Released: March 19, 1971
Songwriter: Bob Dylan
Producer: The Band
[Verse 1]
Oh, the streets of Rome are filled with rubble
Ancient footprints are everywhere
You can almost think that you’re seeing double
On a cold, dark night on the Spanish Stairs
Got to hurry on back to my hotel room
Where I’ve got me a date with Botticelli’s niece
She promised that she’d be right there with me
When I paint my masterpiece
[Verse 2]
Oh, the hours I’ve spent inside the Coliseum
Dodging lions and wasting time
Oh, those mighty kings of the jungle, I could hardly stand to see them
Yes, it sure has been a long, hard climb
Train wheels running through the back of my memory
When I ran on the hilltop following a pack of wild geese
Someday, everything is going to be smooth like a rhapsody
When I paint my masterpiece
Sailing round the world in a dirty gondola
Oh, to be back in the land of Coca-Cola!
[Verse 3]
I left Rome and landed in Brussels
On a plane ride so bumpy that I almost cried
Clergymen in uniform and young girls pulling mussels
Everyone was there to greet me when I stepped inside
Newspapermen eating candy
Had to be held down by big police
Someday, everything is going to be different
When I paint my masterpiece
Oh, the streets of Rome are filled with rubble
Ancient footprints are everywhere
You can almost think that you’re seeing double
On a cold, dark night on the Spanish Stairs
Got to hurry on back to my hotel room
Where I’ve got me a date with Botticelli’s niece
She promised that she’d be right there with me
When I paint my masterpiece
[Verse 2]
Oh, the hours I’ve spent inside the Coliseum
Dodging lions and wasting time
Oh, those mighty kings of the jungle, I could hardly stand to see them
Yes, it sure has been a long, hard climb
Train wheels running through the back of my memory
When I ran on the hilltop following a pack of wild geese
Someday, everything is going to be smooth like a rhapsody
When I paint my masterpiece
Sailing round the world in a dirty gondola
Oh, to be back in the land of Coca-Cola!
[Verse 3]
I left Rome and landed in Brussels
On a plane ride so bumpy that I almost cried
Clergymen in uniform and young girls pulling mussels
Everyone was there to greet me when I stepped inside
Newspapermen eating candy
Had to be held down by big police
Someday, everything is going to be different
When I paint my masterpiece
more tracks from the album
Bob Dylan’s Greatest Hits Vol. II
- She Belongs to Me
- Tonight I’ll Be Staying Here with You
- Watching the River Flow
- If Not for You
- Quinn the Eskimo (The Mighty Quinn)
- Tomorrow Is a Long Time
- When I Paint My Masterpiece
- I Shall Be Released
- Down in the Flood
- Lay Lady Lay
- I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight
- My Back Pages
- Maggie’s Farm
- It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue
- Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues
- Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right
- All Along the Watchtower
- A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall
- Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again
- All I Really Want to Do
- You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere
From the albums
Bob Dylan popular songs
- 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