Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Like all Dylan songs, “I Was Young When I Left Home” is densely layered with truth and meaning. On the surface it appears to be a straightforward autobiographical ballad, but when you dig a little deeper you’ll find a theme of shame and homecoming that is common to every one of us.
In essence, the...
[Chorus]
I was young when I left home
But I been out a-rambling around
And I never wrote a letter to my home
To my home, Lord, to my home
And I never wrote a letter to my home
[Verse 1]
It was just the other day
I was bringing home my pay
When I met an old friend I used to know
[Verse 2]
Said your mother’s dead and gone
Baby sister’s all gone wrong
And your daddy needs you home right away
[Verse 3]
Not a shirt on my back
Not a penny on my name
Well I can’t go home Thisaway
Thisaway, Lord, Lord, Lord
And I can’t go home Thisaway
[Verse 4]
If you miss the train I’m on
Count the days I’m gone
You will hear that whistle blow a hundred miles
A hundred miles, honey baby. Lord Lord Lord
And you’ll hear that whistle blow a hundred miles
[Verse 5]
I’m playing on a track
Ma would come and whoop me back
On them trestles down by old Jim McKay’s
[Verse 6]
When I pay the debt I owe
To the commissary store
I will pawn my watch and chain and go home
Go home, Lord Lord Lord
I will pawn my watch and chain and go home
[Verse 7]
Used to tell Ma sometimes
When I see them riding blinds
Going to make me a home out in the wind
In the wind, Lord in the wind
Make me a home out in the wind
[Verse 8]
I don’t like it in the wind
Want to go back home again
But I can’t go home Thisaway
Thisaway, Lord Lord Lord
And I can’t go home Thisaway
[Chorus]
I Was Young When I Left Home was written by Bob Dylan.