A Message to Our So-Called "Allies" (in the words of Bob Dylan)

Action America ^ | 1/25/03 | John Gaver

[Action-America]

A Message to Our So-Called "Allies"
(in the words of Bob Dylan)

---

January 24, 2003
by John Gaver

This afternoon, as I scrolled through my CD collection, looking for something that I had not listened to in a while, I happened to settle on "Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits".  I always enjoy listening to Dylan.  But today, as I listened to "Positively 4th Street", I realized that the words were quite fitting as a message from the United States to our so-called "Allies", most notably, but not limited to, France and Germany.

I tried to think of a lead in to the lyrics, having something to do with how we bailed out France and beat Germany.  But, the more that I thought about it, I realized that the lyrics say it all.  In the following, I left out only two stanzas that did not apply.  So, without further explanation, here is:

Action America's Message to Our So-Called "Allies"
(You know who you are.)

Positively 4th Street
(by Bob Dylan)

You've gotta lotta nerve, to say you are my friend.
When I was down, you just stood there grinnin'.
You've gotta lotta nerve, to say you got a helping hand to lend.
You just want to be on the side that's winnin'

You say you've lost your faith, but that's not where its at.
Ya have no faith to lose - an' ya know it.
Do you take me for such a fool, to think I'd make contact
With a one who tries to hide what he don't know to begin with?

You see me on the street. You always act surprised.
Ya say "How are you?" "Good luck." But ya don't mean it.
When you know as well as me, you'd rather see me paralized,
Why don't you just come out once and scream it?

No, I do not feel that good when I see the heartbreaks you embrace.
If I was a master thief perhaps I'd rob them.
And tho I know you're dissatisfied with your position and your place.
Don't you understand, its not my problem?

I wish that for just one time you could stand inside my shoes
And just for that one moment I could be you.
Yes, I wish that for just one time you could stand inside my shoes.
You'd know what a drag it is to see you.

 

[Action-America]

That about says it all.

 

[Action-America]

BUMP!

[auboy]

Positively Truth Street!

[Michael.SF.]

EXCELLENT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I read a review a few months back (late Oct. I think), in Tampa, an interview with Dylan, at the time I saved it for my wife to read, because frankly I was amazed. After reading the interview for perhaps the third time I was struck by two things:

1) Dylan has never explained the meaning behind his lyrics for unstated reasons. Which now became apparrent-his is not the liberal that his image projects.

2) There exists more conservative truth in his words, then I had ever imagined.

It is late, I will try to search for that interview at another time. Excellent post.

Thank you!

[DKNY]

Would you mind pinging me when you find it?....Would love to read it.

[CyberCowboy777]

Great Song

[LibertarianInExile]

I have to say I prefer Randy Newman's approach and reasoning better. I can understand what he's saying, too:

No one likes us
I don't know why.
We may not be perfect
But heaven knows we try.
But all around even our old friends put us down.
Let's drop the big one and see what happens.

We give them money
But are they grateful?
No they're spiteful
And they're hateful.
They don't respect us so let's surprise them;
We'll drop the big one and pulverize them.

Now Asia's crowded
And Europe's too old.
Africa's far too hot,
And Canada's too cold.
And South America stole our name.
Let's drop the big one; there'll be no one left to blame us.

Bridge:
We'll save Australia;
Don't wanna hurt no kangaroo.
We'll build an all-American amusement park there;
They've got surfing, too.

Well, boom goes London,
And boom Paris.
More room for you
And more room for me.
And every city the whole world round
Will just be another American town.
Oh, how peaceful it'll be;
We'll set everybody free;
You'll have Japanese kimonos, baby,
There'll be Italian shoes for me.
They all hate us anyhow,
So let's drop the big one now.
Let's drop the big one now.

[nicmarlo]

How appropriate, pingaroo:

You've gotta lotta nerve, to say you are my friend.
When I was down, you just stood there grinnin'.
You've gotta lotta nerve, to say you got a helping hand to lend.
You just want to be on the side that's winnin'

You say you've lost your faith, but that's not where its at.
Ya have no faith to lose - an' ya know it.

[buffyt]

EXCELLENT!

[Behind Liberal Lines]

Check out the lyrics to "Neighborhood Bully." Definitely a pro-Israel, pro-national defense slant:

Well, the neighborhood bully, he's just one man,
His enemies say he's on their land.
They got him outnumbered about a million to one,
He got no place to escape to, no place to run.
He's the neighborhood bully.

The neighborhood bully just lives to survive,
He's criticized and condemned for being alive.
He's not supposed to fight back, he's supposed to have thick skin,
He's supposed to lay down and die when his door is kicked in.
He's the neighborhood bully.

The neighborhood bully been driven out of every land,
He's wandered the earth an exiled man.
Seen his family scattered, his people hounded and torn,
He's always on trial for just being born.
He's the neighborhood bully.

Well, he knocked out a lynch mob, he was criticized,
Old women condemned him, said he should apologize.
Then he destroyed a bomb factory, nobody was glad.
The bombs were meant for him.
He was supposed to feel bad.
He's the neighborhood bully.

Well, the chances are against it and the odds are slim
That he'll live by the rules that the world makes for him,
'Cause there's a noose at his neck and a gun at his back
And a license to kill him is given out to every maniac.
He's the neighborhood bully.

He got no allies to really speak of.
What he gets he must pay for, he don't get it out of love.
He buys obsolete weapons and he won't be denied
But no one sends flesh and blood to fight by his side.
He's the neighborhood bully.

Well, he's surrounded by pacifists who all want peace,
They pray for it nightly that the bloodshed must cease.
Now, they wouldn't hurt a fly.
To hurt one they would weep.
They lay and they wait for this bully to fall asleep.
He's the neighborhood bully.

Every empire that's enslaved him is gone,
Egypt and Rome, even the great Babylon.
He's made a garden of paradise in the desert sand,
In bed with nobody, under no one's command.
He's the neighborhood bully.

Now his holiest books have been trampled upon,
No contract he signed was worth what it was written on.
He took the crumbs of the world and he turned it into wealth,
Took sickness and disease and he turned it into health.
He's the neighborhood bully.

What's anybody indebted to him for?
Nothin', they say.
He just likes to cause war.
Pride and prejudice and superstition indeed,
They wait for this bully like a dog waits to feed.
He's the neighborhood bully.

What has he done to wear so many scars?
Does he change the course of rivers?
Does he pollute the moon and stars?
Neighborhood bully, standing on the hill,
Running out the clock, time standing still,
Neighborhood bully.


Copyright © 1983 Special Rider Music

[buffyt]

I heard that Dylan was only interested in MONEY back in the 60s. We saw him in concert with Paul Simon a couple of years ago in Houston. Dylan changed "costumes" half way through the show. He was selling CDs, shirts, posters at the concert. I thought then, doesn't he already have ENOUGH money? He is very commercialized and not a dirty moody poor poet.

[Michael.SF.]

Check out the lyrics to "Neighborhood Bully." Definitely a pro-Israel, pro-national defense slant"

And the author is?

[OneLoyalAmerican]

LOL! Finally discovered what words mush-mouth Dylan put into the song. Always liked the melody.

[OneLoyalAmerican]

What's the name of this Randy Newman song; so we can hear the melody.

[Hostage]

No, I'm afraid it says almost nothing.

I predicted four years ago that hatred of America and towards Americans would resurface. And no, this is not a shot in the dark type of prediction, rather it is rooted in actual experiences leading back to Vietnam and continuing through to the present.

It has little to do with the actual threat from Iraq, Al-Quaida, and the global terrorist network. These elements are indeed dangerous but they are only cataytic to the anti-America sentiment.

It is easy to spit upon the weaselness of France and Germany and there is some truth to their lack of perspective.

But there is a HUGE gaping hole in the American argument.

I am not one to promote inward looking after 911 but the hole that I refer to must at some point be addressed. I'm not sure how at this point.

I'll leave it to the posters here to guess what I'm talking about.

[Michael.SF.]

The Title is: "Political Science"

I believe it is from the "Sail Away" LP

[Michael.SF.]

Could not find it in the LA times and you would need to set up an account and pay a small fee to read it in the Herald.

I also posted on this in February. part of the article was posted, but later edited by Jim. Do a search on:

Bob Dylan + Conservative

To read that thread. Otherwise here is the info to find the article in the Herald:

Published on February 1, 2002, Page 7G, The Miami Herald AFTER THE FLOOD Source: ROBERT HILBURN, LOS ANGELES TIMES SERVICE

[OneLoyalAmerican]

Greetings Hostage, Freepers, et al::
I'm not sure. Perhaps you can’t see the forest because of the trees?

We are in a new paradigm of warfare. Internet DDOS, state sponsored terrorism, and since Saddam can not match the USA on a battle field, the Mass Media of the free world is the battle ground. This battle front works well when the “modern attacker” has a closed press.

While this might not be "good enough" for GWB haters of all stripes; who am I going to trust at this point, GWB or Saddam Hussein? One of the problems facing the US White House, the Iraq case www.whitehouse.gov/ogc/apparatus/index.html is so complex; it doesn't make a cutesy sound bite. Saddam’s “No war for oil,” is a cute, but inaccurate “sound bite.”

Short of saying "the lying, deceitful, mass murdering, WMD producing, sanction violating, terrorist harboring, terrorist enabling Saddam must go." A free Iraqi press, much like the liberation of Europe did in WW2, will shock the world.

My sound bite: This charade has gone on long enough, it’s time to liberate Iraq.

[Jack Black]

Neighborhood Bully by Bob Dylan

Well, the neighborhood bully, he's just one man,
His enemies say he's on their land.
They got him outnumbered about a million to one,
He got no place to escape to, no place to run.
He's the neighborhood bully.

The neighborhood bully just lives to survive,
He's criticized and condemned for being alive.
He's not supposed to fight back, he's supposed to have thick skin,
He's supposed to lay down and die when his door is kicked in.
He's the neighborhood bully.

The neighborhood bully been driven out of every land,
He's wandered the earth an exiled man.
Seen his family scattered, his people hounded and torn,
He's always on trial for just being born.
He's the neighborhood bully.

Well, he knocked out a lynch mob, he was criticized,
Old women condemned him, said he should apologize.
Then he destroyed a bomb factory, nobody was glad.
The bombs were meant for him.
He was supposed to feel bad.
He's the neighborhood bully.

Well, the chances are against it and the odds are slim
That he'll live by the rules that the world makes for him,
'Cause there's a noose at his neck and a gun at his back
And a license to kill him is given out to every maniac.
He's the neighborhood bully.

He got no allies to really speak of.
What he gets he must pay for, he don't get it out of love.
He buys obsolete weapons and he won't be denied
But no one sends flesh and blood to fight by his side.
He's the neighborhood bully.

Well, he's surrounded by pacifists who all want peace,
They pray for it nightly that the bloodshed must cease.
Now, they wouldn't hurt a fly.
To hurt one they would weep.
They lay and they wait for this bully to fall asleep.
He's the neighborhood bully.

Every empire that's enslaved him is gone,
Egypt and Rome, even the great Babylon.
He's made a garden of paradise in the desert sand,
In bed with nobody, under no one's command.
He's the neighborhood bully.

Now his holiest books have been trampled upon,
No contract he signed was worth what it was written on.
He took the crumbs of the world and he turned it into wealth,
Took sickness and disease and he turned it into health.
He's the neighborhood bully.

What's anybody indebted to him for?
Nothin', they say.
He just likes to cause war.
Pride and prejudice and superstition indeed,
They wait for this bully like a dog waits to feed.
He's the neighborhood bully.

What has he done to wear so many scars?
Does he change the course of rivers?
Does he pollute the moon and stars?
Neighborhood bully, standing on the hill,
Running out the clock, time standing still,
Neighborhood bully.



Copyright © 1983 Special Rider Music

[Hostage]

You're correct. There is a propaganda war. And yes it is time to get Iraq off the list and move on to Iran, North Korea and pockets of Pakistan.

But as far as Germany and France are concerned, it is NOT the cute "No War for Oil in Iraq" or such that has brought their moderates to the position of turning against the USA.

It is the *HOLE* I referred to before that is the base upon which they French and German moderates rest.

Now I am not sure when the *HOLE* should be addressed or even if it should ever be addressed. There's a chance it can be covered over in time, much to everyone's relief.

Ok, some may say I'm building a mystery, but if no one will step forward and identify the *HOLE* then the reasons behind the anti-Americanism will never be properly understood. I hope and pray it fades.

Also the anti-Americanism runs deeper than just the left wing fringe. I wish it were not so. Still there are yet a few options Americans may have to turn around the moderates in Europe to support the USA.