TRACK TALK #56 Precious Angel

PRECIOUS ANGEL
ALBUM : Slow Train Coming (1979)
Recorded : 1er Mai 1979
Released : 20 Août 1979



Lyrics
Precious angel, under the sun
How was I to know you'd be the one
To show me I was blinded, to show me I was gone
How weak was the foundation I was standing upon ?

Now there's spiritual warfare and flesh and blood breaking down
Ya either got faith or ya got unbelief and there ain't neutral ground
The enemy is subtle, how be it we are so deceived
When the truth's in our hearts and we still don't believe ?

Shine you light, shine your light on me
Shine you light, shine your light on me
Shine you light, shine your light on me
Ya know I just couldn't make it by myself
I'm a little too blind to see.

My so called friends have fallen under a spell
They look me squarely in the eye and they say, "Well all is well'"
Can they imagine the darkness that will fall from on high
When men will beg God to kill them and they won't be able to die.

Sister, lemme tell you about a vision that I saw
You were drawing water for your husband, you were suffering under the law
You were telling him about Buddha, you were telling him about Mohammed in the same breath
You never mentioned one time the Man who came and died a criminal's death.

Shine you light, shine your light on me
Shine you light, shine your light on me
Shine you light, shine your light on me
Ya know I just couldn't make it by myself
I'm a little too blind to see.

Precious angel, you believe me when I say
What God has given to us no man can take away
We are covered in blood girl, you know our forefathers were slaves
Let us hope they've found mercy in their bone-filled graves.

You're the queen of my flesh, girl, you're my woman, you're my delight
You're the lamb of my soul, girl, and you touch up the night
But there's violence in the eyes, girl, so let us not be enticed
On the way out of Egypt, through Etopoia, to the judgement hall of Christ.

Shine you light, shine your light on me
Shine you light, shine your light on me
Shine you light, shine your light on me
Ya know I just couldn't make it by myself
I'm a little too blind to see.

***

Première performance live : San Francisco (1er novembre 1979)
Dernière performance live : San Francisco (12 novembre 1980)
Total : 74 fois.

***

- Dylan au sujet de la chanson dans une interview : "Yeah. That's another one, it could go on forever. There's too many verses and there's not enough. You know? When people ask me, "How come you don't sing that song anymore?" It's like it's another one of those songs – it's just too much and not enough. A lot of my songs strike me that way. That's the natural thing about them to me. It's too hard to wonder why about them. To me, they're not worthy of wondering why about them. They're songs . They're not written in stone . They're on plastic."
- D'après le critique Michael Gray, cette chanson nous appelle à trouver et accepter la foi que nous gardons tous en nous. À avoir le courage de laisser la lumière nous éclairer. "Une chanson d'amour destiné aux anges ou tout simplement une chanson d'amour, "Precious Angel" mêle le sacré et le profane" d'après Clinton Heylin.

Je crois m'être déjà exprimée dessus dans un autre topic..
Mais j'aime énormément ce titre, l'arrangement aérien, la voix de Dylan. Les couplets qui paraissent sans fin, jamais monotones, relancés.
Un titre qui me donne foi, pas celle dont il parle, mais en la vie.
En trois mots je dirais: fluide, dense et beau.

moi j'ai carrément des érections d'ours brun échappé des Pyrénées sur toute sa période chrétienne et en particulier sur ce morceau.

La plus belle de l'album. Et de loin.
Si j'en crois ma dernière écoute

JeffreyLeePierre a écrit:

La plus belle de l'album. Et de loin.
Si j'en crois ma dernière écoute

Elle est jolie oui mais un peu trop guimauve, un peu trop répétitive.
Je lui préfère de loin "When He Returns"

Et oui, de toutes façons, les chansons de Dylan, plus elles sont mièvres, plus j'aime. A force de poster, ça doit finir par se voir...

En 2, je mets I Believe In You, en 3, Man Gave Names To All The Animals.
Avis de débutant, j'ai eu cet album récemment et ai dû l'écouter moins de 5 fois en tout.

JeffreyLeePierre a écrit:

Et oui, de toutes façons, les chansons de Dylan, plus elles sont mièvres, plus j'aime. A force de poster, ça doit finir par se voir...

En 2, je mets I Believe In You, en 3, Man Gave Names To All The Animals.
Avis de débutant, j'ai eu cet album récemment et ai dû l'écouter moins de 5 fois en tout.

Bon je comprends mieux, c'était aussi mes favorites durant les premières écoutes.
Maintenant, c'est "When He Returns" et "Slow Train".

voici ma version live favorite :

- toronto 20/04/80