17. Where Are You Tonight (Journey Through Dark Heat) With Kait Runevitch (The Bob Dylan Fan Club)

Welcome to Songs of Experience: A Bob Dylan Podcast, where we explore the man and the music one song at a time. Henry welcomes dear friend and co-founder of The Bob Dylan Fan Club, Kait Runevitch to discuss 1978's Where Are You Tonight? (Journey Through Dark Heat).  Where Are You Tonight? (Journey Through Dark Heat)Written by: Bob DylanThere’s a long-distance train rolling through the rainTears on the letter I writeThere’s a woman I long to touch and I miss her so muchBut she’s drifting like a satelliteThere’s a neon light ablaze in this green smoky hazeLaughter down on Elizabeth StreetAnd a lonesome bell tone in that valley of stoneWhere she bathed in a stream of pure heatHer father would emphasize you got to be more than streetwiseBut he practiced what he preached from the heartA full-blooded Cherokee, he predicted to meThe time and the place that the trouble would startThere’s a babe in the arms of a woman in a rageAnd a longtime golden-haired stripper onstageAnd she winds back the clock and she turns back the pageOf a book that no one can writeOh, where are you tonight?The truth was obscure, too profound and too pureTo live it you have to explodeIn that last hour of need, we entirely agreedSacrifice was the code of the roadI left town at dawn, with Marcel and St. JohnStrong men belittled by doubtI couldn’t tell her what my private thoughts wereBut she had some way of finding them outHe took dead-center aim but he missed just the sameShe was waiting, putting flowers on the shelfShe could feel my despair as I climbed up her hairAnd discovered her invisible selfThere’s a lion in the road, there’s a demon escapedThere’s a million dreams gone, there’s a landscape being rapedAs her beauty fades and I watch her undrapeI won’t but then again, maybe I mightOh, if I could just find you tonightI fought with my twin, that enemy within’Til both of us fell by the wayHorseplay and disease is killing me by degreesWhile the law looks the other wayYour partners in crime hit me up for nickels and dimesThe guy you were lovin’ couldn’t stay cleanIt felt outa place, my foot in his faceBut he should-a stayed where his money was greenI bit into the root of forbidden fruitWith the juice running down my legThen I dealt with your boss, who’d never known about lossAnd who always was too proud to begThere’s a white diamond gloom on the dark side of this roomAnd a pathway that leads up to the starsIf you don’t believe there’s a price for this sweet paradiseRemind me to show you the scarsThere’s a new day at dawn and I’ve finally arrivedIf I’m there in the morning, baby, you’ll know I’ve survivedI can’t believe it, I can’t believe I’m aliveBut without you it just doesn’t seem rightOh, where are you tonight?  Follow us on Instagram @songsofbob,If you would like to support hosting my podcasts, please check out my Patreon where for $5 I will give you a shout out on the podcast of your choice. Thank you to, Rob Kelly, Roberta Rakove, Matt Simonson, and Christopher Vanni. For $10, in addition to the shout-out I'll send you a surprise piece of Bob Dylan merch! Thank you to Kaitie Cerovec who is already enjoying her merch! I have a merch shop! Check out all sorts of fun Bob Dylan (and more) items! Thank you to Mark Godfrey, & Linda Maultsby over on Substack.Email us at [email protected]: YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Substack.