Years ago, I fell asleep with the radio on a religious station. I awoke at 3:00 AM or so, and swear I heard the hymn which is being refered to here. It has puzzled me for a long time- did I really hear it, was it a dream, etc- but I've always believed that it was real. None of the Mudcat suggestions are correct- it was not be thou my vision or How Can I keep from Singing . It was totally different from anything like that, and actually verrrry similar to Dylan's tune. I researched it so far as to read in Dylan biographies and websites, and have never found where he gives credit to any inspiration. However, be assured (as am I now), that there is such a hymn; the refrain does have something to do with a repetitive "lay down your weary something". I look forward to some Mudcatter coming up with the specific hymn. Incidently, I read somewhere that when Dylan first wrote it it had like a hundred verses and Joan Baez said "you cant sing the whole thing, you'll bore the audience" so Bob did sing the whole thing (45 minutes worth), but only once in concert.