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It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding) 1

Bob Dylan © 1965, renewed 1993 Special Rider Music

(Official lyrics @ www.bobdylan.com)


15 Jan 1965
BRINGING IT ALL BACK HOME

Bringing It All Back Home session 3, Columbia Studio A, NYC - 15.jan.1965, take 1 (incomplete)  
Bringing It All Back Home session 3, Columbia Studio A, NYC - 15.jan.1965, take 2  

Darkness at the break of noon
Shadows even the silver spoon
The handmade blade, the child's balloon
Eclipses both the sun an' moon
To understand you know too soon
There is no sense in tryin'.

Pointed threats they bluff with scorn
Suicide remarks are torn
From the fool's gold mouthpiece the hollow horn 
Plays wasted words, proves to warn 
That he not busy bein' born
Is busy dyin'.

Temptation's page flies out the door
You follow, find yourself at war
Watch waterfalls of pity roar
You feel to moan but unlike before
You discover that you'd just be one more 
Person cryin'.

So don't fear if you hear
A foreign sound to your ear
It's alright ma, i'm only sighin'.

As some warm victory, some downfall
Private reasons great or small
Can be seen in the eyes of those that call
To make all that should be killed to crawl
While others say, don't hate nothin' at all 
Except hatred.

Disillusionned words like bullets bark
As human gods aim for their mark
Made everythin' from toy guns that spark
To flesh-colored christs that glow in the dark
It's easy to see without lookin' too far
That not much is really sacred.

While preachers preach of evil fates
Teachers teach that knowledge waits
Can lead to hundred-dollar plates
Goodness hides behind its gates
But even the president of the united states
Sometimes must have yo stand naked.

And though the rules of the road have been lodged
It's only people's games here you got to dodge
An' it's alright ma, i can make it.

Advertisin' signs that con
You into thinkin' you're the one
That can do what's never been done
That can win what's never been won
Meantime life outside goes on
All around you.

You lose yourself, you reappear
You suddenly find you got nothin' to fear
Alone you stand with nobody near
When a tremblin' distant voice unclear
Startles your sleepin' ears to hear
That somebody thinks they really found you.

A question in your nerves is lit
Yet you know there is no answer fit
To satisfy you, insure you not to quit
To keep it in your mind an' not forget 
That it is not he or she or them or it
That you belong to.

Although the masters make the rules
For the wise men and the fools
I got nothin' ma, to live up to.

For them that must obey authority
That they do not respect in any degree
Who despise their jobs, their destinies
Speak jealously of them that are free
Do what they do just to be
Nothin' more than somethin' they invest in.

While some on principles baptized
To strict pary platform ties
Social clubs in drag disguise
Outsiders they can freely criticize
Tell nothin' 'cept who to idolize
An' say, God bless him.

While one who sings with his tongue on fire
Gargles in the rat race choir
Bent out of shape from society's pliers
Cares not to come up any higher
But rather get you down in the hole
That he's in.

But i mean no harm nor put fault
On anyone who lives in a vault
But it's alright ma, if i can't please him.

Old lady judges people in pairs
Limited in sex, they dare	
To push / tell fake morals, insult and stare		
While money doesn't talk, it swears		
Obscenity, who really cares
Propaganda, all is phony.

While them that defend what they cannot see
With a killer's pride security
It blows the minds most bitterly
For them that think death's honesty
Won't fall upon them naturally
Life sometimes must get lonely.

My eyes collide head on with stuffed graveyards 
False goals i scuff
At pettiness which plays so rough
Walk upside down, inside handcuffs
Kick my leg to crash it off
Say okay, i've had enough
What else can you show me?

And if my thought dreams could be seen
They'd probably put my head in a guillotine
But it's alright ma, it's life an' life only. 
    
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It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding) 2

Bob Dylan © 1965, renewed 1993 Special Rider Music

(Official lyrics @ www.bobdylan.com)


10 Oct 1964
50TH ANNIVERSARY COLLECTION 1964 #1

31 Oct 1964
CONCERT AT PHILHARMONIC HALL:
    THE BOOTLEG SERIES Vol. 6 LIVE 1964

25 Nov 1964
50TH ANNIVERSARY COLLECTION 1964 #3

27 Nov 1964
50TH ANNIVERSARY COLLECTION 1964 #2

Town Hall, Philadelphia PA - 10.oct.1964  
Civic Auditorium, San Josˇ CA - 25.nov.1964, skip (a little more than) verses 7 (Advertsin') & 8  
Masonic Memorial Auditorium, San Francisco CA - 27.nov.1964  
Philharmonic Hall, NYC - 31.oct.1964  

Darkness at the break of noon

    

Recording dates & record list

10 Oct 1964 250TH ANNIVERSARY COLLECTION 1964 #1
31 Oct 1964 2CONCERT AT PHILHARMONIC HALL: THE BOOTLEG SERIES Vol. 6 LIVE 1964
ALL HALLOW'S EVE & MORE (bootleg)
LIVE IN NEW YORK 1964 [DOCUMENT] (bootleg)
25 Nov 1964 250TH ANNIVERSARY COLLECTION 1964 #3
27 Nov 1964 250TH ANNIVERSARY COLLECTION 1964 #2
15 Jan 1965THE CUTTING EDGE: THE BOOTLEG SERIES Vol. 12 : 1965-1966 (DeLuxe Edition)
15 Jan 1965 1BRINGING IT ALL BACK HOME
17 Feb 1965ONE PUSH OF THE BUTTON: TV Show Part 1 (bootleg)
I WAS SO MUCH YOUNGER THEN Vol. 4 (Columbia Discovered) (bootleg)
GENUINE BOOTLEG SERIES Vol. 3 The Third One Now (bootleg)
LIFE AND LIFE ONLY RADIO & TV 1961-1965
30 Apr 1965 LIVE 1962-1966 Rare Performances From The Copyright Collections
7 May 1965 NOW AIN'T THE TIME FOR YOUR TEARS (vinyl bootleg)
1 Jun 1965 ONE PUSH OF THE BUTTON: TV Show Part 1 (bootleg) #2
GWW BBC BROADCAST (vinyl bootleg)
14 Jan 1974 LOVE SONGS FOR AMERICA (bootleg)
17 Jan 1974 BOB DYLAN / THE BAND (vinyl bootleg)
14 Feb 1974 BEFORE THE FLOOD
21 Oct 1975 THE ROLLING THUNDER REVUE *THE LIVE 1975 RECORDING* #1
4 Nov 1975 THE ROLLING THUNDER REVUE *THE LIVE 1975 RECORDING* #2
30 Jan 1978THE RUNDOWN REHEARSAL TAPES (bootleg)
DARKNESS AT THE BREAK OF NOON (bootleg)
RUNDOWN TO MAGGIE (bootleg)
1 Mar 1978 BOB DYLAN AT BUDOKAN
4 Jul 1978 MY BACK PAGES (bootleg)
6 Jul 1978 BORDER BENEATH THE SUN (bootleg)
15 Jul 1978 THE PICNIC AT BLACKBUSHE (bootleg)
12 Oct 1978 I WAS YOUNG WHEN I LEFT HOME (bootleg)
3 Dec 1980 A MUSICAL RETROSPECTIVE (bootleg)
10 Nov 1981 STADIUMS OF THE DAMNED (bootleg)
28 May 1984 THE JOKERMAN PLAYS IN THE ARENA (vinyl bootleg)
8 Jul 1984 OVER THE BROKEN GLASS (bootleg)
25 Feb 1986 ACROSS THE BORDERLINE
19 Oct 1990 THANK YOU EV'RYBODY (bootleg)
16 Oct 1992 IN THE GARDEN (bootleg)
RE-TRANSMISSIONS
5 Apr 2002 STOCKHOLM 2002 (bootleg)
7 Oct 2002 DON'T SHOOT THE PIANO PLAYER (bootleg)