This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines:
"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
"I had all and then most of you"
Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart
"Some and now none of you"
Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship.
This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
In Scarlet Town, where I was born
There's ivy leaf and silver thorn
The streets have names that you can't pronounce
Gold is down to a quarter of an ounce
The music starts and the people sway
Everybody says, "Are you going my way?"
Uncle Tom still workin' for Uncle Bill
Scarlet Town is under the hill
Scarlet Town in the month of May
Sweet William Holme on his deathbed lay
Mistress Mary by the side of the bed
Kissin' his face, heapin' prayers on his head
So brave and true, so gentle is he
I'll weep for him as he'd weep for me
Little Boy Blue come blow your horn
In Scarlet Town, where I was born
Scarlet Town, in the hot noon hours
There's palm-leaf shadows and scattered flowers
Beggars crouching at the gate
Help comes, but it comes too late
By marble slabs and in fields of stone
You make your humble wishes known
I touched the garment, but the hem was torn
In Scarlet Town, where I was born
In Scarlet Town, the end is near
The Seven Wonders of the World are here
The evil and the good, livin' side by side
All human forms seem glorified
Put your heart on a platter and see who'll bite
See who'll hold you and kiss you good night
There's walnut groves and maplewood
In Scarlet Town cryin', won't do no good
In Scarlet Town, you fight your father's foes
Up on the hill, a chilly wind blows
You fight 'em on high and you fight 'em down in
You fight 'em with whiskey, morphine and gin
You've got legs that can drive men mad
A lot of things we didn't do, that I wish we had
In Scarlet Town, the sky is clear
You'll wish to God that you stayed right here
Set 'em Joe, play "Walkin' the Floor"
Play it for my flat-chested junkie whore
I'm staying up late, I'm making amends
While we smile, our heaven descends
If love is a sin, then beauty is a crime
All things are beautiful, in their time
The black and the white, the yellow and the brown
It's all right there in front of you in Scarlet Town
There's ivy leaf and silver thorn
The streets have names that you can't pronounce
Gold is down to a quarter of an ounce
The music starts and the people sway
Everybody says, "Are you going my way?"
Uncle Tom still workin' for Uncle Bill
Scarlet Town is under the hill
Scarlet Town in the month of May
Sweet William Holme on his deathbed lay
Mistress Mary by the side of the bed
Kissin' his face, heapin' prayers on his head
So brave and true, so gentle is he
I'll weep for him as he'd weep for me
Little Boy Blue come blow your horn
In Scarlet Town, where I was born
Scarlet Town, in the hot noon hours
There's palm-leaf shadows and scattered flowers
Beggars crouching at the gate
Help comes, but it comes too late
By marble slabs and in fields of stone
You make your humble wishes known
I touched the garment, but the hem was torn
In Scarlet Town, where I was born
In Scarlet Town, the end is near
The Seven Wonders of the World are here
The evil and the good, livin' side by side
All human forms seem glorified
Put your heart on a platter and see who'll bite
See who'll hold you and kiss you good night
There's walnut groves and maplewood
In Scarlet Town cryin', won't do no good
In Scarlet Town, you fight your father's foes
Up on the hill, a chilly wind blows
You fight 'em on high and you fight 'em down in
You fight 'em with whiskey, morphine and gin
You've got legs that can drive men mad
A lot of things we didn't do, that I wish we had
In Scarlet Town, the sky is clear
You'll wish to God that you stayed right here
Set 'em Joe, play "Walkin' the Floor"
Play it for my flat-chested junkie whore
I'm staying up late, I'm making amends
While we smile, our heaven descends
If love is a sin, then beauty is a crime
All things are beautiful, in their time
The black and the white, the yellow and the brown
It's all right there in front of you in Scarlet Town
Lyrics submitted by mike, edited by thedimlocator
Scarlet Town Lyrics as written by Bob Dylan
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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