by Bob Dylan



Crickets are chirpin', the water is high,

There's a soft cotton dress on the line hangin' dry,

Window wide open, African trees

Bent over backwards from a hurricane breeze.

Not a word of goodbye, note even a note,

She gone with the man

In the long black coat.



Somebody seen him hanging around

At the old dance hall on the outskirts of town,

He looked into her eyes when she stopped to ask

If he wanted to dance, he had a face like a mask.

Somebody said from the Bible he'd quote

There was dust on the man

In the long black coat.



Preacher was a talkin' there's a sermon he gave,

He said every man's conscience is vile and depraved,

You cannot depend on it to be your guide

When it's you who must keep it satisfied.

It ain't easy to swallow, it sticks in the throat,

She gave her heart to the man

In the long black coat.



There are no mistakes in life some people say

It is true sometimes you can see it that way.

Bridge: But people don't live or die, people just float.

She went with the man

In the long black coat.



There's smoke on the water, it's been there since June,

Tree trunks uprooted, 'neath the high crescent moon

Feel the pulse and vibration and the rumbling force

Somebody is out there beating the dead horse.

She never said nothing there was nothing she wrote,

She gone with the man

In the long black coat