This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines:
"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
"I had all and then most of you"
Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart
"Some and now none of you"
Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship.
This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
Heading down south to the land of the pines
I'm thumbing my way into North Carolina
Staring up the road and pray to God I see headlights
I made it down the coast in seventeen hours
Picking me a bouquet of dogwood flowers
cnd I'm a-hopin' for Raleigh, I can see my baby tonight
So rock me momma like a wagon wheel
Rock me momma any way you feel
Hey momma rock me
Rock me momma like the wind and the rain
Rock me momma like a south bound train
Hey momma rock me
Running from the cold up in New England
I was born to be a fiddler in an old time string band
My baby plays a guitar, I pick a banjo now
Oh, north country winters keep a-getting me down
Lost my money playing poker so I had to leave town
But I ain't turning back to livin that old life no more
Walkin' to the south out of Roanoke
I caught a trucker out of Philly had a nice long talk
But he's a-heading west from the Cumberland gap
To Johnson City, Tennessee
I gotta get a move on before the sun
I hear my baby calling my name and I know that she's the only one
cnd if I die in Raleigh at least I will die free
I'm thumbing my way into North Carolina
Staring up the road and pray to God I see headlights
I made it down the coast in seventeen hours
Picking me a bouquet of dogwood flowers
cnd I'm a-hopin' for Raleigh, I can see my baby tonight
So rock me momma like a wagon wheel
Rock me momma any way you feel
Hey momma rock me
Rock me momma like the wind and the rain
Rock me momma like a south bound train
Hey momma rock me
Running from the cold up in New England
I was born to be a fiddler in an old time string band
My baby plays a guitar, I pick a banjo now
Oh, north country winters keep a-getting me down
Lost my money playing poker so I had to leave town
But I ain't turning back to livin that old life no more
Walkin' to the south out of Roanoke
I caught a trucker out of Philly had a nice long talk
But he's a-heading west from the Cumberland gap
To Johnson City, Tennessee
I gotta get a move on before the sun
I hear my baby calling my name and I know that she's the only one
cnd if I die in Raleigh at least I will die free
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This song was actually originally called "Rock Me Mama" and was recorded in Mexico in 1972 for the Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid movie. However, it was never released and was never actually finished either. The only part existing at that point was the chorus.
The verses were added in by a guy named Ketch Secor, the lead singer of a bluegrass band called Old Crow Medicine Show, who released this finished version of the song a few years ago. It's by far their most popular song and is incredible to hear played live. Recently, Ketch went on a radio station and explained the origins of the song:
"It'd be my pleasure to dispel the myth and rumor about the song Wagon Wheel, or "Rock Me Mama" as Bob Dylan himself called the song when he recorded it down in Mexico in 1972 for the soundtrack of Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid. This song was not released, and it was not finished either, this is a demo of a practice session of him, Rob Stoner, and a couple of gals doing the chorus over and over again while the bass player learns the bass line. That's what I heard on a German bootleg about nine years ago in high school. And I wrote the lyrics to the song because I loved the chorus so much and I sung it in my head for maybe a year straight, and then just penned what I penned, which is something of an autobiographical story about just wanting to get outta town, gettin outta school, and just wanting to go play music. It's sort of autobiographical like that. But yeah, it's sort of a Bob Dylan co-write with about 25 years inbetween."
Anybody have a copy of that bootleg, or any other original version of this song?
bob dylan - rock me mama<br /> <br /> sendspace.com/file/br2qp1
Good to hear the facts.
no one's commented on this? Are they crazy? This song is amazing. It just makes me feel instantly better.
No one has commented on this one much because it is filed under Bob Dylan while most of the country credits OCMS with the song.
i'm pretty sure its "gotta get a move on before the sun", not "fit for the sun". great song.
check out OCMS live if you ever get a chance, always a great show!
Well, the OCMS lyrics say "Fit for the sun", and that is what the song says, sooo.....
It is "before the sun". If you listen carefully carefully to OCMS's recordings and performances without preconceived bias, this is what is sung with the pronunciation with two syllables "Bee_For". Unfortunately, this is what is the majority of lyrics posted for this song use. There are also a number of really wrong ones, but I can understand why people think "fit for" because it sounds kinda similar to "before" particularly when sung with a little exagguration. Anyway that is what my ears tell me.<br /> <br /> On another point, getting a "move on before the sun" would make sense in the context of the song. It's about a man hitch-hiking to see his girl and he wants to get there as fast as possible.
I heard this song for the first time last night at a local show. Two boys strumming guitars and everyone surrounding me singing along, Loved how easy it was to catch onto the lyrics of this song. The feeling you get hearing it live with a bunch of people singing along is Phenomenal.
here's the original demo, it's really amazing, and there is a verse thats impossible to understand. if anyone can figure out the lyrics please let me know.
youtube.com/watch
i went to a kevin devine show earlier this month and an awesome dude named koji did a cover of this song, which i had completely forgotten about. i had very much overlooked its beauty and wish i could find a downloadable version of it.
I love this song! Here's an interesting version, Wagon Wheel Gone Trop Rock. A 'Jimmy Buffett' twist half way through!
<br /> youtu.be/IkIEcgb1L5M
Love this song!!! I came across this version that is Awesome, . . . sexier than the original, IMHO!! "Wagon Wheel Gone Trop Rock" Has a Jimmy Buffett twist - funny!
youtu.be/IkIEcgb1L5M
This is one of my favorite songs!! I've been singing it for years, even though one line wasn't really ok for my age. I just cahnged the line and have been singing it like that for ever. That line was " caught a trucker out of filly had a nice long toke." and i changed it to " nice long talk" there now i can sing it!!
Why are there the Old Crow Medicine Show lyrics?
@XZYOE the record I found said that the chorus was about the only original lyrics from Dylan's recording (as it didn't get past a demo stage for him). I have updated the lyrics to match just the chorus
@XZYOE the lyrics page for Old Crow Medicine Show songmeanings.com/songs/view/3530822107858522188/