Escrita por Bob Dylan, foi gravada em abril de 1978 e lançada em 15 de junho de 1978 no disco Street legal, o décimo oitavo de Bob Dylan. Saiu também em compacto no dia 24 de outubro de 1978, com Senor (Tales of yankee power) como Lado B. Foi produzida por Don Devito. Foi a música que abriu o disco. Não entrou nos charts. Foi regravada por Patti Smith, em 2007, entre outros artistas em diferentes datas. Dylan disse que toda vida que a canta, ela tem um significado pra ele. Ele diz que ela tem 1000 anos de idade.
A letra:
Sixteen
years
Sixteen banners united over the field
Where the good
shepherd grieves
Desperate men, desperate women divided
Spreading
their wings 'neath the falling leaves
Fortune calls
I stepped forth from
the shadows to the marketplace
Merchants and thieves, hungry for
power, my last deal gone down
She's smelling sweet like the
meadows where she was born
On midsummer's eve, near the tower
The cold-blooded moon
The captain
waits above the celebration
Sending his thoughts to a beloved
maid
Whose ebony face is beyond communication
The captain is
down but still believing that his love will be repaid
They shaved her head
She was torn
between Jupiter and Apollo
A messenger arrived with a black
nightingale
I seen her on the stairs and I couldn't help but
follow
Follow her down past the fountain where they lifted her
veil
I stumbled to my feet
I rode past
destruction in the ditches
With the stitches still mending 'neath
a heart-shaped tattoo
Renegade priests and treacherous young
witches
Were handing out the flowers that I'd given to you
The palace of mirrors
Where dog
soldiers are reflected
The endless road and the wailing of
chimes
The empty rooms where her memory is protected
Where the
angels' voices whisper to the souls of previous times
She wakes him up
Forty-eight hours
later, the sun is breaking
Near broken chains, mountain laurel and
rolling rocks
She's begging to know what measures he now will be
taking
He's pulling her down and she's clutching on to his long
golden locks
Gentlemen, he said
I don't need your
organization, I've shined your shoes
I've moved your mountains and
marked your cards
But Eden is burning, either getting ready for
elimination
Or else your hearts must have the courage for the
changing of the guards
Peace will come
With tranquility and
splendor on the wheels of fire
But will bring us no reward when
her false idols fall
And cruel death surrenders with its pale
ghost retreating
Between the King and the Queen of Swords
A versão de Bob Dylan:
A versão de Patti Smith:
A versão de Gonzalo Penalosa e The Kitchen:
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