If you have your hands on the Basement Tapes bootleg, you will have a fragment of a song called “I’m Alright.” Below are the lyrics transcribed by me (most likely off a bit as Dylan is good at mumbling). Bob Dylan and the Band are playing here for about a minute. Possibly they ran out of tape in the middle of the performance. If this song reached a more complete recording, I’m sure more people would have pounced on the glory of it.
Now when I call her by her name, you know,
She don’t come
She don’t lead me down easy child
But I don’t
I’m gone, the man he’s standing on is
Maybe some
But I don’t have a leak and
‘Cause she knows she don’t(Chorus 2x)
Alright
I’m alright
I’m a three-time loser
But I’m alrightWhoa, it’s so hard so defensive
It’s ok
I swear she’s gone, you know
She’s gunna be the death of me
And someone else’s take on the words?
My take:
Now when I call her by her name, you know,
She don’t come
She don’t lead me down easy child
But I don’t
I’ve caught him and I’m standing on his
(blah blah blah -to mumbled)
But I don’t have him leavin’
Cause she knows she don’t
(Chorus 2x)
Alright
I’m alright
I’m a three-time loser
But I’m alright
Whoa, it’s so hard so defensive
It’s ok
I swear she’s gone, you know
She’s gunna be the death of me
Possibly about him being alright after his woman cheated on him??? Its hard to say.
Does anyone know if this is a Dylan composition? Or is it a cover like many of the other genuine basement tape songs? I’m considering covering the song with my band (making up my own lyrics but keeping the structure and chorus) and I want to know that it is actually a Dylan song before I destroy it.
I’ve researched the Basement Tapes songs and while there are a good number of unoriginals, this one seems like a Dylan composition. I don’t know if the chord sequence is taken from an obscure folk song or anything, but as a song there is nothing out there like it that I’ve come across.