There are various versions of the lyrics - apparently the whole song (or poem) has fifteen verses, of which only a few are ususaly performed. I don't know which set of verses kd lang uses.
There's a discussion about the meaning of the lyrics here:
Hammond Egg. Thanks for that, I have been on to this site, very interesting.
4Candles. I understand that the words were 'poetic', and don't need to be analized. The reason I liked it so much was because it WAS Dylonesque. But even Dylon wrote about something.
When I listen to music I always have half an ear on the production/arrangements, and for this reason I like kd lang's version (I have a live version off youtube in my favourites).