The other day I had a verbal exchange with a friend about =93Don=92t Fall
Apart On Me Tonight=94. She dismissed it as a whiney throwaway, and I
disagreed. Yes, he=92s begging her to stay because he can=92t bear being
alone this night. He=92s bummed out =96 expressing regret as well as
desire to do more for her than he=92s capable of doing at the moment.
He=92s feeling stuck, as he expresses so clearly with his =93stuck inside
a painting=94 image -- even more potent to me than the more famous
=93stuck inside of Mobile=94 image -- and he clearly has the blues. I
identified with the narrator in this song. I know what it=92s like to
feel frozen in place and need the reassurance of another person to
help me free myself. My friend identified with the woman. =93Yeah. he=92ll
even give her his chair. Whoop-dee- doo. As soon as he=92s feeling
better, he=92ll be off to Atlantic City again.=94 My friend=92s
boyfriend is a compulsive gambler. I asked what she thought about the
second part of the song. She said he was faux flattering her with the
Clark Gable line and she called him silver-tongued. I wanted to
discuss how the second part of the song seems almost like another
song. All of a sudden there are people walking toward her, whereas I
had envisioned them alone. Are they at a party perhaps? And who are
the mudcake creatures? Hardly a throwaway song to me.
What=92s your take on the song? Have you been aware of bringing baggage
to this or any
other Dylan song lately?
Don=92t Fall Apart On Me Tonight
Just a minute before you leave, girl,
Just a minute before you touch the door.
What is it that you're trying to achieve, girl?
Do you think we can talk about it some more?
You know, the streets are filled with vipers
Who've lost all ray of hope,
You know, it ain't even safe no more
In the palace of the Pope.
Don't fall apart on me tonight,
I just don't think that I could handle it.
Don't fall apart on me tonight,
Yesterday's just a memory,
Tomorrow is never what it's supposed to be
And I need you, yeah.
Come over here from over there, girl,
Sit down here. You can have my chair.
I can't see us goin' anywhere, girl.
The only place open is a thousand miles away and I can't take you
there.
I wish I'd have been a doctor,
Maybe I'd have saved some life that had been lost,
Maybe I'd have done some good in the world
'Stead of burning every bridge I crossed.
Don't fall apart on me tonight,
I just don't think that I could handle it.
Don't fall apart on me tonight,
Yesterday's just a memory,
Tomorrow is never what it's supposed to be
And I need you, oh, yeah.
I ain't too good at conversation, girl,
So you might not know exactly how I feel,
But if I could, I'd bring you to the mountaintop, girl,
And build you a house made out of stainless steel.
But it's like I'm stuck inside a painting
That's hanging in the Louvre,
My throat start to tickle and my nose itches
But I know that I can't move.
Don't fall apart on me tonight,
I just don't think that I could handle it.
Don't fall apart on me tonight,
Yesterday's gone but the past lives on,
Tomorrow's just one step beyond
And I need you, oh, yeah.
Who are these people who are walking towards you?
Do you know them or will there be a fight?
With their humorless smiles so easy to see through,
Can they tell you what's wrong from what's right?
Do you remember St. James Street
Where you blew Jackie P.'s mind?
You were so fine, Clark Gable would have fell at your feet
And laid his life on the line.
Let's try to get beneath the surface waste, girl,
No more booby traps and bombs,
No more decadence and charm,
No more affection that's misplaced, girl,
No more mudcake creatures lying in your arms.
What about that millionaire with the drumsticks in his pants?
He looked so baffled and so bewildered
When he played and we didn't dance.
Don't fall apart on me tonight,
I just don't think that I could handle it.
Don't fall apart on me tonight,
Yesterday's just a memory,
Tomorrow is never what it's supposed to be
And I need you, yeah.
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