[2] It has been covered by many artists, including Joan Baez on her all-Dylan album Any Day Now, as well as by Vic Chesnutt, Eric Clapton, John Doe, Thea Gilmore, Adam Selzer and Dirty Projectors.
[7][8] St. Augustine searches for "the very souls / Whom already have been sold," a reference to the commercialization of mankind's inner self, a motif that will recur on later songs on the album such as "Dear Landlord" and "The Ballad of Frankie Lee and Judas Priest".
[8] But the dream ends with the narrator realizing that he himself is among those that put St. Augustine to death, initiating his feelings of guilt as he now sees the error of his ways.
Often chronicled as Milton's 23rd sonnet, the poem tells the story of a man whose late wife came to him in a dream, only to be pulled away by the arrival of morning.
as to embrace me she inclin'd, I wak'd, she fled, and day brought back my night" (Milton), and the title of the works themselves have given rise to this comparison.
In a 2005 poll of artists published by Mojo, "I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine" was listed as the #76 greatest Bob Dylan song of all time.