It's All Over Now, Baby Blue (Them)

2 FEBRUARY 1966


The Northern Irish band Them released their second album ‘Them Again’ in January 1966, but it failed to chart. It featured the song ‘It’s all Over Now Baby Blue’ which was not released as a single, except in the Netherlands in October, when it somehow failed to chart, and also Germany, where it was a modest hit. That’s a huge shame as this was a very inventive cover of the Dylan original with a brilliant vocal from Van Morrison, nicely effective use of the new-fangled Mellotron keyboard, and a bass line not a million miles away from 'Stand By Me'.

Unfortunately. the group split up in mid-1966 after disputes between band members and management over money, but Van Morrison went on to bigger and better things.

B-side: 'I'm Gonna Dress in Black' (Holland); 'Bad or Good' (Germany)
Recorded: 1965, Decca Studios, London, England
Released: October 1966 (Holland), December 1973 (Germany)
Highest chart position: #13 (Germany)
Length: 3:50
Label: Decca
Writer: Bob Dylan
Producer: Tommy Scott

It’s all Over Now Baby Blue (Them)

'You must leave now, take what you need, you think will last
But whatever you wish to keep, you better grab it fast
Yonder stands your orphan with his gun
Crying like a fire in the sun
Look out the saints are comin' through
And it's all over now, Baby Blue

The highway is for gamblers, better use your sense
Take what you have gathered from coincidence
The empty-handed painter from your streets
Is drawing crazy patterns on your sheets
This sky, too, is folding under you
And it's all over now, Baby Blue

All your seasick sailors, they are rowing home
All your reindeer armies, are all going home
The lover who just walked out your door
Has taken all his blankets from the floor
The carpet, too, is moving under you
And it's all over now, Baby Blue

Leave your stepping stones behind, something calls for you
Forget the dead you've left, they will not follow you
The vagabond who's rapping at your door
Is standing in the clothes that you once wore
Strike another match, go start anew
And it's all over now, Baby Blue'