Three times and out: the mystery of “Eternal Circle”

By Tony Attwood

Three times and out: This series looks at songs that Dylan performed just three times and then left. Previously we have looked at…

Eternal Circle appeared The Bootleg Series, Vol 1-3 and was performed live on three occasions between 17 May 1963 and 17 May 1964. The studio version appeared on the 50th anniversary collection album.

One of the live versions turned up on “It could even be a myth” with a note saying “Royal Festival Hall, London, UK, 17th May 1964…possibly.” That was according to Discogs.com

The whole “It could even be a myth” album appears on the internet here.

In a discussion on Reddit, it was noted that ‘both “Eternal Circle” and “Restless Farewell” are both based on the melody of the Scottish folksong “The Parting Glass.” Eternal Circle is in C and Restless Farewell a step up in D.

Here’s the Parting Glass

Several websites speak highly of Bob’s song, and Songfacts has a particularly interesting note setting out the tale within the song noting that it is about a woman watching the performer onstage. He finishes his performance only to find she is not there, the idea being that she had been emotionally moved by the song, not the performer.

As the article notes “Dylan created an interesting situation in which he was living out the story of the song even as he was playing it, transfixing his audience with a song about transfixing his audience.”

The same site later reports that while recording the “Times They Are a-Changin’,” Dylan recorded “at least 12 takes of “Eternal Circle,” spanning August 7, August 12, and October 24.”

As the article then notes, “This was an unusually high number of takes for Dylan. Despite his best efforts, something just wasn’t clicking… The fourth take from the August 12 sessions was released on The 50th Anniversary Collection 1963 in 2013.”

What is interesting in all this (to me if no one else) is that if Bob was so keen on the song that he went back to it and recorded it over and over again, why did he only play it three times on stage? That question seems not to have been asked, let alone answered. Maybe some of the “facts” somewhere are not quite right – or perhaps there is something else to be said, that I have missed completetly.

Here’s the studio recording of Eternal Circle… The lyrics are set out below.

I sang the song slowly
As she stood in the shadows
She stepped to the light
As my silver strings spun
She called with her eyes
To the tune I’s a-playin’
But the song it was long
And I’d only begun

Through a bullet of light
Her face was reflectin’
The fast fading words
That rolled from my tongue
With a long-distance look
Her eyes was on fire
But the song it was long
And there was more to be sung

My eyes danced a circle
Across her clear outline
With her head tilted sideways
She called me again
As the tune drifted out
She breathed hard through the echo
But the song it was long
And it was far to the end

I glanced at my guitar
And played it pretendin’
That of all the eyes out there
I could see none
As her thoughts pounded hard
Like the pierce of an arrow
But the song it was long
And it had to get done

As the tune finally folded
I laid down the guitar
Then looked for the girl
Who’d stayed for so long
But her shadow was missin’
For all of my searchin’
So I picked up my guitar
And began the next song

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