anonymous March 23rd, 2008 09:53PM  
I believe this is a man at the end of his life. He realizes that he's too old to do most of the things he used to and is putting away his badge, his gun, and eventually his life.

m320753 October 13th, 2008 08:57AM  
This song along with romance in durango were writen while dylan was making pat garret and billy the kid. Starring kris kristoferson as the kid and james coburn as pat garret. It also had rita coolidge as a woman who loved billy or just a prostitute. bob dylan played the part of alias who in most of the shots he was in he just looked apon what had just happened and never said much. except when he was in a bar and trading post/general store and pat garret told him to go read the labels on the cans while he and billy talked. alias took this literally and he read the labels out loud after a few labels were read the camera turned back to garret but you could still hear dylan reading labels in a bored voice beans-- carrots beans---chicken soup and so on then you heard him say uum string beans. It was hilarious . antway that song was written for the movie and it has to deal with Billie the kid getting shot by pat garret

anonymous November 6th, 2008 02:40PM  
The song is from the movie Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, where Garrett a sheriff was rumoured to be an old friend of the gangster Billy the Kid. Garrett had to make a tough decision to choose his duty over his friendship. The song may perhaps arose in his heart at the moment when he had to shoot down his buddy.

"Mama take this batch off me"
"I can't use it anymore".
by this lines Pat Garrett means he does'nt wanna be sheriff anymore if it's means to kill your friend for the sake of duty.

"It's getting dark too dark to see"
Feel like I m knocking on heaven's door".
here Garrett is trying to denote that the conception of the good and the bad is getting hazy and unclear....and due to dis he's unable to conclude on which side he is or what he's doing is the right thing or not?
As a result it seems he's been denied salvation and an entry into heaven for all the sins he's committed...dat's why he feels like knocking on heaven's door and waiting to be permitted in.........

"Mama put my guns in the ground"
"I can't shoot them anymore"............
Garrett is seen here asking his mama(mother) to put his gun,his weapon of destruction,harmlessly in the ground because he doesn't want to take anymore lives.

"That long black cloud is coming down"
"I feel like I m knocking on heaven's door"
here the long black cloud may have been regarded by Garrett as the elements from the heaven which is keeping a record of all the sins he is doing and it's coming down to question him about his deeds. Still, he's standing outside heaven's door,knocking and begging to be let in.

The song simply deals with the concept of blindfolded thinking and the conflict within oneself when the person's conscience rises to make him realize the true meaning of his deeds.

anonymous June 16th, 2009 06:42AM  
A person who wears a badge to do their duty ( a sherrif possibly, soldier..not likely) has been injured and feels like they will die. They obviously killed in the name of good, because the person expects to go to heaven. The person knows the end is near and will not be able to continue to kill the "bad guys" any longer.. This song is about a killer being humbled at the prospect of his own death. He has lived according to his upbringing and beliefs (mother and heaven)