By Butch Freedman
“They say that patriotism is the last refuge to which a scoundrel clings, steal a little and they throw you in jail, steal a lot and they make you king.” Bob Dylan
I’ve been a fan of Bob Dylan for over 60 years. I still listen to his music almost every day. He has his own station on my Pandora feed. His work, his poetry comforted me when I was young. Inspired me throughout my middle years, and stands by me as I go through late life joys and sorrows. And even today, or especially today, I find many of his lyrics to be both relevant and deeply insightful. Here are some of my favorites:
He not busy being born is busy dying.
I try to keep this one in mind every day. It helps keep me “Forever Young.”
“There must be some way out of here,” said the Joker to the Thief.
You can decide who’s the Joker and who’s the thief. Lots of candidates these days.
God said to Abraham, “Kill me a son. Abe say, “Man, you must be putting me on.”
The perfect Dylan line—rebel, comic, angry young man.
You don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows.
The all-time classic. Says it all.
They say, “Sing while you slave,” and I just get bored. ( from “I Ain’t gonna Work on Maggie’s farm no more”)
This lyric and song meant a lot to me when I was a young guy trying to decide what to do with my life and feeling increasingly alienated from the straight world. It’s not an exaggeration to say Dylan’s songs helped me survive.
Love is all there is, it makes the world go ’round.
It’s not all doom and gloom. This is the same truth many of the world’s deep thinkers eventually arrive at. See Viktor Frankl’s book about surviving the concentration camps, “Man’s Search For Meaning.”
“Yes, and how many times can a man turn his head and pretend that he just doesn’t see?
Yep, this is where we’re at today. No more turning away from it. The ugliness must be put down.
Ah, but I was so much older then, I’m younger than that now.
When I was in my twenties, I was too often angry and closed off, felt the world was against me. These days, I often wake with a smile.
Any day now, any day now, I shall be released.
Yep. One way or another.
I could go on. The man was a savant, a genius. Inspired like no one else. Something was speaking through him. Bobby may not have even realized. But many of us did. And still do.
Dylan is still at it, still performing and making music. But to be frank, what he does today does not have the same impact as the music that was coming through him back in the day. But I guess none of us old folks are still what we used to be. Maybe that’s a good thing.
