This week, Jim is seeking songs recorded at the famous Muscle Shoals studio in Alabama. As he notes, there are certainly plenty to chose from. However, I had already made my own choice before I finished reading Jim’s post last week, when he indicated that he was going to write about Bob Dylan’s ‘Gotta Serve Somebody’. So was I, Jim, so was I.
But hey, you’re the boss, so instead I’m going for ‘Slow Train’, another track from the 1979 album ‘Slow Train Coming’. I have to say that this is not an album that I was particularly familiar with. At this point, Bob had got religion and I had lots of other things going on, and in fact my effective introduction to it was from the 1987 album ‘Dylan And The Dead’ (which also features ‘Gotta Serve Somebody’, in my opinion the standout track on that particular release).
He may have embraced Christianity, but he was still angry…
Sometimes I feel so low-down and disgusted
Can’t help but wonder what’s happening to my companions
Are they lost or are they found, have they counted the cost it’ll take to bring down
All their earthly principles they’re gonna have to abandon ?
There’s slow, slow train coming up around the bend.
I had a woman down in Alabama
She was a backwoods girl, but she sure was realistic
She said, Boy, without a doubt, have to quit your mess and straighten out
You could die down here, be just another accident statistic
There’s slow, slow train coming up around the bend.
All that foreign oil controlling American soil
Look around you, it’s just bound to make you embarrassed
Sheiks walking around like kings, wearing fancy jewels and nose rings
Deciding America’s future from Amsterdam and to Paris
And there’s slow, slow train coming up around the bend.
Man’s ego is inflated, his laws are outdated, they don’t apply no more
You can’t rely no more to be standing around waiting
In the home of the brave, Jefferson turning over in his grave
Fools glorifying themselves, trying to manipulate Satan
And there’s slow, slow train coming up around the bend.
Big-time negotiators, false healers and woman haters
Masters of the bluff and masters of the proposition
But the enemy I see wears a cloak of decency
All non-believers and men stealers talking in the name of religion
And there’s slow, there’s slow train coming up around the bend.
People starving and thirsting, grain elevators are bursting
Oh, you know it costs more to store the food than it do to give it
They say loose your inhibitions, follow your own ambitions
They talk about a life of brotherly love, show me someone who knows how to live it
There’s slow, slow train coming up around the bend.
Well, my baby went to Illinois with some bad-talking boy she could destroy
A real suicide case, but there was nothing I could do to stop it
I don’t care about economy, I don’t care about astronomy
But it’s sure do bother me to see my loved ones turning into puppets
There’s slow, slow train coming up around the bend.
Written by Bob Dylan
the only deadhead in the hameau 
We can always both write about the same song, and I tell everyone what I am going to use a week in advance because I already have that post written. You did great with ‘Slow Train’ and I couldn’t have wanted to watch a better video. There is a lot going on in this song, and Bob dos seem angry.
I always felt that Bob Dylan did not enjoy much being in front of public….. Great great song.