This song is the only one on the album ‘Together through Life’ (2009) of which both the music and the lyrics were composed by Bob Dylan; the rest of the lyrics of the album were co-written with Robert Hunter. It is a song that one hand deals with the fragility and mortality of the poet’s earthly existence which tends to drive him into the morals of despair, and on the other hand it deals with a faint, wavering and distant hope; a hope which is yet strong enough to keep him living on.

As is the case in many Dylan songs, it is a debatable question as to who the “You” in the song might refer. When we take a look at the verses, we have good reasons to assume that the “You” might be Jesus or God. The mood of the song is definitely spiritual and there are a lot of Biblical connotations in the song; on the other hand, the song does not entirely exclude the possibility that the “You” may be a girl or a woman or some other person. This has one major advantage: it makes this song accessible and palatable to the public at large.  Let’s have a closer look at the verses to see if we can back up our stance that the “You” may indeed be Jesus or God.

I'll run this race until my earthly death, I'll defend this place with my dying breath” Life is a hard and difficult road the poet has to walk. Here life compared to a race which you have to run till you die. I Corinthians 9:24, 25 refers to this race: “Don’t you realize that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize? So run to win!. All athletes are disciplined in their training. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize.” Miserably though as the poet may feel during this race,  yet – like most human beings- he is chained to the earth and he is inclined to hang on to life as long as he can, ready to defend his life and that is why he says:. “I’ll defend this place with my dying breath” This line may be read against the background of William Blake’s “Auguries of Innocence”” where we read: ”Now I see that the mourning burdens so much, would peace have come sooner with death's biting touch? "Your safe!" I had uttered with my last dying breath. Is life with such sadness better than death?”