Released: August 10, 1981
Songwriter: Bob Dylan
Producer: Robert Blackwell Chuck Plotkin Bob Dylan
[Verse 1]
Prayed in the ghetto with my face in the cement
Heard the last moan of a boxer, seen the massacre of the innocent
Felt around for the light switch, felt around for her face
Been treated like a farm animal on a wild goose chase
[Chorus]
West of the Jordan, east of the Rock of Gibraltar
I see the turning of the page
Curtain rising on a new age
See the groom still waiting at the altar
[Verse 2]
Try to be pure at heart, they arrest you for robbery
Mistake your shyness for aloofness, your silence for snobbery
Got the message this morning, the one that was sent to me
About the madness of becoming what one was never meant to be
[Chorus]
West of the Jordan, east of the Rock of Gibraltar
I see the turning of the page
Curtain rising on a new age
See the groom still waiting at the altar
[Verse 3]
Don't know what I can say about Claudette that wouldn't come back to haunt me
Finally had to give her up 'bout the time she began to want me
But I know God has mercy on them who are slandered and humiliated
I'd a-done anything for that woman if she’d only made me feel obligated
[Chorus]
West of the Jordan, east of the Rock of Gibraltar
I see the turning of the page
Curtain rising on a new age
See the groom still waiting at the altar
[Verse 4]
Put your hand on my head, baby, do I have a temperature?
I see people who are supposed to know better standing around like furniture
There's a wall between you and what you want and you got to leap it
Tonight you got the power to take it, tomorrow you won't have the power to
Keep it
[Chorus]
West of the Jordan, east of the Rock of Gibraltar
I see the turning of the page
Curtain rising on a new age
See the groom still waiting at the altar
[Verse 5]
Cities on fire, phones out of order
They're killing nuns and soldiers, there's fighting on the border
What can I say about Claudette?
Ain't seen her since January
She could be respectably married or running a whorehouse in Buenos Aires
[Chorus]
West of the Jordan, east of the Rock of Gibraltar
I see the turning of the page
Curtain rising on a new age
See the groom still waiting at the altar
Prayed in the ghetto with my face in the cement
Heard the last moan of a boxer, seen the massacre of the innocent
Felt around for the light switch, felt around for her face
Been treated like a farm animal on a wild goose chase
[Chorus]
West of the Jordan, east of the Rock of Gibraltar
I see the turning of the page
Curtain rising on a new age
See the groom still waiting at the altar
[Verse 2]
Try to be pure at heart, they arrest you for robbery
Mistake your shyness for aloofness, your silence for snobbery
Got the message this morning, the one that was sent to me
About the madness of becoming what one was never meant to be
[Chorus]
West of the Jordan, east of the Rock of Gibraltar
I see the turning of the page
Curtain rising on a new age
See the groom still waiting at the altar
[Verse 3]
Don't know what I can say about Claudette that wouldn't come back to haunt me
Finally had to give her up 'bout the time she began to want me
But I know God has mercy on them who are slandered and humiliated
I'd a-done anything for that woman if she’d only made me feel obligated
[Chorus]
West of the Jordan, east of the Rock of Gibraltar
I see the turning of the page
Curtain rising on a new age
See the groom still waiting at the altar
[Verse 4]
Put your hand on my head, baby, do I have a temperature?
I see people who are supposed to know better standing around like furniture
There's a wall between you and what you want and you got to leap it
Tonight you got the power to take it, tomorrow you won't have the power to
Keep it
[Chorus]
West of the Jordan, east of the Rock of Gibraltar
I see the turning of the page
Curtain rising on a new age
See the groom still waiting at the altar
[Verse 5]
Cities on fire, phones out of order
They're killing nuns and soldiers, there's fighting on the border
What can I say about Claudette?
Ain't seen her since January
She could be respectably married or running a whorehouse in Buenos Aires
[Chorus]
West of the Jordan, east of the Rock of Gibraltar
I see the turning of the page
Curtain rising on a new age
See the groom still waiting at the altar
Biograph
- Forever Young (Demo)
- Romance in Durango
- Million Dollar Bash
- You Angel You
- On a Night Like This
- Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door
- I Shall Be Released
- Quinn the Eskimo (The Mighty Quinn)
- Time Passes Slowly
- If Not for You
- Lay Lady Lay
- Positively 4th Street
- Isis
- Solid Rock
- I Wanna Be Your Lover
- Baby, I’m in the Mood for You
- Up to Me
- Caribbean Wind
- Jet Pilot
- Mixed-Up Confusion
- Percy’s Song
- I’ll Keep It with Mine
- The Groom’s Still Waiting at the Altar
- Heart of Mine
- Baby, Let Me Follow You Down
- Lay Down Your Weary Tune
- Señor (Tales of Yankee Power)
- Tangled Up in Blue
- Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window?
- Visions of Johanna
- All Along the Watchtower
- You’re a Big Girl Now
- Blowin’ in the Wind
- It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue
- Mr. Tambourine Man
- Masters of War
- The Times They Are A-Changin’
- Tombstone Blues
- Like a Rolling Stone
- Gotta Serve Somebody
- I Believe in You
- Abandoned Love
- I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight
- Dear Landlord
- It Ain’t Me Babe
- To Ramona
- The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll
- Every Grain of Sand
- Most Likely You Go Your Way (And I’ll Go Mine)
- Just Like a Woman
- I Want You
- I Don’t Believe You (She Acts Like We Never Have Met)
- Subterranean Homesick Blues
- Shot of Love (1981)
- Biograph (1985)
- Murder Most Foul
- Blowin’ in the Wind
- The Times They Are A-Changin’
- All Along the Watchtower
- Like a Rolling Stone
- Make You Feel My Love
- Hurricane
- Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right
- Mr. Tambourine Man
- A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall
- Subterranean Homesick Blues
- Desolation Row
- Tangled Up in Blue
- Masters of War
- Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door
- It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)
- Girl from the North Country
- Tempest
- It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue
- Ballad of a Thin Man
- Visions of Johanna
- I Contain Multitudes
- To Fall in Love with You
- Shelter from the Storm