Oh, the streets of Rome are filled with rubble
Ancient footprints are everywhere
You can almost think that you're seein' double
On a cold, dark night by the Spanish Stairs

Got to hurry on back to my hotel room
Gonna wash my clothes, scrape off all the grease
Gonna lock the doors and turn my back on the world for a while
I'll stay right there 'til I paint my masterpiece

Well, the hours I've spent inside the Coliseum
Dodging lions with that mean and hungry look
Those mighty kings of the jungle, I could hardly stand to see 'em
I could see 'em comin', I could read their faces like a book

Train wheels runnin' through the back of my memory
When I ran on the hilltop following a pack of wild geese
Someday, everything is gonna be different
When I paint, when I paint my masterpiece

Sailin' 'round the world full of crimson and clover
Sometimes I feel just like my cup isn't runnin' over

I left Rome and I pulled into Brussels
On a plane ride so bumpy that it made me ill
Clergymen in uniform and young girls pullin' muscles
Everyone was there to meet me, comin' down the hill

Newspapermen eating candy
Had to be held back by big police
Someday, everything is going to be beautiful
When I paint my masterpiece


Lyrics submitted by gracelyn, edited by AGAGAGAGAGAGAG

When I Paint My Masterpiece [Shadow Kingdom Version] Lyrics as written by Bob Dylan

Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group

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When I Paint My Masterpiece song meanings
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  • +2
    General Comment

    This is one of my favorite songs of all time. I think it's about one's struggles to find true love.

    The streets of Rome are the paths taken by all people on their quest for their soul mate. The colesium is the act itself of finding someone. Sometimes you dodge lions (deal with the pain of a relationship), other times it seems that your just wasting time with someone you really don't care for. The mighty kings of the jungle are the one's that make it seem so easy, that they can just walk up to another and start up with the sweet talk, or the couples that just seem so perfect. Rome, Brussels, the plane ride, they all symbolize the long journey you must take along the way. His masterpiece, then, would be the love that he's been looking for all this time.

    "everything is gonna be smooth like a rhapsody..." might be my favorite line ever.

    tobiaswitherspoonon August 07, 2005   Link

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