Bob Dylan on American Music and the Problem With Pop (Bob ain't a globalist)

Rolling Stone ^ | 4/29/09 | dylan/brinkley

[pissant]

Do you recall where you were at when Obama was elected? Did you feel part of that energy with the campaign? Do you feel like he's a good person?

Well I mean, how do you know? The people that are in history that I study up on are people like Attila the Hun, Genghis Khan, Julius Caesar, Scipio, maybe George Washington, Lincoln, those kind of guys. And I don't know much about any of these other guys that run for office.

snip

I want to just follow-up on that globalization talk you had with Sarkozy.

Yeah, I ask him, I said, "With all these bailouts and stimulus packages, all these bailouts throughout the country. I'm just wondering whether globalism is dead in the tracks? Ya know, is it over?" He doesn't say yes, he didn't say no.

But what intrigued me was you saying that we must get back to being the United States.

Oh, and he could get back to being France.

Boy, you're an individualist, aren't you? Does globalism therefore get oppressive to you? The global Internet? Global economics? Are you missing what some critics call the older, weirder America?

I NEVER thought the older America was weird in any way whatsoever. Where do people come up with that stuff?? To call it that? What's the old weird America? The depression? Or Teddy Roosevelt? What's old and weird? Well, musically, no. Musically we play a form of American music and that's not gonna go away. Whatever happens in the world won't affect that whatsoever. But you know globalism is, I would think, about getting rid of boundaries, nationalities. You're apart of one big world, no? It might take people awhile to get used to that. I don't like the trend.

[pissant]

Dylan just deflated Brinkley's world...

[pissant]

ping

[Tweeker]

Right after 9/11 Dylan told the audience at Staples Arena - “I know Madonna was here a few weeks ago telling everyone to think global - and I know some of you are doing just that - I want you to RETHINK it” Taken from my memory but pretty exact

[randomhero97]

Wow, I may have to acquire some Bob Dylan music.

[dfwgator]

Ain’t Bobby so cool.

[woweeitsme]

Reading his response about Obama, he seems to not have sipped the Kool-Aid!

[Electric Graffiti]

"But what intrigued disgusted me was you[Bob Dylan] saying that we must get back to being the United States."

Bob sees the writing on the wall

[Vaquero]

I LOVE THIS!! good answers in general by Zimmerman.

I got a kick out of someone commenting on the article in Rolling Stones own website.

From the questions Brinkley asks, it appears he's had sex with Obama and assumes everyone else loves him. It's interesting that Dylan did not endorse Obama as Brinkley expected.

[mnehring]

I want to just follow-up on that globalization talk you had with Sarkozy.....
Yeah, I ask him, I said, "With all these bailouts and stimulus packages, all these bailouts throughout the country. I'm just wondering whether globalism is dead in the tracks?

At least Dylan is smart enough to correct the interviewer's incorrect use of the term globalization versus what he meant, globalism (personal pet peeve).

[Mr. Mojo]

"Do you recall where you were at when Obama was elected? Did you feel part of that energy with the campaign?"

Brinkley was hoping like mad for a "oh yes, I haven't felt this politically energized since Camelot Part I" sort of answer. Not surprisingly, Bob didn't give it to him.

[Revolting cat!]

Excellent interview. I don’t remember Zimmy ever having been so open and willing to talk.

[don-o]

also you need to send many hours reading www.rightwingbob.com. Trust me on that one.

[ml/nj]

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.

[don-o]

Bobping

[definitelynotaliberal]

Dylan ping

[scott says]

Dylan Ping

[2 Kool 2 Be 4-Gotten]

Hi pissant - we conversed on a previous Dylan thread.

I’ve wondered many times what Bobby thinks about the current scene which looks to me, anyway, like Desolation Row.

From this excerpt he seems to be doing his usual which is turning the questions back on the questioner, and questioning assumptions.

Still he doesn’t show all of his cards nor would I expect him too.

I’d give more than a penny though to know what he really thinks.

[BattleHymn]

ping-o

[SWAMPSNIPER]

You can’t be a free bird and support Obama!

[jerri]

I’ve always liked Bob Dylan.