How could it be any other way?

Originally written for the soundtrack of North Country (2005) -- "a fictionalized account of the first major sexual harassment case in the US," IMDB -- Tell Ol' Bill is a lovely piece of late-period Dylan poetry. While it narrates the thoughts and emotions of the protagonist in the film (a woman mine-worker seeking justice against sexual abuse) the song also works just as well without any such context -- as a call to determination and endurance in the face of life's struggles. Dylan does his usual thing with imagery, strikes the elder-bluesman-pose with his stern voice and mixes enough musical elements to create a gripping atmosphere.

Tell Ol' Bill (by Bob Dylan)

The river whispers in my ear

I've hardly a penny to my name

The heavens never seemed so near

And all my body glows with flame

The tempest struggles in the air

And to myself alone I sing

It could sink me then and there

I can hear the echo ring

I tried to find one smiling face

To drive the shadow from my head

I'm stranded in this nameless place

Lying restless in a heavy bed

Tell me straight out if you will

Why must you torture me within?

Why must you come from your high hill

And throw my fate to the clouds and wind?

Far away in a silent land

Secret thoughts are hard to bear

Remember me, you'll understand

Emotions we can never share

You trampled on me as you passed

Left the coldest kiss upon my brow

All my doubts and fears have gone at last

I've nothing more to tell you now

I walk by tranquil lakes and streams

As each new season's dawn awaits

I lay awake at night with troubled dreams

The enemy is at the gate

Beneath the thunder blasted trees

The words are ringing off your tongue

The ground is hard in times like these

The stars are cold, the night is young

The rocks are bleak, the trees are bare

Iron clouds go floating by

Snowflakes falling in my hair

Beneath the grey and stormy sky

The evening sun is sinking low

The woods are dark, the town is too

They'll drag you down, they'll run the show

Ain't no telling what they'll do

Tell Ol' Bill when he comes home

That anything is worth a try

Tell him that I'm not alone

And that the hour has come to do or die

All the world I would defy

Let me make it plain as day

I look at you now and I sigh

How could it be any other way?