Posted on 06/02/2010 5:54:22 PM PDT by DogByte6RER
What's plain is that the Gaza flotilla's nominal purpose, delivering "humanitarian" supplies to Gaza, was secondary to the aim of provoking a confrontation. The Gaza flotilla turned down an Israeli offer to unload the six boats and deliver the goods to Gaza by truck; it ignored repeated warnings that it would not be allowed to reach Gaza. Its spokesmen said they would insist on "breaking Israel's siege," as one of them put it.
View the local newscoverage of BlueStar working to support Israel.
Listen & Buy Bob Dylan's "Neighborhood Bully" MP3 Today! Lyrics below.
Audio from the IDF soldiers who boarded the boat.
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.
(c) 1983
At best Dylan is pretty conservative, after all not a lot of “filthy hippy leftists” go around saying Barry Goldwater was their favorite politician. At worst (or maybe still best) he is apolitical. He never attended any marches or protests. He was never outspoken about things except for primarily one album and then a few songs on the next one.
Sometimes I think people are only aware that he ever recored The Times They Are A-Changin’ and manage to overlook the other 33 studio albums he has released. His “finger pointing” songs are such a small part of his catalog that it is hardly an accurate judge of him as a person. Especially not when we are closing in on 50 years later.
*dylan bump*
"It's Unbelievable" (Under the Red Sky)
What Good Am I?
What good am I if I’m like all the rest
If I just turn away, when I see how you’re dressed
If I shut myself off so I can’t hear you cry
What good am I? What good am I if I know and don’t do
If I see and don’t say, if I look right through you
If I turn a deaf ear to the thunderin’ sky
What good am I?
What good am I while you softly weep
And I hear in my head what you say in your sleep
And I freeze in the moment like the rest who don’t try
What good am I?
What good am I then to others and me
If I’ve had every chance and yet still fail to see
If my hands are tied must I not wonder within
Who tied them and why and where must I have been?
What good am I if I say foolish things
And I laugh in the face of what sorrow brings
And I just turn my back while you silently die
What good am I?
Copyright © 1989 by Special Rider Music
He's not really famous for anything he did past 1965. His early involvement in the "civil rights" movement is a huge part of his image.
I realize that fans of his music enjoy many of his later albums (Blonde on Blonde, Nashville Skyline, Blood on the Tracks, etc.), however Dylan the myth is greater than Dylan the singer/songwriter. Just ask Joni Mitchell.
“Dylan is a filthy hippy leftist.”
And you took a name from Frank Zappa’s music?
To each his own.
His existence in the civil rights movement consists of one and one half albums. There is nothing else. His best regarded albums aren’t among those, his most famous song isn’t on one of those albums.
And to say he is some leftist hippie ignores the truth for a myth created by others not even by him. And Positively 4th Street is how he felt about those who created that myth.
You may be a fan of his music, but his politics leave a lot to be desired. Let's not rewrite history.
1963, not 1964
Direct quote from Bob, “My favorite politician was Arizona Senator Barry Goldwater.” Who by the way voted for 12 Civil Rights acts, so it isn’t like support of the idea of civil rights in itself makes you a liberal.
Using events from 20 years before to make a declaration about someone’s politics is a very iffy proposition when there is not a whole lot to go on. And now we are at 45 years later, to think his politics stayed static that long, provided he was ever deeply political seems tough. My stance would be that he is pretty apolitical. Generally when people try to pin him down he just plays with them. His interview with Jann Wenner from a few years ago is pretty funny in that respect.
There you go again - trying to be all logical and factual on a Dylan thread.
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.