Gates Of Eden

by Bob Dylan

From the album: The Original Mono Recordings

Track 56 of 93 on The Original Mono Recordings (2010).

Duration: 5:36

The Original Mono Recordings cover art

Lyrics for Gates Of Eden

Of war and peace the truth just twists, its curfew gull, it glides Upon four-legged forest clouds the cowboy angel rides With his candle lit into the sun, though its glow is waxed in black All except when 'neath the trees of Eden The lamppost stands with folded arms, its iron claws attached To curbs 'neath holes where babies wail, though it shadows metal badge All and all can only fall with a crashing but meaningless blow No sound ever comes from the Gates of Eden The savage soldier just sticks his head in sand and then complains Unto the shoeless hunter who's gone deaf, but still remains Upon the beach where hound dogs bay at ships with tattooed sails Heading for the Gates of Eden With a time-rusted compass blade, Aladdin and his lamp Sits with Utopian hermit monks, sidesaddle on the Golden Calf And on their promises of paradise you will not hear a laugh All except inside the Gates of Eden Relationships of ownership, they whisper in the wings To those condemned to act accordingly and wait for succeeding kings And I try to harmonize with songs the lonesome sparrow sings There are no kings inside the Gates of Eden The motorcycle black Madonna, two-wheeled gypsy queen And her silver-studded phantom cause the gray flannel dwarf to scream As he weeps to wicked birds of prey who pick upon his bread crumb sins And there are no sins inside the Gates of Eden The kingdoms of experience, in a precious winds they rot While paupers change possessions Each one wishing for what the other has got And the princess and the prince discuss what's real and what is not It doesn't matter inside the Gates of Eden The foreign sun, it squints upon a bed that is never mine As friends and other strangers from their fates try to resign Leaving men wholly Totally free to do anything they wish to do but die And there are no trials inside the Gates of Eden At dawn, my lover comes to me and tells me of her dreams With no attempts to shovel the Glimpse into the ditch of what each one means At times I think there are no words but these to tell what's true And there are no truths outside the Gates of Eden

Listen On

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  2. Talkin' New York
  3. In My Time Of Dyin'
  4. Man Of Constant Sorrow
  5. Fixin' To Die
  6. Pretty Peggy-O
  7. Highway 51
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  11. Freight Train Blues
  12. Song To Woody
  13. See That My Grave Is Kept Clean
  14. Blowin' In The Wind
  15. Girl From The North Country
  16. Masters Of War
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  18. Bob Dylan's Blues
  19. A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall
  20. Don't Think Twice, It's All Right
  21. Bob Dylan's Dream
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  27. The Times They Are A-Changin'
  28. Ballad Of Hollis Brown
  29. With God On Our Side
  30. One Too Many Mornings
  31. North Country Blues
  32. Only A Pawn In Their Game
  33. Boots Of Spanish Leather
  34. When The Ship Comes In
  35. The Lonesome Death Of Hattie Carroll
  36. Restless Farewell
  37. All I Really Want To Do
  38. Black Crow Blues
  39. Spanish Harlem Incident
  40. Chimes Of Freedom
  41. I Shall Be Free No. 10
  42. To Ramona
  43. Motorpsycho Nitemare
  44. My Back Pages
  45. I Don't Believe You
  46. Ballad In Plain D
  47. It Ain't Me Babe
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  52. Outlaw Blues
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  54. Bob Dylan's 115th Dream
  55. Mr. Tambourine Man
  56. Gates Of Eden
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