Songs of Experience: A Bob Dylan Podcast

In this episode, Henry joins Steven Rings, author of "What Did You Hear? The Music Of Bob Dylan," in his home studio to break down the music in the Time Out Of Mind masterpiece, "Tryin' To Get To Heaven."Listen to the album version, and when you hear us start talking about the "2000 version" found on both Fragments and Tell Tale Signs, listen here.Tryin' To Get To Heaven Written By Bob Dylan:The air is getting hotterThere’s a rumbling in the skiesI’ve been wading through the high muddy waterWith the heat rising in my eyesEvery day your memory grows dimmerIt doesn’t haunt me like it did beforeI’ve been walking through the middle of nowhereTrying to get to heaven before they close the doorWhen I was in MissouriThey would not let me beI had to leave there in a hurryI only saw what they let me seeYou broke a heart that loved youNow you can seal up the book and not write anymoreI’ve been walking that lonesome valleyTrying to get to heaven before they close the doorPeople on the platformsWaiting for the trainsI can hear their hearts a-beatin’Like pendulums swinging on chainsI tried to give you everythingThat your heart was longing forI’m just going down the road feeling badTrying to get to heaven before they close the doorI’m going down the riverDown to New OrleansThey tell me everything is gonna be all rightBut I don’t know what “all right” even meansI was riding in a buggy with Miss Mary-JaneMiss Mary-Jane got a house in BaltimoreI been all around the world, boysNow I’m trying to get to heaven before they close the doorGonna sleep down in the parlorAnd relive my dreamsI’ll close my eyes and I wonderIf everything is as hollow as it seemsWhen you think that you’ve lost everythingYou find out you can always lose a little moreI been to Sugar Town, I shook the sugar downNow I’m trying to get to heaven before they close the doorCopyright © 1997 by Special Rider Music Follow @songsofbob, @henrybernstein.bsky.socialIf you would like to support hosting my podcasts, please check out my Patreon where for $5 I will give you a shout out on the podcast of your choice. Thank you to, Rob Kelly, Roberta Rakove, Matt Simonson, and Christopher Vanni. For $10, in addition to the shout-out I'll send you a surprise piece of Bob Dylan merch! Thank you to Kaitie Cerovec who is already enjoying her merch! I have a merch shop! Check out all sorts of fun Bob Dylan (and more) items! Thank you to Mark Godfrey, Linda Maultsby and Peter White over on Substack.Email us at [email protected]: YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Substack.

Henry ends 2025, reflecting on his trip to Dublin, Ireland to see Bob Dylan along with 2 All-Star guests, Erin Callahan and Michael Glover Smith. Follow @songsofbob, @henrybernstein.bsky.socialIf you would like to support hosting my podcasts, please check out my Patreon where for $5 I will give you a shout out on the podcast of your choice. Thank you to, Rob Kelly, Roberta Rakove, Matt Simonson, and Christopher Vanni. For $10, in addition to the shout-out I'll send you a surprise piece of Bob Dylan merch! Thank you to Kaitie Cerovec who is already enjoying her merch! I have a merch shop! Check out all sorts of fun Bob Dylan (and more) items! Thank you to Mark Godfrey, Linda Maultsby and Peter White over on Substack.Email us at [email protected]: YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Substack.

Welcome to Songs of Experience: A Bob Dylan Podcast, where we explore the man and the music one song at a time In this episode Henry welcomes his friend and mentor Rob Kelly for a homecoming and return to Bob Dylan podcasting! Rob and Henry discuss 1990's Under The Red Sky track, God Knows.https://music.apple.com/us/album/god-knows/717157868?i=717157887God KnowsWritten by: Bob DylanGod knows you ain’t prettyGod knows it’s trueGod knows there ain’t anybodyEver gonna take the place of youGod knows it’s a struggleGod knows it’s a crimeGod knows there’s gonna be no more waterBut fire next timeGod don’t call it treasonGod don’t call it wrongIt was supposed to last a seasonBut it’s been so strong for so longGod knows it’s fragileGod knows everythingGod knows it could snap apart right nowJust like putting scissors to a stringGod knows it’s terrifyingGod sees it all unfoldThere’s a million reasons for you to be cryingYou been so bold and so coldGod knows that when you see itGod knows you’ve got to weepGod knows the secrets of your heartHe’ll tell them to you when you’re asleepGod knows there’s a riverGod knows how to make it flowGod knows you ain’t gonna be takingNothing with you when you goGod knows there’s a purposeGod knows there’s a chanceGod knows you can rise above the darkest hourOf any circumstanceGod knows there’s a heavenGod knows it’s out of sightGod knows we can get all the way from here to thereEven if we’ve got to walk a million miles by candlelight  Follow @songsofbob, @henrybernstein.bsky.socialIf you would like to support hosting my podcasts, please check out my Patreon where for $5 I will give you a shout out on the podcast of your choice. Thank you to, Rob Kelly, Roberta Rakove, Matt Simonson, and Christopher Vanni. For $10, in addition to the shout-out I'll send you a surprise piece of Bob Dylan merch! Thank you to Kaitie Cerovec who is already enjoying her merch! I have a merch shop! Check out all sorts of fun Bob Dylan (and more) items! Thank you to Mark Godfrey, Linda Maultsby and Peter White over on Substack.Email us at [email protected]: YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Substack.

Welcome to Songs of Experience: A Bob Dylan Podcast, where we explore the man and the music one song at a time. This episode Henry completes the set of Bob Dylan Fan Club founders with Caroline Schwarz, discussing Spirit On The Water from 2006's Modern Times.https://music.apple.com/us/album/spirit-on-the-water/187497036?i=187497259Spirit on the WaterWritten by: Bob DylanSpirit on the waterDarkness on the face of the deepI keep thinking about you babyI can’t hardly sleepI’m traveling by landTraveling through the dawn of dayYou’re always on my mindI can’t stay awayI’d forgotten about youThen you turned up againI always knewThat we were meant to be more than friendsWhen you are nearIt’s just as plain as it can beI’m wild about you, galYou ought to be a fool about meCan’t explainThe sources of this hidden painYou burned your way into my heartYou got the key to my brainI’ve been trampling through mudPraying to the powers aboveI’m sweating bloodYou got a face that begs for loveLife without youDoesn’t mean a thing to meIf I can’t have youI’ll throw my love into the deep blue seaSometimes I wonderWhy you can’t treat me rightYou do good all dayThen you do wrong all nightWhen you’re with meI’m a thousand times happier than I could ever sayWhat does it matterWhat price I payThey brag about your sugarBrag about it all over townPut some sugar in my bowlI feel like laying downI’m pale as a ghostHolding a blossom on a stemYou ever seen a ghost? NoBut you have heard of themI hear your nameRinging up and down the lineI’m saying it plainThese ties are strong enough to bindI been in a brawlNow I’m feeling the wallI’m going away babyI won’t be back ’til fallHigh on the hillYou can carry all my thoughts with youYou’ve numbed my willThis love could tear me in twoI wanna be with you in paradiseAnd it seems so unfairI can’t go back to paradise no moreI killed a man back thereYou think I’m over the hillYou think I’m past my primeLet me see what you gotWe can have a whoppin’ good time  Follow @songsofbob, @henrybernstein.bsky.socialIf you would like to support hosting my podcasts, please check out my Patreon where for $5 I will give you a shout out on the podcast of your choice. Thank you to, Rob Kelly, Roberta Rakove, Matt Simonson, and Christopher Vanni. For $10, in addition to the shout-out I'll send you a surprise piece of Bob Dylan merch! Thank you to Kaitie Cerovec who is already enjoying her merch! I have a merch shop! Check out all sorts of fun Bob Dylan (and more) items! Thank you to Mark Godfrey, Linda Maultsby and Peter White over on Substack.Email us at [email protected]: YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Substack.

Welcome to Songs of Experience: A Bob Dylan Podcast, where we explore the man and the music one song at a time. Henry welcomes writer, scholar, professor, front row warrior, fellow Swiftie and all around Bestie, Liz Cantalamessa to discuss Dylan's 2000, Oscar Winning song "Things Have Changed." Watch the Things Have Changed VideoFollow along with the lyrics here:Things Have ChangedWritten by: Bob DylanA worried man with a worried mindNo one in front of me and nothing behindThere’s a woman on my lap and she’s drinking champagneGot white skin, blood in my eyesI’m looking up into the sapphire-tinted skiesI’m well dressed, waiting on the last trainStanding on the gallows with my head in a nooseAny minute now I’m expecting all hell to break loosePeople are crazy and times are strangeI’m locked in tight, I’m out of rangeI used to care, but things have changedThis place ain’t doing me any goodI’m in the wrong town, I should be in HollywoodJust for a second there I thought I saw something moveGonna take dancing lessons, do the jitterbug ragAin’t no shortcuts, gonna dress in dragOnly a fool in here would think he’s got anything to proveLot of water under the bridge, lot of other stuff tooDon’t get up gentlemen, I’m only passing throughPeople are crazy and times are strangeI’m locked in tight, I’m out of rangeI used to care, but things have changedI’ve been walking forty miles of bad roadIf the Bible is right, the world will explodeI’ve been trying to get as far away from myself as I canSome things are too hot to touchThe human mind can only stand so muchYou can’t win with a losing handFeel like falling in love with the first woman I meetPutting her in a wheelbarrow and wheeling her down the streetPeople are crazy and times are strangeI’m locked in tight, I’m out of rangeI used to care, but things have changedI hurt easy, I just don’t show itYou can hurt someone and not even know itThe next sixty seconds could be like an eternityGonna get low down, gonna fly highAll the truth in the world adds up to one big lieI’m in love with a woman who don’t even appeal to meMr. Jinx and Miss Lucy, they jumped in the lakeI’m not that eager to make a mistakePeople are crazy and times are strangeI’m locked in tight, I’m out of rangeI used to care, but things have changed  Follow @songsofbob, @henrybernstein.bsky.socialIf you would like to support hosting my podcasts, please check out my Patreon where for $5 I will give you a shout out on the podcast of your choice. Thank you to, Rob Kelly, Roberta Rakove, Matt Simonson, and Christopher Vanni. For $10, in addition to the shout-out I'll send you a surprise piece of Bob Dylan merch! Thank you to Kaitie Cerovec who is already enjoying her merch! I have a merch shop! Check out all sorts of fun Bob Dylan (and more) items! Thank you to Mark Godfrey, Linda Maultsby and Peter White over on Substack.Email us at [email protected]: YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Substack.