Mr. Tambourine Man

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Lyrics

Hey! Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me,

I'm not sleepy and there is no place I'm going to.

Hey! Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me,

In the jingle jangle morning I'll come followin' you.


Though I know that evenin's empire has returned into sand,

Vanished from my hand,

Left me blindly here to stand but still not sleeping.

My weariness amazes me, I'm branded on my feet,

I have no one to meet

And the ancient empty street's too dead for dreaming.


Hey! Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me,

I'm not sleepy and there is no place I'm going to.

Hey! Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me,

In the jingle jangle morning I'll come followin' you.


Take me on a trip upon your magic swirlin' ship,

My senses have been stripped, my hands can't feel to grip,

My toes too numb to step, wait only for my boot heels

To be wanderin'.

I'm ready to go anywhere, I'm ready for to fade

Into my own parade, cast your dancing spell my way,

I promise to go under it.


Hey! Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me,

I'm not sleepy and there is no place I'm going to.

Hey! Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me,

In the jingle jangle morning I'll come followin' you.


Though you might hear laughin', spinnin', swingin' madly across the sun,

It's not aimed at anyone, it's just escapin' on the run

And but for the sky there are no fences facin'.

And if you hear vague traces of skippin' reels of rhyme

To your tambourine in time, it's just a ragged clown behind,

I wouldn't pay it any mind, it's just a shadow you're

Seein' that he's chasing.


Hey! Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me,

I'm not sleepy and there is no place I'm going to.

Hey! Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me,

In the jingle jangle morning I'll come followin' you.


Then take me disappearin' through the smoke rings of my mind,

Down the foggy ruins of time, far past the frozen leaves,

The haunted, frightened trees, out to the windy beach,


Far from the twisted reach of crazy sorrow.

Yes, to dance beneath the diamond sky with one hand waving free,

Silhouetted by the sea, circled by the circus sands,

With all memory and fate driven deep beneath the waves,

Let me forget about today until tomorrow.


Hey! Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me,

I'm not sleepy and there is no place I'm going to.

Hey! Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me,

In the jingle jangle morning I'll come followin' you.


Credits

Performances

This song is unreleased by Elvis Costello, but he performed it in concert with Roger McGuinn 1999-10-30 in Orlando, FL.

Recordings

  • Bob Dylan, on Bringing It All Back Home, 1965
  • The Byrds, A-side of single and on Mr. Tambourine Man, 1965
  • Odetta, on Odetta Sings Dylan, 1965
  • The Barbarians, on Are You A Boy Or Are You A Girl, 1965
  • Chad & Jeremy, on I Don't Want To Lose You Baby, 1965
  • The Chipmunks, on Chipmunks A Go-Go, 1965
  • Judy Collins, on Fifth Album, 1965
  • Dino, Desi & Billy, on I'm A Fool, 1965
  • The Four Seasons, on The Four Seasons Sing Big Hits By Burt Bacharach... Hal David... Bob Dylan, 1965
  • Stevie Wonder, on Down To Earth, 1966
  • Lester Flatt & Earl Scruggs, on Changin' Times, 1968
  • Melanie, on Born To Be, 1968
  • William Shatner, on The Transformed Man, 1968
  • Marmalade, on There's A Lot Of It About, 1969
  • Crowded House with Roger McGuinn, B-side of "I Feel Possessed," 1989
  • Teenage Fanclub, on Ruby Trax: The NME's Roaring 40, 1992
  • Jonathan King, on King Of Hits, 2001

Internal links

External links