
Advertise on podcast: Songs of Experience: A Bob Dylan Podcast
Rating
5from
This podcast has
44 episodes
Language
EnglishPublisher
Henry BernsteinExplicit
No
Date created
2024/05/06
Latest episode
2026/10/15
Average duration
70 min.
Release period
31 days
Description
Songs of Experience: A Bob Dylan Podcast, where we explore the man and the music one song at a time.
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Check latest episodes from Songs of Experience: A Bob Dylan Podcast podcast
31. If You See Her, Say Hello - With Mark Swartz
2026/10/15
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 Mark Swartz, author of The Music Never Died: Tales from the Flipside, to break down If You See Her, Say Hello from 1975's Blood On The Tracks.
Follow Along:
If you see her, say hello, she might be in TangierShe left here last early Spring, is livin' there, I hearSay for me that I'm all right, though things get kind of slowShe might think that I've forgotten her, don't tell her it isn't so
We had a falling out, like lovers often willAnd to think of how she left that night, it still brings me a chillAnd though our separation, it pierced me to the heartShe still lives inside of me, we've never been apart
If you get close to her, kiss her once for meAlways have respected her for doing what she didFor I know it had to be that way, it was written in the cardsBut the bitter taste still lingers on, it all came down so hard
I see a lot of people as I make the roundsAnd I hear her name here and there as I go from town to townAnd I've never gotten used to it, I've just learned to turn it offEither I'm too sensitive, or else I'm gettin' soft
Sundown, yellow moon, I replay the pastI know every scene by heart, they all went by so fastIf she's passin' back this way, I'm not that hard to findTell her she can look me up if she's got the time
Check out Mark's fabulous books! https://www.amazon.com/dp/1959163051?lv=shuf&channelId=500&plpRedirect=mhFallback
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07JBCHXP6?lv=shuf&channelId=500&plpRedirect=mhFallback
Follow us on Instagram @songsofbob,
If 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 over on Substack.
Email us at [email protected]
Subscribe: YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Substack.
30. "Love & Theft" at 25!
2026/09/11
For the first time ever, Henry and Erin Callahan welcome you to a crossover episode with Infinity Goes Up On Trial! In this very special episode Henry and Erin are joined by a panel of experts to discuss the 25th anniversary of "Love & Theft" and September 11, 2001, which famously (in the Dylan world) occurred on the same day.
Our expert panel of Michael Glover Smith, Roberta Rakove, Adam Selzer share their thoughts, memories and feelings about both the album and that day.
What were your memories from that day? Did you buy "Love & Theft" when it came out? Tag @songsofbob on Instagram with your thoughts!
Follow us on Instagram @songsofbob,
If 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 over on Substack.
Email us at [email protected]
Subscribe: YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Substack.
29. Goodbye Jimmy Reed with Erin Callahan
2026/08/17
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 back his bestie Erin Callahan to talk about Goodbye Jimmy Reed and the finale of the Long Hot Summer 2026 in Nashville!
Goodbye Jimmy Reed
Written by: Bob Dylan
I live on a street named after a Saint
Women in the churches wear powder and paint
Where the Jews and the Catholics and the Muslims all pray
I can tell a Proddy from a mile away
Goodbye Jimmy Reed - Jimmy Reed indeed
Give me that old time religion, it’s just what I need
For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory
Go tell it on the Mountain, go tell the real story
Tell it in that straight forward puritanical tone
In the mystic hours when a person’s alone
Goodbye Jimmy Reed - Godspeed
Thump on the bible - proclaim the creed
You won’t amount to much the people all said
‘Cause I didn’t play guitar behind my head
Never pandered never acted proud
Never took off my shoes and threw them into the crowd
Goodbye Jimmy Reed - goodbye and goodnight
I’ll put a jewel in your crown - I’ll put out the light
They threw everything at me, everything in the book
Had nothing to fight with but a butcher’s hook
They have no pity - they don’t lend a hand
And I can’t sing a song that I don’t understand
Goodbye Jimmy Reed - goodbye and good luck
Can’t play the record ‘cause my needle got stuck
Transparent woman in a transparent dress
It suits you well - I must confess
I’ll break open your grapes I’ll suck out the juice
I need you like my head needs a noose
Goodbye Jimmy Reed, goodbye and so long
I thought I could resist her but I was so wrong
G-d be with you, brother dear
If you don’t mind me asking, what brings you here?
Oh, nothing much, I’m just looking for the man
I came to see where he’s lying in this lost land
Goodbye Jimmy Reed and with everything within ya
Can’t you hear me calling from down in Virginia
Check out Erin's new book! https://bookshop.org/p/books/bob-dylan-in-the-1980s-a-reconsideration-erin-c-callahan/1f54f866c253f95d
And her fabulous podcast: https://infinitygoesupontrial.substack.com/
Follow us on Instagram @songsofbob,
If 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 over on Substack.
Email us at [email protected]
Subscribe: YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Substack.
28. Desolation Row with Dr. Stephen Daniel Arnoff
2026/07/15
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 renowned scholar and author of "About Man and God and Law: The Spiritual Wisdom of Bob Dylan," Dr. Stephen Daniel Arnoff to discuss a top 3 song, of Henry's from the legendary, Highway 61 Revisited, 1965's DESOLATION ROW.
Listen to the song here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUvcWXTIjcU
Desolation Row
Written by: Bob Dylan
They’re selling postcards of the hanging
They’re painting the passports brown
The beauty parlor is filled with sailors
The circus is in town
Here comes the blind commissioner
They’ve got him in a trance
One hand is tied to the tight-rope walker
The other is in his pants
And the riot squad they’re restless
They need somewhere to go
As Lady and I look out tonight
From Desolation Row
Cinderella, she seems so easy
“It takes one to know one,” she smiles
And puts her hands in her back pockets
Bette Davis style
And in comes Romeo, he’s moaning
“You Belong to Me I Believe”
And someone says, “You’re in the wrong place my friend
You better leave”
And the only sound that’s left
After the ambulances go
Is Cinderella sweeping up
On Desolation Row
Now the moon is almost hidden
The stars are beginning to hide
The fortune-telling lady
Has even taken all her things inside
All except for Cain and Abel
And the hunchback of Notre Dame
Everybody is making love
Or else expecting rain
And the Good Samaritan, he’s dressing
He’s getting ready for the show
He’s going to the carnival tonight
On Desolation Row
Now Ophelia, she’s ’neath the window
For her I feel so afraid
On her twenty-second birthday
She already is an old maid
To her, death is quite romantic
She wears an iron vest
Her profession’s her religion
Her sin is her lifelessness
And though her eyes are fixed upon
Noah’s great rainbow
She spends her time peeking
Into Desolation Row
Einstein, disguised as Robin Hood
With his memories in a trunk
Passed this way an hour ago
With his friend, a jealous monk
He looked so immaculately frightful
As he bummed a cigarette
Then he went off sniffing drainpipes
And reciting the alphabet
Now you would not think to look at him
But he was famous long ago
For playing the electric violin
On Desolation Row
Dr. Filth, he keeps his world
Inside of a leather cup
But all his sexless patients
They’re trying to blow it up
Now his nurse, some local loser
She’s in charge of the cyanide hole
And she also keeps the cards that read
“Have Mercy on His Soul”
They all play on pennywhistles
You can hear them blow
If you lean your head out far enough
From Desolation Row
Across the street they’ve nailed the curtains
They’re getting ready for the feast
The Phantom of the Opera
A perfect image of a priest
They’re spoonfeeding Casanova
To get him to feel more assured
Then they’ll kill him with self-confidence
After poisoning him with words
And the Phantom’s shouting to skinny girls
“Get Outa Here If You Don’t Know
Casanova is just being punished for going
To Desolation Row”
Now at midnight all the agents
And the superhuman crew
Come out and round up everyone
That knows more than they do
Then they bring them to the factory
Where the heart-attack machine
Is strapped across their shoulders
And then the kerosene
Is brought down from the castles
By insurance men who go
Check to see that nobody is escaping
To Desolation Row
Praise be to Nero’s Neptune
The Titanic sails at dawn
And everybody’s shouting
“Which Side Are You On?”
And Ezra Pound and T. S. Eliot
Fighting in the captain’s tower
While calypso singers laugh at them
And fishermen hold flowers
Between the windows of the sea
Where lovely mermaids flow
And nobody has to think too much
About Desolation Row
Yes, I received your letter yesterday
(About the time the doorknob broke)
When you asked how I was doing
Was that some kind of joke?
All these people that you mention
Yes, I know them, they’re quite lame
I had to rearrange their faces
And give them all another name
Right now I can’t read too good
Don’t send me no more letters no
Not unless you mail them
From Desolation Row
Copyright © 1965 by Warner Bros. Inc.; renewed 1993 by Special Rider Music
Follow us on Instagram @songsofbob,
If 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 over on Substack.
Email us at [email protected]
Subscribe: YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Substack.
27. "Bob" by Weird Al with Ray Padgett
2026/06/15
In this weird Episode, Henry veers off course to talk to Bob Dylan scholar, writer & expert, Ray Padgett, about Weird Al Yankovic's 2003 pastiche of a Bob Dylan song, "Bob." Come for Ray Padgett, stay for the best palindromes you'll hear today! I promise, next month, back to a Bob Dylan song!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIty7RqbF9o
I, man, am Regal, a German am I
Never odd or even
If I had a Hi-Fi
Madam, I'm Adam
Too hot to hoot
No lemons, no melon
Too bad I hid a boot
Lisa Bonet ate no basil
Warsaw was raw
Was it a car or a cat I saw?
Rise to vote, sir
Do geese see God?
Do nine men interpret? Nine men I nod
Rats live on no evil star
Won't lovers revolt now?
Race fast safe car
Pa's a sap
Ma is as selfless as I am
May a moody baby doom a yam
Ah Satan sees Natasha
No devil lived on
Lonely Tylenol
Not a banana baton
No X in Nixon
O stone, be not so
O Geronimo, no minor ego
"Naomi" I moan
A Toyota's a Toyota
A dog, a panic, in a pagoda
Oh no, Don Ho
Nurse, I spy gypsies, run!
Senile felines
Now I see bees, I won
UFO tofu
We panic in a pew
Oozy rat in a sanitary zoo
God, a red nugget, a fat egg under a dog
Go hang a salami, I'm a lasagna hog
Follow us on Instagram @songsofbob,
If 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 over on Substack.
Email us at [email protected]
Subscribe: YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Substack.
26. John Brown with Jon Lasser
2026/05/16
Welcome to Songs of Experience: A Bob Dylan Podcast, where we explore the man and the music one song at a time. Henry brings in Professor Jon Lasser to teach us all about the early 60's Bob Dylan song that didn't see the light of day till the mid 90s, "John Brown."
Learn more from Jon at @teachingbobdylan!
Listen and follow along with the song here:
John Brown
Written by: Bob Dylan
John Brown went off to war to fight on a foreign shore
His mama sure was proud of him!
He stood straight and tall in his uniform and all
His mama’s face broke out all in a grin
“Oh son, you look so fine, I’m glad you’re a son of mine
You make me proud to know you hold a gun
Do what the captain says, lots of medals you will get
And we’ll put them on the wall when you come home”
As that old train pulled out, John’s ma began to shout
Tellin’ ev’ryone in the neighborhood:
“That’s my son that’s about to go, he’s a soldier now, you know”
She made well sure her neighbors understood
She got a letter once in a while and her face broke into a smile
As she showed them to the people from next door
And she bragged about her son with his uniform and gun
And these things you called a good old-fashioned war
Oh! Good old-fashioned war!
Then the letters ceased to come, for a long time they did not come
They ceased to come for about ten months or more
Then a letter finally came saying, “Go down and meet the train
Your son’s a-coming home from the war”
She smiled and went right down, she looked everywhere around
But she could not see her soldier son in sight
But as all the people passed, she saw her son at last
When she did she could hardly believe her eyes
Oh his face was all shot up and his hand was all blown off
And he wore a metal brace around his waist
He whispered kind of slow, in a voice she did not know
While she couldn’t even recognize his face!
Oh! Lord! Not even recognize his face
“Oh tell me, my darling son, pray tell me what they done
How is it you come to be this way?”
He tried his best to talk but his mouth could hardly move
And the mother had to turn her face away
“Don’t you remember, Ma, when I went off to war
You thought it was the best thing I could do?
I was on the battleground, you were home . . . acting proud
You wasn’t there standing in my shoes”
“Oh, and I thought when I was there, God, what am I doing here?
I’m a-tryin’ to kill somebody or die tryin’
But the thing that scared me most was when my enemy came close
And I saw that his face looked just like mine”
Oh! Lord! Just like mine!
“And I couldn’t help but think, through the thunder rolling and stink
That I was just a puppet in a play
And through the roar and smoke, this string is finally broke
And a cannonball blew my eyes away”
As he turned away to walk, his Ma was still in shock
At seein’ the metal brace that helped him stand
But as he turned to go, he called his mother close
And he dropped his medals down into her hand
Copyright © 1963, 1968 by Warner Bros. Inc.; renewed 1991, 1996 by Special Rider Music
Follow us on Instagram @songsofbob,
If 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 over on Substack.
Email us at [email protected]
Subscribe: YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Substack.
25. Mississippi with Laura Tenschert (Definitely Dylan)
2026/04/15
Welcome to Songs of Experience: A Bob Dylan Podcast, where we explore the man and the music one song at a time.
Henry finally welcomes the iconic Queen of Bob Dylan Podcasting, Laura Tenschert aka "Definitely Dylan!" In this episode Laura brings our first "Love & Theft" song to the podcast with, "Mississippi" for a lively and fun discussion!
Mississippi
Written by: Bob Dylan
Every step of the way we walk the line
Your days are numbered, so are mine
Time is pilin’ up, we struggle and we scrape
We’re all boxed in, nowhere to escape
City’s just a jungle, more games to play
Trapped in the heart of it, trying to get away
I was raised in the country, I been workin’ in the town
I been in trouble ever since I set my suitcase down
Got nothing for you, I had nothing before
Don’t even have anything for myself anymore
Sky full of fire, pain pourin’ down
Nothing you can sell me, I’ll see you around
All my powers of expression and thoughts so sublime
Could never do you justice in reason or rhyme
Only one thing I did wrong
Stayed in Mississippi a day too long
Well, the devil’s in the alley, mule’s in the stall
Say anything you wanna, I have heard it all
I was thinkin’ about the things that Rosie said
I was dreaming I was sleeping in Rosie’s bed
Walking through the leaves, falling from the trees
Feeling like a stranger nobody sees
So many things that we never will undo
I know you’re sorry, I’m sorry too
Some people will offer you their hand and some won’t
Last night I knew you, tonight I don’t
I need somethin’ strong to distract my mind
I’m gonna look at you ‘til my eyes go blind
Well I got here following the southern star
I crossed that river just to be where you are
Only one thing I did wrong
Stayed in Mississippi a day too long
Well my ship’s been split to splinters and it’s sinking fast
I’m drownin’ in the poison, got no future, got no past
But my heart is not weary, it’s light and it’s free
I’ve got nothin’ but affection for all those who’ve sailed with me
Everybody movin’ if they ain’t already there
Everybody got to move somewhere
Stick with me baby, stick with me anyhow
Things should start to get interesting right about now
My clothes are wet, tight on my skin
Not as tight as the corner that I painted myself in
I know that fortune is waitin’ to be kind
So give me your hand and say you’ll be mine
Well, the emptiness is endless, cold as the clay
You can always come back, but you can’t come back all the way
Only one thing I did wrong
Stayed in Mississippi a day too long
Copyright © 1996 by Special Rider Music
Check out https://www.definitelydylan.com/ and Laura's Patreon, for more content! https://www.patreon.com/c/definitelydylan/posts Follow us on Instagram @songsofbob,
If 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 over on Substack.
Email us at [email protected]
Subscribe: YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Substack.
24. Cold Irons Bound with Michael Glover Smith
2026/03/15
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, Chicago Filmmaker and author, Michael Glover Smith returns to discuss 1997's Grammy award winning, Cold Irons Bound and its placement in 2003's Masked & Anonymous. Michael also talks about his book, "Bob Dylan As Filmmaker: No Time To Think.
Check out www.michaelgloversmith.com
Listen to the song and follow along with the lyrics:
Cold Irons Bound
Written by: Bob Dylan
I’m beginning to hear voices and there’s no one around
Well, I’m all used up and the fields have turned brown
I went to church on Sunday and she passed by
My love for her is taking such a long time to die
I’m waist deep, waist deep in the mist
It’s almost like, almost like I don’t exist
I’m twenty miles out of town in cold irons bound
The walls of pride are high and wide
Can’t see over to the other side
It’s such a sad thing to see beauty decay
It’s sadder still to feel your heart torn away
One look at you and I’m out of control
Like the universe has swallowed me whole
I’m twenty miles out of town in cold irons bound
There’s too many people, too many to recall
I thought some of ’m were friends of mine, I was wrong about ’m all
Well, the road is rocky and the hillside’s mud
Up over my head nothing but clouds of blood
I found my world, found my world in you
But your love just hasn’t proved true
I’m twenty miles out of town in cold irons bound
Twenty miles out of town in cold irons bound
Oh, the winds in Chicago have torn me to shreds
Reality has always had too many heads
Some things last longer than you think they will
There are some kind of things you can never kill
It’s you and you only I been thinking about
But you can’t see in and it’s hard lookin’ out
I’m twenty miles out of town in cold irons bound
Well the fat’s in the fire and the water’s in the tank
The whiskey’s in the jar and the money’s in the bank
I tried to love and protect you because I cared
I’m gonna remember forever the joy that we shared
Looking at you and I’m on my bended knee
You have no idea what you do to me
I’m twenty miles out of town in cold irons bound
Twenty miles out of town in cold irons bound
Follow us on Instagram @songsofbob,
If 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 over on Substack.
Email us at [email protected]
Subscribe: YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Substack.
23. Lily, Rosemary & The Jack Of Hearts with Amy Maude Helfer (Mezzo Soprano)
2026/02/15
Henry welcomes professional opera singer and cantor, Mezzo Soprano, Amy Maude Helfer, to talk about 1975's Blood On The Tracks song, Lily Rosemary & The Jack Of Hearts.
Listen to the song and follow along with the lyrics:
https://www.bobdylan.com/songs/lily-rosemary-and-jack-hearts/
Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of HeartsWritten by: Bob Dylan
The festival was over, the boys were all plannin’ for a fall
The cabaret was quiet except for the drillin’ in the wall
The curfew had been lifted and the gamblin’ wheel shut down
Anyone with any sense had already left town
He was standin’ in the doorway lookin’ like the Jack of Hearts
He moved across the mirrored room, “Set it up for everyone,” he said
Then everyone commenced to do what they were doin’ before he turned their heads
Then he walked up to a stranger and he asked him with a grin
“Could you kindly tell me, friend, what time the show begins?”
Then he moved into the corner, face down like the Jack of Hearts
Backstage the girls were playin’ five-card stud by the stairs
Lily had two queens, she was hopin’ for a third to match her pair
Outside the streets were fillin’ up, the window was open wide
A gentle breeze was blowin’, you could feel it from inside
Lily called another bet and drew up the Jack of Hearts
Big Jim was no one’s fool, he owned the town’s only diamond mine
He made his usual entrance lookin’ so dandy and so fine
With his bodyguards and silver cane and every hair in place
He took whatever he wanted to and he laid it all to waste
But his bodyguards and silver cane were no match for the Jack of Hearts
Rosemary combed her hair and took a carriage into town
She slipped in through the side door lookin’ like a queen without a crown
She fluttered her false eyelashes and whispered in his ear
“Sorry, darlin’, that I’m late,” but he didn’t seem to hear
He was starin’ into space over at the Jack of Hearts
“I know I’ve seen that face before,” Big Jim was thinkin’ to himself
“Maybe down in Mexico or a picture up on somebody’s shelf”
But then the crowd began to stamp their feet and the houselights did dim
And in the darkness of the room there was only Jim and him
Starin’ at the butterfly who just drew the Jack of Hearts
Lily was a princess, she was fair-skinned and precious as a child
She did whatever she had to do, she had that certain flash every time she smiled
She’d come away from a broken home, had lots of strange affairs
With men in every walk of life which took her everywhere
But she’d never met anyone quite like the Jack of Hearts
The hangin’ judge came in unnoticed and was being wined and dined
The drillin’ in the wall kept up but no one seemed to pay it any mind
It was known all around that Lily had Jim’s ring
And nothing would ever come between Lily and the king
No, nothin’ ever would except maybe the Jack of Hearts
Rosemary started drinkin’ hard and seein’ her reflection in the knife
She was tired of the attention, tired of playin’ the role of Big Jim’s wife
She had done a lot of bad things, even once tried suicide
Was lookin’ to do just one good deed before she died
She was gazin’ to the future, riding on the Jack of Hearts
Lily washed her face, took her dress off and buried it away
“Has your luck run out?” she laughed at him, “Well, I guess you must
have known it would someday
Be careful not to touch the wall, there’s a brand-new coat of paint
I’m glad to see you’re still alive, you’re lookin’ like a saint”
Down the hallway footsteps were comin’ for the Jack of Hearts
The backstage manager was pacing all around by his chair
“There’s something funny going on,” he said, “I can just feel it in the air”
He went to get the hangin’ judge, but the hangin’ judge was drunk
As the leading actor hurried by in the costume of a monk
There was no actor anywhere better than the Jack of Hearts
Lily’s arms were locked around the man that she dearly loved to touch
She forgot all about the man she couldn’t stand who hounded her so much
“I’ve missed you so,” she said to him, and he felt she was sincere
But just beyond the door he felt jealousy and fear
Just another night in the life of the Jack of Hearts
No one knew the circumstance but they say that it happened pretty quick
The door to the dressing room burst open and a cold revolver clicked
And Big Jim was standin’ there, ya couldn’t say surprised
Rosemary right beside him, steady in her eyes
She was with Big Jim but she was leanin’ to the Jack of Hearts
Two doors down the boys finally made it through the wall
And cleaned out the bank safe, it’s said that they got off with quite a haul
In the darkness by the riverbed they waited on the ground
For one more member who had business back in town
But they couldn’t go no further without the Jack of Hearts
The next day was hangin’ day, the sky was overcast and black
Big Jim lay covered up, killed by a penknife in the back
And Rosemary on the gallows, she didn’t even blink
The hangin’ judge was sober, he hadn’t had a drink
The only person on the scene missin’ was the Jack of Hearts
The cabaret was empty now, a sign said, “Closed for repair”
Lily had already taken all of the dye out of her hair
She was thinkin’ ’bout her father, who she very rarely saw
Thinkin’ ’bout Rosemary and thinkin’ about the law
But most of all she was thinkin’ ’bout the Jack of Hearts
Copyright © 1974 by Ram's Horn Music; renewed 2002 by Ram’s Horn Music
Follow us on Instagram @songsofbob,
If 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 over on Substack.
Email us at [email protected]
Subscribe: YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Substack.
22. Tryin' To Get To Heaven with Steven Rings (What Did You Hear?)
2026/01/15
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 hotter
There’s a rumbling in the skies
I’ve been wading through the high muddy water
With the heat rising in my eyes
Every day your memory grows dimmer
It doesn’t haunt me like it did before
I’ve been walking through the middle of nowhere
Trying to get to heaven before they close the door
When I was in Missouri
They would not let me be
I had to leave there in a hurry
I only saw what they let me see
You broke a heart that loved you
Now you can seal up the book and not write anymore
I’ve been walking that lonesome valley
Trying to get to heaven before they close the door
People on the platforms
Waiting for the trains
I can hear their hearts a-beatin’
Like pendulums swinging on chains
I tried to give you everything
That your heart was longing for
I’m just going down the road feeling bad
Trying to get to heaven before they close the door
I’m going down the river
Down to New Orleans
They tell me everything is gonna be all right
But I don’t know what “all right” even means
I was riding in a buggy with Miss Mary-Jane
Miss Mary-Jane got a house in Baltimore
I been all around the world, boys
Now I’m trying to get to heaven before they close the door
Gonna sleep down in the parlor
And relive my dreams
I’ll close my eyes and I wonder
If everything is as hollow as it seems
When you think that you’ve lost everything
You find out you can always lose a little more
I been to Sugar Town, I shook the sugar down
Now I’m trying to get to heaven before they close the door
Copyright © 1997 by Special Rider Music
Follow us on Instagram @songsofbob,
If 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 over on Substack.
Email us at [email protected]
Subscribe: YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Substack.
21. Live In Dublin with Erin Callahan & Michael Glover Smith!
2025/12/15
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 us on Instagram @songsofbob,
If 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 over on Substack.
Email us at [email protected]
Subscribe: YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Substack.
20. God Knows with Rob Kelly (Pod Dylan)
2025/11/15
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=717157887
God KnowsWritten by: Bob Dylan
God knows you ain’t pretty
God knows it’s true
God knows there ain’t anybody
Ever gonna take the place of you
God knows it’s a struggle
God knows it’s a crime
God knows there’s gonna be no more water
But fire next time
God don’t call it treason
God don’t call it wrong
It was supposed to last a season
But it’s been so strong for so long
God knows it’s fragile
God knows everything
God knows it could snap apart right now
Just like putting scissors to a string
God knows it’s terrifying
God sees it all unfold
There’s a million reasons for you to be crying
You been so bold and so cold
God knows that when you see it
God knows you’ve got to weep
God knows the secrets of your heart
He’ll tell them to you when you’re asleep
God knows there’s a river
God knows how to make it flow
God knows you ain’t gonna be taking
Nothing with you when you go
God knows there’s a purpose
God knows there’s a chance
God knows you can rise above the darkest hour
Of any circumstance
God knows there’s a heaven
God knows it’s out of sight
God knows we can get all the way from here to there
Even if we’ve got to walk a million miles by candlelight
Follow us on Instagram @songsofbob,
If 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 over on Substack.
Email us at [email protected]
Subscribe: YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Substack.
19. Spirit On The Water with Caroline Schwarz (The Bob Dylan Fan Club)
2025/10/15
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=187497259
Spirit on the WaterWritten by: Bob Dylan
Spirit on the water
Darkness on the face of the deep
I keep thinking about you baby
I can’t hardly sleep
I’m traveling by land
Traveling through the dawn of day
You’re always on my mind
I can’t stay away
I’d forgotten about you
Then you turned up again
I always knew
That we were meant to be more than friends
When you are near
It’s just as plain as it can be
I’m wild about you, gal
You ought to be a fool about me
Can’t explain
The sources of this hidden pain
You burned your way into my heart
You got the key to my brain
I’ve been trampling through mud
Praying to the powers above
I’m sweating blood
You got a face that begs for love
Life without you
Doesn’t mean a thing to me
If I can’t have you
I’ll throw my love into the deep blue sea
Sometimes I wonder
Why you can’t treat me right
You do good all day
Then you do wrong all night
When you’re with me
I’m a thousand times happier than I could ever say
What does it matter
What price I pay
They brag about your sugar
Brag about it all over town
Put some sugar in my bowl
I feel like laying down
I’m pale as a ghost
Holding a blossom on a stem
You ever seen a ghost? No
But you have heard of them
I hear your name
Ringing up and down the line
I’m saying it plain
These ties are strong enough to bind
I been in a brawl
Now I’m feeling the wall
I’m going away baby
I won’t be back ’til fall
High on the hill
You can carry all my thoughts with you
You’ve numbed my will
This love could tear me in two
I wanna be with you in paradise
And it seems so unfair
I can’t go back to paradise no more
I killed a man back there
You think I’m over the hill
You think I’m past my prime
Let me see what you got
We can have a whoppin’ good time
Follow us on Instagram @songsofbob,
If 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 over on Substack.
Email us at [email protected]
Subscribe: YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Substack.
18. Things Have Changed with Liz Cantalamessa
2025/09/15
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 Video
Follow along with the lyrics here:
Things Have ChangedWritten by: Bob Dylan
A worried man with a worried mind
No one in front of me and nothing behind
There’s a woman on my lap and she’s drinking champagne
Got white skin, blood in my eyes
I’m looking up into the sapphire-tinted skies
I’m well dressed, waiting on the last train
Standing on the gallows with my head in a noose
Any minute now I’m expecting all hell to break loose
People are crazy and times are strange
I’m locked in tight, I’m out of range
I used to care, but things have changed
This place ain’t doing me any good
I’m in the wrong town, I should be in Hollywood
Just for a second there I thought I saw something move
Gonna take dancing lessons, do the jitterbug rag
Ain’t no shortcuts, gonna dress in drag
Only a fool in here would think he’s got anything to prove
Lot of water under the bridge, lot of other stuff too
Don’t get up gentlemen, I’m only passing through
People are crazy and times are strange
I’m locked in tight, I’m out of range
I used to care, but things have changed
I’ve been walking forty miles of bad road
If the Bible is right, the world will explode
I’ve been trying to get as far away from myself as I can
Some things are too hot to touch
The human mind can only stand so much
You can’t win with a losing hand
Feel like falling in love with the first woman I meet
Putting her in a wheelbarrow and wheeling her down the street
People are crazy and times are strange
I’m locked in tight, I’m out of range
I used to care, but things have changed
I hurt easy, I just don’t show it
You can hurt someone and not even know it
The next sixty seconds could be like an eternity
Gonna get low down, gonna fly high
All the truth in the world adds up to one big lie
I’m in love with a woman who don’t even appeal to me
Mr. Jinx and Miss Lucy, they jumped in the lake
I’m not that eager to make a mistake
People are crazy and times are strange
I’m locked in tight, I’m out of range
I used to care, but things have changed
Follow us on Instagram @songsofbob,
If 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 over on Substack.
Email us at [email protected]
Subscribe: YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Substack.
17. Where Are You Tonight (Journey Through Dark Heat) With Kait Runevitch (The Bob Dylan Fan Club)
2025/08/15
Welcome to Songs of Experience: A Bob Dylan Podcast, where we explore the man and the music one song at a time. Henry welcomes dear friend and co-founder of The Bob Dylan Fan Club, Kait Runevitch to discuss 1978's Where Are You Tonight? (Journey Through Dark Heat).
Where Are You Tonight? (Journey Through Dark Heat)Written by: Bob Dylan
There’s a long-distance train rolling through the rain
Tears on the letter I write
There’s a woman I long to touch and I miss her so much
But she’s drifting like a satellite
There’s a neon light ablaze in this green smoky haze
Laughter down on Elizabeth Street
And a lonesome bell tone in that valley of stone
Where she bathed in a stream of pure heat
Her father would emphasize you got to be more than streetwise
But he practiced what he preached from the heart
A full-blooded Cherokee, he predicted to me
The time and the place that the trouble would start
There’s a babe in the arms of a woman in a rage
And a longtime golden-haired stripper onstage
And she winds back the clock and she turns back the page
Of a book that no one can write
Oh, where are you tonight?
The truth was obscure, too profound and too pure
To live it you have to explode
In that last hour of need, we entirely agreed
Sacrifice was the code of the road
I left town at dawn, with Marcel and St. John
Strong men belittled by doubt
I couldn’t tell her what my private thoughts were
But she had some way of finding them out
He took dead-center aim but he missed just the same
She was waiting, putting flowers on the shelf
She could feel my despair as I climbed up her hair
And discovered her invisible self
There’s a lion in the road, there’s a demon escaped
There’s a million dreams gone, there’s a landscape being raped
As her beauty fades and I watch her undrape
I won’t but then again, maybe I might
Oh, if I could just find you tonight
I fought with my twin, that enemy within
’Til both of us fell by the way
Horseplay and disease is killing me by degrees
While the law looks the other way
Your partners in crime hit me up for nickels and dimes
The guy you were lovin’ couldn’t stay clean
It felt outa place, my foot in his face
But he should-a stayed where his money was green
I bit into the root of forbidden fruit
With the juice running down my leg
Then I dealt with your boss, who’d never known about loss
And who always was too proud to beg
There’s a white diamond gloom on the dark side of this room
And a pathway that leads up to the stars
If you don’t believe there’s a price for this sweet paradise
Remind me to show you the scars
There’s a new day at dawn and I’ve finally arrived
If I’m there in the morning, baby, you’ll know I’ve survived
I can’t believe it, I can’t believe I’m alive
But without you it just doesn’t seem right
Oh, where are you tonight?
Follow us on Instagram @songsofbob,
If 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 over on Substack.
Email us at [email protected]
Subscribe: YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Substack.
Podcast reviews
Read Songs of Experience: A Bob Dylan Podcast podcast reviews
MollyM54 2026/07/23
Lyrics and more
Following on the revered Pod Dylan, Songs of Experience delves into the lyrics of a Bob Dylan song line by line. This deep dive is really fun because ...
OhSister 2024/12/10
A Must Listen for Bob Fans
Henry Bernstein is not only incredibly knowledgeable about Bob Dylan. He is also a gifted interviewer who knows how to draw the best out of his guests...
Field357 2024/08/29
Dylan fans for Harris
And you lost me.
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