Lyrics By: Bob Dylan
Music By: Bob Dylan
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
He’s crying like a fire in the sun
Look out, all the saints are coming through
And it’s all over now, Baby Blue
The highway is for gamblers, you’d 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 over you (note 1)
And it’s all over now, Baby Blue
All your seasick sailors, they are rowing home
Your empty-handed army is all going home
The lover who just walked out your door
Has taken all his blankets from the floor
The carpet, too, is moving under you (note 1)
And it’s all over now, Baby Blue
Leave your stepping stones behind, there’s 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
It’s all over now, Baby Blue
It’s all over now, Baby Blue
It’s all over now, Baby Blue
The Grateful Dead played this (sung by Garcia) all the way through from 1966 to 1995 – though with long gaps in the 1970s. He also played it once with the Jerry Garcia Band in 1981. Bob Weir began playing it with Ratdog during the 1997 Furthur Festival.
Garcia’s version is very close to the Dylan original.
(1) Garcia frequently muddled up these lines, either singing “The carpet too …” in the second verse and “The sky too …” in the third verse, or sometimes merging them as “The sky, too, is moving over you” as on Postcards Of The Hanging. (thanks to Olav Asrkog for pointing this out).