Besides - Sylvia Tyson was prettier!
ps: thank you for writing out the words.
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Here is Bob's original rendition. I've always loved Bob's vocal phrasing and inflections in this song and all his songs.
Tomorrow Is a Long Time
Written by: Bob Dylan
If today was not an endless highway
If tonight was not a crooked trail
If tomorrow wasn’t such a long time
Then lonesome would mean nothing to you at all
Yes, and only if my own true love was waitin’
Yes, and if I could hear her heart a-softly poundin’
Yes, and only if she was lyin’ by me
Then I’d lie in my bed once again
I can’t see my reflection in the waters
I can’t speak the sounds that show no pain
I can’t hear the echo of my footsteps
Or can’t remember the sound of my own name
Yes, and only if my own true love was waitin’
Yes, and if I could hear her heart a-softly poundin’
Yes, and only if she was lyin’ by me
Then I’d lie in my bed once again
There’s beauty in the silver, singin’ river
There’s beauty in the sunrise in the sky
But none of these and nothing else can touch the beauty
That I remember in my true love’s eyes
Yes, and only if my own true love was waitin’
Yes, and if I could hear her heart a-softly poundin’
Yes, and only if she was lyin’ by me
Then I’d lie in my bed once again
Copyright © 1963 by Warner Bros. Inc.; renewed 1991 by Special Rider Music
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In 1962, a 21 year old folksinger/songwriter by the name of Bob Dylan wrote a beautiful love song to his beautiful girl friend Suze Rotolo.
The album cover (rel 1963) "The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan" showed Bob Dylan and Suze Rotolo walking down Jones Street together in Greenwich Village.
For some reason, Bob's love song "Tomorrow Is A Long Time" did not make the album cut, but when he sang it at The Bitter End in Greenwich Village,
Canadian folksingers Ian & Sylvia liked it so much, they asked Bob Dylan if they could record it.
Bob jokingly told them it would cost a couple of cigarettes.
Ian Tyson gladly gave Bob Dylan a whole pack of Belvedere Cigarettes and the deal was done:
There's beauty in the silver singing river,
There's beauty in the sunrise in the sky,
But none of this and nothing else can match the beauty,
That I remember in my true love's eyes.
- Bob Dylan
(I think Suze Rotolo had gone to Italy)
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re: "Tomorrow Is A Long Time"
In back of their second album (liner notes) for Vanguard Records (1963) "Four Strong Winds" ~ Ian & Sylvia says:
"Bob Dylan can write a fine, tender love song when he has a mind to. And this is one of his best."


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