Spirit on the Water Lyrics

Lyric discussion by uzenzo 

Cover art for Spirit on the Water lyrics by Bob Dylan

Amazing how otherwise intelligent people completely fail to even approach the meaning of this song. It is one of the most overtly Christian songs Dylan has done. The song is about his relationship with God, plain and simple. It is not 'quasi-biblical'. The first 2 lines are a paraphrasing of Genesis 1:2. Wake up, people. This song tells you an immense amount about Dylan's life and the quality of his faith.

Song Meaning

I do think it's very spiritual. I think when he started writing "Spirit on the water" he was kind of worshiping. There's definitely a girl mixed up in this song though.

@uzenzo Dylan often writes stream of consciousness style…his thoughts may have started on God, or those scriptures were rolling around in his head, but he eventually gets to a lady he calls “gal” and he writes:’

They're braggin' about your sugar Brag about it all over town Put some sugar in my bowl I feel like laying down

What I see in a lot of his songs is stream of consciousness addressing God and/or a paradigm reflecting belief in the God revealed in the Bible—AND—also his relationship with people within the same song. It makes perfect sense to me...