Bob Dylan – Sara

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I laid on a dune
I looked at the sky
When the children were babies
And played on the beach
You came up to behind me
I saw you go by
You were always so close
and still within' reach

Sara, Sara
Whatever made you
want to change you mind
Sara, Sara
So easy to look at,
so hard to define.

I can still see them playin'
With their pails in the sand
They run to the water
Their buckets to fill
I can still see the shells
Fallin' out of their hands
As they follow each other
Back up the hill

Sara, Sara
Sweet virgin angel,
sweet love of my life
Sara, Sara
Radiant jewel,
mystical wife

Sleepin' in the woods
By a fire in the night
Drinkin' white rum
In a Portugal bar
Them playin' leap-frog
And hearin' about Snow White
You in the market place
In Savanna-la-Mar

Sara, Sara
It's all so clear,
I could never forget
Sara, Sara
Lovin' you is the one thing
I'll never regret

I can still hear the sounds
Of those Methodist bells
I'd taken the cure
And had just gotten through
Stayin' up for days
In the Chelsea Hotel
Writin' "Sad-Eyed Lady
Of the Lowlands" for you

Sara, Sara
Wherever we travel
we're never apart
Sara, oh Sara
Beautiful lady,
so dear to my heart

How did I meet you
I don't know
A messenger sent me
In a tropical storm
You were there in the winter
Moonlight on the snow
And on Lily Pond Lane
When the weather was warm

Sara, oh Sara
Scorpio Sphinx
in a calico dress
Sara, Sara
You must forgive me
my unworthiness

Now the beach is deserted
Except for some kelp
And a peice of an old ship
That lies on the shore
You always responded
When I needed your help
You gimme a map
And a key to your door

Sara, oh Sara
Glamorous nymph
with an arrow and bow
Sara, oh Sara
Don't ever leave me,
don't ever go

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Lyrics submitted by ThreeMilesDown

Track duration: 05:31


Sara song meanings
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33 Comments

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  • +1
    General Comment:Well what do you say? The man who never wrote a song explicitly about ANYONE in his entire career. (You who are so good with words and with keeping things vague.) A career that's spanned, well Jesus, forever, thousands of songs. One song. One. If this isn't a song that affects you I don't know what would? This is a man begging his wife not to leave him. Simple. The worst period of Dylan's songwriting career was when he was happy. From '69-'74 Dylan was gone, disappeared. The music was awful. But he was a man living in Woodstock, NY with a wife and two children. Them playing leap frog and hearing about snow white... But then what? Now what? Now the beach is deserted except for some kelp. Many Dylan fans will argue that the only woman he ever truly loved was Sara Lownds. Maybe Ruth, maybe Joan, but when Joan asked Bob years later (80s?) why they hadn't married when they were in love, he responded by saying that he married the woman he was in love with. This song is heart-wrenching. On an album (following BOTT!) where he's taken up song-writing in an entirely different way, this song doesn't fit. It doesn't fit with the story-telling-ballad theme of the album, it doesn't fit with the mysteriousness of Blood and it doesn't fit with the anger of the (underrated) Planet Waves, where he was attempt a song like Dirge, a pivotal song in his career. This song, obviously at a time where his career would drastically change and he'd tour endlessly (no really, endlessly), and he'd be divorced and he'd take up faith in a way that astounded the music world, this song is unique in every dimension. It hurts to listen to.
    Flag FootOfPrideon October 12, 2011   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:DYLAN BIO FANS, am I correct? "I can still hear the sounds
    Of those Methodist bells
    I'd taken the cure
    And had just gotten through
    Stayin' up for days
    In the Chelsea Hotel":
    Sounds like he had come off of methadone.
    Flag dogheartcon August 19, 2011   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:i wanted to point out that in all of dylan's love songs (to ramona, love minus zero, you're a big girl now, etc.) bob always find some way to make the girl sound inferior to him, if only slightly. in this song, however, there is not even a hint of inferiority on sara's part. he is worshipping her and it is beautiful
    Flag jasssson January 13, 2010   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:All I wanna say is that I love this song. Also that Sara and Bob were married in late November, 1965 (44 years ago). Even tho they were a complicated match, there is no denying their passion for each other. They had a turbulent marriage which ended in a bitter divorce. The good news is that Sara was Bob's artistic muse for years. She was beautiful and she was smart. She clearly inspired some freakin good art.
    Flag sararobertoon November 30, 2009   Link
    • 1 Reply
  • 0
    General Comment:What's the Snow White reference?
    Flag John Johnstonon November 04, 2009   Link
    • 1 Reply
  • 0
    My Opinion:I may be named Sarah, but i was only named that because my father had a stutter and mine was the only namer he could pronounce without doing so. I like to pretend I was named after Sara Dylan, I so wish I was. My boyfriend introduced me to this song at the start of our relationship and it is now the most played song on my ipod - 500 plays in 5 months. He told me that the descriptions reminded him of me and I was so touched! I will always love this song.

    My favourites:

    (from the live version)
    Sleepin' in the woods
    By a fire in the night
    Where you fought for my soul
    And went up against the odds
    I was too young to know
    You were doin' it right
    And you did it with strength
    That belonged to the Gods"

    "Sara Sara
    whatever made you wanna change your mind
    Sara Sara
    So easy to look at, so hard to define"

    "Sara Sara
    Whereever we travel we're never apart
    Sara Sara
    Beautiful lady so dear to my heart"

    "Sara Sara
    Scorpio sphinx in a calico dress"

    "Sara Sara
    glamorous nymph with an arrow and bow
    Sara Sara
    son't ever leave me don't ever go"

    ...beautiful, thanks Dylan!

    - also, note in how on teh video of Sara Live he only looks at one particular spot in teh audience. Apparently Sara was in that crowd... !!!
    Flag SarahDylanon September 17, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:For some reason I always hated the fact that my dad named me after this song instead of letting my mother name me Sally. I'd never heard it before, and always thought Sarah (not Sara) was like.. an incredibly bad name for somebody with my kind of hyper personality.

    So I basically call myself by other names that I feel describe me better (Lola, Dolly, Poppy, etc) but now I've heard the actually song, and read the lyrics? I'm so freaking touched that my dad named me after this song.

    My sister Googled the lyrics and read out the 'So easy to see, so hard to define.' part, and my whole family pretty much said it was the perfect song to name me after.


    So ya, I have no awesome story but I thought I'd just post how honered I am that this song inspired my dad to name me. I kinda feel loved at the moment, that he actually thought about it instead of just naming me whatever.
    Flag ItsNotHimIThinkAbouton June 21, 2009   Link
  • +1
    General Comment:allen ginsberg

    writes in the liner notes

    of DESIRE:

    Sara, is profound ancient tune
    revealing family paradigm- telling Wife & World
    the last secrets of solitary weeping art:
    "Staying up for days at the Chelsea Hotel
    Writing Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands for you"
    Who woulda thought he'd say it, so everybody'd
    finally know him, same soul crying vulnerable
    caught in a body we all are?
    -enough Person revealed to make
    Whitman's whole nation weep. And
    behind it all the vast lone space of
    No God, or God, mindful conscious
    compassion, lifetime awareness,
    we're here in America
    at last, redeemed. O Generation
    keep on working!



    Flag TheThornBirdson February 20, 2009   Link
  • 0
    Song Meaning:This song was actually inspired by a trip to the south of France made by Dylan, and the festival held in Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer for Sarah the Egyptian, the black servant girl of Mary Magdalene, Mary Jacobi and Mary Salome. Sarah is the patron saint of gypsies and every May 25th, they come in droves to elect a "Gypsy Queen" in front of Sarah's statue, after which she is taken and dipped in the sea as part of the ceremony. Bob Dylan witnessed this festival during his visit. (The fact that another song on the album "Desire" - "Romance in Durango" has a woman named Magdalena in it does not seem coincidental to me.)
    Flag meisjeon December 26, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:Sara was the girl who broke my heart. I love this song.
    Flag Electriccuton September 09, 2008   Link

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