Knockin' on Heaven's Door

This song just begs to be taken non-literally, and I have a hard time believing Dylan meant it as anything but. However, he did write it for the movie "Pat Garrett and Billy the Kidd", so maybe, just maybe...nope!.

Dylan was masterful as a lyricist who could parallel basic mythological experiences of being a person (e.g. trapped in a helpless situation, such as an innocent person in prison--see "I Shall be Released.") and enshroud these experiences in a basic literal struggle.

Mama, take this badge off of me I can't use it anymore. It's gettin' dark, too dark for me to see I feel like I'm knockin' on heaven's door,

(There is nothing more profoundly psychological/physiological than the life bond a mother has for her child and vice-versa. In times of war, it is common to hear men shout out the names of their mothers before they charge into battle, before they die. When things are their worst we tend to want to go back home. For the lawman, things are at their worst. His old ways (or identity structure) of moving through the world have long ceased to work for him. His persona and emotional shields, his "badge" is timeworn, archaic and useless. It is how one would feel after losing everything--the darkening accompanying complete world collapse--everything that once provided meaning, reference points and a will to live. And now "it's too dark to see"--the helplessness and despair is blinding his ability to see or feel hope. The lyrics are not "I am" but "I feel" I'm knockin on heaven's door. He feels he is dying. The two parallels of the song are on one hand literal, physical death, and on the other hand the psychological death of one's identity. Metaphorically, Heaven is a return to the pre-anxious ego-eden state, expansive, luminous, non-conceptual, peaceful).

Mama, put my guns in the ground I can't shoot them anymore. That long black cloud is comin' down I feel like I'm knockin' on heaven's door.

(Guns are symbols of power, and the loss of them, powerlessness. An identity is a structure that is conditioned, relative to time, culture, family, religion, friends and so on. Threats to identity power include aging, loss, illness etc. Burying one's guns in this sense means the murderous killing of parts of self that are no longer functional. Examples might include beliefs such as "the world is a dangerous place," "everyone is out to get me," or "I suck at everything." And yet, the "I" that speaks to the discarded aspects of self is separate from them, indicating a deeper knowledge, wisdom and peace is at work. A person is much more than their small ego allows them to believe. The sun is life, black clouds are the absence of life. Here comes "the dark night of the soul" in other words).

Mama wipe the blood from my face I'm sick and tired of the war Got a lone black feelin', and it's hard to trace Feel like I'm knockin' on heaven's door

(this stanza included in live versions gives us more clues. Identity death is a murderous process, involving blood and guts, primal fear and panic. It is the closest one can feel to actual physical death. The war, the fight, or the will to live is challenged during this time in a person's life. Again, Dylan describes blackness (clouds, trains etc) as a feeling, this time as an untraceable feeling. It is untraceable because it is a mythological experience that can only be expressed symbolically, in the metaphorical language of dreams, the unconscious and the art form known as song. Of course, like those two crazy hippies that accosted John Lennon about the deep meaning of his songs, Dylan's reply might be the same: "They're just songs, man!"