Bob Dylan, Troubadour With A Message

Ransom Fellowship ^ | January/February '05 | Denis Haack

[AlbionGirl]

I’m determined to stand whether God will deliver me or not

There are always two important questions about music. The first is “Do I like it?” and the second is “Do I get it?” I have loved Bob Dylan’s music ever since I first heard him in the ’60s, so much so that it is difficult to believe not everyone shares that love. Still, even if you don’t like Dylan’s music, you need to understand it. He has had too great an impact on our world to ignore it. And in a world where increasingly the next generation finds their deepest yearnings expressed in popular culture, getting his music can prepare us to be better able to engage our world with the gospel.

Robert Zimmerman was born in 1941 in Duluth, a city on Lake Superior on the iron range of Minnesota. It’s a blue-collar, hard-working area, populated with German and Scandinavian immigrants working open mines cut deep into the earth, logging in the deep snow in the woods, and on busy wharfs shipping grain and iron ore on huge ships navigating the Great Lakes. The Jewish community the Zimmermans found there was small, and though not Orthodox, they taught Bob and his brother the Bible and instilled in them a strong moral code and solid midwestern values.

[AlbionGirl]

Ping, I mean HUGE Dylan Ping!

[weegee]

Rock and Roll PING! email Weegee to get on/off this list (or grab it yourself to PING the rest)

[theDentist]

Still, even if you don’t like Dylan’s music, you need to understand it.

No, we don't.

[AlbionGirl]

From the piece:

Dylan’s last album, Love and Theft, his 43rd, was slated for release on September 11, 2001. Though recorded long before the tragic events at the World Trade Center, the second song on the album evokes painfully appropriate images of the horror of evil:

“Every step of the way,we walk the line
Your days are numbered, so are mine…
Sky full of fire, Pain pouring down
Nothing you can sell me, I’ll see you around
All my powers of expression and thoughts so sublime
Could never do you justice in reason or rhyme.”

And lest anyone think that this human dilemma—of sin—can be solved by our own effort, Dylan sets the record straight in his 1979 song, “Precious Angel”:

“My so-called friends have fallen under a spell.
They look me squarely in the eye and they say, ‘All is well.’
Can they imagine the darkness that will fall from on high
When men will beg God to kill them and they won’t be able to die?”

That last line, like a thunderbolt right through my brain, directly to my heart.

[Larry Lucido]

LOL!!!!!!

I can't understand a damn thing he says, but I will give the man credit for not being a traitor as so many of his contemporaries were.

[Larry Lucido]

All right, no fair trying to claim Dylan as a Calvinist! LOL!

[AlbionGirl]

LOL!

[theDentist]

Yeah, aside from "TANGLED UP IN BLUE", there's little of his I enjoy.... very little.

[romanesq]

Lyrically he has registered impact, but playing guitar, well no. Seeing him perform in 1994 at the Woodstock II festival, he showed not only can he not play with a band, but that he couldn't play guitar. It was shocking to say the least.

Not taking away the relevance of his songwriting or his abandonment of children because that's a different matter.

But how does treating his son Jacob poorly conform to Midwestern values.

[Dixie Yooper]

Ever since his cheeks puffed over 15 years ago, he's been impossible to understand. I would never waste my money to see him mumble.

[bremenboy]

Bob Dylan is my favorite song and dance man bar none. I have trouble deciding what is my favorite album and what is my favorite song. It depends on the mood I am in.

What is yours?

[AlbionGirl]

One last piece from the piece:

One test of this is the numerous lines and images from his lyrics that are imprinted in our culture’s common language. Listen: They’re everywhere, blowin’ in the wind. “He has sung with eloquence about so many issues at times when the news about them was needed,”Woiwode says, “and has so often hit the target dead center, I often wonder if he isn’t hot-wired to a manifestation of the Holy Spirit.”

I think that's a great image.

[Dr. Eckleburg]

Great article, AG. Thanks for posting it.

"When men will beg God to kill them and they won't be able to die"

Yes, that's a chilling line.

Dylan is a real troubadour, heralding the present and the future in light of the past. What I like most about Dylan these days is the fact he seems aware of his redemption and grateful for his deliverance. He knows that to fear is to mistrust God. I bet he's read John 16.

WHEN THE DEAL GOES DOWN

In the still of the night, in the world's ancient light
Where wisdom grows up in strife
My bewildering brain, toils in vain
Through the darkness on the pathways of life
Each invisible prayer is like a cloud in the air
Tomorrow keeps turning around
We live and we die, we know not why
But I'll be with you when the deal goes down

We eat and we drink, we feel and we think
Far down the street we stray
I laugh and I cry and I'm haunted by
Things I never meant nor wished to say
The midnight rain follows the train
We all wear the same thorny crown
Soul to soul, our shadows roll
And I'll be with you when the deal goes down

Well, the moon gives light and it shines by night
When I scarcely feel the glow
We learn to live and then we forgive
O'r the road we're bound to go
More frailer than the flowers, these precious hours
That keep us so tightly bound
You come to my eyes like a vision from the skies
And I'll be with you when the deal goes down

Well, I picked up a rose and it poked through my clothes
I followed the winding stream
I heard the deafening noise, I felt transient joys
I know they're not what they seem
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

[Dr. Eckleburg]

meant to ping you, too.

[Calvinist_Dark_Lord]

It's All Over Now, Baby Blue

Been a fan since the 60's, and have almost all of his old stuff. He did blow the call on the song Hurricane though. Almost nothing in the song is accurate.

[P-Marlowe]

All right, no fair trying to claim Dylan as a Calvinist! LOL!?"

Too Late. Ye shall know them by their lyrics:

SAVED

I was blinded by the devil,
Born already ruined,
Stone-cold dead
As I stepped out of the womb.
By His grace I have been touched,
By His word I have been healed,
By His hand I've been delivered,
By His spirit I've been sealed.

I've been saved
By the blood of the lamb,
Saved
By the blood of the lamb,
Saved,
Saved,
And I'm so glad.
Yes, I'm so glad,
I'm so glad,
So glad,
I want to thank You, Lord,
I just want to thank You, Lord,
Thank You, Lord.

By His truth I can be upright,
By His strength I do endure,
By His power I've been lifted,
In His love I am secure.
He bought me with a price,
Freed me from the pit,
Full of emptiness and wrath
And the fire that burns in it.

I've been saved
By the blood of the lamb,
Saved
By the blood of the lamb,
Saved,
Saved,
And I'm so glad.
Yes, I'm so glad,
I'm so glad,
So glad,
I want to thank You, Lord,
I just want to thank You, Lord,
Thank You, Lord.

Nobody to rescue me,
Nobody would dare,
I was going down for the last time,
But by His mercy I've been spared.
Not by works,
But by faith in Him who called,
For so long I've been hindered,
For so long I've been stalled.

I've been saved
By the blood of the lamb,
Saved
By the blood of the lamb,
Saved,
Saved,
And I'm so glad.
Yes, I'm so glad, I'm so glad,
So glad, I want to thank You, Lord,
I just want to thank You, Lord,
Thank You, Lord.

Copyright © 1980 Special Rider Music

[Dr. Eckleburg]

I read somewhere once that the vast majority of all quotes used in English are either from the Bible, Shakespeare or Bob Dylan.

Seems about right.

"...hot-wired to a manifestation of the Holy Spirit."

lol. What an image. 8~)

[AlbionGirl]

It's hard for me to pick a favorite, but if I had to pick a favorite song, it would be Like a Rolling Stone.

You never turned around to see the frowns on the jugglers and the clowns
When they all come down and did tricks for you
You never understood that it ain't no good
You shouldn't let other people get your kicks for you
You used to ride on the chrome horse with your diplomat
Who carried on his shoulder a Siamese cat
Ain't it hard when you discover that
He really wasn't where it's at
After he took from you everything he could steal.

How does it feel
How does it feel
To be on your own
With no direction home
Like a complete unknown
Like a rolling stone?

Princess on the steeple and all the pretty people
They're drinkin', thinkin' that they got it made
Exchanging all kinds of precious gifts and things
But you'd better lift your diamond ring, you'd better pawn it babe
You used to be so amused
At Napoleon in rags and the language that he used
Go to him now, he calls you, you can't refuse
When you got nothing, you got nothing to lose
You're invisible now, you got no secrets to conceal.

How does it feel
How does it feel
To be on your own
With no direction home
Like a complete unknown
Like a rolling stone?

[AlbionGirl]

He did blow the call on the song Hurricane though. Almost nothing in the song is accurate.

LOL. Nobody's perfect, I guess.

[Calvinist_Dark_Lord]

Speaking of Blowin in the Wind, did you know that more people (61 at the time i checked this statistic over 20 years ago) have covered the song than were at the original Grenwich Village coffee house (59 people) where Dylan introduced the song?

[AlbionGirl]

I didn't know that, but I'm not surprised. It's as apt today as it was back in '63 or whatever year it was that it was released.

I love radio a lot more than tv, and quite a while back I caught a recast of an interview with Dylan that dated way back. He answered some of the interviewer's questions with a bit of an edge, and I could see why. The questions were either desgined or just happenend to be pigeon hole-y types of questions and he was having none of it.

[Dr. Eckleburg]

SAVED

Amen! I LOVE that song.

From "Beyond the Horizon"...

"It's dark and it's dreary
I've been pleading in vain
I'm wounded, I'm weary
My repentance is plain

Beyond the horizon o'r the treacherous sea
I still can't believe that you have set aside your love for me

Beyond the horizon, 'neath crimson skies
In the soft light of morning I'll follow you with my eyes
Through countries and kingdoms and temples of stone
Beyond the horizon right down to the bone

It's the right time of the season
Somebody there always cared
There's always a reason
Why someone's life has been spared

Beyond the horizon, the sky is so blue
I've got more than a lifetime to live lovin' you"

[AlbionGirl]

Too Late. Ye shall know them by their lyrics:

I like it!

[Calvinist_Dark_Lord]

LOL. Nobody's perfect, I guess.

That's true, but a little bit of research, instead of just taking Carter's word for the matter would have turned up some Interesting results.

[Quix]

Thanks much.

Is my keyboard now working? hmmmmm Wonder how long this will go on. Is it solved? testing testing . . . The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog's back.

Now is the time for all good Calvinists to come to the aid of Arminians.

zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcba

PTL, seems to be OK. Wheeee.

Maybe I can now go post that BCD thread . . . . That should be fun . . . LOL.

[Dr. Eckleburg]

Speaking of Blowin in the Wind, did you know that more people (61 at the time i checked this statistic over 20 years ago) have covered the song than were at the original Grenwich Village coffee house (59 people) where Dylan introduced the song?

Great statistic.

People who say Dylan wasn't political are wrong. Dylan was practically subversive, but it wasn't necessarily the government he hoped to subvert, but the evil in men's hearts.

"You don't need a weather man
To know which way the wind blows..."

[Dr. Eckleburg]

LOL. That's almost as cryptic as some of Dylan's lyrics. (And I always enjoy a good clue.) 8~)

[bremenboy]

I guess one of my forervite line that would relate to this forum would be from the song Brownsville Girl

"Strange how people who suffer together have stronger connections than people who are most content.
I don't have any regrets, they can talk about me plenty when I'm gone.
You always said people don't do what they believe in, they just do what's most convenient, then they repent.
And I always said, "Hang on to me, baby, and let's hope that the roof stays on."

I like Blood on the tracks and Desire

[AlbionGirl]

I don't know enough about the real story myself to talk about it with any degree of certainty, but I'll take your word for it.

For some reason the link you gave me made me think of his Chimes of Freedom song, particularly the lines I've made bold:

Far between sundown's finish an' midnight's broken toll
We ducked inside the doorway, thunder crashing
As majestic bells of bolts struck shadows in the sounds
Seeming to be the chimes of freedom flashing
Flashing for the warriors whose strength is not to fight
Flashing for the refugees on the unarmed road of flight
An' for each an' ev'ry underdog soldier in the night
An' we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashing.

In the city's melted furnace, unexpectedly we watched
With faces hidden while the walls were tightening
As the echo of the wedding bells before the blowin' rain
Dissolved into the bells of the lightning
Tolling for the rebel, tolling for the rake
Tolling for the luckless, the abandoned an' forsaked
Tolling for the outcast, burnin' constantly at stake
An' we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashing.

Through the mad mystic hammering of the wild ripping hail
The sky cracked its poems in naked wonder
That the clinging of the church bells blew far into the breeze
Leaving only bells of lightning and its thunder
Striking for the gentle, striking for the kind
Striking for the guardians and protectors of the mind
An' the unpawned painter behind beyond his rightful time
An' we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashing.

Through the wild cathedral evening the rain unraveled tales
For the disrobed faceless forms of no position
Tolling for the tongues with no place to bring their thoughts
All down in taken-for-granted situations
Tolling for the deaf an' blind, tolling for the mute
Tolling for the mistreated, mateless mother, the mistitled prostitute
For the misdemeanor outlaw, chased an' cheated by pursuit
An' we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashing.

Even though a cloud's white curtain in a far-off corner flashed
An' the hypnotic splattered mist was slowly lifting
Electric light still struck like arrows, fired but for the ones
Condemned to drift or else be kept from drifting
Tolling for the searching ones, on their speechless, seeking trail
For the lonesome-hearted lovers with too personal a tale
An' for each unharmful, gentle soul misplaced inside a jail
An' we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashing.

Starry-eyed an' laughing as I recall when we were caught
Trapped by no track of hours for they hanged suspended
As we listened one last time an' we watched with one last look
Spellbound an' swallowed 'til the tolling ended
Tolling for the aching ones whose wounds cannot be nursed
For the countless confused, accused, misused, strung-out ones an' worse
An' for every hung-up person in the whole wide universe
An' we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashing.

[AlbionGirl]

People who say Dylan wasn't political are wrong. Dylan was practically subversive, but it wasn't necessarily the government he hoped to subvert, but the evil in men's hearts.

I agree. Subversive in a way similar to the way Christ was subversive, in my view.

I think we forget that Jesus could have easily been thought of as a Radical, and I'm sure he was proclaimed a "heretic", as heresy is a Jewish concept, I think.

Totally unrelated, but this thought put me in the mind of Abraham Kuyper, and a quote of his that I absolutely love:

“No single piece of our mental world is to be hermetically sealed off from the rest, and there is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, doesn not cry: “Mine!”

[AlbionGirl]

"Strange how people who suffer together have stronger connections than people who are most content.... "Hang on to me, baby, and let's hope that the roof stays on."

I really wasn't all that familiar with the lyrics you posted, and I like them.

I hate to bring Nietzsche into the conversation 'cause so many people seem to dislike him, and with good reason, but he's my favorite pagan, and he was absolutely right when he said that that which doesn't kill you makes you stronger. And when you suffer with someone, the bond is intense and for the most part unbreakable.

[Calvinist_Dark_Lord]

My absolute favorite Dylan tune has to be It's Allright Ma, I'm Only Bleeding. While many have quoted some lyrics...Jimmy Carter quoted the He who is not busy being born is busy dying line in his Inaugural Address in January, 1977, i found the bolded section of the song below the most telling indictment of our society:

Darkness at the break of noon
Shadows even the silver spoon
The handmade blade, the child's balloon
Eclipses both the sun and moon
To understand you know too soon
There is no sense in trying.

Pointed threats, they bluff with scorn
Suicide remarks are torn
From the fool's gold mouthpiece
The hollow horn plays wasted words
Proves to warn
That he not busy being born
Is busy dying.

Temptation's page flies out the door
You follow, find yourself at war
Watch waterfalls of pity roar
You feel to moan but unlike before
You discover
That you'd just be
One more person crying.

So don't fear if you hear
A foreign sound to your ear
It's alright, Ma, I'm only sighing.

As some warn victory, some downfall
Private reasons great or small
Can be seen in the eyes of those that call
To make all that should be killed to crawl
While others say don't hate nothing at all
Except hatred.

Disillusioned words like bullets bark
As human gods aim for their mark
Made everything from toy guns that spark
To flesh-colored Christs that glow in the dark
It's easy to see without looking too far
That not much
Is really sacred.

While preachers preach of evil fates
Teachers teach that knowledge waits
Can lead to hundred-dollar plates
Goodness hides behind its gates
But even the president of the United States
Sometimes must have
To stand naked.

An' though the rules of the road have been lodged
It's only people's games that you got to dodge
And it's alright, Ma, I can make it.

Advertising signs that con you
Into thinking you're the one
That can do what's never been done
That can win what's never been won
Meantime life outside goes on
All around you.

You lose yourself, you reappear
You suddenly find you got nothing to fear
Alone you stand with nobody near
When a trembling distant voice, unclear
Startles your sleeping ears to hear
That somebody thinks
They really found you.

A question in your nerves is lit
Yet you know there is no answer fit to satisfy
Insure you not to quit
To keep it in your mind and not fergit
That it is not he or she or them or it
That you belong to.

Although the masters make the rules
For the wise men and the fools
I got nothing, Ma, to live up to.

For them that must obey authority
That they do not respect in any degree
Who despise their jobs, their destinies
Speak jealously of them that are free
Cultivate their flowers to be
Nothing more than something
They invest in.

While some on principles baptized
To strict party platform ties
Social clubs in drag disguise
Outsiders they can freely criticize
Tell nothing except who to idolize
And then say God bless him.

While one who sings with his tongue on fire
Gargles in the rat race choir
Bent out of shape from society's pliers
Cares not to come up any higher
But rather get you down in the hole
That he's in.

But I mean no harm nor put fault
On anyone that lives in a vault
But it's alright, Ma, if I can't please him.

Old lady judges watch people in pairs
Limited in sex, they dare
To push fake morals, insult and stare
While money doesn't talk, it swears
Obscenity, who really cares
Propaganda, all is phony.

While them that defend what they cannot see
With a killer's pride, security
It blows the minds most bitterly
For them that think death's honesty
Won't fall upon them naturally
Life sometimes
Must get lonely.

My eyes collide head-on with stuffed graveyards
False gods, I scuff
At pettiness which plays so rough
Walk upside-down inside handcuffs
Kick my legs to crash it off
Say okay, I have had enough
What else can you show me?

And if my thought-dreams could be seen
They'd probably put my head in a guillotine
But it's alright, Ma, it's life, and life only.

Copyright © 1965; renewed 1993 Special Rider Music

Lots to consider there.

[Quix]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/religion/1787508/posts?page=1

[Dr. Eckleburg]

KUYPER: "No single piece of our mental world is to be hermetically sealed off from the rest, and there is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry: 'Mine!'"

Amen!

"The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;

To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn;

To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified." -- Isaiah 61:1-3

"...the planting of the Lord..."

[Dr. Eckleburg]

Thanks, Q. That will take some time to digest, but I'll definitely read it.

[Dr. Eckleburg]

Wow. That one song has more meat to chew on than 50 songs.

While money doesn't talk, it swears
Obscenity, who really cares
Propaganda, all is phony.

[KevinB]

No, we don't.

I'm with you on that. I'm generally ambivalent about Dylan's music - like some, hate some - but I don't care what his views are any more than I care about what any other entertainer's views are.

[Calvinist_Dark_Lord]

The best version of that song was (IMO), on the album Bob Dylan and The Band: Before the Flood, 1974

[bremenboy]

Wow. That one song has more meat to chew on than 50 songs.

if you like that one I think you will like this one two

Foot OF Pride

Like the lion tears the flesh off of a man
So can a woman who passes herself off as a male
They sang "Danny Boy" at his funeral and the Lord's Prayer
Preacher talking 'bout Christ betrayed
It's like the earth just opened and swallowed him up
He reached too high, was thrown back to the ground
You know what they say about bein' nice to the right people on the way up
Sooner or later you gonna meet them comin' down

Well, there ain't no goin' back when your foot of pride come down
Ain't no goin' back

Hear ya got a brother named James, don't forget faces or names
Sunken cheeks and his blood is mixed
He looked straight into the sun and said revenge is mine
But he drinks, and drinks can be fixed
Sing me one more song, about ya love me to the moon and the stranger
And your fall by the sword love affair with Erroll Flynn
in these times of compassion when conformity's in fashion
Say one more stupid thing to me before the final nail is driven in.

Well, there ain't no goin' back when your foot of pride come down
Ain't no goin' back

There's a retired businessman named Red, cast down from heaven and he's out of his head
He feeds off of everyone that he can touch
He said he only deals in cash or sells tickets to a plane crash
He's not somebody that you play around with much
Miss Delilah is his, a Philistine is what she is
She'll do wondrous works with your fate
Feed you coconut bread, spice buns in your bed
If you don't mind sleepin' with your head face down in a grave.

Well, there ain't no goin' back when your foot of pride come down
Ain't no goin' back

Well they'll choose a man for you to meet tonight
You'll play the fool and learn how to walk through doors
How to enter into the gates of paradise
No, how to carry a burden too heavy to be yours
Yeah, from the stage they'll be tryin' to get water outta rocks
A whore will pass the hat, collect a hundred grand and say thanks
They like to take all this money from sin, build big universities to study in
Sing "Amazing Grace" all the way to the Swiss banks

Well, there ain't no goin' back when your foot of pride come down
Ain't no goin' back

They got some beautiful people out there, man
They can be a terror to your mind and show you how to hold your tongue
They got mystery written all over their forehead
They kill babies in the crib and say only the good die young
They don't believe in mercy
Judgment on them is something that you'll never see
They can exalt you up or bring you down main route
Turn you into anything that they want you to be

Well, there ain't no goin' back when your foot of pride come down
Ain't no goin' back

Yes, I guess I loved him too
I can still see him in my mind climbin' that hill
Did he make it to the top, well he probably did and dropped
Struck down by the strength of the will
Ain't nothin' left here partner, just the dust of a plague that has left this whole town afraid
From now on, this'll be where you're from
Let the dead bury the dead. Your time will come
Let hot iron blow as he raised the shade

Well, there ain't no goin' back when your foot of pride come down
Ain't no goin' back


Copyright © 1983 Special Rider Music

Whenever I hear this song I think of that Monty Python foot coming down on someone

[scott says]

DYLAN PING

[Dr. Eckleburg]

"Foot of Pride"

That is one scary song by Dylan.

Whenever I hear this song I think of that Monty Python foot coming down on someone

lol. Very appropriate.

"But he drinks, and drinks can be fixed...

He said he only deals in cash or sells tickets to a plane crash...

They got mystery written all over their forehead...

Turn you into anything that they want you to be...

You're right. Lots to think about in that one.

[Liberty Valance]

Thank you for the ping Scott and many thanks to Albion Girl for posting this thread.
Bob Dylan absolutely rocks!

[Liberty Valance]

Bob Dylan - Charlie Chaplin - Beyond The Horizon
http://youtube.com/watch?v=vUR7Fl-lcAE

[AlbionGirl]

You're welcome, Liberty. I love Dylan, if he passes away before I do, I will feel it quite deeply.

Is my memory playing tricks on me or was Liberty Valance at one time a staple of my newspaper and the comic (though it wasn't a comic) strip?

[AlbionGirl]

Nice pic, Scott. I like it, and since I've got your attention, can you add me to your Dylan ping list?

[nuconvert]

Thanks for the ping, Scott

Every Grain of Sand

In the time of my confession, in the hour of my deepest need
When the pool of tears beneath my feet flood every newborn seed
There's a dyin' voice within me reaching out somewhere,
Toiling in the danger and in the morals of despair.

Don't have the inclination to look back on any mistake,
Like Cain, I now behold this chain of events that I must break.
In the fury of the moment I can see the Master's hand
In every leaf that trembles, in every grain of sand.

Oh, the flowers of indulgence and the weeds of yesteryear,
Like criminals, they have choked the breath of conscience and good cheer.
The sun beat down upon the steps of time to light the way
To ease the pain of idleness and the memory of decay.

I gaze into the doorway of temptation's angry flame
And every time I pass that way I always hear my name.
Then onward in my journey I come to understand
That every hair is numbered like every grain of sand.

I have gone from rags to riches in the sorrow of the night
In the violence of a summer's dream, in the chill of a wintry light,
In the bitter dance of loneliness fading into space,
In the broken mirror of innocence on each forgotten face.

I hear the ancient footsteps like the motion of the sea
Sometimes I turn, there's someone there, other times it's only me.
I am hanging in the balance of the reality of man
Like every sparrow falling, like every grain of sand.

[Liberty Valance]

was Liberty Valance at one time a staple of my newspaper and the comic (though it wasn't a comic) strip?

No. Liberty Valance was the bad guy in a great western starring John Wayne, Jimmy Stewart and Lee Marvin in the title roll. As to the comic strip, you may be thinking of Prince Valiant...;o)

[antivenom]

I have been a Dylan fan for ever and ever...thanks for the thread. Probably the song that I love to sing just for the sake of singing is

"Tonight I'll be Staying Here With You"

Throw my ticket out the window
Throw my suitcase out there, too
Throw my troubles out the door
I don't need them any more
'Cause tonight I'll be staying here with you.

I should have left this town this morning
But it was more than I could do.
Oh, your love comes on so strong
And I've waited all day long
For tonight when I'll be staying here with you.

Is it really any wonder
The love that a stranger might receive.
You cast your spell and I went under,
I find it so difficult to leave.


I can hear that whistle blowin',
I see that stationmaster, too,
If there's a poor boy on the street,
Then let him have my seat
'Cause tonight I'll be staying here with you.

Throw my ticket out the window,
Throw my suitcase out there, too,
Throw my troubles out the door,
I don't need them any more
'Cause tonight I'll be staying here with you.

Favorite album....man that would be impossible to pick...IF I could only pick one...it would be...Desire...no no no Blood on the Track...no no no.....I just can't pick!

[scott says]

You are added! I recently offered a cd to the ping list- Bob Dylan- Live Times- Songs from the new cd performed LIVE on the last tour-
If you would like a FREE copy- FReepmail me.
Nuconvert,pissant,Liberty Valance,fnord,Michael SF all took me up on the cd- you can ask any of them how it is...

http://www.dimeadozen.org/attachments/128023/1544384/Live_Times_B.jpg