To live outside the law you must be honest.
Bob Dylan
A mother came to An Saol last week because her son in his early 20s had suffered a severe brain injury and she wanted him to attend our service.
Following his accident, he had spent time in Connolly Hospital, in Beaumont Hospital, in the National Rehabilitation Hospital, NRH, and Peamount. His mother wasn’t given much hope. The prognosis she was given for her son was bleak.
She came to An Saol because her father had heard from a friend about Pádraig’s story and the An Saol Foundation Centre – not because anybody in any of the almost half a dozen of hospitals her son had spent time in had told her about An Saol.
No doubt, the people she dealt with in those hospitals knew about An Saol. No doubt, there is no alternative service for him in the country – unless you wanted to go for a service focusing on disability management and palliative care.
You might think I made this story up. I didn’t. Honestly. It’s a true story. And not the first one of its kind.
Oh, where are you tonight, sweet Marie?
Bob started to record Absolutely Sweet Mary at 1am on 08 March 1966 in Nashville. There was a rehearsal, a complete Take 1, a false start, a complete Take 2, and the recording of part of the song (“insert”). He finished at 4am.
Take 1 of the song was published on The Bootleg Series Vol. 12: The Cutting Edge 1965–1966 in 2015. Take 2 was published on his seventh studio album Blonde on Blonde, on 20 June 1966.
Listening back to the recordings today you wonder how he came up with these lyrics. One critic called it “probably the most unconventional of the Blonde on Blonde songs”. Dylan himself said that “these aren’t contrived images. These are images which are just in there and have got to come out”.
Then again, he probably was in a very different place that night on the 8th of March. A place not many of us ever got to.
Six white horses that you did promise
Were fin’lly delivered down to the penitentiary
I got the fever down in my pockets
The Persian drunkard, he follows me
That a man can’t give his address out to bad company
And now I stand here lookin’ at your yellow railroad
In the ruins of your balcony
I waited for you inside of the frozen traffic
Riverboat captain, he knows my fate
And then he asks again and again: where are you tonight, sweet Marie?
One of the most famous, full of magic, lines of the song is: To live outside the law you must be honest.
A line that means different things to different people. Some try to take it almost literally. Some in a more transcendent way. For me, it’s biblical.
So I would go with a more transcendent interpretation. And I would apply the same to the question he asks throughout the song: Where are you tonight, sweet Marie?
Sometimes, governments, main stream society with its established believes, the righteous people, those inside the law – they are not necessarily always the honest ones, the keepers of the truth. Sometimes, it’s the “outlaws”, those on the margins of society, the rejected, the non-compliant, you can trust because they are the ones with integrity, they are the trustworthy, the honest, with no fear to tell the truth, to push boundaries. Not 2,000 years ago. And not now.
You cannot affect change if you continue in the old ways.
Pádraig continues to amaze and encourage those around him. He never gives up. He always makes an enormous effort. He always is kind. How he keeps his good humour in the midst of incredible challenges is a mystery to me.
While standing, he now manages to lift up his head, with very little or no help, and he turns it around.
He manages to wash his face and hands.
There is no clinical assessment I am aware of that would measure these kinds of mind-blowing improvements, which bring him incredibly encouraging levels of independence which he is constantly expanding.
They are a game changer. No just for him. Or us. But also for those who, within 72 hours, strongly suggest to, and in many cases do, take life or death decisions for people like Pádraig when they have suffered a severe brain injury. – This group of professionals just has to open up. Listen instead of talking. Observe instead of assuming. Learn instead of knowing everything already. Doubt at times instead of always being so certain.
Six white horses that you did promise
Were fin’lly delivered down to the penitentiary
I waited for you inside of the frozen traffic
Riverboat captain, he knows my fate
In the words of Katherine Hepburn, “if you obey all the rules, you miss all the fun.”
In my own words: “if you follow existing rules, you and those you care for could miss out on opportunities. Worst case: people can, unnecessarily, die.”
To live outside the law you must be honest.
Oh, where are you tonight, sweet Marie?
PS 1: Listen back to Kevin Leonard, father of Hannah who suffered a sABI in Italy about §8 months ago, talking to the Today with David McCullagh programme on RTÉ Radio One last week, about how the DIY SOS team will help his family bring their daughter home two years after her devastating accident.
Correct. She will be able to go home because of a TV Show and its generous supporters.
PS 2: Watch Jacinta McElligott, clinical director at the National Rehabilitation Hospital, NRH, talking on RTÉ Prime Time on 14 April 2026 about the effects of Road Traffic Accidents.
Dr McElliggott treated many of the clients of the An Saol Foundation. She is now the Clinical Director of the NRH, following the retirement of Dr Mark Delargy.
Hospi-Tales 