The Gates Are Open - The Key is Yours (Gates of Dylan)

But where is the place? We have no one with the research skills to discover that. Many have tried. If the gates have survived someone must recognise them. What do the flags suggest? WWWW pattern on the pole, ever seen that anywhere? Straw boaters as hats? Mostly men in the street. Horse-drawn traffic? Open air café on the right? Unfinished building or openings rather than glazed windows? What is the pole for? Insulators visible, no wires, suggesting very new?

The words have a Biblical reference feel to them. A sort of Ascension Gate reached through good deeds?

“Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.” — Matthew 7 13-14″

Where did you find this wonderful and haunting photo?

It is a postcard with no writing or printing on the other side. It was a gift to someone in about 1984, bought by someone else who thought it unusual and apt. It was scanned in and no other copies are known. It was thought to date from the 1890s by those who have seen the original. “

LIST OF BOB DYLAN SONGS THAT INCLUDE “GATE”

Sad Eyed Lady Of The Lowlands

With your mercury mouth in the missionary times And your eyes like smoke and your prayers like rhymes And your silver cross, and your voice like chimes Oh, who do they think could bury you ? With your pockets well protected at last And your streetcar visions which you place on the grass And your flesh like silk, And you face like glass Who among them do they think could carry you ? Sad-eyed lady of the lowlands Where the sad-eyed prophet says that no man comes My warehouse eyes, my Arabian drums Should I put them by your gate Oh, sad-eyed lady, should I wait ?

Long-Distance Operator

Long-distance operator Place this call, it’s not for fun Long-distance operator Please, place this call, you know it’s not for fun I gotta give a message to my baby You know, she’s not just anyone.

There are thousands in the phone booth Thousands at the gate There are thousands in the phone booth Thousands at the gate Everybody wants to make a long-distance call But you know they’re just gonna have to wait.

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x45us6y

Scarlet Town

Scarlet Town, in the hot noon hours, There’s palm-leaf shadows and scattered flowers Beggars crouching at the gate Help comes, but it comes too late By marble slabs and in fields of stone You make your humble wishes known I touched the garment, but the hem was torn In Scarlet Town, where I was born

Can’t Wait

I can’t wait, wait for you to change your mind It’s late, I’m tryin’ to walk the line Well, it’s way past midnight And there’s some people all around Some on their way up, some on their way down The air burns and I’m tryin’ to think straight An’ I don’t know how much longer I can wait.

I’m your man, I’m tryin’ to recover the sweet love that we knew You understand that my heart can’t go on beatin’ without you Well your loveliness has wounded me I’m reelin’ from the blow I wish I knew what it was that keeps me lovin’ you so I’m breathin’ hard, standin’ at the gate Ah, but I don’t know how much longer I can wait.

Absolutely Sweet Marie

Well, your railroad gate, you know I just can’t jump it Sometimes it gets so hard, you see I’m just sitting here beating on my trumpet With all these promises you left for me But where are you tonight, sweet Marie ?

You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere”

Clouds so swift Rain won’t lift Gate won’t close Railings froze Get your mind of wintertime You ain’t goin’ nowhere Whoo-ee ride me high Tomorrow’s the day My bride’s gonna come Oh, oh, are we gonna fly Down in the easy chair !

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x45us6v

Two By Two (2 X X)

One by one they followed the sun One by one until there where none Two by two to their lovers they flew Two by two into the foggy dew.

Three by three they danced on the sea Four by four they danced on the shore Five by five they tried to survive Six by six they were playing with tricks.

How many paths did he try and fail How many of their brothers and sisters linger in jail How much poison did their inhale How many black cats crossed their trail.

Seven by seven they head for heaven Eight by eight their got to the gate Nine by nine they drank the wine Ten by ten they drank it again.

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x45us6u

When He Returns

The iron hand it ain’t no match for the iron rod The strongest wall will crumble and fall to a mighty God For all those who have eyes and all those who have ears It is only He who can reduce me to tears Don’t you cry and don’t you die and don’t you burn Like a thief in the night, he’ll replace wrong with right When he returns.

Truth is an arrow and the gate is narrow that is passes through He unreleased His power at an unknown hour that no one knew How long can I listen to the lies of prejudice ? How long can I stay drunk on fear out in the wilderness ? Can I cast it aside, all this loyalty and this pride ? Will I ever learn that there’ll be no peace, that the war won’t cease Until He returns ?

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x45us70

Simple Twist Of Fate

They sat together in the park As the evening sky grew dark She looked at him and he felt a spark tingle to his bones It was then he felt alone and wished that he’d gone straight And watched out for a simple twist of fate.

They walked alone by the old canal A little confused I remember well And stopped into a strange hotel with a neon burning bright He felt the heat of the night hit him like a freight train Moving with a simple twist of fate.

A saxophone someplace far off played As she was walking on by the arcade As the light bust through a-beat-up shade where he was waking up She dropped a coin into the cup of a blind man at the gate And forgot about a simple twist of fate.

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3vo9r9_bob-dylan-simple-twist-of-fate-live_music

I Want You

The guilty undertaker sighs The lonesome organ grinder cries The silver saxophones say I should refuse you The cracked bells and washed-out horns Blow into my face with scorn But it’s not that way I wasn’t born to lose you I want you, I want you I want you so bad Honey, I want you.

The drunken politician leaps Upon the street where mothers weep And the saviors who are fast asleep They wait for you And I wait for them to interrupt Me drinkin’ from my broken cup And ask for me Open up the gate for you I want you, I want you Yes, I want you so bad Honey, I want you.

Quit Your Low Down Ways

Oh, you can read out your Bible, You can fall down on your knees, pretty mama, And pray to the Lord But it ain’t gonna do no good.

You’re gonna need You’re gonna need my help someday Well, if you can’t quit your sinnin’ Please quit your low down ways.

Well, you can run down to the White House, You can gaze at the Capitol Dome, pretty mama, You can pound on the President’s gate But you oughta know by now it’s gonna be too late.

Everything Is Broken

Broken lines broken strings Broken threads broken springs Broken idols broken heads People sleeping in broken beds Ain’t no use jiving Ain’t no use joking Everything is broken.

Broken bottles broken plates Broken switches broken gates Broken dishes broken parts Streets are filled with broken hearts Broken words never meant to be spoken Everything is broken.

Day Of The Locusts

Oh the benches were stained with tears and perspiration The birdies were flying from tree to tree There was little to say, there was no conversation As I stepped to the stage to pick up my degree And the locusts sang off in the distance Yeah the locusts sang such a sweet melody Oh, the locusts sang off in the distance Yeah, the locusts sang and they were singing for me.

I glanced into the chamber where the judges were talking Darkness was everywhere, it smelled like a tomb I was ready to leave, I was already walkin’ But the next time I looked there was light in the room And the locusts sang, yeah, it give me a chill Oh, the locusts sang such a sweet melody Oh, the locusts sang their high whinning trill Yeah, the locusts sang and they were singing for me.

Outside of the gates the trucks were unloadin’ The weather was hot, a-nearly 90 degrees The man standin’ next to me, his head was exploding Well, I was prayin’ the pieces wouldn’t fall on me Yeah,the locusts sang off in the distance Yeah the locusts sang such a sweet melody Oh, the locusts sang off in the distance And the locusts sang and they were singing for me.

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It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)

While preachers preach of evil fates Teachers teach that knowledge waits Can lead to hundred-dollar plates Goodness hides behind its gates But even the President of the United States Sometimes must have To stand naked.

The Walls Of Redwing

Oh, the gates are cast iron And the walls are barbed wire. Stay far from the fence With the ‘lectricity sting. And it’s keep down your head And stay in your number, Inside the walls, The walls of Red Wing.

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Mutual Forgiveness of each Vice
Such are the Gates of Paradise
Against the Accusers chief desire
Who walkd among the Stones of Fire
Jehovahs Finger Wrote the Law
Then Wept: then rose in Zeal & Awe
And the Dead Corpse from Sinais heat
Buried beneath his Mercy Seat
O Christians Christians tell me Why
You rear it on your Altars high

“Gates Of Eden”
Of war and peace the truth just twists
Its curfew gull it glides
Upon four-legged forest clouds
The cowboy angel rides
With his candle lit into the sun
Though its glow is waxed in black
All except when ‘neath the trees of Eden.The lamppost stands with folded arms
Its iron claws attached
To curbs ‘neath holes where babies wail
Though it shadows metal badge
All and all can only fall
With a crashing but meaningless blow
No sound ever comes from the Gates of Eden.The savage soldiers sticks his head in sand
And then complains
Unto the shoeless hunter who’s gone deaf
But still remains
Upon the beach where hound dogs bay
At ships with tattooed sails
Heading for the Gates of Eden.

With a time-rusted compass blade
Aladdin and his lamp
Sits with Utopian hermit monks
Side saddle on the Golden Calf
And on their promises of paradise
You will not hear a laugh
All except inside the Gates of Eden.
Relationships of ownership
They whisper in the wings
To those condemned to act accordingly
And wait for succeeding kings
And I will try to harmonize with songs
The lonesome sparrow sings
There are no kings inside the Gates of Eden.
The motorcycle black Madonna
Two-wheeled gypsy queen
And her silver-studded phantom cause
The gray flannel dwarf to scream
As he weeps to wicked birds of prey
Who pick up on his bread crumb sins
And there are no sins inside the Gates of Eden.
The kingdoms of Experience
In the precious winds they rot
While paupers change possessions
Each one wishing for what the other has got
And the princess and the prince
Discuss what’s real and what is not
It doesn’t matter inside the Gates of Eden.
The foreign sun, it squints upon
A bed that is never mine
As friends and other strangers
From their fates try to resign
Leaving men wholly totally free
To do anything they wish to do but die
And there are no trials inside the Gates of Eden.
At dawn my lover comes to me
And tells me of her dreams
With no attempts to shovel the glimpse
Into the ditch of what each one means
At times I think there are no words
But these to tell what’s true
And there are no truths outside the Gates of Eden.