The sun is coming up, but it feels like the world is ending. That’s the vibe. When you pull up the meet me in the morning lyrics, you aren't looking at a complex literary puzzle like Desolation Row. You’re looking at a bruise. It’s raw. It’s blue. It is perhaps the most straightforward moment on Bob Dylan’s 1975 masterpiece, Blood on the Tracks, yet it carries a weight that most songwriters couldn't lift in a lifetime.
Dylan recorded this in New York City in September 1974. He had Buddy Cage on pedal steel. He had a room full of session musicians who were trying to keep up with his erratic, unpredictable pacing. The song is a twelve-bar blues, a format so old it’s practically prehistoric in music terms. But Dylan doesn’t use the blues to pay homage; he uses it to bleed.
The Mystery of the 56th and Wabash Address
"Meet me in the morning, 56th and Wabash." It’s the opening hook. It sounds specific. It sounds like a real place where a real deal is going down. Except, if you go to Chicago and look for the intersection of 56th and Wabash, you’ll find it. But if you look for it in New York, where Dylan was living and recording, it doesn't really exist in the way the song implies. This is classic Dylan. He takes a geographical reality—likely from his days in the Midwest—and transplants it into a fever dream.
Fans have spent decades arguing over what happens at 56th and Wabash. Is it a drug deal? A clandestine meeting with a lover? Or is it just a bit of noir imagery he liked the sound of? Honestly, it feels like a memory of a place that doesn't want to be remembered. The lyrics tell us he's "at the intersection," waiting. There is a profound sense of isolation here.
Most people don't realize that this song replaced another track called "Call Letter Blues." If you listen to that earlier version—which you can find on The Bootleg Series Volumes 1–3—the lyrics are even more caustic. In "Call Letter Blues," Dylan sings about seeing his wife's picture in the paper and finding "friends" who aren't really friends. By the time he settled on the meet me in the morning lyrics, he stripped away the specific bitterness and replaced it with a universal, haunting atmosphere.
Why the Birds Are Whipping Each Other
"Look at the sun sinking low, look at the birds flying high." It sounds like a postcard until the next line hits: "Don’t they look just like they’re whipping each other?"
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That is the pivot.
That one line transforms a standard blues trot into a psychological horror show. Dylan is projected his internal chaos onto the natural world. If you’ve ever been through a devastating breakup—the kind that makes the very air feel heavy—you know exactly what he’s talking about. Everything looks violent. Everything looks like it’s in pain. Even the birds.
The imagery is jagged. He talks about his "cup running over with wine." This is a clear, ironic nod to Psalm 23, where the cup running over is a sign of God's blessing. Here? It’s just a mess. It’s excess. It’s probably a hangover. He’s not being blessed; he’s being overwhelmed.
The Session That Almost Wasn't
The recording of this track is legendary among gearheads and Dylanologists. It was recorded at A&R Studios in New York. Unlike the rest of the album, which Dylan famously re-recorded in Minneapolis with a bunch of local kids to get a "sharper" sound, Meet Me in the Morning is one of the few NYC survivors.
Buddy Cage’s pedal steel is the MVP here. It whines. It cries. It sounds like it’s being pulled apart. Cage once recalled that Dylan didn't give much direction. He just played. You can hear the spontaneity in the lyrics—the way Bob hangs on the word "morning," dragging it out as if he’s trying to delay the day from actually starting.
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- Key Fact: The song is in the key of E, but Dylan’s guitar is tuned to open D with a capo on the second fret.
- The Vibe: It’s a "first take" feel that somehow made it onto one of the most polished-sounding albums of the era.
- The Change: Dylan originally wrote "everybody's gone to bed" but changed it to "everybody's turned in," which somehow feels more final and lonely.
Deciphering the "Little Rooster" Reference
In the fourth verse, Dylan sings, "The little rooster crows, there must be something on his mind."
Blues fans will recognize this immediately. It’s a trope. From Willie Dixon to Howlin' Wolf, the "rooster" in the blues is usually a metaphor for virility or a man protecting his territory. But Dylan’s rooster isn't strutting. He’s just... got something on his mind. It’s an anxious rooster. It’s a rooster that knows something bad is coming.
This reflects the overarching theme of Blood on the Tracks. The album is a post-mortem of a marriage (specifically his marriage to Sara Dylan, though he’s denied it for years, claiming it was inspired by Chekhov short stories). When you read the meet me in the morning lyrics through that lens, the "something on his mind" isn't a secret; it's the weight of an ending.
He mentions that "the struggle" is "everyday." That’s a weary sentiment for a man who was only in his early 30s at the time. It feels older. It feels like the blues of a man who has lived three lifetimes and is tired of all of them.
The Practical Legacy of the Song
Why do we still care? Because people still get their hearts broken.
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Musicians still cover this song because it’s a masterclass in how to use the blues without being a derivative hack. Freddie King did a blistering version of it. It’s a staple for bar bands because it's easy to play, but it's nearly impossible to sing with the same level of weary resignation that Dylan captured in that New York studio.
If you’re trying to learn the song or analyze it for a project, pay attention to the silence between the lines. The lyrics are sparse for a reason. They leave room for the listener to insert their own "56th and Wabash." We all have a place we’re supposed to meet someone, knowing deep down they aren't going to show up.
Actionable Insights for Dylan Students
To truly understand the weight of these lyrics, you should engage with the material beyond just reading the text on a screen.
- Listen to the "Call Letter Blues" version. Compare the two. Notice how Dylan removed the "angry" lyrics and replaced them with "sad" lyrics. It's a lesson in editing for emotional resonance.
- Check the tuning. If you play guitar, tune to Open D (D-A-D-F#-A-D) and put a capo on the second fret. Feel how the resonance of the open strings mimics the "whipping birds" imagery.
- Read the Chekhov stories. Dylan claimed the album was inspired by Anton Chekhov. Specifically, look at stories like The Lady with the Dog. Notice the themes of illicit meetings and the mundane tragedy of timing.
- Analyze the "New York Sessions" vs. the "Minneapolis Sessions." Understanding why Meet Me in the Morning stayed on the album while other New York tracks were replaced gives you a window into Dylan's headspace in 1974.
The power of the meet me in the morning lyrics lies in what they don't say. They don't explain the fight. They don't explain the betrayal. They just show you a man standing on a street corner at dawn, watching the birds, waiting for a morning that’s never going to be quite bright enough. It’s not just a song; it’s a mood that happens to have a melody.
Study the phrasing. Notice how he never actually says he’s lonely, yet it’s the loneliest song on the record. That is the genius of the writing. It shows rather than tells. It bleeds rather than speaks. When the sun finally comes up at 56th and Wabash, you realize the meeting was never the point—the waiting was.
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