10 Meanings
Add Yours
Share
Q&A

Don't Fall Apart on Me Tonight Lyrics

Just a minute before you leave girl
Just a minute before you touch the door
What is it that you're trying to achieve, girl ?
Do you think we can talk about it some more ?
You know, the streets are filled with vipers
Who've lost all ray of hope
You know, it ain't even safe no more
In the palace of the Pope.

Don't fall apart on me tonight
I just don't think that I could handle it
Don't fall apart on me tonight
Yesterday's just a memory
Tomorrow is never what it's supposed to be
And I need you, yeah.

Come over here from over there, girl
Sit down here, you can have my chair
I can't see us going anywhere, girl
The only place open is a thousand miles away and I can't take you there
I wish I'd have been a doctor
Maybe I'd have saved some life that had been lost
Maybe I'd have done some good in the world
'Stead of burning every bridge I crossed.

Don't fall apart on me tonight
I just don't think that I could handle it
Don't fall apart on me tonight
Yesterday's just a memory
Tomorrow is never what it's supposed to be
And I need you, yeah.

I ain't too good at conversation, girl
So you might not know exactly how I feel
But if I could, I'd bring bring you to the mountaintop, girl
And build you a house made out of stainless steel
But it's like I'm stuck inside a painting
That's hanging in the Louvre
My throat start to tickle and my nose itches
But I know that I can't move.
Don't fall apart on me tonight
I just don't think that I could handle it
Don't fall apart on me tonight
Yesterday's gone but the past lives on
Tomorrow's just one step beyond
And I need you, yeah.

Who are these people who are walking towards you
Do you know them or will there be a fight ?
With their humorless smiles so easy to see through
Can they tell you what's wrong from what's right ?

Do you remember St. James Street
Where you blew Jackie P.'s mind ?
You were so fine, Clark Gable would have fell at your feet
And laid his life on the line.

Let's try to get beneath the surface waste, girl
No more booby traps and bombs
No more decadence and charm
No more affection that's misplaced, girl
No more mudcake creatures lying in your arms
What about that millionaire with the drumsticks in his pants ?
He looked so baffled and so bewildered
When he played and we didn't dance.

Don't fall apart on me tonight
I just don't think that I could handle it
Don't fall apart on me tonight
Yesterday's just a memory
Tomorrow is never what it's supposed to be
And I need you, yeah.
Questions and Answers

Ask specific questions and get answers to unlock more indepth meanings & facts.

10 Meanings

Add your song meanings, interpretations, facts, memories & more to the community.

Cover art for Don't Fall Apart on Me Tonight lyrics by Bob Dylan

This is an underrated song... it's very cynical

Yesterday's just a memory Tomorrow is never what it's supposed to be

also i think the singing is great in this one

Cover art for Don't Fall Apart on Me Tonight lyrics by Bob Dylan

I agree, the singing is awesome, and yes it should be rated higher, very cool song, I love it ^.^

Cover art for Don't Fall Apart on Me Tonight lyrics by Bob Dylan

I really dont think they are talking about another person in this video/song. They are talking to who they've become, not to a girl or whatever. "all I wanted was you" like what they wanted to become, but it was "killing" them. Plus, it says "this is who I really am inside" and the video has them, and their alter-egos. So really, Id go with the less obvious choice, and say its about them yelling at who they wanted to be versus who they really are.

Cover art for Don't Fall Apart on Me Tonight lyrics by Bob Dylan

Street Legal is one of Dylan's most underrated albums, and this is a standout on it.

@freewneel This song is not from 'Street Legal' - it's from 'Infidels' 1983.

Cover art for Don't Fall Apart on Me Tonight lyrics by Bob Dylan

I think his inspiration in so many of his amazing poems, songs and music....is his lover, wife, mother of his children, very personal...mud caked creatures ..our children..hehehehe

Cover art for Don't Fall Apart on Me Tonight lyrics by Bob Dylan

its from infidels not street legal

Cover art for Don't Fall Apart on Me Tonight lyrics by Bob Dylan

I love this song It's about a selfish kind of love that I've never heard Dylan sing about before "Don't fall apart on me tonight I need you"

It's like don't let me down I'm insecure && helpless too I need you, so put your own feelings a side && comfort me... kind of bit

I love it!

I also have never heard Bob sound so bluesy && soulfull, I just love it!

Cover art for Don't Fall Apart on Me Tonight lyrics by Bob Dylan

Some of the greatest lyrics Dylan ever wrote are in this song, I feel. Especially "I wish that I'd been a doctor/maybe I'd have saved some life that'd been lost/maybe I'd of done some good in the world/'stead of burning every bridge I crossed" and "I ain't too good at conversation, girl/So you might not know exactly how I feel/But if I could, I'd bring bring you to the mountaintop, girl/And build you a house made out of stainless steel.

I really like the non-Christian songs that came directly before and after his "Born Again" period. Even on Slow Train Coming there was a great love song "Precious Angel" that talks about spirituality and God, but is really a love song.

Cover art for Don't Fall Apart on Me Tonight lyrics by Bob Dylan

The master of psychology in song. Everyone else pales by comparison.

Cover art for Don't Fall Apart on Me Tonight lyrics by Bob Dylan

Amazing song! stuff about palace of the pope and the millionaire are just fantastic. How can he create masterpiece after masterpiece. also ''house of stainless steel"; there are quite a number of these types of phrases on Dylan's songs, which I don't know why but they remind me of stories my grandpa used to say: you know the kind of storytelling and hyperbole reminiscent of the past times.