Thanks to Mary Clare Kersten, I’ve learned that Bob Dylan’s masterpiece of — in the Kierkegaardian sense — inwardness, “Every Grain of Sand,” has an alternate ending.
Of course it has an alternate ending. Dylan never stops tinkering, never leaves well enough alone, never heeds his own advice when he says: “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” — if indeed he ever says that (and surely even his Bobness must have said it once or twice, even if he asserts, elsewhere, that “everything is broken.”)
The studio version of the song as it appears on Shot of Love, ends thusly:
I am hanging in the balance of the reality of man
Like every sparrow falling, like every grain of sand.
But when Mr. Dylan played the song in Missoula on July 28, and, according to Ms. Kersten, at other times in the past, depending on his mood, the words were:
I am hanging in the balance of His perfect, finished plan,
like every sparrow falling, like every grain of sand.
I don’t really have much to say about the alternate ending. It’s interesting, though. I guess I would read it as a commentary on the original “reality of man.” But now I can’t help but want to try out other alternate endings. “I am hanging in the balance … of … the … of … the …”
… broken Crayola crayon.
… mystery mini-van
red light I just ran
bathtub electric fan
sunburn that’s not a tan
back alley garbage can
sonnet that doesn’t scan
virus-riddled LAN
a lack of bran
… and I’m your biggest fan
Stan the man dancing the can-can
“A man without a plan is not a man”
Jackie Chan
cranberries minus the cran
my beef with the ku klux klan
and listening to Chopin
freaky frying pan
Have a muffin, bran.
I’m pretty sure that’s the version on the Bootleg series. And if that isn’t incentive enough to go and buy the three disc set, you can also hear a dog barking in the background.
Dang, I have that — love the dog barking in the background — but I don’t recall noticing the different lyrics before. I’ll have to give it a listen.
… I am hanging in the balance of a bridge that doesn’t span.
bombs of Pakistan
bells of old St. Anne
canon balls we’d ban
bearded bad man of Iran
arriving where I began
mustachioed Chinaman
World Youth Day Vati-Can
the mom and her daughter, Jan
one month before the election ban
a tug-o-war between Ollie and Stan