By Daniel Tarade

Nestled in the middle of Bob Dylan’s acclaimed album Blood on the tracks is one of my favourite songs. “You’re Gonna Make me Lonesome When You Go” is an unusually up-tempo Bob Dylan song that stuffs seven stanzas into a whirlwind of song. At 2 min and 54 seconds, the song features no interceding harmonica solos, no chorus, and almost no dead air. This is intentional. The out-of-breath song perfectly encapsulates the feeling of a magical summer fling. Dylan employs a few other strategies to invoke the feeling of an affair rather than relationship. Details of Dylan’s lover are vague while the landscape is described in greater detail; Dylan’s language is passive and features more than a fair bit of second guessing and confusion. All of this creates the impression of Dylan being blindsided by a passionate love and needing to make a tough decision about what to do when the sun sets.

I've seen love go by my door
It's never been this close before
Never been so easy or so slow
I've been shooting in the dark too long
When somethin's not right it's wrong
You're gonna make me lonesome when you go

The song chronicles all stages of a wonderful and brief romance. The opening lines conjure up an image of Dylan adrift at sea under a starless night sky as he falls victim to underwhelming and toxic relationships. Mired in such a situation, Dylan sees “love go by my door” and shoots “in the dark.” Further, the use of passive language betrays the absence of hope and agency; “I’ve seen love…I’ve been shooting.” Reflecting this despair, Dylan can only rely on the simplest of logical statements; “when somethin’s not right it’s wrong.” A prologue lacking more insight foreshadows Dylan being left scratching his head as the rogue wave, about to ravage his ship, leaves him far behind

One important line that juxtaposes the overall mood of the song is Bob Dylan’s description of this magnificent love as “this close…so easy…so slow.” In particular, the description of this love as “so slow” contrasts the overall tempo of the song. Because this is a relative “slow,” not unlike the Einstein anecdote. While Dylan feels comfortable and satisfied and joyful, the rest of the world and its obligations and harshness misses no step and rushes to wait for Dylan at the finish line.

Dragon clouds so high above
I've only known careless love
It always has hit me from below
But this time around it's more correct
Right on target, so direct
You're gonna make me lonesome when you go

By the second stanza, Bob Dylan begins painting an impression of this new relationship — “dragon clouds” now occupy the background of his life. But again, Dylan denies himself agency in this new relationship. He continues to describe this new love as “right on target, so direct,” which applies more to a shark attack than a courtship. This contrasts previous “careless love[s]”that “hit [him] from below.” In both cases, it didn’t depend on how Dylan positioned himself but rather the angle at which he was struck.

To this point, Dylan has yet to describe the person with whom he has fallen in love, except to say that they’re “gonna make [him] lonesome when [they] go.” This evokes that universal feeling of anticipating the end before something even truly begins. Perhaps the dragon clouds are more ominous than they initially let on.

Purple clover, Queen Anne lace
Crimson hair across your face
You could make me cry if you don't know
Can't remember what I was thinkin' of
You might be spoilin' me too much, love
You're gonna make me lonesome when you go

By the third verse, Bob Dylan begins describing the person who captured his heart, yet the description remains vague. In fact, Dylan spends as much time painting the canvas with broad brush strokes, one with both “purple clover and Queen Anne lace.” It is telling that the only description of his romantic interest, “crimson hair across [their] face,” obscures other, more intimate descriptions. You know, like their face. This ambiguity is also mysterious, hinting at a more salacious relationship. So Dylan’s own emotions and confusions remains the subject of the song instead. For example, we learn that “[they] might be spoilin’ [him] too much” but not the ways in which he is spoiled.  

Further, Dylan reasserts the confusing whirlwind of it all, where he “can’t remember what [he] was thinkin’ of,” which plays on the earlier lack of autonomy. So much so, that Dylan would break down “if [they] don’t know.” Dylan loves so much and needs for that to be validated.

Flowers on the hillside, bloomin' crazy
Crickets talkin' back and forth in rhyme
Blue river runnin' slow and lazy
I could stay with you forever
And never realize the time

The song slows down just a tad in the middle verse. Here, Dylan finishes painting the scene of the summer romance’s zenith; “crickets talkin’,” “blue river runnin’,” and “flowers…bloomin’,” the latter calling back to the description of purple clover and Queen Anne lace. In this garden of Eden, Dylan could “stay with [them] forever and never realize the time.” With another explicit reference to time, the blessing/curse dichotomy of temporal reality becomes even more apparent. Dylan could stay with them forever, but this relationship and this song hurry along and finish much too quickly. In fact, this verse speedily transitions into the following by forgoing the “you’re gonna make me lonesome when you go” refrain. With not a single moment to savour the scene, Dylan is left catching his breath.

Situations have ended sad
Relationships have all been bad
Mine have been like Verlaine's and Rimbaud
But there's no way I can compare
All them scenes to this affair
You're gonna make me lonesome when you go

As we enter the final stages of this romance, Dylan again dwells on past relationships. Dylan uses passive language to enumerate how “situations have ended sad” and “relationships have all been bad.” To drive the point home, he further analogizes past relationships as having been “like Verlaine’s and Rimbaud.” Arthur Rimbaud and Paul Verlaine, French poets and gay lovers, fought and drank incessantly, which culminated in Verlaine shooting Rimbaud.

The previous stanza ended with a desire to stay in in a moment forever while the next immediately begins with a line describing how “situations have ended sad.” This foreshadows the ending of this relationship but also Dylan’s denial. Dylan says he cannot “compare” all those dismal “scenes” to this “affair.” But by describing the current relationship this way, Dylan impresses upon the listener the idea of a torrid love affair rather than a stable or healthy long-term relationship. It just feels better than those that came before, at least in the moment. As we are reminded over and over again, Dylan already anticipates feeling “lonely” as this affair winds down, a crumpled-up napkin in a seedy hotel.

You're gonna make me wonder what I'm doin'
Stayin' far behind without you
You're gonna make me wonder what I'm sayin'
You're gonna make me give myself a good talkin' to

Twilight falls. For reasons unknown to us, the relationship ends with the parting of two souls. All we know is that Dylan is “stayin’ far behind with [them]” and his lover is “go[ing].” Such a premature termination leaves Dylan in a state of duress, where he “wonder[s] what [he’s] doin’” and “wonder[s] what [he’s] sayin’.” And while Dylan begins second guessing staying behind (“give myself a good talkin’ to”), the verse again ends abruptly and transitions immediately into the epilogue. When mired in a torrid love affair, perhaps Dylan learned that there is no time for second guessing.

I'll look for you in old Honolul-a
San Francisco, Ashtabula
You're gonna have to leave me now, I know
But I'll see you in the sky above
In the tall grass, in the ones I love
You're gonna make me lonesome when you go

As the relationship ends, as Bob Dylan and their partner part, a promise is made. Even before they leave, Dylan declares he’ll “look for [them] in old Honolul-a, San Francisco, Ashtabula.” This builds on the previous confusion about “staying far behind.” Because physical distance did not precipitate the end of this relationship. Clearly, Dylan is willing to travel the world looking for his love. Rather, a more fundamental cleavage occurred. Dylan’s lover perhaps didn’t want to be tied down and desired freedom from a clingy partner. Or the “affair” in question is literal. Or both. But Dylan remains in denial because he never felt so whole before. At least, this interpretation fits the fast tempo of the song. Something akin to a Roman Holiday coming to an end, but instead of a mutual parting, one half of the once couple is left crushed.

As Dylan stops singing, a harmonica plays out the last half minute. It’s over.

The specific locations named are the smoking guns that validate this entire interpretation; Ellen Bernstein, then twenty-four years old, worked at Columbia records and lived in all three of Honolulu, San Francisco, and Ashtabula. During the writing and recording of Blood on the Tracks, Dylan’s twelve-year marriage to Sara Dylan disintegrated. Jochen Markhorst describes the affair between Bob Dylan and Ellen Bernstein and its influence on this song here.

How exactly would the mood change if the song slowed down? The popular Miley Cyrus cover instead lasts a little over 4 minutes. Just this extra 33% makes a love affair instead feel like a lifelong relationship coming to an end for very different reasons. Because when the song slows down, the lines “I’ll see you in the clouds above, the tall grass, the one’s I love” sound like a death-bed goodbye. The confused “wonder what I’m doing, staying far behind without you” instead sounds like a bereaved widow jumping into the grave, gripping at the casket. But the slow, contemplative tempo does not jive with the lack of description of the red-headed lover. Normally, a eulogy focuses more on those who died rather than the previous, shitty relationships. 

The fact that the Miley Cyrus cover almost works with the lyrical content highlights the subtlety of the Dylan song. He paints an impression of a summer romance without explicating a time frame or a season. Instead, a synergy of fast tempo and bittersweet poetry creates vivid scenes in one’s mind.