Sometimes feel so low-down and disgusted,

Can't help but wonder what's a-happening to my companions:

Are they lost or are they found? Have they counted the cost it'll take to bring down

All their earthly principles they're gonna have to abandon?

For there's a slow – there's a slow, slow train coming.

I had a woman down in Alabama,

She was a backwoods girl, but she sure was realistic,

She said, "Boy, without a doubt, gotta quit your mess and straighten out,

You could die down here, be another accident statistic."

For there's a slow––said there's a slow, slow train coming.

Man's ego's inflated, you know, his laws are outdated,

You can't rely no more to be standing around waiting.

In the home of the brave, Jefferson in his grave,

Fools glorify themselves trying to manipulate Satan –

For there's a slow––said there's a slow, slow train coming.

All that foreign oil – American soil –

That don't apply no more¹ – all from parts of Paris.

[incomprehensible] in the grave² – in American future –

Look around you, it's just bound to make you embarrassed!

Oh, God, 'cause when – Amsterdam and Paris –

But there's a slow – yeah, there's a slow – there's a slow train coming.

Well, my baby went to Illinois with some boy she could destroy,

He was [incomprehensible], there was nothing I could do to stop it.

Oh, lose your inhibition [incomprehensible]³ –

But it sure – my loved ones turning into puppets –

There's a slow – there's a slow, slow train coming,

For there's a slow – there's a slow, slow train coming.⁴

¹ Dylan inserts part of a line here (although I'm not certain exactly what he says) that should have been in the preceding verse (the whole line: "They don't apply no more, you can't rely no more to be standing around waiting.") and the rest of the line is clearly based on the correct line ("Deciding America's future from Amsterdam into Paris"), yet it is altered in a way that makes it senseless. For a good discussion of this song, read Paul Williams's Bob Dylan: Performing Artist 1986 & Beyond, pg. 57.

² Again, Dylan is obviously injecting part of an earlier verse into the line, accidentally. The relevant phrase: "Jefferson turning over in his grave".

³ Though part of what Dylan sings is incomprehensible, there is enough here to recognize it as part of another verse, which is most likely accidental. The relevant line: "They say, 'Lose your inhibition, follow your own ambition'".

⁴ This last verse is really just a mixture of the sixth and seventh verses of the album version and obviously it makes little sense grammatically. The lyrics are practically mumbled and there is little feeling in the lines. Some parts that were either incomprehensible or inaudible are simply indicated by a dash.

Slow Train