MISSISSIPPI


My heart is not weary, it's light and it's free, I've got nothin' but affection for all those who've sailed with me.

YOUR DAYS ARE NUMBERED, SO ARE MINE

MISSISSIPPI



Every step of the way we walk the line


Your days are numbered, so are mine


Time is pilin' up, we struggle and we scrape


We're all boxed in, nowhere to escape


City's just a jungle, more games to play


Trapped in the heart of it, trying to get away


I was raised in the country, I been workin' in the town


I been in trouble ever since I set my suitcase down


Got nothing for you, I had nothing before


Don't even have anything for myself anymore


Sky full of fire, pain pourin' down


Nothing you can sell me, I'll see you around


All my powers of expression and thoughts so sublime


Could never do you justice in reason or rhyme


Only one thing I did wrong


Stayed in Mississippi a day too long


Well, the devil's in the alley, mule's in the stall


Say anything you wanna, I have heard it all


I was thinkin' about the things that Rosie said


I was dreaming I was sleeping in Rosie's bed


Walking through the leaves, falling from the trees


Feeling like a stranger nobody sees


So many things that we never will undo


I know you're sorry, I'm sorry too


Some people will offer you their hand and some won't


Last night I knew you, tonight I don't


I need somethin' strong to distract my mind


I'm gonna look at you 'til my eyes go blind


Well I got here following the southern star


I crossed that river just to be where you are


Only one thing I did wrong


Stayed in Mississippi a day too long


Well my ship's been split to splinters and it's sinking fast


I'm drownin' in the poison, got no future, got no past


But my heart is not weary, it's light and it's free


I've got nothin' but affection for all those who've sailed with me


Everybody movin' if they ain't already there


Everybody got to move somewhere


Stick with me baby, stick with me anyhow


Things should start to get interesting right about now


My clothes are wet, tight on my skin


Not as tight as the corner that I painted myself in


I know that fortune is waitin' to be kind


So give me your hand and say you'll be mine


Well, the emptiness is endless, cold as the clay


You can always come back, but you can't come back all the way


Only one thing I did wrong


Stayed in Mississippi a day too long





PERFORMANCES




2001.10.09
CENTRAL POINT, OREGON

2001.10.17
LA JOLLA, CALIFORNIA

2001.10.27
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS

2001.10.30
GREEN BAY, WISCONSIN

2001.10.31
MADISON, WISCONSIN

2001.11.02
TERRE HAUTE, INDIANA

2001.11.03
NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE

2001.11.04
CINCINNATI, OHIO

2001.11.10
COLUMBUS, OHIO

2001.11.15
WASHINGTON, D.C.

2001.11.20
UNCASVILLE, CONNECTICUT

2001.11.21
MANCHESTER, NEW HAMPSHIRE

2001.11.23
PORTLAND, MAINE

2002.02.05
JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA

2002.02.10
CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA

2002.02.13
GREENVILLE, SOUTH CAROLINA

2002.02.15
AUGUSTA, GEORGIA

2002.08.22
SIOUX FALLS, SOUTH DAKOTA

2005.03.18
RENO, NEVADA

2005.03.26
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA

2005.04.01
CHICAGO, ILLINIOS

2005.04.08
MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN

2005.04.15
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS

2005.04.24
ATLANTIC CITY, NEW JERSEY

2005.04.28
NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK

2005.06.21
NORWICH, CONNECTICUT

2005.11.22
LONDON, ENGLAND

2008.02.22
DALLAS, TEXAS

2008.05.17
LEWISTON, MAINE

2008.05.20
MONCTON, NEW BRUNSWICK, CANADA

2008.06.28
HOYOS DEL ESPINO, SPAIN

2008.07.08
JÉREZ, SPAIN

2008.08.16
ATLANTIC CITY, NEW JERSEY

2008.08.26
LITTLE ROCK, ARKANSAS

2008.09.03
SANTA MONICA, CALIFORNIA

2011.07.27
PENSACOLA, FLORIDA

2011.07.28
ATLANTA, GEORGIA

2011.07.30
MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE

2011.08.01
NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE

2011.08.02
EVANSVILLE, INDIANA

2011.08.03
TOLEDO, OHIO

2011.08.05
KETTERING, OHIO

2011.08.06
CLEVELAND, OHIO

2011.08.07
ROCHESTER HILLS, MICHIGAN

2011.08.09
CANANDAIGUA, NEW YORK

2011.08.10
SCRANTON, PENNSYLVANIA

2011.08.12
BETHEL, NEW YORK

2011.08.13
WANTAGH, NEW YORK

2011.08.14
ASBURY PARK, NEW JERSEY

2011.08.16
COLUMBIA, MARYLAND

2011.08.17
PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA

2011.08.19
GILFORD, NEW HAMPSHIRE

2011.08.20
BANGOR, MAINE

2011.08.21
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS

2011.10.20
ROTTERDAM, THE NETHERLANDS

2011.10.25
MANNHEIM, GERMANY

2011.10.29
BERLIN, GERMANY

2011.11.02
HERNING, DENMARK

2011.11.07
NUERNERG, GERMANY

2011.11.08
INNSBRUCK, AUSTRIA

2011.11.09
PADOVA, ITALY

2011.11.15
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND

2011.11.16
ZURICH, SWITZERLAND

2011.11.19
LONDON, ENGLAND

2012.10.09
EDMONTON, ALBERTA

2012.10.13
SEATTLE, WASHINGTON

2012.10.20
SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNA

2012.10.22
SANTA BARBARA, CALIFORNA

2012.10.27
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA

2012.10.30
BROOMFIELD, COLORADO

2012.11.01
GRAND PRAIRIE, TEXAS

2012.11.12
GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN

2012.11.13
DETROIT, MICHIGAN

2012.11.19
PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA





In the fall of 2001 eleven new songs from "LOVE & THEFT" were introduced by Bob Dylan to his 35 live audiences. Some of them he performed quite frequently, some of them occasionally, one song ("PO' BOY") he played only once that year.

The first live performance of "MISSISSIPPI" in Central Point was one of the finest live debuts in recent years. There were twelve more powerful appearances of this brilliantly crafted song in 2001, and it became obvious that this one simply was a gem in any setlist.

In 2002 Bob Dylan did continue to perform this great song, including it in four shows in February; and in August 2002 "MISSISSIPPI" was performed once more, in Sioux Falls.

For more than two and a half years after this, "MISSISSIPPI" had not been performed on stage at all, before in March 2005, in Reno, Bob Dylan chose to reintroduce this finest song from "LOVE & THEFT", during a show which started with Bob's first rendition of "FOLSOM PRISON BLUES" since 1999.

Eight days later, "MISSISSIPPI" was performed as the first of the two encore songs during the last set of Bob's five show residency in Los Angeles. During the first show in Chicago, in April 2005, "MISSISSIPPI" appeared in the same center section as "CAT'S IN THE WELL" and "FOREVER YOUNG".

One week later, in Milwaukee, "MISSISSIPPI" was performed among the encore songs of a show, which had also included "CAT'S IN THE WELL" and "STANDING IN THE DOORWAY". Another week later, during the first of three Boston shows, "MISSISSIPPI" appeared again as the first encore song.

Nine days after that, in Atlantic City, "MISSISSIPPI" appeared in a mighty fine setlist, together with "GOD KNOWS", "RING THEM BELLS", "TRYIN' TO GET TO HEAVEN", "I BELIEVE IN YOU", and "A HARD RAIN'S A-GONNA FALL". And four days later, in New York, "MISSISSIPPI" was performed in the same show as "SEÑOR", "BLIND WILLIE MCTELL", and "A HARD RAIN'S A-GONNA FALL".

During the May to July stadium tour of 2005, "MISSISSIPPI" appeared only once, during the show in Norwich, Connecticut, which also included one of nine performances of "SHOOTING STAR" as well as the only performance of "STANDING IN THE DOORWAY" during this tour.

Almost five months later, in November 2005, Bob Dylan chose to perform "MISSISSIPPI" for the first time ever outside the US, as he included a very strong version of this fine gem into the third of his five London concerts during his remarkable European fall tour of 2005.

Exactly 27 months later, in February 2008, "MISSISSIPPI" was performed in Dallas, Texas, during the second of three warmup shows for Dylan's Latin America tour. Three months later "MISSISSIPPI" appeared in two North American warmup shows for the fine European summer tour of 2008, where this gem of a song was performed two more times, both in Spain. The second of these great versions, in Jérez de la Frontera, on July 8th, which followed a smoking rendition of "THE LEVEE'S GONNA BREAK", I had the extraordinary pleasure to witness standing in the first row. What a privilege to see the third ever European performance of this masterpiece, my favorite song by far from “Love & Theft”.

Three more times "MISSISSIPPI" was performed in the USA during the summer of 2008, before it was given an almost three year rest from the stage. However in July and August of 2011 "MISSISSIPPI" resurfaced again, in the US, as song number six in 19 concecutive shows. In Europe, in October and November of 2011, "MISSISSIPPI" was performed another ten times; before one year later, in North America, in October and November of 2012, "MISSISSIPPI" was again performed another ten times.





~ MP3 ~ MISSISSIPPI ~ DALLAS ~ FEBRUARY 22, 2008 ~





~ MP3 ~ MISSISSIPPI ~ CANANDAIGUA ~ AUGUST 9, 2011 ~





~ MP3 ~ MISSISSIPPI ~ MEMPHIS ~ JULY 30, 2011 ~
























































Biblical references:


~ Psalms 90 ~


The years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty; yet their span is but toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away. Who considers the power of your anger, and your wrath according to the fear of you? So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.