Bob Dylan's on the road again ...

And wow, sounding pretty darn good. He sounds really good and the harmonica, wow. Haunting. Thanks, RWB, for pointing us here. This is off his latest album, and it just grows and grows on you, this Theme Song for Anaheim. Pretty well sums it all up. We'll be seeing Mr. Dylan on July 24th.

What a testimony to what it feels like in those dark hours, to lose one's way, one's faith, one's heart that once knew joy, that once new the author of joy. Forgetful heart.

But who is speaking?



Forgetful heart
Lost your power of recall
Every little detail
You don’t remember at all
The times we knew
Who would remember better than you?

Forgetful heart
We laughed and had a good time, you and I
It’s been so long
Now you’re content to let the days go by
When you were there
You were the answer to my prayer

Forgetful heart
We loved with all the love that life can give
What can I say?
Without you it’s so hard to live
Can’t take much more
Why can’t we love like we did before?

Forgetful heart
Like a walking shadow in my brain
All night long
I lay awake and listen to the sound of pain
The door has closed forevermore
If indeed there ever was a door

B. Dylan 2009

I swear, the voice of this song is the Lord Himself, calling out to us, who lays awake through night and listens to the sound of our pain. An amazing accomplishment, Mr. Dylan. "Behold, I stand at the door and knock ..." Revelation 3:20. And if the door is closed, as C.S. Lewis once wrote, it's because it's locked from the inside.

UPDATE: Sean from RWB writes to us here at the Cafe that as he listens to this arrangement, he goes "back and forth wondering if it is the Lord's perspective on a poor sinner like moi, or whether it is the voice of someone who is feeling sorely tried by the distance of God, as you often hear in the Psalms. It seems to resonate on both levels, which is why Bob's a genius, of-course. Maybe it's even a duet, in his head, with the perspective alternating?"

I think Sean makes an excellent point - and it is typical of Dylan to alternate perspectives in the middle of songs without telling anyone. He is still a bit cubist when it comes to his songwriting, even now. The drastic change in arrangement from the album version, though, comes just days after a music legend destroyed himself and one can only wonder if this particular arrangement, this haunting lament, comes in the wake of that tragedy.