The highway is for gamblers, better use your sense/
Take what you have gathered from coincidence.
In “It’s All Over Now Baby Blue”: we don’t get the details from Bob Dylan about what went wrong in her life, but something has gone wrong for the protagonist. It sounds like she is in debt, and her life is in danger and she must immediately leave town (and perhaps even change her name) if she wants to survive.
Things are so bad that a vagabond is standing outside her door in the clothes she pawned. It is interesting that she is still around. The song is not about how she left for a life on the road. The song is a warning, a wake-up call. Dylan is saying “you don’t have much time left, leave now and start over”. Baby Blue is one of the more fascinating characters in Dylan’s songs.
Listen to the live version at Free Trade Hall in 1966. This is the best concert of Dylan’s career, and many of the best versions of his best songs come from that performance. But most of all, it is this song. It is so much better than the album version.
One of the aspects that stands out about “It’s All Over Baby Blue” are the harmonica solos. Dylan is famous for playing the harmonica, but he is not great at it. In this performance, his two harmonica solos sound transcendent. That night his voice sounded great and he delivered the song as if the songs mattered to him.
It is truly one of the best live performances ever. It was his acoustic set that was amazing. Halfway through he switched to electric guitar and someone yelled out “Judas”. The rest of the concert did not go as well. They took their folk music seriously back then.
It’s All Over Now Baby Blue Lyrics
You must leave now, take what you need, you think will last.
But whatever you wish to keep, you better grab it fast.
Yonder stands your orphan with his gun,
Crying like a fire in the sun.
Look out, the saints are comin’ through,
And it’s all over now, Baby Blue.
The highway is for gamblers, better use your sense.
Take what you have gathered from coincidence.
The empty-handed painter from your streets,
Is drawing crazy patterns on your sheets.
The sky too is folding under you,
And it’s all over now, Baby Blue.
All your seasick sailors, they’re all rowing home.
Your empty-handed army is all going home.
Your lover who just walked out the door,
Has taken all his blankets from the floor.
The carpet too is moving under you,
And it’s all over now, Baby Blue.
Leave your stepping stones behind there, something calls for you.
Forget the dead you’ve left, they will not follow you.
The vagabond who’s rapping at your door,
Is standing in the clothes that you once wore.
Strike another match, go start anew.
And it’s all over now, Baby Blue.
written by Bob Dylan