Blowin' in the Wind

[PaloAltoCougar]

Originally Posted by SeattleUte

... self-absorbed aging baby boomers who were themselves in safety and the lap of luxury their entire lives waxing nostalgic and melodramatic about Dylan. The whole scene is trite, narrow, and too simple.

While I resent the vicious personal attack, I concede Dylan's greatness has always been overblown. But I've always greatly enjoyed listening to, not thinking about, his songs.

[creekster]

My favorite is Tangled Up in Blue.

[TripletDaddy]

Originally Posted by PaloAltoCougar

While I resent the vicious personal attack, I concede Dylan's greatness has always been overblown. But I've always greatly enjoyed listening to, not thinking about, his songs.

I wasn't even born during his 60s heydey. I simply like his tunes...fun to listen to.

I remember taking a summer vacation with my family when i was in the 6th grade. We all hopped into our carpeted Econo-Line van and headed out onto the open highway. We visited Yellowstone, Mt Rushmore, Deadwood, and just about every other Indian monument and wagon rut this side of the Mississippi. Not sure what the purpose of that vacation was, other than for us get acquainted with every FINA gas station across the country, and maybe do a lot of bowling in the evenings. I also amassed an impressive collection of Best Western motel soaps and learned to brew my own coffee in the bathroom each evening.

Anyway, music was always a big part of our family road trips. Since we didnt really have walkmen yet, we listened to our parents tunes on cassette or 8-track. Dylan was a staple. I can't count how many times we would all sing along to Highway 61 Revisited or The Times They're a Changin. I had no idea what his lyrics meant (as mikewaters pointed out, you couldnt even understand them, let alone interpret them), but I loved the folk guitar and the simple arrangements. I loved being the car with my sisters and my parents and everyone singing along.

My attachment to Dylan is not political. It is metaphorical. A lot of his music is the soundtrack of my childhood memories. To this day I still think of those road trips when I hear Dylan tunes. Viva Bob!

[8ballrollin]

Originally Posted by SeattleUte

Dylan is ancient history.

Irony alert: ancient history as a pejorative from SU.

He made his fame when people were still making arguments about the moral equivalence of the United States and USSR.

He also made his bones on domestic issues, like race and social justice, pre CRA of '64, i.e. "The Lonesome Death Of Hattie Carroll"

Nothing makes me reach for a barf bag quicker than self-absorbed aging baby boomers who were themselves in safety and the lap of luxery their entire lives waxing nostalgic and melodramitic about Dylan.

No argument from me on this point. But even Dylan saw this sentiment early on - in "Positively 4th Street" he slams the folk scene and this was only '65.

Some of his best work is post '60s. Blood On The Tracks is one of the best rock albums ever and it was released in '75. It has no social commentary; It's mostly about personal relationships and his divorce. See the last verses to Idiot Wind - http://www.bobdylan.com/#/songs/idiot-wind

[Sleeping in EQ]

Originally Posted by SeattleUte

You Dylan afficionados, tell me. Did Dylan ever write any songs lamenting the hundreds of millions of people murdered by totalitarianism in the Twentieth Century, the equivalent number sent into slave labor, and the absence of civil liberties in Communist countries that would have resulted in a slow death for a "radical" like him? Thanks in advance.

Like many folk artists, he tended to personalize macro issues or to address them poetically (Dylan draws directly on numerous poets). This personalization emerged on the level of the folk artist who fashionined him or herself into an artifact outside the false consciousness of capitalism. It was about becoming a unique artifact instead of a mindless, mass produced commodity. I don't think you're giving it a fair reading when you only want to discuss the songs, and only in terms of their concrete references to slave labor and your other criteria.

Still, if a lament of the massive death caused by totalitarianism is what you're looking for, With God on Our Side might fit the bill:

Oh my name it is nothin'
My age it means less
The country I come from
Is called the Midwest
I's taught and brought up there
The laws to abide
And that land that I live in
Has God on its side.

Oh the history books tell it
They tell it so well
The cavalries charged
The Indians fell
The cavalries charged
The Indians died
Oh the country was young
With God on its side.

Oh the Spanish-American
War had its day
And the Civil War too
Was soon laid away
And the names of the heroes
I's made to memorize
With guns in their hands
And God on their side.

Oh the First World War, boys
It closed out its fate
The reason for fighting
I never got straight
But I learned to accept it
Accept it with pride
For you don't count the dead
When God's on your side.

When the Second World War
Came to an end
We forgave the Germans
And we were friends
Though they murdered six million
In the ovens they fried
The Germans now too
Have God on their side.

I've learned to hate Russians
All through my whole life
If another war starts
It's them we must fight
To hate them and fear them
To run and to hide
And accept it all bravely
With God on my side.

But now we got weapons
Of the chemical dust
If fire them we're forced to
Then fire them we must
One push of the button
And a shot the world wide
And you never ask questions
When God's on your side.

In a many dark hour
I've been thinkin' about this
That Jesus Christ
Was betrayed by a kiss
But I can't think for you
You'll have to decide
Whether Judas Iscariot
Had God on his side.

So now as I'm leavin'
I'm weary as Hell
The confusion I'm feelin'
Ain't no tongue can tell
The words fill my head
And fall to the floor
If God's on our side
He'll stop the next war.

[8ballrollin]

One last post on Dylan: I agree with SU that it's funny how some Boomers and Boomer media want to canonize Dylan, in his early '60s folk getup, as idealist paragon and '60s saint.

I think Scorsese's documentary was cliché and average because it perpetuates this attitude ("Judas!").

As I just mentioned, I think his stuff from the early '70s is his best.

Dylan just does what he wants - like any artist. Many in the Boomer media were offended at this ad (below), because it doesn't fit into the box they created for him, but I think it shows he doesn't take himself too seriously (and that he digs hot super models).

[8ballrollin]

I can't stop. More Dylan from the '70s. This one is for The Dude.

[TripletDaddy]

Dylan had a little Dave Navarro vibe going in that commercial.

PS Please post every known bit of information available on that supermodel. TIA.

[8ballrollin]

Eat it, Axl.

[8ballrollin]

I'm wth Creekster on this one...