“Gone but not forgotten.” The only place you will find the lyrics to this Dylan song

By Tony Attwood

I started to review “Gone but not forgotten” but stopped because I was having such a problem with the words.   Larry and Aaron worked on the lyrics and came up with this – something it was necessary for “Untold” to do because no one else has tried.  Not even the official Dylan site.

(Dear Official Bob Dylan site, if you use our version would you like to give Larry and Aaron a credit – oh and maybe mention Untold Dylan too?.  But get their names right – its Larry Fyffe and Aaron Gailbraith – Aaron having spotted the song and alerted Untold to it.  Got that?  Good.)

[Alternative versions of unclear lines are in square brackets]

Now the point of running this again, rather than leaving the lyrics as an addendum to my very brief review last time is that to me (and as always it is just to me) the song makes much, much more sense with the lyrics printed out than it does without – simply because to my English ears much of the singing was unintelligible.

And of course it is the lyrics that we are here for – because Dylan wrote them.  But now with lyrics and music we can, I believe, really appreciate this song.

The song is here:  https://bearandbanjo.com/

For the first verse I have also added in brackets the guitar chords as I hear them

Gone but not forgotten [Am Gm Am Gm]
Cryin’ wouldn’t make her stay [Am Gm C]
Oh, she left me early one mornin’ [Am Gm Am Gm]
Just got up and walked away [Am Gm C]

Nineteen bird dogs, and one old measly hound
take all twenty of them to track my baby down, [six and twenty others to track my baby down]
two trains running neither of them going where I have to go [She says, ‘Honey, neither of’em goin’ where I have to go]
one going to Houston, one going to San Antonio [One goin’ to Navy, two of’em goin’ to San Antanio’]

She’s gone but not forgotten
Cryin’ wouldn’t make her stay
Oh, she left me early one mornin’
Just got up and walked away

Ain’t no difference any name of the women I meet
Some live on the first floor, some live right above the street
Some walk in high heels
Some others in their stocking feet

Lookin out my window
While the rain falls three days straight
sometimes I wonder how long my baby’s gonna make me wait

Gone but not forgotten
Cryin’ wouldn’t make her stay
Oh, she left me early one mornin’
Just got up and walked away

I can’t sleep
Till my heart has a beat
Don’t want to talk to nobody, oh no
Ain’t got no appetite to eat

Gone but not forgotten
Cryin’ wouldn’t make her stay
Oh, she left me early one mornin’
Just got up and walked away

Hope you enjoyed that.  As I say, no one else seems to have considered it.  My eternal thanks to Aaron and Larry.

The original review with more information on the origins of  the song appears at

• Gone But Not Forgotten: the initial commentary

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