Too Late (Band Version) 1983 – Bob Dylan

Too Late is another magnificent outtake from Bob Dylan, recorded during the sessions for his 1983 album Infidels. Imagine writing and recording a song like this and then leaving it unreleased for nearly forty years. Its absence from the Infidels album is puzzling. But if you started worrying about all the great Dylan songs left off his official albums, you would have gone crazy long ago. On the Infidels sessions alone, he left behind other songs like Blind Willie McTell, Someone’s Got a Hold of My Heart & Foot of Pride. He rejects songs that other artists would kill for.

In Too Late, Bob Dylan moves in a feverish stream-of-consciousness style. The lyrics are packed with rapid-fire imagery – mythical, surreal, and constantly shifting. The song touches on death, but also on how people spend their time while they are alive: how they treat others and how they eventually face the consequences of their actions.

The song describes a world full of hypocrisy, selfishness, and betrayal. There’s a feeling of being emotionally shut down and unwilling to forgive or start again. The repeated idea is that the damage has already been done – whatever apology or change might come now simply arrives too late. He let slip this thing he had. It fell apart. It cannot come back together again.

Too Late was finally issued on The Bootleg Series Vol. 16: Springtime in New York 1980–1985 in September 2021. As stated in the Press Music Reviews reference below: ‘it takes in the tail end of Dylan’s Christian phase (1981’s Shot of Love), through his excellent work with Mark Knopfler (1983’s Infidels), up to one of his more criticised studio albums (1985’s Empire Burlesque)‘. That collection captures Dylan during a fascinating period indeed.

Some listeners may have been confused by the label “Band Version” thinking it meant the song was recorded with The Band. It does not. The phrase simply refers to the band demo studio recording, as opposed to the acoustic version Dylan also recorded. According to Bootleg Series co-producer Steve Berkowitz, the song developed quickly during the sessions: there was first the acoustic version, then the full band version, and within a few days the material had evolved into Foot of Pride.

The connection between the two songs is striking. Lyrically they share many of the same lines – too many to mention here – most notably in the final stanza, where Too Late and Foot of Pride contain almost identical wording. However, the focus of the songs is different. Too Late feels more reflective and dream-like, while Foot of Pride sharpens the same material into a fierce attack on hypocrisy and pride. Musically they are quite distinct as well. In that sense, Too Late offers a fascinating glimpse into Dylan’s creative workshop, where songs are not always finished pieces but living material that can transform, merge, or reappear in new forms.

On the subject of Foot of Pride, a big shout-out to one of the very few cover versions of a Bob Dylan song that I think surpasses the original – Lou Reed’s Foot of Pride at the Bob Dylan 30th Anniversary Concert Celebration.

The structure of Too Late brings to my mind two earlier Dylan compositions, Up to Me and Tangled up in Blue from the album Blood on the Tracks. Like those songs, Too Late moves along with a steady refrain, repetitive melody and a flowing storytelling style. Musically, its acoustic strumming and the gentle folk sound reminds me of Maybe by Thom Pace, known from the television series The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams.

[Verse 1]
Well, whether there was a murder I don’t know I wasn’t there
I was busy visiting a friend in jail
There were just two women on the scene at the time
Neither one of ’em saw a thing
Both of ’em were wearing veils
They said it was a natural situation
He reached too high and tumbled back to the ground
You know what they say about being nice to people on your way up
You might meet ’em again on your way back down

[Refrain]
But it’s too late to bring him back
Too late, too late, too late, too late, too late, to bring him back

[Verse 2]
He had a brother named Paul
Hang out at the cafe royal
Where Miss Dolly plays and the reviews have been mixed
Well, he’s pretty to look at
Looking for someone to throw the book at
But you know that he drinks and drinks can be fixed
Sing me one more song about your summer romance
I know you don’t know motherless children
Sing me the one about you and Errol Flynn
In these times of compassion
Where conformity’s a fashion
Say one more stupid thing to me
Before the final nail is driven in

[Refrain]
But it’s too late to bring him back
Too late, too late, too late, too late, too late, to bring him back

[Verse 3]
Dr. Silver Spoon from the empress ballroom
He’s a retired businessman
Who feeds off everyone he’s touched
He gives money to the church and foundations for research
He’s not someone you can play around with to much
But then there’s Rosetta Blake
Who’s been to both sides of the lake
She’s rough to look at
But she’s righteously fit
She’ll feed you coconut bread and spiced buns in bed
You won’t have to worry about sleeping face down with your head in the plate

[Refrain]
But it’s too late to bring him back
Too late, too late, too late, too late, too late, to bring him back

[Verse 4]
You’ll arrange to see your man tonight
Who tells you some secret things you think might open some doors
How to enter the gates of paradise
No not really
More like how to go crazy from carrying a burden that’s never meant to be yours
From the stage they’ll be doing the bumps and the grinds
A whore will pass the hat, collect a hundred grand and say thanks
They like to take all this money from sin, and build big universities to study in
And sing amazing grace all the way to the Swiss bank

[Refrain]
But it’s too late to bring him back
Too late, too late, too late, too late, too late, to bring him back

[Verse 5]
They got some serious people out there man
They can ring your bell and show you how to hold your tongue
They don’t come to party man
They kill babies in the crib and say only the good die young
They don’t believe in mercy and judgment on them is something you’ll never see
They can put your face on a postage stamp
Turn your home into a armed camp
Anyway they want you
That’s the way you’ll be

[Refrain]
But it’s too late to bring him back
Too late, too late, too late, too late, too late, to bring him back

[Verse 6]
Yes I loved him too
I still see him in my mind climbing up that hill
Or was it a wall
I don’t recall
It don’t matter at all honey
And it never will
Ain’t nothin’ left here partner
Just the dust of fools that have left their mark in spades
From now on this will be where you’re from
Let the dead bury the dead
Your time will come
Feel that hot iron glowing now as your raise the shades

[Refrain]
But it’s too late to bring him back
Too late, too late, too late, too late, too late, to bring him back

References:
1. Bob Dylan’s Too Late | Unpublished Song from Bootleg Series Vol. 16 – The Press Music Reviews