The full article is here.
“Tolling for the searching ones, on their speechless, seeking trail
For the lonesome-hearted lovers with too personal a tale
And for each unharmful, gentle soul misplaced inside a jail
We gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashing”
Chimes of Freedom, by Bob Dylan
Written and originally performed by Bob Dylan on his 1964 album “Another Side of Bob Dylan” — produced by Tom Wilson. Popularized by The Byrds from their debut album “Mr. Tambourine Man” in 1965.
Bruce Springsteen performed “Chimes of Freedom” in East Berlin, one year before the fall of the Berlin wall, before a crowd of 300,000 cheering East Berliners. The video, below, shows the density of young humanity wanting freedom.
This song became a staple of Springsteen’s live performances. As he described it:
“This is one of the greatest songs
about human freedom ever written.”
Chimes of Freedom
Far between sundown’s finish an’ midnight’s broken toll
We ducked inside the doorway, thunder crashing
As majestic bells of bolts struck shadows in the sounds
Seeming to be the chimes of freedom flashing
Flashing for the warriors whose strength is not to fight
Flashing for the refugees on the unarmed road of flight
An’ for each an’ ev’ry underdog soldier in the night
An’ we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashing
In the city’s melted furnace, unexpectedly we watched
With faces hidden while the walls were tightening
As the echo of the wedding bells before the blowin’ rain
Dissolved into the bells of the lightning
Tolling for the rebel, tolling for the rake
Tolling for the luckless, the abandoned an’ forsaked
Tolling for the outcast, burnin’ constantly at stake
An’ we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashing
Through the mad mystic hammering of the wild ripping hail
The sky cracked its poems in naked wonder
That the clinging of the church bells blew far into the breeze
Leaving only bells of lightning and its thunder
Striking for the gentle, striking for the kind
Striking for the guardians and protectors of the mind
An’ the unpawned painter behind beyond his rightful time
An’ we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashing
Through the wild cathedral evening the rain unraveled tales
For the disrobed faceless forms of no position
Tolling for the tongues with no place to bring their thoughts
All down in taken-for-granted situations
Tolling for the deaf an’ blind, tolling for the mute
Tolling for the mistreated, mateless mother,
the mistitled prostitute
For the misdemeanor outlaw, chased an’ cheated by pursuit
An’ we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashing
Even though a cloud’s white curtain in a far-off corner flashed
An’ the hypnotic splattered mist was slowly lifting
Electric light still struck like arrows, fired but for the ones
Condemned to drift or else be kept from drifting
Tolling for the searching ones, on their speechless, seeking trail
For the lonesome-hearted lovers with too personal a tale
An’ for each unharmful, gentle soul misplaced inside a jail
An’ we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashing
Starry-eyed an’ laughing as I recall when we were caught
Trapped by no track of hours for they hanged suspended
As we listened one last time an’ we watched with one last look
Spellbound an’ swallowed ’til the tolling ended
Tolling for the aching ones whose wounds cannot be nursed
For the countless confused, accused, misused,
strung-out ones an’ worse
An’ for every hung-up person in the whole wide universe
An’ we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashing
Copyright © 1964 by Warner Bros. Inc. Renewed 1992 by Special Rider Music
Bob Dylan – Chimes of Freedom (Official Audio only)
Bruce Springsteen – Chimes of Freedom
East Berlin – July 19, 1988
with short speech about the Berlin Wall
July 1988. One year before the fall of the Berlin wall, 300,000 East Berliners witnessed this historical concert. Springsteen was advised to not to say the word “wall” so he changed it for “barriers.”
In German: Es ist schön in Ost-Berlin zu sein. Ich möchte euch sagen ich bin nicht hier für oder gegen eine Regierung, ich bin gekommen um rock’n’roll zu spielen für Ost-Berlinern, in der Hofnung dass eines Tages alle Barrieren obgeriesen warden.
In English: It’s nice to be in East Berlin. I want to tell you that I’m not here for or against any government. I have come to play rock ‘n’ roll for the East Berliners, in the hope that one day all barriers will be torn down.
For more on this concert: This BBC article from October 21, 2014.
Bruce Springsteen delivered a message of freedom to a huge concert in East Berlin in July 1988 – and the Berlin Wall fell the following year. Was it the spark that started the fire? Stephen Evans reports.
Nobody claims that rock music shook the Berlin Wall to destruction. It’s the people of East Germany who must get the credit for that, with a bit of help, perhaps, from the politicians of the West who turned up the pressure and the leader of the Soviet Union who ordered that guns not be fired.
But might rock music have helped? And might one concert by one particular musician have helped a great deal?
On the night of 19 July 1988, Bruce Springsteen played to what seemed like the whole of East Berlin. Just over one year later, what seemed like the whole of East Berlin flooded through the holes the people themselves had knocked in the notorious Wall.
Was there any connection between the two events? Did the concert provide that extra ounce of push? After all, as the great Springsteen lyric puts it: You can’t start a fire without a spark”.
A new book, Rocking the Wall, claims that that concert, and in particular a short speech which Springsteen gave in German from the stage, galvanised attitudes. As the author, Erik Kirschbaum, tells the BBC: “Three-hundred-thousand East Germans were there – young, enthusiastic East Germans who had never had the chance to see a big Western rock star like that.
Chimes of freedom?
“Springsteen played an amazing concert – four hours long. It went straight to their hearts.” But what added the political impetus was that in the middle of it, Springsteen defied the authorities and gave a speech no more than a paragraph long. He spoke in German, which he had written out phonetically: “I am not for or against a government. I’ve come to play rock and roll for you, in the hope that one day all barriers will be torn down.” He was greeted with a roar of approval.
The moment he had spoken, he took off into Chimes of Freedom: “Tolling for the rebel, tolling for the rake/ Tolling for the luckless, the abandoned an’ forsaked/ Tolling for the outcast, burnin’ constantly at stake/ An’ we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashing”. The concert was transmitted with a time delay on East German television and radio channels and the short but utterly powerful speech never made it to air – but those in the concert knew exactly what “barriers” meant, and their word of mouth later travelled the nation.
Bruce Springsteen – Chimes Of Freedom
Live in Copenhagen, 1988
Chimes of Freedom – Bruce Springsteen
Live at Stockholms Olympiastadion, Stockholm, Sweden, July 3, 1988
Audio only, no video. Higher quality audio than the Copenhagen video.
This version was included on the 4-song live EP titled “Chimes of Freedom” released by Springsteen in 1988. This EP was to support the multi-artist Human Rights Now! Tour in benefit of Amnesty International. At the start of this video Springsteen announces Amnesty International tour — 20 cities during September-October 1988. The tour was with musicians are Bruce Springsteen, Sting, Peter Gabriel, Youssou N’Dour & Tracy Chapman, with The E Street Band, with guest musicians at different tour dates. More info on the Amnesty International tour here. Other video versions of this song on this tour are below.
Memorial Coliseum, Los Angeles – September 21, 1988
with Bono and Joan Baez. Incomplete video.
Estadio Antonio Vespucio Liberti, Buenos Aires, Argentina – October 15, 1988
Camp Nou, Barcelona – September 10, 1988
Palais Omnisports Bercy, Paris – September 5, 1988
Bob Dylan – Chimes of Freedom
Video — Live at Newport Folk Festival, 1964
Chimes of Freedom
Audio only – Live at Newport Folk Festival, July 1964
No video — better audio than the video version.
Chimes of Freedom (Live at Royal Festival Hall, London – May 1964)
The Byrds – Chimes of Freedom – live
Monterey Pop Festival, June 1967