If tomorrow wasn’t such a long time,
Then lonesome would mean nothing to you at all.
This version of “Tomorrow is a Long Time” was released on Bob Dylan’s Greatest Hits Volume 2 and it was the highlight of the album. It was a previously unreleased version of an obscure song that he performed live, in 1963, a couple years before he went electric. We get to hear what made everyone so crazy about Dylan. With just a guitar and a harmonica he could captivate an audience by gently singing about anything. In this case, we hear one of his few love songs.
Dylan’s guitar work is not as precise as someone like Paul Simon and his voice isn’t as good, but he seems to tell more intimate tales and be more intimate with the audience (when he feels like it, like in this recording). He takes his words and his work seriously, so we do too. You can tell the audience is engaged by the utter silence when he begins playing the guitar. He plays very quietly. Any crowd noise would be heard, yet there is utter silence.
The melody for “Tomorrow is a Long Time” is particularly good and I think it matches Dylan’s voice well. It is interesting to me that he never released this on a regular album. Had he released it in 1963 when he originally wrote it it would have been a hit with the folk community. But it is more than just a good folk song. It is a great song that compares favorably with any song on this list. “Tomorrow is a Long Time” is Bob Dylan’s best song.
Tomorrow is a Long Time Lyrics
If today was not an endless highway,
If tonight was not a crooked trail.
If tomorrow wasn’t such a long time.
Then lonesome would mean nothing to you at all.
Yes, and only if my own true love was waitin’,
Yes, and if I could hear her heart a-softly poundin’.
Only if she was lyin’ by me,
Then I’d lie in my bed once again.
I can’t see my reflection in the waters.
I can’t speak the sounds that show no pain.
I can’t hear the echo of my footsteps,
Or can’t remember the sound of my own name.
Yes, and only if my own true love was waitin’,
Yes, and if I could hear her heart a-softly poundin’.
Only if she was lyin’ by me,
Then I’d lie in my bed once again.
There’s beauty in the silver, singin’ river,
There’s beauty in the sunrise in the sky.
But none of these and nothing else can touch the beauty
That I remember in my true love’s eyes.
Yes, and only if my own true love was waitin’,
Yes, and if I could hear her heart a-softly poundin’.
Only if she was lyin’ by me,
Then I’d lie in my bed once again.
written by bob dylan