| Lyrics: | by Bob Dylan
My parents raised me tenderly,
I was their only son.
My mind got
mixed with ramblin'
When I was all so young,
And I left my home the first time
When I
was twelve and one.
I'm a long time a-comin', Maw,
An' I'll be a long time
gone.
On the western side of Texas,
On the Texas plains,
I tried to find a job
o'work
But they said I's young of age.
My eyes they burned when I heard,
"Go home
where you belong!"
I'm a long time a-comin',
An' I'll be a long time gone.
I
remember when I's ramblin'
Around with the carnival trains,
Different towns, different
people,
Somehow they're all the same.
I remember children's faces best,
I remember
travelin' on.
I'm a long time a-comin',
I'll be a long time gone.
I once loved
a fair young maid
An' I ain't too big to tell,
If she broke my heart a single
time,
She broke it ten or twelve.
I walked and talked all by myself,
I did not tell
no one.
I'm a long time a-comin', babe,
An' I'll be a long time gone.
Many
times by the highwayside,
I tried to flag a ride.
With bloodshot eyes and gritting
teeth,
I'd watch the cars roll by.
The empty air hung in my head
I's thinkin' all day
long.
I'm a long time a-comin',
An' I'll be a long time gone.
You might see me
on your crossroads
When I'm a-passin' through.
Remember me how you wished to
As I'm
a-driftin' from your view.
I ain't got the time to think about it,
I got too much to get
done.
Well, I'm a long time comin'
An' I'll be a long time gone.
If I can't
help somebody
With a word or song,
If I can't show somebody
They are travelin'
wrong.
But I know I ain't no prophet
An' I ain't no prophet's son.
I'm just a long
time a-comin'
An' I'll be a long time gone.
So you can have your beauty,
It's
skin deep and it only lies.
And you can have your youth,
It'll rot before your
eyes.
Just give to me my gravestone
With it clearly carved upon:
"I's a long time
a-comin',
An' I'll be a long time gone |
