It's not dark yet, but it's gettin' there
On the wall behind my desk is a photo of Bob Dylan performing at a concert in Bologna on 27 September 1997 and behind him sits a contemplative Pope John Paul II. It's a marvellous image. As one person who was there noted: "After a sermon of about twenty minutes, Dylan and band suddenly appear on stage and start with Knockin' on Heaven's Door. He wears a beige stetson hat, a black cravat and a black suit with white piping. The band is in grey or black suits. The performance is nothing special except for the lyric "I'm looking up to the skies, feeling like I'm knockin' on heaven's door" which I hadn't heard before. Without a word to the audience or as much as a smile, he launches into A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall." Given that the Pope is now at death's door, the appropriate Dylan lyrics at this moment are those from Time Out of Mind, the 1997 album that featured Not Dark Yet:
Shadows are falling and I've been here all day
It's too hot to sleep time is running away
Feel like my soul has turned into steel
I've still got the scars that the sun didn't heal
There's not even room enough to be anywhere
It's not dark yet, but it's getting there
"Dylan goes towards the Pope's stage, doesn't know what to do with his hands and nearly trips over the steps while he takes his stetson off. Then he kisses the Pope's ring and talks briefly with him. The Pope picks up his sermon again and repeats the key ideas. Suddenly again, a hatless Dylan and band are back onstage to perform a beautiful Forever Young." As the man said, it's not dark yet, but it's getting there.
