If Not for You

I first encountered this song (as a child) in its Olivia Newton-John incarnation, but Pandora played the Dylan original tonight and it's a beauty:

If not for you

Babe, the night would see me wide awake

The day would surely have to break

It would not be new, if not for you

If not for you, my sky would fall

Rain would gather, too

Without your love I'd be nowhere at all

I'd be lost, if not for you

If not for you

The winter would hold no spring

Couldn't hear a robin sing

I just wouldn't have a clue, if not for you

Reading the lyrics now, I feel as I've described before on these pages -- that I now understand intimately what was once totally abstract for me: what one experiences in the grasp of an all-encompasing love.

For me, it's not quite as bad as Bob makes it out to be:

It's not that I can't sleep when he's not here, it's just that it doesn't bring me the same comfort or excitement.

It's not that I'd be truly lost without him, just that I wouldn't enjoy knowing right where I am in the same way I do in his arms.

And it's not that the winter would hold no spring, but that I'd be living for the spring rather than relishing what all the seasons have to offer -- including his beloved winter, which I'm actually looking forward to this year.

One final note: if not for Bob's amazing songwriting, George Harrison wouldn't have had this hit. Even sweeter is the two of them singing it together!