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?
3 comments
Ray I says:
Nov 15, 2008
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.
the beekeeper says:
Jun 8, 2009
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.
liquid parallax says:
Jun 9, 2009
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.