TRACK TALK #332 Lay Down Your Weary Tune

LAY DOWN YOUR WEARY TUNE
ALBUM : Biograph (1985)
Recorded : 24 Octobre 1963
Released : 7 Novembre 1985

Non retenue pour "The Times They Are A-Changin'" en 1963, le morceau sera publié en 1985 sur la compilation "Biograph".
Inspirée par une vieille ballade irlandaise, Dylan l'a écrite dans la maison de Joan Baez à l'automne 1963.
Elle fut reprise par les Byrds, Fairport Convention, Tim O'Brien et les 13th Floor Elevators.
Unique performance live : New York (26 Octobre 1963)



Lyrics
Lay down your weary tune, lay down
Lay down the song you strum
And rest yourself ’neath the strength of strings
No voice can hope to hum

Struck by the sounds before the sun
I knew the night had gone
The morning breeze like a bugle blew
Against the drums of dawn

Lay down your weary tune, lay down
Lay down the song you strum
And rest yourself ’neath the strength of strings
No voice can hope to hum

The ocean wild like an organ played
The seaweed’s wove its strands
The crashin’ waves like cymbals clashed
Against the rocks and sands

Lay down your weary tune, lay down
Lay down the song you strum
And rest yourself ’neath the strength of strings
No voice can hope to hum

I stood unwound beneath the skies
And clouds unbound by laws
The cryin’ rain like a trumpet sang
And asked for no applause

Lay down your weary tune, lay down
Lay down the song you strum
And rest yourself ’neath the strength of strings
No voice can hope to hum

The last of leaves fell from the trees
And clung to a new love’s breast
The branches bare like a banjo played
To the winds that listened best

I gazed down in the river’s mirror
And watched its winding strum
The water smooth ran like a hymn
And like a harp did hum

Lay down your weary tune, lay down
Lay down the song you strum
And rest yourself ’neath the strength of strings
No voice can hope to hum

La reprise superbe des Byrds :



Et une version plus récente de Billy Bragg :