DOWN THE HIGHWAY

(Bob Dylan - 1963)

Well, I'm walkin' down the highway
With my suitcase in my hand.
Yes, I'm walkin' down the highway
With my suitcase in my hand.
Lord, I really miss my baby,
She's in some far-off land.

Well, your streets are gettin' empty,
Lord, your highway's gettin' filled.
And your streets are gettin' empty
And your highway's gettin' filled.
Well, the way I love that woman,
I swear it's bound to get me killed.

Well, I been gamblin' so long,
Lord, I ain't got much more to lose.
Yes, I been gamblin' so long,
Lord, I ain't got much more to lose.
Right now I'm havin' trouble,
Please don't take away my highway shoes.

Well, I'm bound to get lucky, baby,
Or I'm bound to die tryin'.
Yes, I'm a-bound to get lucky, baby,
Lord, Lord I'm a-bound to die tryin'.
Well, meet me in the middle of the ocean
And we'll leave this ol' highway behind.

Well, the ocean took my baby,
My baby stole my heart from me.
Yes, the ocean took my baby,
My baby took my heart from me.
She packed it all up in a suitcase,
Lord, she took it away to Italy, Italy.

So, I'm a-walkin' down your highway
Just as far as my poor eyes can see.
Yes, I'm a-walkin' down your highway
Just as far as my eyes can see.
From the Golden Gate Bridge
All the way to the Statue of Liberty.

Copyright © 1963; renewed 1991 Special Rider Music

Down the Highway is a distillation of Dylan's feeling about the blues.  "The way I think about the blues,"  he says,  "comes from what I learned from Big Joe Williams.  The blues is more than something to sit home and arrange.  What made the real blues singers so great is that they were able to state all the problems they had; but at the same time, they were standing outside of them and could look at them.  And in that way, they had them beat.  What's depressing today is that many young singers are trying to get inside the blues, forgetting that those older singers used them to get outside their troubles."

1963