Changing of the Guards Lyrics

The song Changing of the Guards is performed by Bob Dylan in the album named Essential Bob Dylan in the year 2002 .



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 brace yourself 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



Bob Dylan - Essential Bob Dylan

Jul 2002

  1. Blowin' in the Wind
  2. Don't Think Twice, It's All Right
  3. Times They Are A-Changin'
  4. It Ain't Me Babe
  5. Maggie's Farm
  6. It's All over Now, Baby Blue
  7. Mr. Tambourine Man
  8. Subterranean Homesick Blues
  9. Like a Rolling Stone
  10. Positively 4th Street
  11. Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window?
  12. I Want You
  13. Just Like a Woman
  14. Rainy Day Women #12 & 35
  15. All Along the Watchtower
  16. Mighty Quinn (Quinn the Eskimo)
  17. I'll Be Your Baby Tonight
  18. Lay Lady Lay
  19. If Not for You
  20. I Shall Be Released
  21. You Ain't Going Nowhere
  22. Knockin' on Heaven's Door
  23. Forever Young
  24. Tangled Up in Blue
  25. Shelter from the Storm
  26. Hurricane
  27. Changing of the Guards
  28. Gotta Serve Somebody
  29. Blind Willie McTell
  30. Jokerman
  31. Tight Connection to My Heart (Has Anybody Seen My Love?)
  32. Silvio
  33. Everything Is Broken
  34. Dignity [Original Version]
  35. Not Dark Yet
  36. Things Have Changed

Changing of the Guards