With your mercury mouth in the missionary times
And your eyes like smoke and your prayers like rhymes
And your silver cross, and your voice like chimes
Oh, do they think could bury you?
With your pockets well protected at last
And your streetcar visions which you place on the grass
And your flesh like silk, and your face like glass
Who could they get to carry you?

Sad-eyed lady of the lowlands
Where the sad-eyed prophet says that no man comes
My warehouse eyes, my Arabian drums
Should I put them by your gate
Or, sad-eyed lady, should I wait?

With your sheets like metal and your belt like lace
And your deck of cards missing the jack and the ace
And your basement clothes and your hollow face
Who among them can think he could outguess you?
With your silhouette when the sunlight dims
Into your eyes where the moonlight swims
And your match-book songs and your gypsy hymns
Who among them would try to impress you?

Sad-eyed lady of the lowlands
Where the sad-eyed prophet says that no man comes
My warehouse eyes, my Arabian drums
Should I put them by your gate
Or, sad-eyed lady, should I wait?

The kings of Tyrus with their convict list
Are waiting in line for their geranium kiss
And you wouldn't know it would happen like this
But who among them really wants just to kiss you?
With your childhood flames on your midnight rug
And your Spanish manners and your mother's drugs
And your cowboy mouth and your curfew plugs
Who among them do you think could resist you?

Sad-eyed lady of the lowlands,
Where the sad-eyed prophet says that no man comes
My warehouse eyes, my Arabian drums
Should I leave them by your gate
Or, sad-eyed lady, should I wait?

Oh, the farmers and the businessmen, they all did decide
To show you the dead angels that they used to hide
But why did they pick you to sympathize with their side?
Oh, how could they ever mistake you?
They wished you'd accepted the blame for the farm
But with the sea at your feet and the phony false alarm
And with the child of a hoodlum wrapped up in your arms
How could they ever, ever persuade you?

Sad-eyed lady of the lowlands
Where the sad-eyed prophet says that no man comes
My warehouse eyes, my Arabian drums
Should I leave them by your gate
Or, sad-eyed lady, should I wait?

With your sheet-metal memory of Cannery Row
And your magazine-husband who one day just had to go
And your gentleness now, which you just can't help but show
Who among them do you think would employ you?
Now you stand with your thief, you're on his parole
With your holy medallion which your fingertips fold
And your saint-like face and your ghostlike soul
Oh, who among them do you think could destroy you?

Sad-eyed lady of the lowlands
Where the sad-eyed prophet says that no man comes
My warehouse eyes, my Arabian drums
Should I leave them by your gate
Or, sad-eyed lady, should I wait?


Lyrics submitted by klskrvtz, edited by Mellow_Harsher

Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands Lyrics as written by Bob Dylan

Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group

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Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands song meanings
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  • +5
    General Comment

    I think people are right that this is an amazing lovesong it captures all the feelings and emotion that well up inside people when they think about the one they love. And anybody who says this song is too long is an idiot and should be shot!!! a few things amaze me about this song, the first is that this song was recorded in 1 take with no rehearsals(so what you hear on the album is the absolute birth of the song!) Dylan dissappeared for several hours and left the recording band sitting in the studio and then appeared back at the studio and told them he had a song he wanted to record so they just went directly into the studio with no idea of what was about to played (or how long it was going to be!) so if you listen very carefully at the end of certain verses you can hear the band winding down believing tohe song to be over and then suddenly braking back into the flow of the song as they realise Dylan wasn't finished. Up to that point the longest song they ever heard was like a maximum of 5 maybe 6 minutes, and along comes Dylan with this 11 minute masterpiece! But they all agreed it had to be that long! I think for this reason the emmotion within the song is much purer because it has not been diluted by repetition, so we hear it as it sounds to his lover for the first time!

    mobster_ieon July 07, 2006   Link

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