Bob Dylan - It's All Over Now, Baby Blue Lyrics

Bob Dylan Lyrics

"It's All Over Now, Baby Blue"

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 are rowing home
Your empty-handed armies are 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 a-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

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Thanks to Jennifer for correcting these lyrics.

Writer(s): Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan, describing this song, said, "I had carried that song around in my head for a long time and I remember that when I was writing it, I'd remembered a Gene Vincent song. It had always been one of my favorites, 'Baby Blue'." He added, "It was one of the songs I used to sing back in high school. Of course, I was singing about a different Baby Blue."

There were at least two studio recordings of this track before the one released on the album: a solo acoustic version recorded on the 13th of January 1965 (released on "The Bootleg Series Vol. 7: No Direction Home" in 2005) and a semi-electric version recorded on the 14th of January 1965.

The album's version of the song features Bob Dylan on acoustic guitar and harmonica and William E. Lee on bass guitar.

This track was described by Q magazine as "the most toxic of strummed kiss-offs, with not a snowball's chance in hell of reconciliation".