Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands

Commentary

Sad-Eyed has a compelling melody, one of not that many Dylan songs that leave the listener whistling long after the record stops playing. It’s a wonderful-sounding song, written in the unusual 6/8 time.

The lyrics of the chorus are glorious. The repeated long vowels give it a sonorous, romantic sound. The biblical images of lowlands, prophets, and the giving of gifts to a god-like creature give the song a hymnal quality.

Lyrical gems are strewn all over. The first two lines:

With your mercury mouth in the missionary times
And your eyes like smoke and your prayers like rhymes.

A bunch of isolated phrases stands out for their freshness and surprise:

…flesh like silk
…your face like glass
…geranium kiss

There are also some not-so-great lyrical moments:

And your streetcar visions which you place on the grass…
And your cowboy mouth and your curfew plugs…
Now you stand with your thief, you’re on his parole…

The song never builds much narrative or emotional force. Tim Riley, the author of Hard Rain, defines the problem well: “Dylan winds his way through situations and visions so vivid and yet so allusive that they end up only skirting the feelings he’s trying to get a handle on.”

The song is obviously written about Dylan’s first wife, Sara Lownds. In fact, Dylan tells us so in Sara, released on the Desire album of 1975.

I can still hear the sound of the Methodist bells
I had taken the cure and had just gotten through
staying up for days in the Chelsea Hotel
writing “Sad Eyed Lady Of The Lowlands” for you

The line “your magazine husband who just had to go” is another clue, given that Sara’s first husband was a fashion magazine photographer.

Curiously, in the performance released on the album Dylan changes the published line “My warehouse eyes, my Arabian drums” to “My warehouse eyes as my Arabian drums”, which makes absolutely no sense (at least to me), and also makes the next line – when he speaks of “leaving them at her gate” – even more confused.

This long song was recorded in one take. Dylan commentator Betsy Bowden notes that Dylan doesn’t slur the words in this performance; he’s very careful to enunciate each sound. When it was released on vinyl it took up an entire side all by itself. Dylan was certainly trying to make a grand statement, but maybe didn’t quite pull it off. Close though.

Others have a different take, including singer Tom Waits.

For me, ‘Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands’ is a grand song. It is like Beowulf and it takes me out to the meadow. This song can make you leave home, work on the railroad or marry a Gypsy. I think of a drifter around a fire with a tin cup under a bridge remembering a woman’s hair. The song is a dream, a riddle and a prayer.

Dylan has never played the song live in front of an audience. A version can be found on the Renaldo and Clara soundtrack and the bootleg 1966 Denver Hotel Tape.

Baez live in 1972.

Steve  Howe  of Yes.


Lyrics

With your mercury mouth in the missionary times,
And your eyes like smoke and your prayers like rhymes,
And your silver cross, and your voice like chimes,
Oh, who among them do they think could bury you?
With your pockets well protected at last,
And your streetcar visions which you place on the grass,
And your flesh like silk, and your face like glass,
Who among them do they think could carry you?
Sad-eyed lady of the lowlands,
Where the sad-eyed prophet says that no man comes,
My warehouse eyes, my Arabian drums,
Should I leave them by your gate,
Or, sad-eyed lady, should I wait?

With your sheets like metal and your belt like lace,
And your deck of cards missing the jack and the ace,
And your basement clothes and your hollow face,
Who among them can think he could outguess you?
With your silhouette when the sunlight dims
Into your eyes where the moonlight swims,
And your match-book songs and your gypsy hymns,
Who among them would try to impress you?
Sad-eyed lady of the lowlands,
Where the sad-eyed prophet says that no man comes,
My warehouse eyes, my Arabian drums,
Should I leave them by your gate,
Or, sad-eyed lady, should I wait?

The kings of Tyrus with their convict list
Are waiting in line for their geranium kiss,
And you wouldn’t know it would happen like this,
But who among them really wants just to kiss you?
With your childhood flames on your midnight rug,
And your Spanish manners and your mother’s drugs,
And your cowboy mouth and your curfew plugs,
Who among them do you think could resist you?
Sad-eyed lady of the lowlands,
Where the sad-eyed prophet says that no man comes,
My warehouse eyes, my Arabian drums,
Should I leave them by your gate,
Or, sad-eyed lady, should I wait?s

Oh, the farmers and the businessmen, they all did decide
To show you the dead angels that they used to hide.
But why did they pick you to sympathize with their side?
Oh, how could they ever mistake you?
They wished you’d accepted the blame for the farm,
But with the sea at your feet and the phony false alarm,
And with the child of a hoodlum wrapped up in your arms,
How could they ever, ever persuade you?
Sad-eyed lady of the lowlands,
Where the sad-eyed prophet says that no man comes,
My warehouse eyes, my Arabian drums,
Should I leave them by your gate,
Or, sad-eyed lady, should I wait?

With your sheet-metal memory of Cannery Row,
And your magazine-husband who one day just had to go,
And your gentleness now, which you just can’t help but show,
Who among them do you think would employ you?
Now you stand with your thief, you’re on his parole
With your holy medallion which your fingertips fold,
And your saintlike face and your ghostlike soul,
Oh, who among them do you think could destroy you
Sad-eyed lady of the lowlands,
Where the sad-eyed prophet says that no man comes,
My warehouse eyes, my Arabian drums,
Should I leave them by your gate,
Or, sad-eyed lady, should I wait?

9 thoughts on “Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands”

  1. Shakespeare’s Sonnet 127 is a classic example of a poem about a specific person that retains its universality.
    In the old age, black was not counted fair
    Or if it were, it bore not beauty’s name;
    But now is black beauty’s successive heir;
    And beautuy slandered with a bastard shame.
    * * * * *
    Therefore my mistress’ eyes are raven black… .

    Per the Folger edition: “The poet defends his love of a mistress who does not meet the conventional standard of beauty by claiming that her dark hair (and, perhaps, dark skin) are the new standard. The old version of beauty–blond hair and light skin–are so readily counterfeited that beauty in that form is no longer trusted.” I assume it was not easy to counterfeit dark hair at the time. Or even if it was, blonde hair could no longer remain the standard because blond hair was frequently counterfeited.

    Anyhow, writing “my mistress’ eyes” leaves room for universality.
    (About Shakespeare’s dark-haired and dark-eyed Italian

  2. Back to “Visions of Johanna:” In brief: Johanna is Death and Louise is Reality. The “one with the moustache [who says] ‘geez, I can’t find my knees'” is Salvador Dali. The word “conscience” is used in the Shakespearean sense to mean “consciousness.” There’s plenty of atmospheric filler supporting the Death angle, and the general tenor of the song suggests a man ruminating over his existence, rejecting art as a source of meaning-for-life. Paradoxically, Dylan turns this song into a sort of sanctuary for those obsessed with death and dying–a lamentation in the form of a epic, an elegy that may bind the listener to the poet/singer.

  3. I have not researched this song. My reply is based entirely on the lyrics, the small amount of contextual information included in the comment itself, and other replies..

    Even if Dylan stated that this song and “Sarah” were not about his first wife, Sarah Lownds, he also stated the contrary, as noted in the commentary:

    Begin excerpt from the commentary:
    The song is obviously written about Dylan’s first wife, Sara Lownds. In fact, Dylan tells us so in Sara, released on the Desire album of 1975.

    I can still hear the sound of the Methodist bells
    I had taken the cure and had just gotten through
    staying up for days in the Chelsea Hotel
    writing “Sad Eyed Lady Of The Lowlands” for you.

    The line “your magazine husband who just had to go” is another clue, given that Sara’s first husband was a fashion magazine photographer.
    End excerpt from commentary.

    We can’t just ignore such explicit references to his first wife. These particular lyrics have nothing to do with Jeremiah, Isaiah, or the Song of Songs. AndOf course, the Of course, the”your sheet-metal memory of Cannery Row” is obviously a reference to one of John Steinbeck’s great books.

    I believe lyrics about a specific individual or a specific relationship aren’t necessarily any less universal than lyrics concerning mythological or fictional characters or relationships. Individuals and individual relationshoips have universal characteristics. That is why a song about a specific person or relationship can transcend the individual or relationship that is the topic of a song.

    I disagree with such sweeping generalizations as “[he] repeated the tragedy of most men and especially Jewish men–they keep marrying their Jewish mothers and prostitutes.” My disagreement is not intended tbe personally provocative.

    Of course, the song contains its share of biblical allusions.

    Some metaphors, similes and symbolic uses of language are far more evocative than literal descriptions. I think that is arguably Dylan’s greatest strength as a songwriter, combined with the topics he addresses. Anyone who has written even a relatively small number of such incredible lyrics as Dylan is bound to come out with occasional duds like “curfew plugs” (unless that really means something, and I am not familiar with it).

    Anyhow, for me, this is a hauntingly beautiful song,

  4. I have a renewed respect for Tom Waits, but a message for the rest of you: Those who can write, those who can’t criticize.

  5. Not to get too biblical, I’ve always interpreted his image of the woman being at the same time a metaphor for an established religion and church that has become spiritually well off but separated and lacking relevance to help face the realistic challenges of many black, brown, red, and others in the whole of society and world.

  6. Well, I agree with Bob Dylan that this song and the song Sara are not about his wives; he is too great a man and artist to have such transcendent and universal lyrics reduced in such a way; both the lyrics and subject matter stay deeply in the soul…my image of the song is from Revelation 12:1 And a great sign was seen in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon underneath her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve starts; 12:2 And she was with child, and she crited out, travailing in birth and being in pain to bring forth 12:3 And anothe sign was seen in heaven; and behold, there was a great red dragon (Tyrus), having seven heads and ten horns and on his heads seven diadems.”
    Notice too how these verses in Revelation contain the image of a child of the hoodlum in her arms (he means God; Israel; a woman carrying a child about to be devoured by Satan. Although the song is primarily a love song, it is also about spiritual warfare. The poet asks about whether he should wait…in my opinion ..like Oedipus with the Sphinx, he answered in correctly, and repeated the tragedy of most men and especially Jewish men–they keep marrying their Jewish mothers and prostitutes..the answer to his question to this Lady is “yes, you should have waited” as the great Poet Gibran said “To discover beauty is a form a waiting” ..the Lady was willing and able to show him Truth and Beauty and Love, but waiting was required. He did not even begin to discover these things in the world until his latest album ROUGH AND ROWDY,,,where he finally admits that “he is sick of chasing lies” and “cock” or the Black Rider’s propensity for lust so he can finally answer this Lady’s question and know Truth, Beauty and Love…this is a poet who has lost his conscience of Truth starting with his corruption in the early 1963, reaching its completion in his soul..else why in his song I SHALL BE RELEASED..and other songs at least say he is in darkness, and “I am now on the darkside of the run”. As John Keats, EDickons, and F. Scott Fitzgerald mentioned or questioned in TENDER IS THE LIGHT, .how can one know Truth without Light, and how can one know Beauty without Truth. — Beauty is Truth and Truth Beauty..that is all you know on earth and all you need to know. Unfortunately, to quote Mr. Dylan’s song MISSISSIPPI as soon as he left the country, and put his luggage down in the city, he got into confusion and trouble and started to live a life of crime.
    I think it is important to both hear with your heart and mind the lyrics and music, and especially do some research on the Kings of Tryrus (ancient corrupt kings of old) and symbolic of Satan. This woman and the imagery is taken from Jeremiah and Isaiah and the greatest love song every written SONG OF SONGS. I could go on with each word in this song and line with a careful poetic, theological, and philosophical logic for hundreds of pages, but I have my own poetry to work on at the moment, and service to God.

    1. I’d say that a song lyric or line of poetry can refer to a particular person yet retain universality (i.e., refer to his love and the listener’s or reader’s love). If it were merely universal, it wouldn’t have nearly as much emotional force.

      I doubt Dylan was singing about Israel, given his opposition to nationalism. Biblical references often provide material for universal symbols in music and poetry that aren’t instances of literal biblical exegesis.

      No personal animosity intended. I think it’s perfectly fine to disagree.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Scroll to Top