Far between sundown's finish an' midnight's broken toll
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We ducked inside the doorway, thunder crashing
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As majestic bells of bolts struck shadows in the sounds
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Seeming to be the chimes of freedom flashing
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Flashing for the warriors whose strength is not to fight
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Flashing for the refugees on the unarmed road of flight
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An' for each an' ev'ry underdog soldier in the night
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An' we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashing.
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In the city's melted furnace, unexpectedly we watched
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With faces hidden as the walls were tightening
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As the echo of the wedding bells before the blowin' rain
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Dissolved into the bells of the lightning
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Tolling for the rebel, tolling for the rake
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Tolling for the luckless, the abandoned an' forsaked
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Tolling for the outcast, burnin' constantly at stake
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An' we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashing.
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Through the mad mystic hammering of the wild ripping hail
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The sky cracked its poems in naked wonder
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That the clinging of the church bells blew far into the breeze
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Leaving only bells of lightning and its thunder
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Striking for the gentle, striking for the kind
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Striking for the guardians and protectors of the mind
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An' the poet an the painter far behind his rightful time
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An' we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashing.
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In the wild cathedral evening the rain unraveled tales
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For the disrobed faceless forms of no position
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Tolling for the tongues with no place to bring their thoughts
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All down in taken-for granted situations
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Tolling for the deaf an' blind, tolling for the mute
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For the mistreated, mateless mother, the mistitled prostitute
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For the misdemeanor outlaw, chased an' cheated by pursuit
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An' we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashing.
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Even though a clouds's white curtain in a far-off corner flashed
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An' the hypnotic splattered mist was slowly lifting
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Electric light still struck like arrows, fired but for the ones
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Condemned to drift or else be kept from drifting
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Tolling for the searching ones, on their speechless, seeking trail
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For the lonesome-hearted lovers with too personal a tale
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An' for each unharmfull, gentle soul misplaced inside a jail
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An' we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashing.
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Starry-eyed an' laughing as I recall when we were caught
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Trapped by no track of hours for they hanged suspended
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As we listened one last time an' we watched with one last look
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Spellbound an' swallowed 'til the tolling ended
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Tolling for the aching whose wounds cannot be nursed
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For the countless confused, accused, misused, strung-out ones an' worse
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An' for every hung-up person in the whole wide universe
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An' we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashing.
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Chimes Of Freedom
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Bob Dylan |