Welch, Gillian - Scarlet Town Lyrics

ISRAHELL is the mother of prostitutes and abominations of the earth. Who is the evil broad in the picture posing like Baphomet?

Hell on wheels brought me here. Like it! 😊

so 461,571 people gave a thumbs up and 60 thumbs down...
hmmmm.
that 60 winds up being .00013... well in the range of typical douchebag outliers

I love this and recommend the version by Chris Thile and Brad Meldau. It's a live performance on YouTube.

They have recorded it for their studio album from 2017.

Look at that deep well..look at dark ray...ringing that iron bell...in Scarlet Town today...what a gr8 duo...

This beautiful so much thank you Gillian

The 53 dislikes to this song are Dylan fans. I guarantee it.

gotta tell ya--I've been around, and these two artists are as good as it gets.

No one wants to ban every gun in America. Don't listen to the lies.

Well, they need not ban *every* gun, just the ones that actually matter. But ... why are we even talking about this, in *this* thread??

"Scarlet Town"

Buddy I went down to Scarlet Town
Never been there before
You slept on a feather bed
I slept on the floor

I don't mind a lean old time
Or drinking my coffee cold
But the things I seen in Scarlet Town
Did mortify my soul

Look at that deep well
Look at that dark grave
Ringing that iron bell
In Scarlet Town today

I spent some time in New Orleans
And came along a bend
But Scarlet Town brought me down
Low as I ever been

Look at that deep well
Look at that dark grave
Ringing that iron bell
In Scarlet Town today

On the day I came to Scarlet Town
You promised I'd be your bride
You left me here to rot away
Like holly on a mountainside

Look at that deep well
Look at that dark ray
Ringing that iron bell
In Scarlet Town today

Now you may hide in Scarlet Town
For a hundred years or more
But the man who knows what time it is
Is knocking at the door

So fare you well, my own true love
If you never see me around
I'll be looking through a telescope
From hell to Scarlet Town

Look at that deep well
Look at that dark ray
Ringing that iron bell
In Scarlet Town today

I've listened to this song so many times and I just noticed this meaningful knocking: 2:38.

I am always amazed how they can transform a song about murder most macabre, rape and murder, "Caleb Meyer", and through their musical interpretation turn it into a song you can dance to. That is truly alchemical magic! You two are really a gift to the world!! Gillian and David, your music is a healing in and of itself. Thank you both for your gift to the world.

This is fucking splendid, Dylan fan or not!

Reminds me of 6 weeks in Las Vegas, chasing the past. Never again. Mark Twain said it isn't that there's too many stupid people... It's that there isn't enuf lightning!

Buddy I went down to Scarlet Town
Never been there before
You slept on a feather bed
I slept on the floor

I don't mind a lean old time
Or drinking my coffee cold
But the things I seen in Scarlet Town
Did mortify my soul

Look at that deep well
Look at that dark grave
Ringing that iron bell
In Scarlet Town today

I spent some time in New Orleans
And came along a bend
But Scarlet Town brought me down
Low as I ever been

Look at that deep well
Look at that dark grave
Ringing that iron bell
In Scarlet Town today

On the day I came to Scarlet Town
You promised I'd be your bride
You left me here to rot away
Like holly on a mountainside

Look at that deep well
Look at that dark ray
Ringing that iron bell
In Scarlet Town today

Now you may hide in Scarlet Town
For a hundred years or more
But the man who knows what time it is
Is knocking at the door

So fare you well, my own true love
If you never see me around
I'll be looking through a telescope
From hell to Scarlet Town

Look at that deep well
Look at that dark ray
Ringing that iron bell
In Scarlet Town today

Hell on Wheels

+Berserker Fate
The Best....

Why Dylan fans?

Pick that gee-tar son...

The 7 dislikes to this song are Dylan fans. I guarantee it.

LOL. You mean the 2016 Literature Nobel Prize or to the other?

are we talking about bob dylan? if so, have all of you lost your minds? (i still like this song)

If Dylan got a Nobel prize, Welch and Rawlings should get 10. Their work is superior in every way.

Dylan is equally as talented as Dave and Gillian. He won the Nobel prize because of his talent. Dave and Gil are stellar and deserve the award also.

i am going to kill you and your family

I saw Gillian Welch at the Warfield in SF right after the LP was released. What a great show. I went alone, something new... The first set was the complete H & H LP. I don't think it had been out long enough for most folks to have heard. A sparse set- up. Alone on a huge stage, one of the finest in the city. Two people w/ two monitors, a few mics. Each played banjo, each took turns on the harmonica. After a short break they played the best of the best of. She ham-boned, she clogged. It was the best show I've seen.

These two were the opening act for Buffalo Springfield at the Santa Barbara Bowl when I saw them on June 7,2011(?)...great live!

@Blueshound4u2  Buffalo Springfield is still around as of 2011?

very true, he is an inspiring guitarist.

And he does this while laying down those haunting harmonies. The pair of them are nothing short of amazing.

To prevent someone snarkier answering - Gillian Welch on vocals.

heard this song on mark knopfler live in paris , so , shazam and yeehaa

great tv show!

I have to admit, I found this by chance when I looked up Bob Dylan's Scarlet Town, and now I'm enchanted.

And not a lot of people know that Barbara/Barbary/ Allan/Ellen is a political satire on the death of King Charles II, whose last mistress lived in the town of Reading ( pronounced Redding ).
As I say, not a lot of people......

One woman in my life maybe 2..Juliette lewis and Gillian..Lord let her know I love her soo...jus achild I am rotting away to pay my dues awake.Selah amen

finally, 255 people can agree on something

thanks,i heard Dylans Scarlet... and listened to Pete Seeger's Barbara Allen...yeah i was going with the opening line...I'm glad you called them Welch/Rawlings..i think of them as a "Duo"...Dave is a great Guitar player...

Could be. A snippet of Dylan's Scarlet Town can be heard on You Tube. If you are interested in hearing, type this into the search box: ST TempBD
Dylan singing Barbara Allen can also be found on You Tube using a simple search.

(Dylan's Scarlet Town & Barbara Allen both open with the words "In Scarlet Town" but I'm sure Dylan is no doubt familiar with the work of Welch/Rawlings - just as Welch/Rawlings are likely to be familiar with the traditional Barbara Allen)

could be either song,Bob's heard both,don't ya think??

Dylan's source is more likely to have came from the 17th century Scots/Irish folk song "Barbara Allen".....

In Scarlet Town, where I was born,
There was a fair maid dwellin'
Made every youth cry well-a-day
Her name was Barbara Allen.

Dylan has a new song on Tempest,Scarlet Town.. wonder were he got the idea!

music is still alive

It's remarkable how music translates without the need for translation.

Why? The money manufacturing machine is a money manufacturing machine that has learned to appeal to people in such a manner as to maximize its take. Forget about the Borg.

Wow! Gillian, and Rawlings are the best!

that is so true.

when i first heard this album, i just thought to myself how much i missed gw & dr. this is the good stuff.

Most guitar players gain a reputation for how they CAN play, Rawlings is great because of what he PICKS to play. IF I had the chops and practice to play like he does, I just wouldn't think to play the genius notes he finds, and I still wouldn't be as good.

Also please note: In a type of music that uses repetition and variation off repetition, he almost never plays the same thing twice in the same song...listen close!

No he's a prodigy

This would have blown people away in the 60's, 70s, 80s and on up to me being blown away today. The odds against two perfectly complementary geniuses like this coming together are...well, just glad it happened in my lifetime, coz it's like a petabazillion-to-1

someone please tell me why Gillian Welch don't get much air time on the radio and lady gaga more than she deserve? this is 1000X better!!

oH God this girls music is what I NEEDED. Why did no one tell me about her before. Sinfull Soulfull Real Inspiring!

love this.

I'm Italian.
Great music nothing to say.
Hail from Italy!

Absolutely the purest of music. You don't hear music this good often.

But tha man who knows what time it is, is knocking on the door......awesome awesome!!!

Nice song. Exploration continues.

Just got back from their concert in Grand Rapids - all I have to say is if you have a chance to see the perform live, *do it*, they are anazing!

Fantastic piece of work :)