Don't Fall Apart On Me Tonight ¹

Bob Dylan © 1983 Special Rider Music

(Official lyrics @ www.bobdylan.com)

Infidels session 2, Power Station NYC - 12.apr.1983, take 11, album version 
Infidels session 2, Power Station NYC - 12.apr.1983, alt take #2 (bs16)

Just a minute 'fore you leave, girl
Just a minute 'fore you touch the door
What is it that you're tryin' to achieve, girl
Do you think we can talk about it some more
You know the streets are filled with vipers
[Who/That(bs16)]'ve lost all ray of hope
You know it's not even safe no more
In the palace of the pope.

Don't fall apart on me tonight
I just don't think that i could handle it
Don't fall apart on me tonight
Yesterday's just a memory
Tomorrow's never what it's supposed to be 
An' i need you, yeah.

Come over here from over there, girl
Sit down here you can have my chair
I can't see us goin' anywhere, girl
The only place open is a thousand miles away an' [i can't / i'm not gonna(bs16)] take you there
I wish that i'd have been a doctor
Maybe i'd have saved some life that'd been lost
Maybe i'd have done some good in the world 
Instead of burnin' every bridge i crossed.

Don't fall apart on me tonight
I just don't think that i could handle it
Don't fall apart on me tonight
Yesterday's just a memory
Tomorrow's never what it's supposed to be 
An' i need you, [ah yeah / yeah you, i need you(bs16)].

I ain't to good at conversation, girl
So you might not know exactly how i feel
But if i could i'd bring you to the mountain top, girl
An' build you a house made out of stainless steel
But it's like i'm stuck inside a painting
That's hangin' in the Louvre
My throat starts to tickle an' my nose itches
But i know that i can't move.

Don't fall apart on me tonight
I just don't think that i could handle it
Don't fall apart on me tonight
Yesterday's gone but the past live on
Tomorrow's just one step beyond
An' i need you, oh [yeah, i need you(bs16)].

Who are these people who are walkin' towards you
Do you know them or will there be a fight
With their humorless smiles so easy to see through
Can they tell you what's wrong from what's right
Or do you remember [St James/Napoleon(bs16)] street
Where you blew Jackie P.'s mind
You were so fine, Clark Gable would have fell at your feet
An' laid his life on the line.

Let's try to get beneath the surface waste, girl
No more boobytraps an' bombs
No more decadence an' charm
No more affection that's misplaced, girl
No more mudcake creatures lyin' in your arms
What about that millionaire with the drumsticks in his pants
He looked so baffled an' so bewildered
When he played an' we didn't dance.

Don't fall apart on me tonight
I just don't think that i could handle it
Don't fall apart on me tonight
Yesterday's just a memory
Tomorrow's never what it's supposed to be
An' i need you, yeah you, ah i need you. ;