Written by Bob Dylan
Recorded 12–13 May 2006 for the Lucky You soundtrack, and released on Tell Tale Signs (2008)
Tabbed by Eyolf Østrem

Key of C#, therefore: capo on 1st fret

Chords:

G/b       x20030 (more precisely G6/b)
F/a       x03211 could also be played Am in lines 4 and 6
G11       3x3211 (could be played 3x3010 or x33010 Csus4 instead)

        C                        G/b       F/a
Well, I wandered alone through a desert of stone
      C            G11    C
And I dreamt of my future wife
   C                          F          C
My sword's in my hand and I'm next in command
                                F/a
In this version of death called life           *)
/b C                    F              C
My plate and my cup are right straight up
                                 F/a
I took a rose from the hand of a child
/b     C                   G/b   F/a
When I kiss your lips, the honey drips
          C               G11        C
I'm gonna have to put you down for a while

Every day we meet on any old street
And you're in your girlish prime
The short and the tall are coming to the ball
I go there all the time
Behind every tree there's something to  see
The river is  wider than a mile
I tried you twice, you can't be nice
I'm gonna have to put you  down for a  while

Here come the nurse with money in her purse
Here come the ladies and men
You push it all in, and you've no chance to win
You play 'em on down to the end
I'm laying in the sand getting a sunshine tan
Moving along riding in style
From my toes to my head you knock me dead
I'm gonna have to put you down for a while

I count the years and i shed no tears
I'm blinded to what might have been
Nature's voice makes my heart rejoice
Play me the wild song of the wind
I found hopeless love in the room above
When the sun and the weather were one
You're as fine as wine, I ain't handing you no line
I'm gonna have to put you down for a while

All the merry little elves can go hang themselves
My faith is as cold as can be                           **)
I'm stacked high to the roof, and I'm not without proof
If you don't believe me, come see.
You think i'm blue I think so too
In my words you'll find no guile
The game's gotten old The deck's gone cold
And i'm gonna have to put you down for a while

The game's gotten old The deck's gone cold
I'm gonna have to put you down for a while

*) Cf. Peter Green’s translation of Ovid’s “Tristia and the Black Sea Letters”, page 124: “if such a version of death can be called ‘life.’”

**) Cf. Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew, IV. 3: “Faith, as cold as can be”. (the reference was communicated to me by Brad Sanders).