Ballad in Plain D Chords & Lyrics by Bob Dylan
Ballad in Plain D
guitar chords lyrics
Ballad in Plain D
C Am F C
I once loved a girl, her skin it was bronze
Am Bb F
With the innocence of a lamb, she was gentle like a fawn
C Am F C
I courted her proudly, but now she is gone
G G7 C G G6 G7
Gone as the season she's ta--ken.
C Am F C
In a young summer's youth, I stole her away
Am Bb F
From her mother and sister, though close did they stay
C Am F C
Each one of them suffering from the failures of their day
G C
With strings of guilt they tried hard to guide us.
C Am F C
Of the two sisters, I loved the young
Am Bb F
With sensitive instincts, she was the creative one
C Am F C
The constant scrapegoat, she was easily undone
G C
By the jealousy of others around her.
C Am F C
For her parasite sister, I had no respect
Am Bb F
Bound by her boredom, her pride to protect
C Am F C
Countless visions of the other she'd reflect
G C
As a crutch for her scenes and her society.
C Am F C
Myself, for what I did, I cannot be excused
Am Bb F
The changes I was going through can't even be used
C Am F C
For the lies that I told her in hopes not to lose
G C
The could-be dream-lover of my lifetime.
C Am F C
With unseen consciousness, I possessed in my grip
Am Bb F
A magnificent mantelpiece, though its heart being chipped
C Am F C
Noticing not that I'd already slipped
G G7 C
To a sin of love's false security.
C Am F C
From silhouetted anger to manufactured peace
Am Bb F
Answers of emptiness, voice vacancies
C Am F C
Till the tombstones of damage read me no question but, "Please
G G7 C
What's wrong and what's exactly the matter?"
C Am F C
And so it did happen, like it could have been foreseen
Am Bb F
The timeless explosion of fantasy's dream
C Am F C
At the peak of the night, the king and the queen
G C
Tumbled all down into pieces.
C Am F C
"The tragic figure" her sister did shout
C Am Bb F
"Leave her alone, God damn you, get out"
C Am F C
And I in my armour, turning about
G
And nailing her in the ruins of her pettiness.
C Am F C
Beneath a bare light bulb the plaster did pound
Am Bb F
Her sister and I in a screaming battleground
C Am F C
And she in between, the victim of sound
G C
Soon shattered as a child to the shadows.
C Am F C
All is gone, all is gone, admit it, take flight
Am Bb F
I gagged in contradiction, tears blinding my sight
C Am F C
My mind it was mangled, I ran into the night
G C
Leaving all of love's ashes behind me.
C Am F C
The wind knocks my window, the room it is wet
Am Bb F
The words to say I'm sorry, I haven't found yet
C Am F C
I think of her often and hope whoever she's met
G C
Will be fully aware of how precious she is.
C Am F C
Ah, my friends from the prison, they ask unto me
Am Bb F
"How good, how good does it feel to be free"?
C Am F C
And I answer them most mysteriously
G G7 C
"Are birds free from the chains of the skyway"?
