I like Bob’s 1980 song Saving Grace for a lot of reasons. For one, I find I can very satisfyingly jam along on it with an old C-harmonica I have, although I’m far from being any kind of harmonica player. Bob himself doesn’t play harmonica on the recorded track, so it’s nice to be able to inject that flavor without his clumsy interference.

Another reason I like it is due to the lyric’s complete and total nakedness, and how the song is happy to dwell right on the heart of the matter — and right on the heart of all that matters, indeed, to a believer when undistracted by the fog and noise of the world.

The first verse says, “Forgive me.”

If You find it in Your heart, can I be forgiven?
Guess I owe You some kind of apology.
I’ve escaped death so many times, I know I’m only living
By the saving grace that’s over me.

The second verse says, “Thank you for forgiving me.”

By this time I’d-a thought I would be sleeping
In a pine box for all eternity.
My faith keeps me alive, but I still be weeping
For the saving grace that’s over me.

In the third verse, the singer witnesses plainly (and plaintively) for his savior.

Well, the death of life, then come the resurrection,
Wherever I am welcome is where I’ll be.
I put all my confidence in Him, my sole protection
Is the saving grace that’s over me.

In the fourth verse, the singer looks at the world in the light of his faith, and sees nothing that can compare to it.

Well, the devil’s shining light, it can be most blinding,
But to search for love, that ain’t no more than vanity.
As I look around this world all that I’m finding
Is the saving grace that’s over me.

In the fifth and final verse, the singer sums it all up as explicitly as possible, and ends with hope placed in the one place where it might be rewarded.

The wicked know no peace and you just can’t fake it,
There’s only one road and it leads to Calvary.
It gets discouraging at times, but I know I’ll make it
By the saving grace that’s over me.

That line, “The wicked know no peace,” probably has struck some who dislike Dylan’s gospel material as being one of his horrible “judgmental” diatribes. But of-course the second half of it, “and you just can’t fake it,” illustrates how — as with so many instances where a Dylan song focuses criticism on someone — the gaze is directed squarely into the mirror. It’s not, “The wicked know no peace and they just can’t fake it.” When he sings “you just can’t fake it,” he’s saying, effectively, “I know you can’t fake it; I’ve tried.”

The “saving grace” praised in the song is not within the singer; it is over the singer: “the saving grace that’s over me.” Over and above. It is not a song of self-congratulation and triumphalism, but one of humble gratitude to and confidence in Someone else.

Of all of his most straightforward gospel songs, Saving Grace is, I think, the one which has most often appeared in Bob’s latter day set lists. He’s performed it a good deal since he made the switch over to mostly playing the keyboard in 2003.

But the performance here is from Toronto in 1980. Click here to go to YouTube or play below.

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