Soon After Midnight

Album: Tempest (2012)
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Songfacts®:

  • This starts as a doleful love song with the opening couplet, "I'm searching for phrases to sing to your praises." However as the narrator moves through the moonlight, it takes a sinister turn as we hear Dylan sing: "I've been down to the killing floors. I'm in no great hurry. I'm not afraid of your fury, I've faced stronger walls than yours."
  • Dylan's reference to the "Killing Floors" was likely borrowed from Howlin' Wolf's song "Killing Floor," which was a hit for the blues great in the early '60s. The tune later formed the basis of Led Zeppelin's 1969 track, "The Lemon Song."

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