you later when I'm not so out of my head,
Maybe next time I'll let the dead bury the dead.
Baby, what more can I tell?

Well the desert is hot, the mountain is cursed,
Pray that I don't die of thirst,
Baby, two feet from the well.


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