The air is getting hotter
There's a rumbling in the skies
I've been wading through the high muddy water
With the heat rising in my eyes
Every day your memory grows dimmer
It doesn't haunt me like it did before
I've been walking through the middle of nowhere
Trying to get to heaven before they close the door

When I was in Missouri
They would not let me be
I had to leave there in a hurry
I only saw what they let me see
You broke a heart that loved you
Now you can seal up the book and not write anymore
I've been walking that lonesome valley
Trying to get to heaven before they close the door

People on the platforms
Waiting for the trains
I can hear their hearts a-beatin'
Like pendulums swinging on chains
When you think that you lost everything
You find out you can always lose a little more
I'm just going down the road feeling bad
Trying to get to heaven before they close the door

I'm going down the river
Down to New Orleans
They tell me everything is gonna be all right
But I don't know what "all right" even means
I was riding in a buggy with Miss Mary-Jane
Miss Mary-Jane got a house in Baltimore
I been all around the world, boys
Now I'm trying to get to heaven before they close the door

Gonna sleep down in the parlor
And relive my dreams
I'll close my eyes and I wonder
If everything is as hollow as it seems
Some trains don't pull no gamblers
No midnight ramblers, like they did before
I been to Sugar Town, I shook the sugar down
Now I'm trying to get to heaven before they close the door


Lyrics submitted by caitsith01, edited by Mellow_Harsher

Tryin' to Get to Heaven Lyrics as written by Bob Dylan

Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group

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Tryin' to Get to Heaven song meanings
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    General Comment

    back when this song was released, on the dylan usenet group someone posted their daughter's reaction to this song:

    ====== Today, on the way home from soccer game, I slipped TOOM into the play mode right after the Dreaded Wallflowers. My 8 year old daughter commented on Trying to Get to Heaven. Her comments were something like this:

    "Well they better not close the door to heaven. At least not until everyone is in. [She thinks for a while and then says] Well, I guess it would be ok, as long as they open it when the next person comes. But, why would they do that. Open and close it. Close it and open it. I think they ought to just leave it open."

    which is just beautiful.

    patobrienon August 04, 2006   Link

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