(I'D BE A) LEGEND IN MY TIME

(Don Gibson)

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Performed by Bob Dylan during 1989 leg of the "Never-Ending Tour" (Meriweather Post Pavilion, Columbia, MD, Jul 19, 1989, and Performing Arts Center, Saratoga Springs, NY, Jul 26, 1989.

DON GIBSON:
This song was written on the road to Knoxville, Tennessee, in a car with Mel Foree. I was reading an article in a magazine I had picked up about an entertainer. He was talking about show business and his career and how he would like to be a legend in his time. I told Mel that that would be a good title for a song, so I started humming.

Don Gibson interview, Nashville, TN, Sep 7, 1973; reprinted in Dorothy Horstman, Sing Your Heart Out, Country Boy, New York, 1976, p. 184.

ORIGINAL DON GIBSON LYRICS
© 1960 Acuff-Rose Publications

If heartaches brought fame in love's crazy game,
I'd be a legend in my time.
If they gave gold statuettes for tears and regrets,
I'd be a legend in my time.

But they don't give awards, and there's no praise or fame
For a broken heart that's been broken over love that's in vain.

If loneliness meant world acclaim,
Then everyone would know my name --
I'd be a legend in my time.