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After having watched Madhouse on Castle Street I put together these notes that
I was able to find. If you know of anything that would be worth adding, please
feel free to contact me (http://inamidst.com/sbp/contact).Note that the tune
appears to me to have been taken from Honey Just Allow Me One More Chance, more
details upon which appear below.

Ballad of the Gliding Swan

Lyrics and chords: 

EMaj             E7
Tenderly William kissed his wife.
        AMaj                   F#7
Then he opened her head with a butcher knife.
        EMaj                   BMaj    EMaj
And the swan on the river went gliding by.

EMaj                       E7
Lady Margaret's pillow was wet with tears.
AMaj                   F#7
Nobody's been on it in twenty years.
        EMaj        BMaj       EMaj    AMaj
And the swan on the river goes gliding by.
    EMaj                   BMaj    EMaj
The swan on the river goes gliding by.

EMaj                    E7
Little Billy Brown will shake with fright.
     AMaj                F#7
He's got a new daddy and mommy every night.
        EMaj        BMaj       EMaj     AMaj
And the swan on the river goes laughing by.
    EMaj                   BMaj     EMaj
The swan on the river goes laughing by.

      EMaj                    E7
"I've got a sad surprise" the doctor said
   AMaj                  F#7
"A twenty pound baby without any head"
    EMaj                   BMaj
The swan on the river went lookin' [...]

by Bob Dylan

BBC TV Studios
London, England
30 December 1962 &amp; 4 January 1963
Madhouse On Castle Street sessions.

cf. Honey, Just Allow Me One More Chance

[[[
as well as 'The Ballad of the Gliding Swan', a stunning update of a 
time-hallowed Border ballad which contains lines like: 'Tenderly William kissed 
his wife, / Then he opened her head with a butcher's knife./ And the swan on 
the river went gliding by'.

In Dylan's version, however, there were some startling new lines: 'The doctor 
gave Sally a sad surprise,/ a Thalidomide baby with no eyes', and, perhaps even 
better: 'My father has cancer/ My mother's insane/ The girl I'm in love with 
takes cocaine.'
]]] - http://www.guardian.co.uk/arts/features/story/0,11710,1577829,00.html

[[[
3 Original song: Honey Just Allow Me One More Chance (Henry Thomas)
Dylan song: Honey Just Allow Me One More Chance (April 1962) 
"Honey Just Allow Me One More Chance" is a rewrite of a song by late-19th 
century singer Henry Thomas. On The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan, the song is 
credited jointly to Thomas and Dylan. In fact, almost all the words to Dylan's 
version are different (and probably written by Dylan) except for the title, and 
the tune has also undergone some modifications. The introductory verse to 
Thomas' version is a clear indication that this is a "composed" as opposed to a 
"folk" song. Thomas was born in 1874 or 75 (he died in 1930) and although he 
was not among the first blues singers to record, he is probably the oldest 
"professional" blues singer to have been captured on disc. Like many such 
singers, he was actually a songster (Note 3), blues being just one of many 
styles that he performed.
]]] - http://www.expectingrain.com/dok/div/influences.html

[[[
The lyrics to "The Ballad of the Gliding Swan" are largely thought to have been 
written by the play's author, Evan Jones, but Dylan made his own additions.
]]] - http://enjoyment.independent.co.uk/music/news/article307340.ece
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