DYLAN PING
Posted on 09/28/2006 4:22:50 PM PDT by Rocko
10/02/2006, Volume 012, Issue 03
A good deal of hoopla greeted the grizzled rock-musician Neil Young's musical assault on George W. Bush earlier this year. His album Living With War included a hundred-voice choir singing a song entitled "Let's Impeach the President." For those survivors of anti-Vietnam war protests, and their younger would-be imitators, it was a moment for a sharp intake of breath and the tantalizing hope that maybe now, after all, music really could change the world. I mean, everyone has to sit up and take notice of Neil Young, right?
Young's crusading album included another song called "Flags of Free dom," in which he gave a name-check to Bob Dylan, and adapted the melody of Dylan's own somewhat more lyrically complex song "Chimes of Freedom."
He really should have known better. In an interview several months later with Edna Gundersen in USA Today, Dylan was asked about the absence of any song about the current war on his own latest album, Modern Times.
"Didn't Neil Young do that?" he jokes . . . "What's funny about the Neil record, when I heard 'Let's Impeach the President,' I thought it was something old that had been lying around. I said, 'That's crazy, he's doing a song about Clinton?'"
With his sly and somewhat wicked response, Dylan had (1) desperately frustrated the considerable number of more obvious Dylan fans who have been waiting on the edge of a cliff for him to say or sing something--anything!--against President Bush and the Iraq war and (2) told Neil Young none-too-subtly that he found his recent ultrapolitical songwriting essentially pointless.
Somehow, after over 40 years of evidence to the contrary, much of the world seems to continue to expect the man who is arguably America's greatest songwriter to sign on to left/liberal causes at the first opportunity. If nothing else, it is proof that in attempting to kidnap Dylan's songs (in Dylan's own words, his songs were "subverted into polemics" in the 1960s), the left succeeded in convincing the average person that both the work and the man did, indeed, belong to them.
In the summer run-up to the 2004 presidential campaign, a concert tour of anti-Bush musicians was being organized, led by Bruce Springsteen. They would perform in swing states in support of John Kerry. The advance press regarding the tour always prominently mentioned Bob Dylan as one of the musicians being talked about for the lineup. There was no surprise about this expressed in the stories; after all, campaigning against Republican presidents is what Bob Dylan has always done, isn't it? But when dates and lineups were finally announced for the "Vote for Change" tour, one name was prominently missing: that of Bob Dylan. And indeed, any scrutiny of the record would show that he has never endorsed a political candidate (although some political candidates have endorsed him). The closest he has ever come would be the statement in his memoir, Chronicles, that his "favorite politician" circa 1961 was Barry Goldwater.
As tempted as he might have been two years ago to give the MoveOn.org crew what they wanted (probably not at all), the true nature of Dylan's independence was tested in the crazy crucible of the 1960s, and proven by the degree to which he resisted being crowned king by those who begged for only a word from him. It always comes back to that time, and to the Vietnam war, for Bob Dylan, especially when the media are doing one of their thumbnails of his career. He didn't ask for it to be that way; it just is. As he said to Rolling Stone in his most recent interview:
Did I ever want to acquire the Sixties? No. But I own the Sixties I'll give 'em to you if you want 'em. You can have 'em.
It's an interesting paradox. Looking at the record, Vietnam should have been the wedge that forced the left to reject Dylan as a matter of dogma, because he failed to give them anything that they demanded from him, and actually gave them the opposite of what they wanted.
Instead, the Vietnam war is the seemingly unbreakable link that ties Dylan to the left in the popular consciousness. Consider: Dylan wrote no songs about the Vietnam war during the 1960s. Zero. The songs Dylan wrote that antiwar protesters later seized upon (from Blowin' in the Wind on down) were written when the Vietnam war was little more than a twinkle in John F. Kennedy's eye. A close study of those songs would also reveal, as Dylan himself has stated in so many words, that they are not "antiwar" songs, as such. Just as with all his best work, they are based upon an almost unerring sense of human nature and a remarkable ability to ask questions that provoke revealing answers in the listener.
"How many times must the cannonballs fly?" An honest listener must admit: Cannonballs will always fly, in this world--and the song does not deny that. Less philosophical listeners demanded other, more specific, answers from the songs and from their singer.
Consider also: Dylan never spoke out against the Vietnam war in the 1960s. Not once. It was not for want of being asked. At a 1965 press conference in San Francisco he was asked if he would be participating in an anti-war protest later that day. He replied, "No, I'll be busy tonight." The tape shows that he was all but laughing while he said it.
He wasn't laughing some years later when people rifled through his garbage, and protested outside the home he shared with his wife and children, because they were unhappy with the records their "leader" was making. With America's name at a low-water mark in the world and in the minds of the protesters at home, Dylan recorded Nashville Skyline, an album of sweet country music that can also be heard as love songs to a simpler America, and one that was certainly very far from Dylan's front door.
Despite the heat he took, he backed down not one bit. In an interview in Sing Out! magazine in 1968, Dylan was pressed on how any artist could be silent in the face of the war. Dylan talked about a painter friend of his who was in favor of the war, and said that he "could comprehend him." Pressed further on how he could possibly share any values with such a person, Dylan responded:
I've known him a long time, he's a gentleman and I admire him . . . Anyway, how do you know that I'm not, as you say, for the war?
The topic was dropped there.
While most left-wing Dylan fans have always quickly moved to forgive or forget Dylan's sins, there are always those who continue to upbraid him. Mike Marqusee, in The Politics of Bob Dylan's Art (2003), says, "If public life is an ongoing test for the artist, then when it came to Vietnam, Dylan failed." He also bemoans the "fatalism of the later Dylan"--as if songs that place their hope primarily in the next world's justice are somehow more "fatalistic" than 1963's "The Ballad of Hollis Brown." Earlier this year, in The Nation, Richard Goldstein took Dylan to task for his "sexism" and told us that "the rod of ages he clings to . . . is a phallus."
On the other hand, there is also a largely unheralded brand of listener who is perceiving a funny thing in Dylan's latter-day work: Many of his apparently secular songs of romantic love seem to resonate most strongly, and are arguably best understood, as songs of devotion to God. Is Dylan in some sense masking his (always controversial) faith in this (almost blasphemously) sly manner, where "you" often really means "You"?
It does appear clear that our view of Bob Dylan has been constricted by the "a-changin'" times during which he's worked. And while the music of peers like Young and Springsteen is probably destined for artifact status as the decades pass by, Dylan's seems likely to continue provoking consideration well into the future. It is also likely that that future belongs to those Dylan listeners who are not so much flummoxed by the enigma of an ever-shifting man of many faces--who supposedly swings back and forth between leftism, conservatism, faith, and nihilism--but instead to those who see a continuum in the precocious 22-year-old who wrote, "How many years can a mountain exist / before it is washed to the sea?" and the at-peace-in-his-own-skin 65-year-old who now sings:
In this earthly domain
Full of disappointment and pain
You'll never see me frown
I owe my heart to you
And that's sayin' it true
And I'll be with you when the deal goes down.
Posterity is likely to understand that the politics of Dylan's art has always been on another level entirely.
Sean Curnyn is writing a book on political and moral themes in the work of Bob Dylan.
Ping.
IOW, Neil Young and all the other hippies are lightweights alongside of Bob Dylan.
Ping
I hate to perpetuate what may be an rumor at best, but a FReeper posted a comment in 2004 that a friend of his was also a friend of Bob Dylan's, and that according to this source, Dylan was voting for Bush.
Don't care for his music, but I sure respect the man.
Dylanoid Ping!
He spent 3 years preaching the Gospel, and is Jewish by heritage. He knows EXACTLY where the forces of Good and Evil are lined up, and he's going to side with the one who are worried more about the survival of two religions than the ones who think removing heads is a pretty good idea.
Neat. Proof of my theory that the more intelligent a person is the more likely he or she will not embrace the Left.
Ping-a-roonie
This guy seems to "get" Dylan. Definitely buying his book
Interesting article. I've been a rabid Dylan fan since I was 14 years old. He is neither right nor left. He is a slice of americana itself.
It may be his Minnesota/North Dakota/flyover country upbringing, but he is one of the few celebrities out there who isn't a complete phony underneath.
He was never a favorite of mine either but the little bit I've heard of his latest CD is amazing. He's morphed into a convincing blues singer and his band is actually pretty good.
Thanks, Scott. I like that photo.
I really prefer Dylan without that sliver of a moustache. It makes him look like he's stealing the deed to someone's farm. 8~)
thanks for the dylan ping! :)
Have you got "Modern Times" yet?
Some of my favorite songs of Dylan are those performed by others.
I can't get enough of Nettie Moore from the new CD.
Yeah,................. Maggy's.
How does it feel?
Uhg! I've yet to hear a good cover of a Dylan song by anyone.
Placemarker.
Anyone who has given as much thought about the God of Abraham has Dylan has done is no liberal.
I will never forget him telling Ed Bradley of "60 Minutes" a couple years ago (one of the RARE RARE RARE times I've watched that See B.S. piece o'crap show) essentially that he didn't like people sticking him with a label...and I inferred he meant political as well as any other.
In my opinion, Garth Brooks did a fine version of "Make You Feel My Love".
I think Dylan remains suspicious about his politics intentionally. And I greatly appreciate that, as I like his music a lot. And, let's face it, he could be far more to the Left if he wanted to be, if he wanted to spike his career as so many failures do briefly.
I find this hard to believe:
"The closest he has ever come would be the statement in his memoir, Chronicles, that his "favorite politician" circa 1961 was Barry Goldwater."
knowing the lyrics from one of his songs:
"Now I'm a liberal
up to a degree.
I want everyone
to be free,
but if you think I'll let
Barry Goldwater
move in next door
and marry my daughter,
you must think I'm crazy."
Of course, that could have been in before his "undeclared positions" position.
I long ago concluded that one of the big factors in Dylan's 'silence' regarding so many issues and his not revealing himself in general, is because if he did, many of his 'fans' would abandon him.
Which is more of a negative reflection on them, then it is on him.
Doh!
You need to hear Van Morrison do Just Like A Woman live. In lieu of that, his version of "Baby Blue" with Them will have to do.
Can't say I heard that one. LOL
Some country crooner did a good cover of Dylan's Wallflower that was in a movie and I can't remember the movie. I think it had Dennis Quaid in it or Debra Winger or both.
Yeah, Van can sing the phonebook and do fine by me. Now that I think about it the Dead did lotsa decent covers of Dylan songs live. Baby Blue and Tom Thumbs Blues comes to mind.
Is the Pope German?
Have listened a few times. Waiting for cold winter nights to sit in front of the fire for several nights in a row and REALLY listen. It is that good!
I find most of it plausible, it's true the Dylan has avoided most "causes" but he's not completely devoid of simple-minded left-leaning polemics 'cause the song "Masters of War" is a crude polemic against eviiiilllll industrialists who create weapons. We would never had survived WWII or the Cold War if this attitude had prevailed:
Heres that 60 Minutes Interview video-
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8728462315860386151&q=bob+dylan&hl=en
I think he likes the intrigue. It empowers him. He seems to enjoy being cryptic. His songs are filled with literary and Biblical allusions.
When he came out explicitly Christian, he got trounced. I think he's tried to pull the covers over his personal beliefs again.
But the outline on the bed can still be clearly seen.
"Beyond the Horizon" and especially "When the Deal Goes Down" are nothing short of contemporary hymns.
His last few albums are full of such lyrics.
Check out this list of Dylan covered by other artists- last updated 2002-- woah!
http://www.bjorner.com/Covers.htm
After his accident, he became more reflective. I think having children mellowed him out a lot, too.
Seems to do that to all of us. 8~)
Ditto. That's the one that always stops me cold.
Great song. He also has a few other leftie songs. Sundown on the Union, Hurricane, and Blowin in the Wind come to mind. But balance that against Neighborhood Bully, Slow Train Coming, I dreamed I saw St Augustine, and Father of Night.
If you have never heard this concert, then maybe you should. Sophie B. Hawkins version of "I want you" is awesome. Eddie Veeder's "Master's of war" is engaging and heartfelt, even if misunderstood. Willie Nelson, Richie Havens and Johnny Winter all do outstanding version of the songs that they perform.
Well worth watching. I wore the tape out watching it so many times and would pay $100.00 to anyone that has an excellent video of this show.
See Scorsceses film. Long before his motorcycle accident he was arrogantly dismissive of the folks clinging to him for protest leadership. He has a handful of anthems deemed to be leftwing protest songs, but since his favorite politician was Goldwater, don't think he was a lefty.
I still can't believe Quinne the Eskimo was a hit for the turtles. LOL
Okay, but to be singing so much about war in 1963 in such a tone was in itself quite a political statement. One also can't overlook Dylan's references to Jim Crow and desegregation, very important issues at the time. However people want to remember things now, the songs did have great appeal to one part of the political spectrum, rather than the other.
"John Brown" or "Masters of War" may be more than political tracts, but on some level both songs can certainly be called "anti-war." If Dylan wrote such songs today it wouldn't mean that he was a card-carrying leftist, but it's doubtful The Weekly Standard would be so friendly towards him.
And if Dylan was and is a poet, and not simply a pamphleteer, one wouldn't expect him to come up with anything so explicit as Neil Young's recent album. If he were the exclusive property of this or that political faction there wouldn't be much point in writing about him now.
That, and the way he croons the phrase "the bells of St. Mary's" from Beyond the Horizon sounds exacly like his voice from from 1968.
I hope Neil Young will remember...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.