Changing of the Guards

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2yZQt4n2NKU
Changing of the Guards (Street Legal version)

Bob Dylan Changing Of The Guards Lyrics

Sixteen years
Sixteen banners united over the field
Where the good shepherd grieves
Desperate men, desperate women divided
Spreading their wings 'neath falling leaves.

Fortune calls
I stepped forth from the shadows to the marketplace
Merchants and thieves, hungry for power, my last deal gone down
She's smelling sweet like the meadows where she was born
On midsummer's eve near the tower.

The cold-blooded moon
The captain waits above the celebration
Sending his thoughts to a beloved maid
Whose ebony face is beyond communication
The captain is down but still believing that his love will be repaid.

They shaved her head
She was torn between Jupiter and Apollo
A messenger arrived with a black nightingale
I seen her on the stairs and I couldn't help but follow
Follow her down past the fountain where they lifted her veil.

I stumbled to my feet
I rode past destruction in the ditches
With the stitches still mending beneath a heart-shaped tattoo
Renegade priests and treacherous young witches
Were handing out the flowers that I'd given to you.

The palace of mirrors
Where dog soldiers are reflected
The endless road and the wailing of chimes
The empty rooms where her memory is protected
Where the angel's voices whisper to the souls of previous times.

She wakes him up
Forty-eight hours later the sun is breaking
Near broken chains, mountain laurel and rolling rocks
She's begging to know what measures he now will be taking
He's pulling her down and she's clutching on to his long golden locks.
Gentlemen, he said I don't need your organization, I've shined your shoes
I've moved your mountains and marked your cards
But Eden is burning either brace yourself for elimination
Or else your hearts must have the courage for the changing of the guards.

Peace will come
With tranquillity and splendor on the wheels of fire
But will bring us no reward when her false idols fall
And cruel death surrenders with it's pale ghost retreating
Between the King and the Queen of Swords.

(The Genuine) Harmonica Albert considered this to be one of the very worst songs Bob Dylan has ever written.

Indeed, HA hates the entire Street Legal album.

Personally, I love the song- and the album has a few other good moments, too.

My impressions could well be clouded by memories of an outstanding series of concerts Bob gave in London's Earl's Court in, I think, 1978.

It seems that the production of the Street Legal album was rushed in order to coincide with the tour- and, yes, there ARE a few dodgy tracks- but, on the whole, I like it.

Could it be that what I was smoking back then has clouded my judgemenr?

eddie wrote:(The Genuine) Harmonica Albert considered this to be one of the very worst songs Bob Dylan has ever written.

Indeed, HA hates the entire Street Legal album.

Personally, I love the song- and the album has a few other good moments, too.

My impressions could well be clouded by memories of an outstanding series of concerts Bob gave in London's Earl's Court in, I think, 1978.

It seems that the production of the Street Legal album was rushed in order to coincide with the tour- and, yes, there ARE a few dodgy tracks- but, on the whole, I like it.

Could it be that what I was smoking back then has clouded my judgemenr?

or could be just be that everyone has different tastes?


funny that, how one album can sound completely different to each person.

i remember Street Legal.
fondly.....
i always liked No Time To Think, for some reason it seemed relevant at the time.
i am listening to it now to see what the point might have been
lots of memories of those years.

(i remember)

funny how something i hadn't thought of for 33 years, comes back in a flash.....


cheers.

I'd classify No Time to Think as one of the dodgy tracks.

I do remember that it meant a lot to me at the time, though, because I'd just broken up with my first really serious girlfriend.

But neither the song nor the relationship has stood the test of time.

Changing of the Guards, New Pony, Senor, Where Are You Tonight? still sound great, though.

eddie wrote:I'd classify No Time to Think as one of the dodgy tracks.

I do remember that it meant a lot to me at the time, though, because I'd just broken up with my first really serious girlfriend.

But neither the song nor the relationship has stood the test of time.

Changing of the Guards, New Pony, Senor, Where Are You Tonight? still sound great, though.

yes, that relationship hit the skids for me too, but it is nice listening to them all now.

actually i think the whole album seems to be about broken love and so forth.
listening to Stop Crying now.

OMG, I'd quite forgotten about True Love Tends to Forget.

Another dodgy one I shed far too many tears over.

I think I'm right in saying that Baby, Stop Crying was the last time Bob had a single in the UK Top 10 Single charts.

That was another good one, Forgot about that.

^^^^



....listen to Is Your Love in Vain

i was 18 or 19 when this album came out, living with my first proper boyfriend, and getting my first broken heart.


man, i cried over this album
and other similiar albums (I think they were all tear jerkers back then)
Rumours Fleetwood Mac....
-

maybe that is why everyone dislikes it...too many memories.

tatiana wrote:listen to Is Your Love in Vain

Oh Christ! Another dreadful track.

Cried over that one, too.

What a silly sausage I was back in the day.

I am with HA though...i don't Changing of the Guard...it is terrible.

the rest are okay.


his voice is very strong, so that is good.

and as soppy as the songs are, they would still be very relevant to anyone with love on their mind

i am not listening to new pony though, i never like it before,
so i don't want to push my luck now, just in case it sounds worse.

^

For Tarot-readers d'un certain age, Changing of the Guards meant a lot.

I've long since given up on the Tarot, but...hmmm...there's a certain philosophical core there....

...To say nothing of the renegade priest and the treacherous young witch...

tatiana wrote:i am not listening to new pony though, i never like it before,
so i don't want to push my luck now, just in case it sounds worse.

Twoody loves this one- but then he's always been a fellow with ambiguous sexual preferences.

eddie wrote:^

For Tarot-readers d'un certain age, Changing of the Guards meant a lot.

I've long since given up on the Tarot, but...hmmm...there's a certain philosophical core there....

...To say nothing of the renegade priest and the treacherous young witch...

Tarot.....

eddie wrote:

tatiana wrote:i am not listening to new pony though, i never like it before,
so i don't want to push my luck now, just in case it sounds worse.

Twoody loves this one- but then he's always been a fellow with ambiguous sexual preferences.

perhaps i should give it a little listen, in case my thoughts are different now.

or not


(listening to isis the mystical child - on Desire now anyway)

eddie wrote:(The Genuine) Harmonica Albert considered this to be one of the very worst songs Bob Dylan has ever written.

Indeed, HA hates the entire Street Legal album.

Personally, I love the song- and the album has a few other good moments, too.

My impressions could well be clouded by memories of an outstanding series of concerts Bob gave in London's Earl's Court in, I think, 1978.

It seems that the production of the Street Legal album was rushed in order to coincide with the tour- and, yes, there ARE a few dodgy tracks- but, on the whole, I like it.

Could it be that what I was smoking back then has clouded my judgemenr?

I think his main argument was that Dylan sounded like he was trying (too) hard to copy himself on 'Street-Legal'.
A classic Clinton Heylin argument if I ever saw one.
(I think that Heylin is prone to falling in love with his arguments because of their wording more than once in a while. It's what makes his
Van Morrison book utterly terrible, imo).

One could argue that Dylan was trying (too) hard to copy Burroughs on 'Highway 61 Revisited'.
One could also argue that Dylan was attempting to copy the "jibberish" of 'Highway 61' when he wrote the lyrics to 'Blonde on Blonde'.
Frankly, I don't see the point of either of the three arguments.

To me, 'Señor' and 'Where are you tonight?' sound like two of the best Dylan songs of the 70s.
Some other songs on 'Street-Legal' are pretty good, too. They ARE cheesy, yes, but how many post-1975 Dylan records aren't?
It's mostly a matter of taste - and maybe a matter of priming. If 'Street-Legal' was the first Dylan record you listened to, the lyrics would
probably be very impressive. I still prefer it to the mediocre tunes and rambling lyrics of 'Desire', to be honest.

tatiana wrote:

eddie wrote:

tatiana wrote:i am not listening to new pony though, i never like it before,
so i don't want to push my luck now, just in case it sounds worse.

Twoody loves this one- but then he's always been a fellow with ambiguous sexual preferences.

perhaps i should give it a little listen, in case my thoughts are different now.

or not


(listening to isis the mystical child - on Desire now anyway)

Up to you, Tats - but I find New Pony effing brill. The bestest drivingest blues ol' Bob ever recorded, I reckon. Classic. I'd listen to it now but I have to go and eat - and watch Wallander on the telly.