City of Gold is a song that Dylan wrote and performed on stage during his gospel years, but did not record and release. The lyric wasn’t published in the Lyrics 1962-1985 edition but is published in the latest Lyrics book, though for whatever reason it’s not currently on the BobDylan.com website. The song seemed to have been somewhat forgotten until the Dixie Hummingbirds chose to record it on their 2003 album Diamond Jubilation. This coincided with the putting together of the soundtrack album for Dylan’s film Masked and Anonymous, and it was decided to make the Hummingbirds’ recording of this song the final track, even though the final song in the actual film is Blowing in the Wind.

One of the occasions on which Dylan himself performed the song was on July 5th, 1981, in Birmingham, England.

A couple of the verses from the officially published version:

There is a City of Gold
Far from the rat race that eats at your soul
Far from the madness and the bars that hold
There is a City of Gold

There is a City of Light
Raised up in the heavens and the streets are bright
Glory to God—not by deeds or by might
There is a City of Light

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