Lyrical Review of Bob Dylan's 'Born In Time' (1990)

Appreciation and lyrical review of "Born In Time" from Bob Dylan's 1990 album "Under a Red Sky".

[john]

A really lovely song a real favourite of mine. I was lucky to see Bob in my home town of Glasgow on Halloween 2022 my 35th Bob Dylan concert a great concert. At the end of the night Bob came back on stage for a curtain call and stood centre stage looking rather frail he took a long look out into the crowd and nodded, as though he was bidding us farewell . I do hope I am we say in Scotland "lang may yer lum reek Bob" once again thanks for the video keep up the good work!

[darinmacfarlane]

What a song one of my absolute favourites of his. Brilliantly described Jeff thank you

[brianmack]

“You can have what’s left of me.” conveys his eternal love that transcends all the struggles and problems found in relationships; indeed it transcends the relationship itself. Such a powerful line❤

[tayamorris]

Loved this song the first time I heard it great review 👍

[pedrorodrigo]

Well, yesterday with that funny video eating salted almonds, and today with this wonderful and heartful review of this lyric... is magnificent. Thank you.

[electricfence]

To be honest Jeff, the most moving and memorable lines in this video are yours, when you speak about your informing your dad of your mother's passing. Thank you Jeff.

[julianbugbee]

Hey Jeff, absolutely love the channel and have been a long time viewer, I was wondering if you ever planned to do a Todd Rundgren lyrical analysis, probably more of the stuff from the mid-70s psychedelic era, I still struggle to figure out what Born To Synthesize is fully about and would love to see you might think. Thanks!

[guryelali]

I think this song could be about our walk with God
Just when I thought you were gone You came back
Just when I was ready to receive You

Just my spin
This song has blessed me in that way

[paulmahon]

I've been listening to Under The Red Sky album in the car a lot recently. I always liked it for the most part, but there are better versions of some of the songs (Handy Dandy where Dylan sounds like he just gets bored half way through has a incandescent alternative version floating around someplace; TV Talking Song has a better versions too; and the live version of Under The Red Sky from Japan in February 1994 is excellent). While I have definite, favourite versions of most Dylan songs, I find it difficult to choose between the Born In Time on the album or the outtake from Oh Mercy sessions. The lyrical review here was very enjoyable and will make me listen to both versions again, searching for coordinates that echo my own experiences. Dylan is one of very few artists, I find, whose work has that insightful quality, Leonard Cohen is another. The ability to juxtaposition extremely deep and raw emotions with a twist of ships-passing-in-the-night pervades much of Dylan's work, has a therapeutic quality, and seems to be there as a shadow in this song.

[georgecoventry]

Yes, it's a beautiful and tragic song about a deep love/marriage that had to come to an end. It's full of passion and pain. Maybe they were both still a little too young in some ways for it to last. Got to be about Sara, I would think. One of my favorites from that period in Dylan's work. "Under the Red Sky" is an interesting album. It wasn't what people were expecting, so most of them didn't like it. Nor did the critics. But there's more there than meets the eye. One of the things I admire about Bob is...he's not afraid to be himself. A lot of people are, and they just bend to what they think other people want them to be.

[grahamhobbs]

awkward lyrics, awkward tune, amazingly affecting song! Always loved it.

btw - chemistry teacher??! - I'd never have guessed - seriously!

[alexandervaneijken]

Here are some quick impressions Jeff (I do not know this song of Dylan but I will buy the cd )

In the night / that is really a recurring line when Dylan deals with past relationship Implies:
Quiet/alone with his thoughts
In Black and White : As an image from yesteryear when photo, graphs were only in Black and White
Caught in Time So an image belonging to another Time Born in that time and belonging to that specific time There is that road taken together but, again, in those days The heat of the moment
I, ll get back to this when I listened to the song a few times Jeff.