I’ve linked to an audio file of this before, but I see that it’s now on YouTube: Sign On The Cross, from the basement tape sessions of Bob Dylan and the Band in 1967.

The whole thing is such an inscrutable mixture of humor, insanity and profundity. Amazing singing by Bob. It’s hard for me to tell if Dylan is more blitzed by something he’s imbibing or just by the nature of what is being created in the moment. Outside, it’s the summer of love, but Bob and the Band are in the basement of the house called Big Pink, mining a different seam.

Well, it seems to be the sign on the cross. Ev’ry day,
ev’ry night, see the sign on the cross just layin’ up
on top of the hill. Yes, we thought it might have
disappeared long ago, but I’m here to tell you, friends,
that I’m afraid it’s lyin’ there still. Yes, just a
little time is all you need, you might say, but I don’t
know ’bout that any more, because later on you might find
the door, you might want to enter it, but, of course, the door might
be closed. And I just would like to tell you one time,
if I don’t see you again, that the thing is, that the sign
on the cross is the thing you might need the most.

(Bob’s spoken monologue as transcribed here.)

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