from the lesser album Knocked Out Loaded (1986)
also on Greatest Hits Vol 3
written with Sam Shepard

epic, funny, slightly bittersweet, but far removed from his "important" songs.

like Van Morrison attempting Elvis' "In The Ghetto" but as an 11:00 western with all those big-voiced Cohen back-up singer types and a theme tackling what it means to be a solitary alpha male finding love

not often referenced as one of his best songs, but I love it.



Well, there was this movie I seen one time,
About a man riding 'cross the desert and it starred Gregory Peck.
He was shot down by a hungry kid trying to make a name for himself.
The townspeople wanted to crush that kid down and string him up by the neck.

Well, the marshal, now he beat that kid to a bloody pulp
as the dying gunfighter lay in the sun and gasped for his last breath.
Turn him loose, let him go, let him say he outdrew me fair and square,
I want him to feel what it's like to every moment face his death.

Well, I keep seeing this stuff and it just comes a-rolling in
And you know it blows right through me like a ball and chain.
You know I can't believe we've lived so long and are still so far apart.
The memory of you keeps callin' after me like a rollin' train.

I can still see the day that you came to me on the painted desert
In your busted down Ford and your platform heels
I could never figure out why you chose that particular place to meet
Ah, but you were right. It was perfect as I got in behind the wheel.

Well, we drove that car all night into San Anton'
And we slept near the Alamo, your skin was so tender and soft.
Way down in Mexico you went out to find a doctor and you never came back.
I would have gone on after you but I didn't feel like letting my head get blown off.

Well, we're drivin' this car and the sun is comin' up over the Rockies,
Now I know she ain't you but she's here and she's got that dark rhythm in her soul.
But I'm too over the edge and I ain't in the mood anymore to remember the times when I was your only man
And she don't want to remind me. She knows this car would go out of control.

Brownsville girl with your Brownsville curls, teeth like pearls shining like the moon above
Brownsville girl, show me all around the world, Brownsville girl, you're my honey love.

Well, we crossed the panhandle and then we headed towards Amarillo
We pulled up where Henry Porter used to live. He owned a wreckin' lot outside of town about a mile.
Ruby was in the backyard hanging clothes, she had her red hair tied back. She saw us come rolling up in a trail of dust.
She said, "Henry ain't here but you can come on in, he'll be back in a little while."

Then she told us how times were tough and about how she was thinkin' of bummin' a ride back to where she started.
But ya know, she changed the subject every time money came up.
She said, "Welcome to the land of the living dead." You could tell she was so broken-hearted.
She said, "Even the swap meets around here are getting pretty corrupt."

"How far are y'all going?" Ruby asked us with a sigh.
"We're going all the way 'til the wheels fall off and burn,
'Til the sun peels the paint and the seat covers fade and the water moccasin dies."
Ruby just smiled and said, "Ah, you know some babies never learn."

Something about that movie though, well I just can't get it out of my head
But I can't remember why I was in it or what part I was supposed to play.
All I remember about it was Gregory Peck and the way people moved
And a lot of them seemed to be lookin' my way.

Brownsville girl with your Brownsville curls, teeth like pearls shining like the moon above
Brownsville girl, show me all around the world, Brownsville girl, you're my honey love.

Well, they were looking for somebody with a pompadour.
I was crossin' the street when shots rang out.
I didn't know whether to duck or to run, so I ran.
"We got him cornered in the churchyard," I heard somebody shout.

Well, you saw my picture in the Corpus Christi Tribune. Underneath it, it said, "A man with no alibi."
You went out on a limb to testify for me, you said I was with you.
Then when I saw you break down in front of the judge and cry real tears,
It was the best acting I saw anybody do.

Now I've always been the kind of person that doesn't like to trespass but sometimes you just find yourself over the line.
Oh if there's an original thought out there, I could use it right now.
You know, I feel pretty good, but that ain't sayin' much. I could feel a whole lot better,
If you were just here by my side to show me how.

Well, I'm standin' in line in the rain to see a movie starring Gregory Peck,
Yeah, but you know it's not the one that I had in mind.
He's got a new one out now, I don't even know what it's about
But I'll see him in anything so I'll stand in line.

Brownsville girl with your Brownsville curls, teeth like pearls shining like the moon above
Brownsville girl, show me all around the world, Brownsville girl, you're my honey love.

You know, it's funny how things never turn out the way you had 'em planned.
The only thing we knew for sure about Henry Porter is that his name wasn't Henry Porter.
And you know there was somethin' about you baby that I liked that was always too good for this world
Just like you always said there was something about me you liked that I left behind in the French Quarter.

Strange how people who suffer together have stronger connections than people who are most content.
I don't have any regrets, they can talk about me plenty when I'm gone.
You always said people don't do what they believe in, they just do what's most convenient, then they repent.
And I always said, "Hang on to me, baby, and let's hope that the roof stays on."

There was a movie I seen one time, I think I sat through it twice.
I don't remember who I was or where I was bound.
All I remember about it was it starred Gregory Peck, he wore a gun and he was shot in the back.
Seems like a long time ago, long before the stars were torn down.

Brownsville girl with your Brownsville curls, teeth like pearls shining like the moon above
Brownsville girl, show me all around the world, Brownsville girl, you're my honey love.

Ironically (and I'm totally serious about this), I've had Jim White's "Girl From Brownsville, Texas" stuck in my head for so long now that I was honestly considering posting a blurb about it on Hip-D. It's a couple of years old, but damn, does it ever hold up.

I realize this is wholly unrelated to the thread topic at hand, except for the words "Brownsville" and "Girl."

Totally right, Frosted. Great song that's from Dylan's lesser period and keeps it overlooke.d.

Here are the lyrics to the Jim White song ("That Girl From Brownsville, Texas"):

I say, "God, if you ain't smiling on me,
then you ain't no friend of mine."

It's late at night and this motel room's drunk,
I've been listening to the lonesome wind cryin'
My best friend once said, "Jim, what you cling to,
that's the thing that you had best forget.
For ain't no rose bed ever gonna bloom
in an untended field of regrets."

Guess I've been busy killin' time counting bullet holes in state line signs.
I've led a life of lonely driftin' trying to rise above the buzzards in my mind.
You get dizzy chasin' 'round the tail of what you need to leave behind.
Oh sweet Jesus, won't you help me?
'Cause all I'm tryin' to do
is plant them seeds of love
with that girl from Brownsville, Texas.

Midnight radio, a crackly white gospel station
kicking out the sounds of some half-assed revival.
Me, I never much cared for the feelings you get
quoting scriptures from out of the Bible.
For as the crow flies I know only one cure
for a permanent tear in your eye.
You gotta crank like hell that rope on old sorrow's well
'til the day that the bucket comes up dry.

That's why I've been busy killin' time counting bullet holes in state line signs.
I've led a life of lonely driftin' trying to rise above the buzzards in my mind.
You get dizzy chasin' 'round the tail of what you need to leave behind.
Oh sweet Jesus, won't you help me?
'Cause all I'm tryin' to do
is plant them seeds of love
with that girl from Brownsville, Texas.
Now all I'm trying to do
is plant them seeds of love
with that girl from Brownsville, Texas.

Now dreams are just prayers without the put-on airs
and though my history of dreams is a scandal
of back-assward schemes and romantic disasters
where Lord, you dealt me more cards than I could handle.

Still from the lips of this half-hearted sinner
comes the pledge of a half-baked saint.
'Cause Lord I might finally be willing to become
the religious fool you always wanted me to be
if in return we could just tell that girl
I'm the man you and me both know that I ain't.

'Cause I've been busy killin' time counting bullet holes in state line signs.
I've led a life of lonely driftin' trying to rise above the buzzards in my mind.
You get dizzy chasin' 'round the tail of what you need to leave behind.
Oh sweet Jesus, won't you help me?
'Cause all I'm tryin' to do
is plant them seeds of love
with that girl
oh, Lord, that girl
from Brownsville, Texas
Brownsville, Texas
Brownsville, Texas
Brownsville, Texas.

Another great "ville" song is "Clarksville" from Green On Red. I'll post that one of these days.

Don't forget "Last Train to Clarksville"!!!

This song is amazing, as is the Dylan song.

Greatest Hits 3 is underrated, and that way you don't have the buy all thos janky albums

good thing the lyrics are written out, i can't understand anything he's saying.