"You Don't Need To Be a Weatherman..." (Lyrics to Bob Dylan's 'Subterranean Homesick Blues')

several sources | several authors

[ETL]

"Those who later formed the Weatherman organization produced a paper at the Students for a Democratic Society Convention in Chicago in June of 1969. With a nod to Bob Dylan, the sponsors titled their epistle: 'You Don’t Need A Weatherman to Know Which Way the Wind Is Blowing.'"
http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=26243

"Dubbing itself the Weathermen, this new organization took its name from a line in Bob Dylan’s 'Subterranean Homesick Blues'—'you don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows'—and within months had set off bombs at the National Guard headquarters and set in motion plans to bomb targets across the country"
http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/weatherunderground/film.html

Unless I (and HumanEvents) got the time line wrong, and he wrote the song AFTER the bombings began, this is really weird. Check out the following lyrics from the Dylan tune. It almost seems like he knew in advance what Ayers and company were planning. Yet Dylan claims today he wasn't even in to the radical politics of the sixties and seventies.

Here, from BobDylan.com, are the first four lines from his 'Subterranean Homesick Blues'...

"Johnny's in the basement
Mixing up the medicine
I'm on the pavement
Thinking about the government"

Here's some other interesting lines...

"Maggie comes fleet foot
Face full of black soot
Talkin' that the heat put
Plants in the bed but
The phone's tapped anyway
Maggie says that many say
They must bust in early May
Orders from the D. A.
Look out kid
Don't matter what you did
Walk on your tip toes
Don't try 'No Doz'
Better stay away from those
That carry around a fire hose
Keep a clean nose
Watch the plain clothes
You don't need a weather man
To know which way the wind blows"
http://www.bobdylan.com/songs/subterranean.html

I report, you decide.

[Michael.SF.]

Easy, easy there bud.

First, I directed the post to Scott, not to you, but of course you are free to chime in. However, in directing it to Scott, who knows me fairly well, he will recognize my sarcasm as being directed towards earlier threads here, ones where we have discussed Dylan, his lyrics and his politics (or lack there of).

I also saw the article the other day with the same reference to the weather underground and Bob Dylan so I expected someone would post on this subject.

There are many interpretations to Dylan's lyrics, but one thing that is certain is that they will invariably be wrong, unless they are made by Dylan himself.

I also was not diminishing the threat of the leftist agenda, merely commenting on Dylan's potential association with it, which I believe there is none.

[dmz]

my point about your timeline being wrong was, as you suggest, based on the fact that too much time elapsed between the events for there to be a credible connection.

Dylan was, and still is, a guy who will reinvent himself on a regular basis and completely reject those who would define him (Dylan) for themselves.

[ETL]

The lines highlighted in bold were the ones I was wondering about. But it didn't have to necessarily be that he (Dylan) was the "I'm" in the song. I thought it might be that he wrote the lyrics as if speaking for someone else, which of course would still be troublesome *IF* in fact he had intended the song to be about revolutionary terrorist attacks on America, which he almost certainly did not (apparently).

"Johnny's in the basement
Mixing up the medicine
I'm on the pavement
Thinking about the government"

"Maggie comes fleet foot
Face full of black soot
Talkin' that the heat put
Plants in the bed but
The phone's tapped anyway
Maggie says that many say
They must bust in early May
Orders from the D. A.
Look out kid
Don't matter what you did
Walk on your tip toes
Don't try 'No Doz'
Better stay away from those
That carry around a fire hose
Keep a clean nose
Watch the plain clothes
You don't need a weather man
To know which way the wind blows"
http://www.bobdylan.com/songs/subterranean.html

[JDoutrider]

Are you heading back to the sandbox soon?

Hope you had a Good R&R, and God Bless!

JD

[ETL]

My bad. Sorry for the misunderstanding.

There are many interpretations to Dylan's lyrics, but one thing that is certain is that they will invariably be wrong, unless they are made by Dylan himself.

And he, himself, probably changes the 'interpretations' on a continuing basis. :)

[Michael.SF.]

No worries!

Thanks for the response and enjoy the Fourth!

[ETL]

Thanks! You too.

[Allegra]

Are you heading back to the sandbox soon?

Very, very, very soon. (Sigh...) But hey, at least I get to spend the Fourth of July stateside. First time I've gotten to do that since '03.

Hope you had a Good R&R, and God Bless!

Thank you. It's been wonderful and it went by so fast! ;-)

[nuconvert]

strange thread

[nuconvert]

I’ll take a stab....think pot and assorted drugs

[ETL]

“Maggie comes fleet foot
Face full of black soot”?

[defconw]

FWIW, I googled and came up with this.

"They took their name from the lyric "You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows," from the Bob Dylan song "Subterranean Homesick Blues". They also used this lyric as the title of a position paper they distributed at an SDS convention in Chicago on June 18, 1969, as part of a special edition of New Left Notes.

[ETL]

Actually,

"Johnny's in the basement
Mixing up the medicine
I'm on the pavement
Thinking about the government"

"Maggie comes fleet foot
Face full of black soot
Talkin' that the heat put
Plants in the bed but
The phone's tapped anyway
Maggie says that many say
They must bust in early May

Thinking about the government? Face full of black soot? The phone's tapped?? I'll give you "mixing up the medicine", but these others...

Maybe, instead of him somehow "knowing of the events ahead of time", rather it was the lyrics which inspired the Weather Underground to begin their bombing campaign? They did, without a doubt, name their organization after a line from this song. I know, it's a big maybe, but I certainly would not close the door on the possibility.

[ETL]

Thanks, but you didn’t have to Google it. I included it in the original posting. Scroll up to the top.

[defconw]

LOL, I must have scrolled right past that. Wrestling with a Viking Kitty at the time. Still an interesting song.

[ETL]

I actually bought a Dylan CD not too long ago. Yet I like only a handful of his songs. The ones I like best are:

Like A Rolling Stone
Lay Lady Lay
Knockin On Heavens Door
Hurricane [Carter]
Gotta Serve Somebody

Other than these, most of his songs I find hard to listen to.

[defconw]

Those are his best. I like “Tangled up in Blue” as well. I think that’s the name of it.

[ETL]

Actually, that was the other one on the playlist I created from the CD. I just forgot to mention it. There were 16 tracks on the CD, but I only have these 6 on the playlist.

Album/CD is The Best of Bob Dylan [Sony/BMG 2005]

I bought it used (but good as new) at this great discount site:
http://www.secondspin.com/

[defconw]

Thanks for the info. :)

[Fresh Wind]

Oh, Bama
Can this really be the end?
To be stuck inside of Denver
With the Chicago blues again.